Trump says he and China’s Xi made progress on TikTok and trade, and will meet soon
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to the US president, including on trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal.
Trump also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year” and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
The statement did not spell out the terms of an agreement between the leaders on TikTok, only that Trump “appreciates the TikTok approval”.
Trump just posted on his Truth Social platform:
I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal. I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!
Key events
Julius Constantine Motal
Photos: mass arrests outside immigration court in New York
Per that last post, here are some of the images of local elected officials and immigration rights activists who protested outside the Jacob K Javits Federal Building, New York’s largest federal immigration court, on Thursday.
See more images in our gallery here.
Yesterday, New York lawmakers, immigrants’ rights activists and religious leaders were arrested at protests both inside and outside the complex in lower Manhattan where federal officials have been routinely detaining immigrants amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.
Eleven elected New York officials tried to gain access to an Ice detention facility, while immigration activists tried to block vans carrying detained migrants.
Here’s the story in pictures:
Judge strikes Trump’s $15bn lawsuit against New York Times over its content
A federal judge has struck Donald Trump’s $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times over its content.
US district judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated a federal procedural rule requiring a short and plain statement of why he deserves relief, and that a complaint is not “a public forum for vituperation and invective” or “a protected platform to rage against an adversary”.
Merryday gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint.
House passes bipartisan resolution honoring Charlie Kirk
Chris Stein
A resolution honoring murdered conservative activist Charlie Kirk passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Friday, but only after causing considerable consternation among Democrats.
All Republicans in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, which describes Kirk as “a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence”.
Ninety five Democrats supported the resolution, while 58 opposed it. Thirty eight voted present, and 22 did not vote.
Kirk was instrumental in building support for Donald Trump and conservative causes among younger voters, often by using racist and discriminatory language and arguments.
Several Democrats who opposed the resolution said they condemned his murder, but could not support a figure who used his speech.
“We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was: a man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the right to vote was a ‘mistake’, who after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi claimed that ‘some amazing patriot out there’ should bail out his assailant, and accused Jews of controlling ‘not just the colleges – it’s the nonprofits, it’s the movies, it’s Hollywood, it’s all of it,’” said New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted no.
She went on: “His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans – far from ‘working tirelessly to promote unity’ as asserted by the majority in this resolution.”
“I cannot vote yes on this resolution because it grossly misrepresents Charlie Kirk’s methods, views, and beliefs while citing Christian nationalist language. I will always condemn heinous acts of violence, but this resolution ignores the false and hateful rhetoric that was too often present in his debates,” said Colorado’s Diana DeGette, who voted present.
Maryland’s Jamie Raskin said he voted yes on the measure because it “repeatedly condemns all political violence, extremism and hatred in unequivocal terms”, while adding: “We should overlook whatever surplus verbiage is contained in this resolution designed to make the vote difficult for Democrats. We cannot fall for that obvious political trap and should rise above it.”
Congressman Dan Goldman, who voted present said: “I condemn political violence of any kind, including the horrific assassination of Mr Kirk. I cannot vote no on a resolution that condemns political violence. I do not support – and indeed condemn in the strongest possible terms – many of the hateful views Mr Kirk espoused. I cannot vote yes on a resolution that celebrates those views.”
Reuters is reporting that a federal judge has struck Donald Trump’s $15bn lawsuit against the New York Times. I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Trump asks supreme court to enforce passport policy targeting transgender people
Donald Trump’s administration asked the supreme court on Friday to intervene in a bid to refuse to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities.
Reuters reports that the justice department filed an emergency request to lift a federal judge’s injunction barring the state department from enforcing a policy it adopted at Trump’s direction.
The dispute is one of several concerning an executive order Trump signed after returning to office on 20 January directing the government to recognize only two biologically distinct sexes, male and female.
Oliver Laughland
in Chicago
Federal law enforcement officials in Chicago have used tear gas and pepper balls in an attempt to disperse a group of around 100 protesters who assembled in the early hours of Friday morning at an Ice facility in the suburbs.
Protesters, who remained peaceful throughout had attempted to block a number of large SUVs entering the facility throughout the morning at an Ice detention and operations facility in Broadview.
At least two protesters were arrested by masked agents in a number of small skirmishes, which escalated after agents fired volleys of pepper balls and multiple canisters of tear gas following orders to disperse. Masked agents shoved protesters and arrested one using zip ties as two large SUVs exited the building, which is surrounded by razor wire.
Protesters chanted the name of the Silverio Villegas González, a 38 year-old father of two who was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area last Friday. Earlier in the morning agents arrested another protester after a group of agents swarmed out from the facility to escorting another vehicle. The protester was dragged inside by two masked agents.
The background on that is a federal judge in Boston ruled back in June that transgender and intersex people could obtain passports that align with their gender identity, in a rebuke to a January executive order from Donald Trump that said passports must conform to the sex citizens were assigned at birth.
US district judge Julia Kobick issued a preliminary injunction that expanded an earlier order she issued in April that had stopped the US state department from enforcing the policy in the case of six people, after finding the order was probably unconstitutional.
Her June order meant that all trans citizens would be able to update their gender markers on their passports while the case against Trump’s order proceeds.
After the president signed an executive order on the first day of his term in January, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, the US state department announced that it would “no longer issue US passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad (CRBAs) with an X marker. We will only issue passports with an M or F sex marker that match the customer’s biological sex at birth.”
We’re seeing a line on the wires from Reuters that the Trump administration has asked the supreme court to intervene after a lower court required the state department to issue passports that reflect an individual’s gender identity. I’ll bring you more on this as it comes through.
Trump says he and China’s Xi made progress on TikTok and trade, and will meet soon
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping “made progress on many very important issues” during their call this morning, according to the US president, including on trade, fentanyl, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the TikTok deal.
Trump also said he and Xi would have a face-to-face meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea next month, he would travel to China “in the early part of next year” and Xi would also come to the US at a later date.
The statement did not spell out the terms of an agreement between the leaders on TikTok, only that Trump “appreciates the TikTok approval”.
Trump just posted on his Truth Social platform:
I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal. I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time. The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!
Per my last post, here’s some helpful context on the next steps for the CR.
Next week, lawmakers will be on a week-long recess. So, to avoid the shutdown stress that has been customary when it comes to stopgap spending bills, congressional Republicans are hoping that it passes the Senate today.
Here’s why that might be unlikely.
They’ll need at least seven Senate Democrats to vote yes on this funding extension as it stands. So far, Democrats in both chambers argue that they had no input on the GOP-written CR, and it lacks several health care provisions that, they say, are non-negotiable. In response, Democrats have even released their own version of the stopgap bill, which also includes measures to inhibit Donald Trump from clawing back congressionally approriated funds.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is under pressure from House Democrats to make sure that their Senate counterparts don’t cross the aisle, like what happpened in March. They want to call Republicans’ bluff and force them to shoulder the blame for a possible shutdown if they don’t get any say in the CR.
Both versions of the short-term funding bill are likely to fail on the Senate floor on Friday, as they’ll need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster. That means a vote on any revised legislation might not happen until 29 September – perilously close to a shutdown that would begin on 1 October.
House passes stopgap funding bill to avert government shutdown
The US House passed a stopgap funding bill, known as a ‘continuing resolution’ (CR) – which would keep the government funded until 21 November.
Lawmakers in the lower chamber passed the bill 217-212, with two Republicans voting against it, and one Democrat – congressman Jared Golden of Maine – voting for it.
The CR now advances to the Senate, where it needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
A reminder, that a government funding expires at the end of the month if lawmakers can’t pass this short-term solution.
According to the White House press pool Donald Trump actually began his call with Xi Jinping at 8am EST today A White House official declined to say whether the call had concluded, but said updates about the conversation will be shared by the president on Truth Social.
Per my last post, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) responded to the Thursday’s vaccine advisory panel meeting with a statement that said the committee (which health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr completely replaced earlier this year) “promoted false claims and misguided information about vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to limit access to routine childhood immunizations and sow fear and mistrust in vaccines”.
The academy also reshared their guidance for vaccines, which includes “giving newborns a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth” and a combination MMRV vaccine should “remain an option” for families. The AAP advises that children receive the shot “at 1 year and again at 4-6 years”.
We’ll get more from the second day of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) later. A reminder that on Thursday the panel voted on recommending that children receive multiple vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (MMRV), instead of a single vaccine that can protect against all four diseases.
As my colleague, Carter Sherman, reports, the committee is scheduled to focus on Covid vaccines today. It will also hold two votes on the recommended timing of the vaccine for hepatitis B – an incurable infection that can lead to liver disease and death.
The committee was originally scheduled to vote on the hepatitis B vaccine on Wednesday, but delayed the vote after the committee chair, Martin Kulldorff, noticed “slight discrepancies” in the wording of the planned votes.
Following Kirk shooting, new poll shows drop in positive direction of the country among Republicans
A new Associated Press-NORC poll shows that there has been a significant drop, among Republicans, that the country is heading in a positive direction.
51% of Republicans said the country is heading in the wrong direction, in a poll conducted between 11 and 15 September. A 22-point increase from the 29% of Republicans who expressed the same feeling in June of this year.
For Democrats, 92% say the country is heading in the wrong direction – a number that’s stayed consistent since Donald Trump returned to the White House for a second term.
More broadly, 39% of adults approve of the way Trump is handing his job as president, while 60% disapprove.
