Summary
That’s all for our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. Some key stories from the day:
Key events
Donald Trump may push to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, according to a Washington Post report citing six unnamed people familiar with the discussions.
The newspaper said the changes could include reducing oversight of marijuana and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers. The moves would not legalize or decriminalize marijuana, but rather reduce obstacles to research and help support legal businesses, according to the report.
A White House official told the paper that no final decisions have been made, and other US agencies did not immediately comment. The report noted that the president previously said he was “looking at reclassification”, saying, “Some people like it, some people hate it.”
Trump signs AI executive order meant to block state restrictions
Trump has signed an executive order on artificial intelligence that aims to block laws that limit AI and restrict states from regulating the technology.
At a signing ceremony, the president praised AI companies investing in the US, saying, “If they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it … We want to have one central source of approval.”
Trump’s order calls for the US attorney general to establish an AI “litigation task force” that would be responsible for challenging state laws. Republicans earlier this year failed to pass a moratorium meant to prevent new state AI laws for ten years.
State leaders and civil liberties groups across the country have pushed back against Trump’s order, arguing it would empower corporations while hampering efforts to reduce the harmful consequences of AI.
Trump declines to commit to US attendance at Ukraine meeting
Donald Trump declined to commit that the US would send a representative to participate in Ukraine talks in Europe this weekend.
“We’ll see whether or not we attend the meeting,” the president said in the Oval Office, Reuters reported. “We’ll be attending the meeting on Saturday in Europe if we think there’s a good chance. And we don’t want to waste a lot of time if we think it’s negative.”
His waffling comes after he hinted earlier this week that he could walk away from supporting Ukraine and called for the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to accept his proposal to cede territory to Russia.
Trump’s press secretary earlier today said it was “still up in the air” whether the US believed “real peace can be accomplished”, adding, “The president is extremely frustrated with both sides of this war, and he is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting.”
Trump claims pardon for Tina Peters, but doesn’t have power to free her
Donald Trump wrote on social media that he was granting a “full pardon” for Tina Peters, a convicted Colorado election clerk, even though he does not have authority to pardon or free her as she is serving a sentence on state charges.
Peters, the former Mesa county clerk, was convicted last year for her role in breaching election data in search of evidence of fraud and sentenced to nine years.
Trump has repeatedly called for her release and threatened earlier this year to take “harsh measures” if she was not freed. The president wrote on his Truth Social platform this evening: “Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
Presidential pardons, however, do not apply to state convictions. Jared Polis, Colorado’s Democratic governor, who does have clemency authority in her case, has said he won’t pardon her.
Trump warns of land strikes on Venezuela drug shipments
Donald Trump again suggested that the US would “soon” carry out land strikes on drug shipments in Venezuela, which would mark a dramatic escalation of his campaign against Nicolás Maduro.
Defending his administration’s strikes against boats that allegedly have ties to drug trafficking, the president claimed “drug traffic by sea is down by 92%”. The source and context of that figure was unclear, and Trump continued by saying: “Nobody can figure out who the 8% is.” He then added: “We’ll start that on land, too. It’s going to be starting on land pretty soon.”
Trump has repeatedly warned of potential land attacks, but his administration has not offered further details. His comments come as his administration is facing increasing scrutiny over its seizure of an oil tanker.
Trump attacks Indiana GOP Senate leader: ‘I hope he loses’
Donald Trump has criticized Rod Bray, the Republican state senate leader of Indiana, after GOP representatives rejected a redistricting measure.
The White House had supported the proposed redrawing of the congressional map, with the president threatening to support primary opponents of Republicans who voted against redistricting.
Asked about the vote, Trump responded: “I wasn’t working on it very hard. It would’ve been nice … You had one gentleman … Bray, whatever his name is, I heard he was against it. He’ll probably lose his next primary. I hope he does. He’s done a tremendous disservice.”
Republican infighting over Indiana redistricting vote
Republicans in Indiana and across the country are sparring over the state GOP’s rare break with Donald Trump with lawmakers’ vote against redistricting.
Earlier today, Republican state lawmakers rejected an effort to redraw Indiana’s congressional map, with a plan that would have added two more GOP-friendly seats to Congress.
Mike Braun, Indiana’s GOP governor, wrote on social media after the vote that he was “very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump”. The decision, he said, would “carry political consequences”, adding he would work with Trump to “challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers”.
Meanwhile, Kevin Kiley, a GOP congressman from California, applauded Indiana Republicans for “taking a principled stand against mid-decade gerrymandering and rejecting the ‘eye for an eye’ mentality that has caused this redistricting war to spin out of control”. Kiley’s district is due to be redrawn under California Democrats’ redistricting that was launched in response to Texas’ gerrymandering.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to support primaries against Republicans in Indiana who opposed redistricting. GOP state senator Spencer Deery criticized the outside pressures, telling the AP, “The federal government should not dictate by threat or other means what should happen in our states.”
JD Vance, the vice president, attacked Rod Bray, the Senate leader in Indiana, accusing Bray of telling the administration he would support redistricting while fighting against it behind the scenes.
“That level of dishonesty cannot be rewarded, and the Indiana GOP needs to choose a side,” Vance said.
Kilmar Ábrego García released from immigration detention, lawyer says
Kilmar Ábrego García, the Salvadorian national who has been subject to relentless attacks by the Trump administration, has been freed from immigration detention, his lawyers confirmed to the AP.
He plans to return home to Maryland, his attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said. Our earlier coverage of the judge’s order for his release:
Indiana Republicans’ rejection of a redistricting effort that would have favored the GOP marks a major break from Donald Trump and comes after the president threatened to back primary opponents for those who didn’t support the redrawn congressional maps.
“Anybody that votes against Redistricting, and the SUCCESS of the Republican Party in D.C., will be, I am sure, met with a MAGA Primary in the Spring,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday, the day before the vote. “Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again.”
Late last month, Michael Bohacek, a Republican Indiana state senator, announced he was opposing redistricting after Trump used a slur for people with intellectual disabilities to insult a political opponent. Bohacek, whose child has down syndrome, said he was an “unapologetic advocate for people with intellectual disabilities” and the president’s “choices of words have consequences”.
Heritage Action, a conservative 501(c)4 associated with the group behind Project 2025, also suggested before the vote that Indiana Republicans would suffer if they didn’t support the redrawn maps, writing on social media, “President Trump has made it clear to Indiana leaders: if the Indiana Senate fails to pass the map, all federal funding will be stripped from the state. Roads will not be paved. Guard bases will close. Major projects will stop. These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame.”
Indiana Republicans vote down redistricting in major blow to Trump
Sam Levine
Indiana Republicans have rejected an effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, a stunning and blunt rebuke of Donald Trump and Republican efforts to reconfigure the state’s congressional districts to add two more Republican-friendly seats.
The measure failed 19-31, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in rejecting the new maps.
US targets Nicolás Maduro’s family with new sanctions
The US has issued new sanctions targeting the family members of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and six crude oil tankers, Reuters reports.
The US treasury department announced sanctions against three nephews of Maduro’s wife and oil tankers and shipping companies allegedly linked to them.
The targeted oil tankers “have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices and continue to provide financial resources that fuel Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime”. The sanctions come as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated its pressure campaign against Maduro, including with the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker.
Democrats and others have criticized the administration over its boat strikes and the seizure, warning the US was “sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela”.
More background in our coverage here:
Trump administration creates new militarized zone along California border
Victoria Bekiempis
The US’s southern border is poised to become more militarized following an announcement by Trump administration officials that armed forces would now oversee 760 acres of public land for a three-year period.
The US Department of Interior said in a statement that jurisdiction over this acreage – located in California’s San Diego and Imperial counties – would be transferred to the US navy “to establish a National Defense Area to support ongoing border security operations”.
Expansive portions of the border region have been deemed militarized zones since April. This designation permits US military members to capture migrants and those whom they allege are illegally on US army, navy or air force bases, according to the AP. The classification also enables more criminal charges which, in turn, could mean greater prison terms. AP notes that more than 7,000 service members have been sent to the US border, as well as military surveillance equipment.
More background here:
‘Shoving Americans off a cliff’: Democrats condemn ACA vote
Democrats have forcefully condemned Republicans over the failure to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, with votes today that threaten to increase healthcare costs to unaffordable levels for millions of Americans.
The US Senate earlier rejected competing proposals that would have addressed the approaching expiration of subsidies for plans under the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Premium tax credits for roughly 21.8m enrollees of the plans are on track to expire by the end of December. A bill supported by Democrats laying out a three-year extension failed, with only four Republicans supporting.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said:
Senate Republicans just shoved the American people off the side of a cliff with no parachute and with an anchor tied to their feet. Republicans just blocked the Democrats’ bill for a clean, simple extension of the ACA tax credits, the last chance they had to ensure people’s premiums do not skyrocket in the coming months.
Republicans, Schumer added, were “fighting like hell to kick people off insurance … [and] give sweet giveaways to billionaires and the ultra-rich”.
Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, said the Republicans’ proposal was a “cruel joke”. Republicans, she said in a video message, “never wanted to lower healthcare costs in the first place”.
For more background:
