THE LATEST

• The nation’s 430 park units would operate dramatically differently under the proposed plan, with bigger parks given control over small ones. 
• The Interior Department hasn’t yet notified Congress of its intention to reorganize, which it is legally obligated to do before implementation.

• “I have to be honest, it has been stressful,” he told the Times. “And at a certain point, I’d like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone.”

THE ADMINISTRATION

• Bombardier’s U.S. headquarters is in Kansas, and Republicans there are not happy with the idea. 

• Minister for Foreign Affairs Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir told Long — who had to apologize for calling Iceland the “52nd state” earlier this year — the post “was entirely unacceptable.”

THE HILL

• The unpaid bills ranged from $101 to several thousand dollars. Marshall’s office routinely charged an 18% annual interest rate. Payton Fuller, a spokesperson for Marshall, said on X that “Judges issue warrants, not doctors” and called the story “an obvious hit piece.” 

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

• The PAC’s first ad buys are against two House candidates: Rep. Max Miller in Ohio and firearms influencer Brandon Herrera in Texas.

THE WORLD

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said the move would “without a doubt” spur consequences from Washington.

CONVERSATION STARTER

THE LATEST

• “Ranchers and farmers have always been a number one priority to me,” Trump said in the Oval Office, adding: “They are very clean people. They’re immaculately clean.”

• The president also said he has “close to” $1 billion in outside money, a higher figure than the $400 million cash on hand super PAC MAGA Inc. reported in a July disclosure. He will allocate “probably four or 500 million” for the midterms, he added.

• A former senior aide told NOTUS’ Igor Bobic that Fetterman was uninterested in the typical day-to-day responsibilities of the job, preferring instead to scroll on his phone, reading X and Apple News for mentions of his name.
• A group of former Fetterman staffers “who are disgusted with what he’s become” created an X account today to share stories about the senator. NOTUS verified the authenticity of the account’s ownership.

THE ADMINISTRATION

THE STATES

THE HILL

• “Congressman [Mike] Collins, of course, himself has deceptively used deepfake videos to try to lie to voters,” the Georgia Democrat said of his opponent.

AVOID THE PLAZA

THE LATEST

• Vance also batted away a reporter’s question about supporting potential 2028 campaigns by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) or Pete Hegseth: "I'd encourage any Republican, if you care about the country, and I think all of us do, you should be focused not on a job a few years from now. You should be focused on the midterms."

• The chamber today adopted a resolution calling to block federal aid to colleges if they engage in commercial or academic boycotts against Israel, with 33 Democrats voting in favor of the GOP-led measure.

THE HILL

• Congressional Sneaker Caucus Chair Jared Moskowitz told Final NOTUS that while members are allowed to wear sneakers, that standard doesn’t apply to staff or media. “That adversely affects the female staffers and reporters who stand there all day in heels,” the Florida Democrat said in a statement. “One could argue I could dramatically benefit from a three-inch heel, but let’s move the rules into the future.”

• He’s going to try this weekend at the Minnesota State Fair, where he estimates he’ll need to shake an average of 29 hands a minute for eight straight hours.
  
  
  

THE ADMINISTRATION

THE COURTS

AN HONOR, INDEED

THE LATEST

• “Some people don’t like the way he dresses, or some people don’t like the way he interviews or talks,” Trump said of Ken Paxton before heaping praise on the Texas attorney general.

• Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) said he and others voiced concerns about the administration’s decision to drop ground beef tariffs during the meeting and that he will deliver that message to the White House today, Semafor reports.

• Nunn and several GOP lawmakers facing competitive races will dine with Trump in the Rose Garden tonight, Politico reports.

THE HILL

• “I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” Tillis wrote in a post on X, asking the president “to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

THE ADMINISTRATION

• Apple Maps relabeled Lake Ontario as “Lake America” this week, just days after Trump reportedly contacted the technology company to urge the change.

GOLD PHONE, WHO DIS?

THE LATEST

• A good number of Democrats joined Republicans to vote for the CR because it tackled border patrol concerns and restored funding for some previously excluded programs.

• Neither party seemed prepared — Hakeem Jeffries told reporters he “didn’t get a heads-up. You’ll have to talk to Katherine [Clark.]”

THE HILL

• Democrats’ ranks will rise to 214, cutting the GOP’s margin to two votes.

• Sending Recon 3.0 “would plug a lot of holes until we can get something else passed,” Calvert told reporters today.

THE ADMINISTRATION

MOVE OVER, TEEN SPIRIT

THE LATEST

• Santos lashed out at the prediction market company in a social media diatribe, calling Kalshi “an unserious company.”
• Another Republican, North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout, was also handed a three-year suspension from the platform this morning over allegations that she placed bets related to her own campaign. 

THE ADMINISTRATION

• During a press conference, Sean Duffy and Markwayne Mullin blamed the Biden administration for failing to conduct oversight of the trucking industry.

THE HILL

• The North Carolina Republican called the claim “as ridiculous as it is false.”

THE COURTS

• The emergency appeal filed by the NRCC and NRSC comes after a federal appeals court ruled that candidates — and not independent groups — were eligible for discounted ad rates under an obscure 1971 law that the Trump-era FCC is trying to walk back. 

THE WORLD

• The situation sparked a number of comments from Trump and many of his top advisers. 

HERE WE GO AGAIN

THE LATEST

THE ADMINISTRATION

THE HILL

THE COURTS

• “The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” the judge wrote.

THINGS CHANGE, OK?

THE LATEST

• “If you think about it, we have a Gulf, and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” Trump said, floating a potential name change for the Atlantic or Pacific oceans.

• As for the ballots already set to go out next week in states like North Carolina? “They’re able to figure it — North Carolina’s great,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s a great place. I won at golf three times.”

• In addition to digitally distributing the letter, staffers have been delivering copies to congressional offices in envelopes marked “confidential,” Oriana notes. 

THE ADMINISTRATION

• Rep. Joyce Beatty’s legal team argued in court today that the facility’s Trump-allied board members are still trying to covertly override the judge’s prior order to removing the president’s name from the building. The Kennedy Center’s attorney said it’s not a renaming.

THE STATES

THE COURTS

• UEFA hopes to garner information through subpoenas and eventually criminally charge Infantino over his plans to sell stakes in the World Cup. The organization’s Florida filing mentions the probe led by top House Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin into Infantino, who has not responded to the committee’s request.

LAKE PEPE SILVIA

THE LATEST

THE ADMINISTRATION

• The administration asked environmental regulators to allow small oil refineries to blend less biofuel into their gasoline in an effort to ease pump prices, Reuters reports — which would please the oil industry and anger biofuel advocates in the Midwest. 

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

THE COURTS

• “The solution is relatively simple ... just don’t go,” the judge wrote.

THE HILL

THEY JUST HAD TO GET STONED

THE LATEST

THE ADMINISTRATION

• “AI is a fact of modern life,” WSJ’s editorial page editor said in a statement this afternoon. “In Stan Druckenmiller’s case, we have had a relationship with him for many years, and nobody can doubt that his op-ed is his genuine opinion.”

THE COURTS

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

• Democratic House nominee Jeremy Moss was set to endorse El-Sayed before Monday’s discourse derailed those plans, Semafor reported.

• “Insofar as there are disagreements about foreign policy, my hope is that folks understand where those disagreements align and also understand that that does not come at the cost of Jewish safety,” El-Sayed said during a news conference today meant to address a rise in Islamophobic rhetoric during the election.

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