The Republican-controlled Texas legislature is anticipated to approve a new congressional plan on Wednesday, giving the GOP five more seats that could be won, and setting off the first domino effect in a broader national redistricting contest. President Donald Trump pushed for the vote in order to prevent his party from losing control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
Democrats who refused 24-hour police escorts to guarantee they would deliver a quorum were kept on the House floor and staged a livestream protest. With California’s legislature about to pass a retaliatory gerrymandering for the state’s people to decide in November, they have pledged a blue-states retribution for the Texas plan.
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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs meets with peers from Europe.
In the midst of a renewed drive to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine, U.S. defense officials stated that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is taking part in a virtual conference of NATO defense chiefs.
As Western nations come up with potential future security assurances for Kyiv that could aid in negotiating a peace deal, U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe, was also attending the meeting on Wednesday.
Caine also met with European military chiefs Tuesday evening in Washington to discuss the best choices to provide to political leaders, according to the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to comment publicly.
Who participated was not immediately apparent.
A Democrat from Texas receives a phone call full of encouragement.
On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, in Austin, Texas, Democratic state representative Penny Morales Shaw demonstrates her support for fellow Democrat Nicole Collier, who is refusing to leave the House Chamber because she needs a law police escort. (Photo by Eric Gay/AP)
Kamala Harris, the 2024 presidential candidate, has urged the Democratic state lawmaker from Texas who is spearheading a demonstration in the Texas House chamber.
The former vice president remarked, “We are all in that room with you.”
As Democrats attempt to block GOP efforts to redraw congressional districts in favor of Republicans, state representative Nicole Collier shared a video of herself on social media after she heard Harris’ call and was reassured that she shouldn’t feel alone.
Harris’ call, according to Collier, demonstrated that we are having an impact and that people are paying attention and are prepared to hold this government responsible.
In the redistricting struggle, the Texas legislature is expected to approve a new congressional map.
In protest of the Republican plan to redraw congressional districts that was scheduled for a vote on Wednesday and the GOP’s demand that Democrats leaving the Capitol be followed by security officers, seven Democrats spent the night in the Texas House chamber. The protest was led by Representative Nicole Collier of Fort Worth.
To make sure they would turn up on Wednesday to give Republicans the quorum they need to approve the maps without any Democratic votes, state law enforcement personnel followed Democrats outside the Capitol as they drove, went shopping, and kept an eye on their residences.
Following a two-week walkout that brought national attention to the GOP’s strategy to grant Trump’s request for Republicans to gain five seats in the 2026 elections, Democrats returned.
Read more about the Texas capitol’s redistricting developments.
Trump continues his pressure campaign and demands the resignation of a Federal Reserve official.
After a member of his administration accused Lisa Cook of committing mortgage fraud by identifying two separate homes as her permanent residences, Trump took to social media to demand that Cook resign from her position on the Federal Reserve’s governing board.
The Justice Department should look into Cook, who was nominated to the board by former President Joe Biden in 2022 and reappointed the following year to a term that ends in 2038, said Bill Pulte, director of the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The accusation is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on the Fed, which has not yet lowered its key interest rate as per Trump’s demands. The White House may designate a replacement if Cook were to resign. Additionally, Trump has stated that he will only name individuals who support reduced rates.
Visitors to Yosemite National Park who demonstrate there risk being prosecuted.
While some tourists may be prosecuted for alleged violations of protest laws that have been tightened under President Donald Trump, Shannon SJ Joslin was dismissed for hanging a pride banner from El Capitan. (Brittany Peterson’s AP video)
According to NPS spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz, the National Park Service and the Justice Department are investigating potential criminal charges against a number of park visitors who are accused of breaking federal laws and regulations pertaining to protests, and a ranger was fired from Yosemite National Park after hanging a pride flag from El Capitan.
Bat researcher Shannon SJ Joslin was dismissed for not acting appropriately when he hung a transgender pride flag, 66 feet wide, on the well-known climbing wall on May 20 and then voluntarily removed it.
Joslin, 35, told The Associated Press that hanging the flag was their way of saying, “We’re all safe in national parks.” Their dismissal sends the opposite message: If you’re a federal employee and you have any identity that disagrees with the current administration, you have to keep quiet or you’ll be fired.
Learn more about the National Parks’ assault on protests.
Amid the DC police takeover, the Feds are offering money for crime information.
As part of the president’s crackdown on crime, federal law enforcement is offering a $500 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the nation’s capital.
People can scan a QR code provided by the U.S. Marshals Service to provide tips regarding what federal authorities have called a crime emergency.
Despite its long history of crime, Washington has recently seen a decline in violent crime. Since Trump authorized the police push earlier this month, more than 550 people have been arrested in Washington, D.C., according to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s statement Wednesday morning.
Trump wants 10% of Intel Corp. to be owned by the government.
Of the $7.8 billion promised under the Biden administration’s sCHIPS and Science Act funds, Intel has received roughly $2.2 billion. The Trump administration wants these funds to be converted into non-voting Intel shares.
As the president increases pressure on more American businesses to make goods locally rather than relying on foreign suppliers, this would increase the Trump administration’s engagement in the computer industry.
In a nation that continues to have the largest economy in the world, it would also erode the conventional boundaries between the public and private sectors and make the U.S. government one of Intel’s biggest stockholders.
Learn more about Trump’s support for government ownership of large corporations.
Trump is using his position as president to gain control of the Republican Party.
Some of his election-meddling actions, including as pressuring Republican lawmakers to alter maps in favor of the GOP, are standard but contentious political ploys carried to their furthest. There is no contemporary precedent for other uses of his presidential authority, such as directing his Department of Justice to look into ActBlue, the primary liberal fundraising organization, and requesting comprehensive voter records from every state.
Then Trump launched a falsehood-filled tirade on social media, promising to spearhead a campaign to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines.
Ian Bassin, executive director of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan group that has filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, stated that those are behaviors that are not found in robust democracies. You observe those behaviors in authoritarian regimes.
Learn more about Trump’s efforts to influence the outcome of the US election.
Hurricane evacuation could result in deportation for immigrants.
People without permanent legal status have long been at risk from natural calamities. However, immigrants and those who support them claim that Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies have made matters more dangerous as the Atlantic hurricane season approaches its peak.
Places considered neutral spaces by immigrants such as schools, hospitals and emergency management agencies are now suspect, and many local first responders nowcollaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. For people without legal documents, this can mean having to choose between physical safety and avoiding detention. The fear can extend into disaster recovery as agenciesshare information with deportation agents.
In past disasters, the Department of Homeland Security said itwould suspend immigration enforcement, but that s now unclear. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said CBP hasn t issued guidance because there have been no natural disasters affecting border enforcement.
Read more aboutthe dilemmas immigrants now face in natural disasters
Hundreds of federal health employees sign a letter protesting Kennedy s actions
The employees at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies have signed a letter charging that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.has endangered their lives and the rest of the public.
The two-page letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress cites his anti-science rhetoric, denigration of federal workers, layoffs affecting public health programs andKennedy s decision to replace members of a vaccine advisory panelwith a handpicked group that includes some anti-vaccine advocates.
It faults Kennedy s delayed response toan Aug. 8 shooting at the CDC s main campusin Atlanta. And it asks Kennedy to stopspreading false health information, affirm the CDC s scientific integrity, and guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce.
About 400 current employees signed their names, most of them from the CDC but some from the National Institutes of Health and other health agencies. Also signing the document are some noted former CDC leaders, including former acting director Dr. Anne Schuchat.
