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Reporting from Chicago area
AURORA, Ill. — Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said today that his party is “not rolling over” to Trump as he warned that Texas Republican attempts to go through with emergency redistricting would only spur other states to do the same.
Martin joined Gov. JB Pritzker and a throng of Texas House Democrats who have been taking refuge in the blue midwestern state since Sunday to break a legislative quorum back home.
He pledged to help Democrats fight attempts by Texas Republicans to redraw the state political map to yield its party potentially up to five more congressional seats, a request that publicly came from the president.
“This is not the Democratic Party of your grandparents, who would bring a pencil to a knife fight,” Martin said. “This is the new Democratic Party that will bring in a knife to a knife fight.”
Democrats have said that if Texas goes through with its plan, they would attempt to take similar steps in California and potentially other states.
Trump told CNBC this morning that two of the nation’s largest banks closed his bank accounts or rejected him as a customer.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview, Trump said JPMorgan Chase told him he had to take “hundreds of millions of dollars in cash” out within 20 days. Trump then said Bank of America’s CEO told him he could not open an account there despite what he characterized as its CEO’s kowtowing to him “when I was president.”
“So I went to another one, another one, another one,” Trump said.
“The banks discriminated against me very badly, and I was very good to the banks,” he said.
Bank of America declined to comment on the president’s comments, but JPMorgan Chase said in a statement: “We don’t close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed. We commend the White House for addressing this issue and look forward to working with them to get this right.”
Former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev has warned that the country’s rivals now faced a “new reality” as the Kremlin formally announced it was no longer bound by a treaty limiting the use of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles.
Medvedev, who today serves as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council and is known for issuing frequent apocalyptic threats on social media, was continuing a war of words that prompted Trump to redeploy two nuclear submarines last week.
Read the full story here.
The U.S. and India’s blossoming friendship is at risk of fracturing, observers have warned, as Trump threatens to substantially increase tariffs on Indian goods over its purchases of Russian oil.
At the start of the year, India seemed to be one of the countries most likely to win Trump’s favor, given its growing role as an Asian counterweight to China and Trump’s close relationship with its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But U.S. relations with India have instead come under strain over trade and other issues. Trump has threatened Apple and other companies that manufacture in India, moved closer to its biggest rival, Pakistan, and mocked India’s “dead” economy.
Read the full story here.
Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Vice President Guy Parmelin will travel to the U.S. today to discuss tariffs, the country’s government said in a news release.
The Trump administration announced previously that imports from Switzerland would face a 39% tariff.
The Swiss leaders will “facilitate meetings with the US authorities at short notice and hold talks with a view to improving the tariff situation for Switzerland,” the news release said.
The State Department unveiled plans that will make travelers from certain countries to pay a $5,000 to $15,000 bond in order to visit the U.S.
The one-year program, which targets people from countries with “high visa overstay rates” and other factors, aims to prevent people from overstaying visas, according to the documented published today in the Federal Register.
Travelers would have the funds returned if they leave the U.S. on time and comply with travel permission rules.
Most affected people will be expected to pay a $10,000 bond, although the amount can be set at $5,000 or $15,000 depending on travelers’ circumstances. The program is set to go into effect Aug. 20, and the State Department will announce affected countries on its website.
The program is “intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when traveling to the United States for temporary visits, and to encourage countries to improve screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship,” the document said.
The first Trump administration also initiated a temporary bond program, but the plan was not fully implemented because of the impact of the Covid pandemic on travel.
Trump said he’d “like to run” for president again, though it is prohibited by the Constitution.
Asked on CNBC if he would run for president again despite the Constitution, Trump said, “No, probably not,” chuckling.
“Probably not,” he continued. “I’d like to.”
“I’d like to run,” he repeated, going on to claim he has “the best poll numbers I’ve ever had,” and noting he won the popular vote in 2024.
Polling averages place Trump’s job approval rating at 43% in recent weeks, a few percentage points higher than at the same point in the first year of his first term.
Trump said on CNBC that Republicans were “entitled” to more congressional seats in Texas, where the state GOP is pushing to redistrict the state in a way that would give an advantage to the party in next year’s election.
“We are entitled to five more seats,” Trump said.
The president pointed to gerrymandering in blue states as well, claiming that Republicans should have more seats in Congress.
Trump said that if the European Union did not invest $600 billion in the U.S. as he previously announced, imports from the bloc would face 35% tariffs.
The tariff rate will be set at 15% for imports from the E.U. after Trump announced a trade agreement last month.
Trump said in an interview on CNBC that he’s taking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent off the shortlist for Federal Reserve chair.
Trump said Bessent wants to remain at the Treasury Department.
“I asked him just last night, is this something you want? ‘Nope. I want to stay where I am,'” Trump said Bessent told him.
For Fed chair, Trump said he was considering current Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller, former Fed official Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, and at least two other unnamed people.
Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term will end in May. Powell has come under continual criticism from Trump for not moving quicker to lower interest rates.
U.S. visas for travelers from Burundi are temporarily banned, the U.S. embassy in the East African country said, citing “repeated violations” of visa rules.
“Every Burundian who travels carries the hopes of their family and community. Respecting visa rules isn’t just personal, it is national,” the embassy said yesterday in a post on X. “Sadly, due to repeated violations, U.S. visas for Burundians are temporarily banned.”
Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world, was among seven countries whose citizens were partially blocked from entering the U.S. in a June proclamation by Trump. The proclamation cited a U.S. government report saying Burundi had an overstay rate of more than 15% for business and tourism visas.
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., held a town hall last night that started with boos shortly after he took the stage and ended with chants of “vote him out” when it ended.
In between, Flood was consistently heckled as he responded to questions about the release of more information on Jeffrey Epstein, Trump’s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner and cuts to Medicaid in the GOP’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Read the full story here.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a post on X last night that one of his staff members was “physically assaulted” during his town hall, calling it “an act that crosses every line of civil discourse.”
“Today’s town hall was intentionally disrupted to attempt to silence a democratic conversation between a Representative and his constituents,” Smith said in the post. He emphasized that while peaceful protest is protected, “violence and coordinated efforts to shut down public dialogue are not.”
Kshama Sawant, a socialist running for Smith’s seat, posted a video on X of what appeared to be individuals being handcuffed. Sawant called them “3 peaceful anti-genocide activists” who she said were merely chanting at Smith’s event.
Smith and Sawant did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for further comment.
Workers Strike Back, which Sawant co-founded, shared her post, saying the activists were from their group.
Switzerland, which was surprised to find itself facing one of the highest U.S. tariff rates in the world, says it is determined to continue talks and that it is ready to make a “more attractive” trade offer to the Trump administration.
“Switzerland enters this new phase ready to present a more attractive offer, taking U.S. concerns into account and seeking to ease the current tariff situation,” its government said in a statement yesterday.
Trump said last week that he would impose a 39% tariff on imports from Switzerland, below only Laos (40%), Myanmar (40%) and Syria (41%). Swiss officials said the rate is far higher than those on comparable U.S. trading partners such as the E.U. (15%), Japan (15%) and Britain (10%).
Switzerland said over 99% of U.S. goods have entered the country tariff-free since the start of last year and that its trade surplus with the U.S. is not the result of any unfair trade practices. It said it was not considering any retaliatory measures.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed Justice Department prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation of whether Obama administration officials committed federal crimes when they assessed Russia’s actions during the 2016 election, a senior Trump administration official said.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard claimed at a White House news conference last month that top Obama administration officials carried out a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump. Gabbard said she was sending criminal referrals to the Justice Department.
A former senior Justice Department official condemned the move as “a dangerous political stunt.” And a former senior national security official pointed out that multiple past reviews, including ones conducted by Republicans, found no such crimes.
Read the full story here.
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