Principals

1. Lawmakers’ security fears
2. Day three of manhunt
3. Schumer’s changing tactics
4. Bipartisan aid request
5. Fed meeting looms
6. Mandelson’s successor?
7. US climate pullback

PDB: Republicans change Senate rules

Trump to appear on Fox & Friends … Bolsonaro gets 27 years … China warns Mexico on tariffs

Lawmakers to step up security

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are taking new steps to protect themselves from political violence after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott report. They’ve postponed events, decided against holding outdoor ones, sought input from the Sergeant at Arms, and more. “People are scared to death in this building,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who added that police are outside his house “24 hours a day” since a constituent tried to kill him last year. “Not many of them will say it publicly, but they’re running to [House Speaker Mike Johnson] talking about security.” Those fears came closer to home Thursday when congressional staffers received an ominous message about an “incident” at Democratic National Committee headquarters, which wound up being a bomb threat that Capitol police deemed not credible.

Hunt for Kirk killer enters third day

The suspect in Kirk’s killing is still at large. The FBI released photos and video of the suspected shooter and is offering as much as $100,000 for information leading to the suspect’s identification or arrest. Officials also recovered a hunting rifle they believe was used in the shooting, while Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the state would seek the death penalty for the killer. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — posthumously. And Vice President JD Vance canceled plans to attend the 9/11 ceremony in New York, instead traveling to Utah to meet with Kirk’s family and bring his casket back to Arizona, Kirk’s home state.

Schumer takes hard line in shutdown fight

Chuck Schumer’s taken it on the chin since allowing the GOP’s government funding bill through in March. Despite all that outside noise, the Democratic leader has firm support from his caucus as he digs in to demand a bipartisan negotiation and health care concessions this time around, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. Schumer is altering his tactics to reflect the energy in the party, which is behind him, fighting Trump with everything he’s got. “The president is no longer riding high like he was … that, I think, gives Schumer more ability to push back,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. Still, House Democrats are watching very closely to make sure Schumer stands his ground this time. “If we’re gonna draw a line in the sand, draw the line in the sand and then stick to it,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla. “Otherwise, don’t draw the line.”

Collins, Shaheen press Rubio on food aid

A bipartisan pair of senators wants answers from the State Department about its plans for large quantities of food and contraceptive supplies that were once meant for foreign aid, according to a new letter shared with Semafor. After the move to shut down USAID, lawmakers hoped that already-purchased supplies would still be used. But Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., are worried that instead they are being destroyed or expiring, citing reports saying as much. “If policies have shifted such that the United States is now unable to distribute purchased commodities, we question the long-term impact on supply chains and humanitarian pipelines,” the pair writes to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They are asking for a list by Sept. 30 of all commodities purchased by USAID that may be destroyed.

— Burgess Everett

Miran confirmation likely before Fed meet

Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve, Stephen Miran, is likely to be confirmed before the central bank’s key meeting next week, after Senate Majority Leader John Thune teed up a vote on his nomination Thursday. That represents a big win for the White House. Republicans are confident Miran, whom Trump tapped to finish out former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s term, can garner the support he needs after the Banking Committee advanced his nomination along party lines earlier this week. Investors expect policymakers to cut at their meeting, but they’ll have to parse increasingly conflicting economic data in deciding how aggressively to do it; the Labor Department said Thursday price increases picked up last month despite clear signs the labor market is slowing. Those include the number of workers applying for unemployment benefits, which DOL said Thursday hit the highest level since 2021.

— Eleanor Mueller

Who will replace ousted British envoy?

Peter Mandelson will be difficult to replace as UK’s ambassador to the US. Mandelson was seen as a “Trump whisperer,” the BBC wrote, but was engulfed in the controversy surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who he described in newly published documents as his “best pal.” Mandelson’s ouster casts a cloud over Trump’s state visit to the UK next week, and has intensified scrutiny of Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his chief of staff, who Bloomberg reported was “instrumental in the envoy’s appointment and spent recent days defending his position.” “Calamity Keir,” crowed The Daily Mail. The search is on for Mandelson’s replacement, with the Financial Times reporting that former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, former Chancellor George Osborne, and former Ambassador Karen Pierce are all in the mix. Mandelson’s deputy, James Roscoe, will take over in an acting capacity.

COP29 chief on US climate pullback

The US’ pullback from the Paris Agreement and UN climate negotiations underscores the challenge facing diplomats at the upcoming COP30 summit, the head of last year’s talks told Semafor. The rollback of domestic policies promoting wind and solar power, as well as electric vehicles, under the Trump administration has resulted in a sharply slower pace of emissions cuts, a report by Rhodium Group found. Abroad, Trump has pressed for countries to keep using fossil fuels, arguing in a cabinet meeting that other nations were “destroying themselves” by using wind power, for example. That abrupt about-face from the Biden administration’s stance points to a broader fracturing of global climate efforts, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev said in an interview: “The main challenge is… how to protect a multilateral process, how to protect the climate agenda, and how to have very ambitious plans.”

Debatable: Pentagon’s counternarcotics work

The Trump administration’s military strike on a boat that it says was carrying 11 Venezuelan gang members has prompted a fresh debate about the Pentagon’s involvement in going after alleged drug smugglers, Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant writes. While “there is a role” for the military to play in counternarcotics, said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., “I don’t think military hostilities and bombing is the way to do it.” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast argued the strike represents the kind of “bold, decisive” action needed to combat “narco-terrorism.” The administration briefed the staff of some national security members on the strike this week, but Congress is pushing for more answers. “Frankly, I think it raised more questions than answered questions. Still trying to get better clarity on the legal justification,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

This week, a special episode featuring Josh Spanier, VP of marketing at Google, who you might recognize from our branded segments. In this sponsored episode, presented by Think with Google, Ben asks Josh about how Google thinks about advertising, how he’s navigated the technological changes in that space, and if AI is going to homogenize all of the ads we see. Josh also answers some listener questions about how advertisers work with creators and what the biggest blind spots in marketing are today.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he believes Democrats have decided to force a government shutdown because “they see it as politically advantageous” and “they want a fight with the Trump administration.”

Playbook: FBI Director Kash Patel, already under fire over the Jeffrey Epstein case, is coming under fresh pressure from across the political spectrum due to his handling of the hunt for Charlie Kirk’s killer.

Axios: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says President Trump is planning a major drive to cut the price of prescription drugs within weeks.

WaPo: Trump’s appearance at a Yankees game yesterday is part of his effort to become a cultural figure rather than just a political figure, which he knows “will expand his legacy.”

Congress

• Senate Republicans advanced a change to the Senate rules allowing batches of nominees to be confirmed in a single vote and will approve the first batch next week, Burgess Everett reports.
• Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee are demanding JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testify on his bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Outside the Beltway

• California lawmakers passed a bill to ban law enforcement officers from covering their faces.
• Minnesota state Democratic lawmakers chose a replacement for slain House Speaker Melissa Hortman.

Inside the Beltway

• The law firm Skadden Arps has discussed doing unpaid legal work for the Heritage Foundation. — FT

Business

• The DOJ sued Uber, alleging it discriminates against riders with disabilities.

Economy

• The White House moved to appeal a decision barring Fed Governor Lisa Cook from being fired.
• The average 30-year mortgage rate fell to its lowest level in a year, at 6.35%.

Courts

• A federal judge temporarily blocked the deportations of dozens of migrant children living in foster homes or shelters.
• Disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for bribery.

National Security

• A series of bomb threat hoaxes rattled historically Black colleges across the South.
• An officer mistakenly shot one person at the US Naval Academy in Maryland, after a false report of an active shooter.
• Michigan’s lieutenant governor fled a “credible” bomb threat at his house.

Immigration

• The State Department will take action against foreign nationals in the US who seem to be “praising, rationalizing or making light of” Charlie Kirk’s shooting.
• President Trump temporarily delayed the repatriation of hundreds of South Korean workers from a Hyundai plant in order to see if they could be made to train Americans instead. — WaPo

Foreign Policy

• NATO is preparing defensive military measures in Poland. — Bloomberg
• The Venezuelan boat struck by the US military last week was headed to shore when it was hit. — NYT

Technology

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and co-founder Jack Clark will head to Washington on Monday to meet with lawmakers.
• The FTC opened a probe into AI “character” chatbots popular with children.

Media

• Paramount Skydance is preparing a bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. — WSJ

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

Emily Ford, editor

Graph Massara and Marta Biino, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

President Donald Trump shakes hands with the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge.