Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ ‘A dark moment for America’
▪ Russia challenges US, NATO in Polish airspace
▪ Dems squeeze GOP on government funding
▪ Harris book rekindles Biden rewind
The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk shocked elected leaders on the right and left Wednesday and set off a new wave of warnings about heated discourse and violence fraying America from coast to coast.
Kirk, 31, a top ally and surrogate for President Trump and Vice President Vance who served as an informal adviser, was shot in the neck during an outdoor campus debate event at Utah Valley University and was pronounced dead soon after at a nearby hospital.
A manhunt is underway for the shooter, who authorities believe fired on Kirk from a nearby building up to 200 yards away. One video widely circulating on social media showed an individual apparently lying on a roof before the shooting; in another video, an individual on a roof appears to run away after the shooting. Authorities have not yet corroborated the videos.
Officials apprehended two persons of interest on Wednesday before releasing both. The FBI is continuing its search for the perpetrator and posted a request for tips. Follow The Hill’s live coverage today here.
Kirk’s fatal wounding was captured on video posted to social media and his death was announced by the president, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff through Sunday. Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA, the campus-focused organization that Trump credits with influencing younger voters to back him in last year’s election, and he was speaking Wednesday at a kickoff event for a multi-campus tour.
“He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, announcing Kirk’s death.
Trump, who experienced two attempted assassinations last year while running for president, praised Kirk as an “unbelievable patriot” in a statement read on air by Fox News’ Bret Baier.
“All of this violence cannot happen,” the president said.
During a four-minute video address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, Trump described “a dark moment for America” and likened America’s political extremism to terrorism.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals,” the president said. “This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.”
Condolences for Kirk, a married father of two young children, flooded social media from across the political spectrum. Among those offering condolences: Former President Obama; former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), both survivors of near-fatal shootings; and David Hogg, the 25-year-old gun control activist and former Democratic National Committee vice chair who entered politics after a 2018 shooting at a Florida high school.
Former President Biden, writing on social media, said there’s “no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now.”
▪ The Hill: Scalise says Kirk shooting “brings back emotions.”
▪ The Associated Press: Politicians who have experienced violence directly reacted to Kirk’s killing.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) held a moment of silence in the Capitol while urging “every political figure … who has a platform” to say “this is not who we are.”
“We can settle disagreements and disputes in a civil manner, and political violence must be called out, and it has to stop,” Johnson said.
That moment of silence itself soon erupted into House strife, with shouting on the floor.
Johnson told CNN late Wednesday that the events of the day chilled the environment on Capitol Hill, including renewed calls for heightened security, especially in lawmakers’ home districts.
The Speaker previously had warned of rising threats against members of Congress, noting Capitol Police tracked nearly 14,000 assessments of threatening and concerning behavior in 2025, up from 9,000 last year. Lawmakers have worked this year on ideas for tighter security.
The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes that the shocking killing of Kirk is heightening fears over the nation’s path.
In Utah, state Rep. Angela Romero (D), the Utah House minority leader, told The Washington Post that gun violence is finding victims across party lines.
“This could happen to anyone,” said Romero, who represents Salt Lake City. She cited the June shootings in which a gunman targeted Democratic lawmakers in the Minneapolis area. “I had the same concern when my colleague was murdered in Minnesota in her own home. This is not just targeting one person’s ideology.”
“Even though I don’t agree with his political ideology,” she added, “it’s horrific what happened to him.”
▪ The New Yorker, 2024: Should political violence be addressed like a threat to public health?
3 Things to Know Today
1. Fewer people are dying from heart disease, cancer and diabetes across the globe. But among younger American adults, chronic disease death rates have increased.
2. Larry Ellison is now the richest person on the planet. The co-founder of Oracle, an enterprise software giant, eclipsed Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
3. Lithium batteries pose a fire risk on aircraft with passengers and crew, the Federal Aviation Administration warned airlines on Wednesday after tracking 50 verified battery-related incidents through August.
Leading the Day
EXPANDING CONFLICTS: Trump has appeared sidelined this week as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine expand into allied countries, posing one of the biggest tests yet to his motto of “peace through strength.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently kept Trump in the dark over his country’s strikes in Qatar, and Trump’s frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin did nothing to deter a Russian drone incursion into Poland.
The president’s response to these escalations will be watched closely, writes The Hill’s Laura Kelly, as Poland summoned NATO members for a meeting about how the alliance responds to what it calls an intentional act of war, and as Qatar, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, demanded retaliatory measures against Israel.
Trump said he was “very unhappy” with Israel’s strikes into Qatar and, responding to Russia’s incursion into Poland, questioned Russia’s “violation” in a Truth Social post, adding, “Here we go!”
▪ The Economist: Putin’s dangerous drone probe is a moment of truth for NATO.
▪ The Hill: NATO’s Article 4 invoked over Russian drones in Poland: What to know.
▪ The Hill: Former national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday that Putin has acted as if he had a “free hand” since his summit in Alaska with Trump.
In Congress, senators are urging Trump to give the green light and allow them to vote on the Russia sanctions package in the wake of the drone incursions in Poland, and with Moscow showing few signs of willingness to end the war with Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Poland said its airspace was “repeatedly violated” by drone-like objects during a Russian attack on Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country’s military shot them down, calling it a “large-scale provocation” and saying his country is the closest it’s been to open conflict since World War II.
Trump on Wednesday spoke with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, who visited the White House last week, and European defense ministers huddled to discuss the implications of the drones. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday there’s “no evidence” the Russian drone incursion was an accident.
“The repeated violations of airspace, but especially the ones here by Russian drones, are unacceptable and constitute a deliberate provocation, not only against Poland,” he said. “This must be clearly emphasized: It is a provocation against NATO as a whole and against our European security order.”
▪ NPR: Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Qatar stun the Gulf and dash chances for a Gaza ceasefire.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Israel’s strike on Hamas in Qatar shows Netanyahu is done talking.
▪ The Hill: Israel targeted Houthi leaders in a Wednesday strike on rebels’ government offices in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.
▪ The Washington Post: Israel threatens its “enemies everywhere” after the strike against Hamas in Qatar.
Where & When
The president and first lady Melania Trump will travel to the Pentagon for an observance at 8:45 a.m. to mark the 9/11 anniversary and will return to the White House. Trump will depart Washington this afternoon for New York to watch the Yankees against the Detroit Tigers at 7 p.m. at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The vice president and second lady Usha Vance are scheduled to attend a 9/11 event held at Ground Zero in New York City.
The House will convene at 9 a.m.
The Senate will meet at 10 a.m.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. will release the consumer price index for August and a separate report on earnings, seen as important data ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. On Wednesday, the government reported that wholesale inflation fell below expectations.
Zoom In
SHUTDOWN WATCH: The White House request for kicking this month’s government shutdown deadline into next year is drawing a lukewarm reception from some GOP spending cardinals.
The Trump administration’s latest ask of Congress called for a stopgap funding bill to keep the lights on through January. But some Republicans worry the move would stick federal agencies with another year of flat funding.
“I just think that we get into January, get into the new year, that it’s less likely we’ll do any appropriation bills or whatever year long [continuing resolution],” Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a senior appropriator, told The Hill’s Aris Folley.
Democrats, meanwhile, are ramping up the pressure on GOP leaders over federal funding, drawing firmer red lines against the Republicans’ budget plans and elevating the chances of a government shutdown at the end of the month.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday warned that House Democrats are likely to reject a Republican funding package that keeps spending largely at current levels. Across the Capitol, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) voiced a similar warning.
The one-two punch aims to put Republicans on notice and sends a political message to the Democrats’ liberal base — which was furious after Schumer helped usher an earlier spending bill into law — that party leaders are united, at least for a moment, and itching for a fight.
“What the Republicans have proposed is not good enough to meet the needs of the American people,” Schumer said, “and not good enough to get our votes.”
EPSTEIN FILES: Senate Republicans on Wednesday narrowly voted to table an amendment directing the Department of Justice to release all the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after Schumer surprised them with a procedural maneuver that left Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) fuming.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) broke with Senate Republican leaders Wednesday to vote in support of the amendment. Hawley and Paul’s votes underscore the deep divisions within the party over how to handle calls from Trump’s MAGA base for transparency over Epstein.
Thune had little option but to let the Senate vote on releasing the Epstein files, something that Speaker Johnson has worked hard to prevent in the House. Thune’s other option would have been to pull the annual defense authorization bill — a top GOP priority off the floor.
“It’s a political stunt and we’ll dispose of it,” Thune said Wednesday morning.
▪ The Hill: The House on Wednesday voted to pass its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, with a bipartisan amendment to repeal the two laws authorizing the use of military force in Iraq.
▪ The Hill: Provisions in the House and Senate defense authorization bills reduce restrictions on the Pentagon’s use of “forever chemicals.” In the House, such a provision is generating pushback even from Republicans.
▪ Bloomberg News: Epstein’s inbox. A trove of emails reveals his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s secrets.
▪ Bloomberg News: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, after new revelations about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein.
DC CRIME: Trump’s emergency order federalizing the Washington, D.C., police force and launching a surge of law enforcement into the city, expired overnight Wednesday after Congress did not extend it. But the National Guard and some other federal agencies are expected to continue their deployment for several more months.
LOYALTY TEST: Three former high-ranking FBI agents are suing Director Kash Patel as they seek reinstatements to their posts, saying they were fired as part of a retribution campaign directed by the highest levels of the Trump administration.
The 68-page suit alleges Patel and others “initiated a campaign of retribution against Plaintiffs for what Defendants deemed to be a failure to demonstrate sufficient political loyalty.”
Elsewhere
Former Vice President Kamala Harris’s new book, “107 Days,” excerpted in The Atlantic on Wednesday, takes many Democrats where they may not want to go, The New Republic writes. Harris may want to step toward a new political future with her memoir, in bookstores Sept. 23, but she also reopened tensions within the Democratic Party about former President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 contest and her subsequent loss to Trump.
STATE WATCH: Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) is shaking up the Senate Democratic primary race. The Congressional Black Caucus this morning endorsed former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), a former caucus member, in the contest, Punchbowl News reported.
CHILDREN, SAFETY & HEALTH: The administration’s much-advertised health report under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. steered clear of calling for regulation of powerful pharmaceutical, pesticides and food industries. Critics said the omission illustrates the limits of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement.
COLLEGE CAMPUSES: The 2025-2026 year at colleges and universities includes new policies about campus activities and demonstrations. Students are caught in the middle of the Trump fight with higher education, reports The Hill’s Lexi Lonas Cochran.
Opinion
Kirk’s horrific killing and America’s worsening political violence, by The New York Times editorial board.
Putin taunts Trump and NATO, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.
The Closer
And finally … 🍽️ It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by dining escapes, we’re eager for some smart guesses about presidents who fled the White House’s fine china for restaurants.
Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
Trump dined out at a Washington restaurant this week for the first time since taking office in January. Which one did he choose?
1. Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab
2. Rasika West End
3. El Presidente
4. Georgia Brown’s
Former President Clinton, with news cameras in tow, hosted then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a convivial lunch in the Georgetown neighborhood of the nation’s capital in 1994. Where did they tuck into Italian?
1. Clyde’s
2. Café Milano
3. Filomena
4. Four Seasons Hotel
Then-President-elect Barack Obama surprised the lunch crowd at an iconic D.C. eatery 10 days before his 2009 inauguration. Where did he grab some napkins and a half-smoke?
1. Ben’s Chili Bowl
2. Florida Avenue Grill
3. Thunder Burger & Bar
4. Fat Pete’s BBQ
George H.W. Bush was known to venture into Virginia as vice president and president to dine on a delicacy he enjoyed, especially after living abroad in the 1970s. Where did Bush eat?
1. Portofino Restaurant, Arlington, Va.
2. Two Nineteen, Old Town, Va.
3. Peking Gourmet Inn, Falls Church, Va.
4. Inn at Little Washington, Washington, Va.
