Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Lawmakers worry of increased security risks
▪ Democrats won’t rule out shutdown
▪ Trump presses for quick ouster of Fed’s Cook
▪ Putin tests the West’s red lines
Lawmakers said they are on edge in the Capitol as they planned exits from Washington on Thursday to head back to their states and districts, with heightened security fears rippling across the country.
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s daylight assassination in front of 3,000 people during an outdoor event at a university in Utah has shaken members of both parties while renewing security concerns for elected officials and other high-profile public figures.
“People are scared to death in this building. I mean, not many of them will say it publicly, but they’re running to the Speaker talking about security — and that’s a lot of Republicans,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) told reporters Thursday. “People are scared, really scared.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said providing robust security was “heavy on our hearts and minds” and said he’s open to exploring a boost in funding to protect lawmakers on top of the increase they received in the last Congress. GOP leaders, he said, are “looking at all angles.”
Some rank-and-file members are calling for increased security in their day-to-day official travels. Multiple lawmakers this week have also said they are thinking twice about holding certain types of outdoor events following the Kirk shooting.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) postponed two events in North Carolina this weekend, including a rally in Raleigh. She told reporters that security protocols for lawmakers are “not designed for a digital threat environment era.”
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace (R) announced she would carry a gun where permitted. Mace, who is running for governor, said for now she is forgoing outdoor events and asked local police for help outside her offices in the Palmetto State.
“I had to have a talk with my 17-year-old son last night, who asked me not to run again because he’s worried his dad’s going to get killed,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) told NOTUS. “And I can’t, I can’t tell him that that is a crazy perspective.”
The renewed focus on lawmaker security comes as bipartisan House and Senate members are otherwise locked in high-stakes negotiations in search of a funding solution that can keep the government open beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Security pressures have bubbled up across the country, adding to concerns. The Democratic National Committee faced a bomb threat on Thursday, later investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police and deemed “not credible.” Multiple historically Black colleges and universities in a handful of states received threats and suspended classes as a precaution.
A false report of an active shooter also set off alarm at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., leading to real-life gunfire following an altercation between a midshipman and a law enforcement officer who was mistaken for a shooter, The New York Times reported.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called out the threats targeting HBCUs in particular, saying disrupting the schools at the start of the academic year was “despicable.” The Congressional Black Caucus demanded the Justice Department and FBI investigate.
A MANHUNT for the assassin in Kirk’s killing has entered a third day, with state and federal law enforcement authorities asking for the public’s help in identifying a person of interest who is pictured in security camera footage at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
FBI Director Kash Patel, who has faced increasing scrutiny over his decision to announce Wednesday an individual was in custody before later saying they had been released, flew to Utah on Thursday as the bureau investigates. The FBI announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of the shooter.
Officials released footage of the suspect running across a roof on campus after the shooting before dropping down to the ground and fleeing into a nearby neighborhood. A bolt-action rifle believed to have been used by the gunman, who fired a single shot, has been recovered.
Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the Turning Point USA organization and a close Trump ally who forged deep connections with numerous top officials in the White House and administration, traveled to campuses around the country with a private security team. Six police officers were present on Wednesday at his event, according to Utah Valley University’s police chief.
▪ The Washington Post: Colleges are unprepared for threats like Kirk’s killing, experts say.
▪ The New York Times: After the Kirk assassination, fear and vitriol intensify in Congress.
Trump, who commemorated 9/11 at a Pentagon ceremony on Thursday before flying to New York City to attend a Yankees baseball game, announced he would posthumously award Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The president told reporters he was confident the shooter, whom he described as a “total animal,” will be apprehended “and we will deal with him very appropriately.”
Trump called Kirk “an advocate of nonviolence” and said, “That’s the way I’d like to see people respond.”
The president said he will attend Kirk’s funeral in Arizona.
Vice President Vance traveled Thursday to Salt Lake City to fly Kirk’s casket to his home in Phoenix aboard Air Force Two.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a Kirk admirer, took initial steps, including a formal letter on Thursday, to try to get a statue of the slain activist placed inside the Capitol.
▪ Read more in Emily Brooks’s The Movement newsletter: Kirk’s assassination was a turning point for conservatives.
▪ CNN analysis: After Kirk’s murder, an entire way of doing politics is at risk.
Editor’s note: Smart Take with NewsNation’s Blake Burman will return on Tuesday.
3 Things to Know Today
1. Stagflation concerns are rising alongside increased inflation and higher rates of unemployment. At the cash register, Americans are paying more for the basics.
2. Growth in the U.S. population is projected to stall out faster than anticipated, in part because of immigration restrictions, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
3. Birth control pills and other contraceptives worth $9.7 million have been destroyed at the direction of the Trump administration. The contraceptives, which sat in limbo for months as international groups tried to purchase them, were destined for use in low-income countries.
Leading the Day
SHUTDOWN TRAP? Centrist Democrats fear their party could blunder into a government shutdown this month as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) are taking a hard line on the government funding package that needs to pass by Sept. 30.
Democrats broadly agree the looming expiration of enhanced health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act — combined with deep cuts to Medicaid that Republicans enacted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — will hit millions of Americans with higher health care costs.
But moderate Democrats worry their leaders could be headed for a costly, and politically unwinnable, government gap in funding, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes.
One Democratic senator said progressives who are angling to run for president have pushed for the most confrontational approach with Republicans.
“Most people want to avoid brinkmanship except some of those people who may be running for president because I think people understand that it’s important to keep the government operating,” the lawmaker said, adding it’s “not clear” how voting against a short-term clean funding measure and forcing a government shutdown would give Democrats more leverage over Republicans.
In the House, GOP leaders are eyeing a vote on a stopgap spending bill next week that would extend government funding through Nov. 20, Politico reports.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) confirmed Thursday that the chamber plans to vote on a “clean” funding patch, which Democrats are likely to reject.
CONFERENCE TIME: Meanwhile, the House is making a push to formally conference government funding legislation for fiscal 2026 with the Senate, breaking with recent norms.
The House voted this week to begin to conference three of the 12 annual funding bills for fiscal 2026: for the departments of Veterans Affairs, and Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, rural development, military construction and the legislative branch.
Asked Thursday whether the Senate would follow the House’s lead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told The Hill he’s “all for conferencing” but added Democrats would need to “sign off on that.”
▪ The New York Times: How ObamaCare is colliding with shutdown negotiations.
▪ The Hill: Trump said Thursday he approved millions of dollars in funding for storm recovery efforts across multiple states after speaking with GOP lawmakers in the affected areas.
NUCLEAR OPTION: Senate Republicans on Thursday invoked the “nuclear option” and changed the chamber’s rules to more easily confirm dozens of Trump’s stalled sub-Cabinet nominees. The GOP can now include an unlimited number of nominees in a single vote to clear the nearly 150 that are awaiting confirmation.
The 53-43 party-line vote came after negotiations intensified earlier this week on a bipartisan deal to expedite the nominations. That process ultimately stalled.
Democrats cried foul at the GOP’s decision, painting it as them running out of patience.
“We were achingly close to a deal, but I am afraid that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have run out of patience,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said on the floor.
▪ The Hill: Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas) on Thursday announced he won’t seek reelection after two terms in the House.
▪ The Hill: Nadine Menendez, wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), 58, received a 4.5-year prison sentence on Thursday after conviction on all charges tied to a bribery scheme. The former senator is serving an 11-year sentence after his conviction.
When and Where
The president is in New York City to be interviewed in the Fox News Studio at 8 a.m. on “Fox & Friends.” He will depart New York City at 9:40 p.m. for his property in Bedminster, N.J., and remain overnight.
The House will convene on Monday at noon.
The Senate will meet on Monday at 3 p.m.
Zoom In
FED OUSTER: The White House on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to let Trump’s attempted ouster of Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook take effect ahead of a key interest rate meeting next week.
Days after a federal judge temporarily blocked the firing, finding that Cook made a “strong showing” that her attempted removal was unlawful, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to halt that order.
The government asked the court to rule by the close of business Monday. The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet starting Tuesday. The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates next week.
HYUNDAI RAID: South Korea repatriated more than 300 of its citizens who were held in U.S. custody after a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a Hyundai EV battery manufacturing plant in Georgia last week. The Sept. 4 operation detained nearly 500 people — mostly Korean nationals working on the technical components of building out the factory.
South Korean officials told The Washington Post that Trump temporarily delayed the repatriation of the workers to explore whether they could stay in the U.S. to educate and train American workers. The raid has likely set the facility’s opening back by several months, Hyundai CEO José Muñoz told reporters Thursday.
“This is going to give us minimum two to three months delay, because now all these people want to get back [to South Korea],” Muñoz said in Detroit. “Then you need to see how can you fill those positions, and for the most part, those people are not in the U.S.”
ON OUR RADAR:
▪ The Hill: Both interest and concerns over homeschool regulations have peaked after a spike in parents pulling their children from the classroom after the pandemic.
▪ The Hill: A federal appeals court Thursday cleared the way for the Trump administration to enforce a provision of the new tax cut and spending law that will cut off Medicaid funding from some Planned Parenthood clinics.
Elsewhere
GRADUAL ESCALATION: Trump on Thursday brushed off concerns about the Russian drones passing into NATO member Poland’s airspace earlier this week, saying the drone incursion could have been a possible mistake.
“Could have been a mistake. Could have been a mistake,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for New York City. “But regardless, I’m not happy about anything having to do with that whole situation. But hopefully it’s going to come to an end.”
His comments came as the Kremlin on Thursday dismissed the drones passing into Polish airspace as nothing new. Ukrainian and European officials told The New York Times Russian President Vladimir Putin has become emboldened to escalate his war in Ukraine by a lack of Western pushback.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Friday strongly rebuked Trump’s assessment, writing on social media that “we would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it.”
European countries are discussing how to shoulder the main burden of supporting Ukraine, as Trump scales back U.S. assistance. But instead of a direct attack, Russia has crossed Western red lines gradually, gauging responses as it goes and maintaining some deniability.
“Russian drones flying into Poland during the massive attack on Ukraine show that Putin’s sense of impunity keeps growing,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a statement. “He was not properly punished for his previous crimes.”
▪ Vox: Russia inched closer to open war with NATO.
▪ Reuters: The United Nations Security Council will meet today to discuss drone incursions into its airspace.
▪ ABC News: NATO allies close airspace along Russia, Belarus borders after drone incursions.
STRIKES IN QATAR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday threatened to launch new attacks on Qatar if it refused to eject Hamas’s political representatives.
As a result, the U.S. and Qatar are reassessing their security partnership in an effort to deter a future Israeli strike, a senior official told The Hill’s Laura Kelly. Trump is expected to meet this evening in New York with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and discuss the aftermath of Tuesday’s strikes, Axios reports.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari raged against Netanyahu as an “unhinged, narcissistic leader” and told The Hill Qatar is only looking to grow its security partnership with the U.S. in response to Tuesday’s strike on Doha.
“I think the whole world has a lot of cards it hasn’t played with Netanyahu, and I think there was a lot of reluctance internationally, including in the U.S., to take a lot of action in the hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu will sign a deal, will cease fire and will get his hostages out through diplomatic means,” al-Ansari said.
Israel has drawn international criticism for the attacks in Doha, which aimed to strike Hamas leadership but did not kill the intended delegation. Qatari mediators have been key in establishing peace talks between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza.
CBS News reports the U.S. was notified of the attack by Israel as it was about to happen, and that the U.S. did not coordinate with Israel on planning the strikes.
“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” Trump said on social media.
▪ CNN: Inside Israel’s operation to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar.
▪ NPR: Israel has hunted its top enemies around the Middle East. What has it achieved?
▪ The Washington Post: Israel’s strike in Qatar scrambles Trump’s ceasefire plans.
COUP ATTEMPT: Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to overturn the country’s 2022 election with a plot prosecutors say included plans to assassinate the then president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Opinion
We must reject the political violence that took Charlie Kirk’s life, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) writes in the Louisville Courier Journal.
Brazil just succeeded where the U.S. failed, by Filipe Campante and Steven Levitsky, guest essayists, The New York Times.
The Closer
And finally … 👏👏👏Congrats to this week’s Morning Report Quiz winners! We asked for some smart guesses about presidents who fled the White House’s fine china for restaurants.
🧩Here’s who went 4/4: Chuck Schoenenberger, Richard E. Baznik, Pam Manges, Rick Schmidtke, Sari Wisch, Linda L. Field, Peter Calcandy, Harry Strulovici, Stan Wasser, Brian Hogan, Mark R. Williamson, Carmine Petracca, Scott Simon, Alan Johnson, Jenessa Wagner, Jess Elger, Stanton Kirk, Lou Tisler, Steve James, Savannah Petracca, Luther Berg and Jose A. Ramos.
Trump dined out in D.C. this week for the first time since taking office in January, selecting Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab restaurant for a meal.
Former President Clinton, with news cameras in tow in 1994, hosted then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for an Italian lunch at Filomena in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.
Then-President-elect Barack Obama surprised the lunch crowd when he stopped in for a half-smoke at Ben’s Chili Bowl, an iconic D.C. eatery, 10 days before his 2009 inauguration.
George H.W. Bush was known to venture to Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church, Va., near Washington as vice president and president to savor cuisine he came to enjoy while working in Beijing in the mid-1970s.
