Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Nation reels after Kirk shooting
▪ Trump threatens to call emergency in DC
▪ Fed poised to cut interest rates
▪ Rubio touts US-Israel ties in Jerusalem
The assassination of conservative influencer and Trump ally Charlie Kirk is focusing the national dialogue on political polarization and safety for public figures.
Kirk, 31, was fatally shot Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University. His alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident, will be formally arraigned Tuesday on state charges.
Kirk’s death reverberated widely across the political spectrum — but it especially touched the White House and President Trump, who found a long-standing supporter in Kirk, Turning Point USA and his younger, conservative audience.
The president’s response to the news of Kirk’s death reflected the widespread feelings at the White House: shock, anger and disbelief that someone many considered a personal friend had been killed.
White House staff who spoke with The Hill following the shooting said the mood inside the building was somber, and a number of officials have publicly recounted the effect Kirk had on the MAGA movement or themselves personally. Vice President Vance credited Kirk with playing a key role in supporting his own political rise.
The relationship between Trump’s team and Kirk grew in recent years to become more than a political alliance, with the conservative activist serving as a key outside adviser to many top officials.
The president on Sunday warned that left leaning groups will be investigated after Kirk’s death, though he offered no details.
“If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right, like some people like to share the right, the problem we have is on the left,” Trump told reporters. “And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right.”
▪ The Washington Post: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said authorities still do not know the motive in Kirk’s shooting but said interviews revealed new information, including that Robinson has a “leftist ideology.”
▪ The Hill: Trump’s suggestion that Robinson should face the death penalty adds to his administration’s increasingly aggressive approach toward capital punishment.
TURN DOWN THE TEMPERATURE: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Kirk’s death could be “a turning point” for the country, urging leaders to “turn down the rhetoric” amid a divisive political climate.
Johnson said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” that lawmakers should stop treating policy differences as an “existential threat to democracy or the Republic,” while urging them to stop “calling one another names.”
The Speaker added he’s “heartened to know” that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle “are stepping up and saying that and addressing it.”
White House officials, Cabinet members, GOP lawmakers and others packed inside the Kennedy Center on Sunday for a vigil honoring Kirk. A public memorial service is scheduled for Sunday in Arizona at State Farm Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals play.
Johnson remarked on the “mixture of unspeakable sadness and grief and anger and even fear” following the shooting, noting, “Even on Capitol Hill, the leaders of the nation have been shaken.”
“It’s as if the ground was shifted beneath us. We all felt it deep, deep inside,” he said. “And in spite of that, we remember that our dear friend Charlie would never want us to be overcome by despair. He would want exactly the opposite.”
▪ The Hill: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the shooting “an attack on a political movement.”
A NEW NORMAL? A number of lawmakers are voicing increased concern that the myriad calls to turn down the national temperature after Kirk’s death will ultimately be for naught.
The Hill’s Al Weaver reports that lawmakers are worrying if anything can be done to fix a problem that is only getting worse — or that the uptick in violence may be a new normal.
“What’s so alarming to all of us is it’s getting baked in,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “It’s getting more and more [entrenched]. How do you reverse it? It’s not like you can pass a law to reverse it.”
Kirk’s murder was the latest in a lengthy string of politically-based attacks in recent years — including two assassination attempts against Trump last year — as they become increasingly frequent.
Less than three months before the Kirk shooting, Melissa Hortman, the Democratic ex-Speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband were shot and killed at their home.
In April, a man attempted to burn down the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and his family were inside.
According to the U.S. Capitol Police, more than 9,400 direct threats and concerning statements were made against members of Congress, their families and staff in 2024 — more than double the amount made in 2017.
▪ NewsNation: The White House requested $58 million to increase security for the executive and judicial branches after Kirk’s shooting.
UNPLUG: Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Sunday appeared together on “Face the Nation” to make an appeal for bipartisanship amid the divisive political climate, with Coons pointing to the role of the internet in driving polarization.
Coons said the killing of Kirk “in such a grotesque and public way has to bring us to reflect about how hard it’s getting, because the internet is an accelerant — it is driving extremism in this country.”
Cox went further, calling social media a “cancer on our society” in the aftermath of the shooting. The Utah governor encouraged people to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”
The governor built on the sentiment Sunday, saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that social media has “played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years.”
“There is no question in my mind that cancer probably isn’t a strong enough word,” Cox said.
▪ The Atlantic: Cox on Utah, the shooting and his conversation with Trump.
FBI SCRUTINY: FBI Director Kash Patel, who faced criticism last week for his handling of the Kirk investigation, this week is set to testify Tuesday and Wednesday before the Senate and House Judiciary committees.
Patel has taken heat over his handling of the manhunt for Kirk’s assassin from key figures in the MAGA movement in which he initially became a star. The FBI director stumbled in the early hours after the shooting when he indicated on the social platform X that an individual was in custody, before officials acknowledge later the suspected shooter was still at large.
Democrats this week are poised to press Patel on his purge of senior FBI personnel, his pursuit of Trump’s rehashing of the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the handling of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Republicans, meanwhile, will likely turn questions toward the bureau’s critics.
▪ The Hill: The FBI faces scrutiny under Patel’s leadership.
▪ The New York Times: Kirk’s killing has left other political influencers reeling.
▪ The Hill: Kirk’s death has sparked fresh conversations about the security of speakers on campuses and what can be done to improve it as conservatives vow the incident will not scare them from universities.
Smart Take with Blake Burman
President Trump said Friday the next city where we could see the National Guard utilized to try to bring down crime is Memphis. The state has a Republican governor, and FBI data from last year shows Memphis as one of the most dangerous major cities in the U.S.
I asked Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.), whose district includes parts of Memphis and surrounding areas, how many National Guard troops he feels are needed.
“I think we leave that to the experts,” Kustoff said. “But the main thing is, from just a standpoint of the citizens feeling safer in Memphis, it’s going to do the job. It’s going to go a long way. And again, from a short-term perspective, this is what Memphis needs.”
Trump has suggested the National Guard could be deployed to New Orleans along with Memphis. Those are two politically blue cities in states with Republican governors, perhaps an acknowledgement there is a blueprint going forward when it comes to the National Guard being used to try to tackle crime.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
1. Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego criticized Congress for voting to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in a speech during last night’s Emmy Awards.
2. Where some of Trump’s promises stand: from Coca-Cola with cane sugar to eliminating the federal income tax to daylight saving time, The Associated Press tracks some “jaw-dropping promises.”
3. Toxic fume events on airplanes are increasingly common. Here’s what travelers need to know.
Leading the Day
INTEREST RATES: The Federal Reserve will begin a two-day meeting on Tuesday, with investors and economic analysts predicting the Fed will vote to lower its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point. The widely expected move would cheer Wall Street and also trigger renewed debate about the central bank’s delicate challenge to balance price stability against a clearly weakening labor market.
On the sidelines are Trump’s unprecedented challenges to the Fed’s independence to set monetary policy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called the Fed’s recent record “patchy at best,” Bloomberg News reports.
In 2001, 74 percent of Americans expressed confidence that former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan would do the right thing, according to Gallup. In 2025, 37 percent said they have confidence that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will do the same.
Trust in many institutions has fallen in a quarter century — and Americans’ approval of Trump’s management of the economy remains underwater in a range of polls. Yet the Fed has also faced withering criticism from Trump that the central bank has been “too late” to reduce the costs of borrowing.
▪ Reuters: Today, the Senate is set to hold a confirmation vote for White House economic adviser Stephen Miran, nominated by Trump to fill a Fed vacancy.
▪ CNN: A key market data point — a decline in Treasury yields — is signaling fear about America’s economy.
The administration met a Sunday deadline and renewed its request to a federal appeals court to carry out the president’s attempted firing of Fed governor Lisa Cook, calling her legal appeal “meritless.”
She asked a federal appeals court to reject Trump’s argument that she immediately needed to vacate her central bank post. Her legal team argued the administration did not show sufficient cause to fire their client and said allowing her to be terminated would threaten the bank’s independence and the nation’s economic stability.
The president would like to see a vacancy on the Fed board ahead of its announced interest rate vote this week. Cook’s term extends through 2038, but the president sought to fire her for alleged fraud dealing with mortgage loan documents she signed prior to her Fed appointment.
▪ The New York Times: Documents raise questions about the fraud claims against Cook.
EPSTEIN FILES: In Congress, some Republicans believe it is inevitable that legislation will pass to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all files related to the investigations and prosecutions of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which could reveal which third parties were involved in his illicit activities, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports.
In the House, Democrats next week expect to enlarge their caucus and strengthen their push for transparency around Epstein. In Arizona, Adelita Grijalva is expected to cruise to victory in a Sept. 23 special election to fill the seat of her late father, Rep. Raúl Grijalva. That prospect signals a boost to a discharge petition in the House that calls for releasing the government’s investigative files.
Meanwhile, a Senate appropriations measure includes a bipartisan provision to direct the Justice Department to release Epstein files to Congress.
CRIME FIGHTING: Memphis Mayor Paul Young (D) says there will be discussions this week about the size and scope of Trump’s vow to send the National Guard to Tennessee. Although the president last week said Young approved federal involvement, the mayor says he objects to the use of the National Guard.
Young, who confirmed on CNN’s “First of All” with Victor Blackwell that he does not want guard personnel marching in Memphis, added he learned early last week from the office of Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee that the idea was under consideration.
The president has also floated National Guard deployments to Chicago and Baltimore; complained about crime in Portland and in June sent active-duty troops to Los Angeles. How did Memphis, with a Democratic mayor and a Republican governor, capture Trump’s attention? It leads major U.S. cities ranked for violent crimes per capita.
D.C. CRIME & INTERVENTION STATS: Less than a week after the federalization of the Washington, D.C., police ended, Trump today threatened to declare a new national emergency following a dispute with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) over immigration enforcement.
Bowser has said she sees progress, sprinkled with causes for concern. Early today on Truth Social, the president asserted that the mayor, “under pressure from the Radical Left Democrats,” informed his administration that D.C. police “will no longer cooperate with ICE.”
“To the people and businesses of Washington, D.C., DON’T WORRY, I AM WITH YOU, AND WON’T ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!” he wrote.
During the post-Aug. 11 federalization of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., the White House said law enforcement officials arrested more than 943 immigrants in the city.
Arrests involving federal officers took place in all eight city wards, concentrated in the city’s poorest, least white and most crime-riddled neighborhoods, according to an analysis by The Washington Post of 1,273 arrest records. More than a third involved federal law enforcement, a figure that doesn’t include arrests made by immigration officers. The Post said federal officers were present for 470 D.C. arrests:
A quarter of the D.C. census tracts with the highest violent crime rates were the site of nearly half of all arrests, while the quarter with the lowest rates had 11 percent.
Weapons charges were the most common, primarily illegal gun possession. One in 4 cases involved gun charges. Officers found firearms in cars, waistbands and a child’s backpack.
About 1 in 7 cases accused people of having open containers of alcohol, in cars or parks or curbside. Almost two dozen cases involved public consumption of marijuana — possession of which, in small quantities, is legal in D.C.
One in 8 cases involved people accused of assaulting a police officer or resisting arrest.
NOT RUNNING: The tally of retiring House lawmakers is up to 27 this cycle, including Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who told ABC News “This Week” on Sunday that he won’t seek reelection.
“I’m going to serve the remainder of my term,” he said. “But I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different realm.”
👉 Eight incumbent senators are not running to retain their seats in 2026.
▪ The Hill: In Congress, ObamaCare battles meet shutdown politics. Here’s what to know.
ENDORSEMENT: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Sunday turned to social media to endorse Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who leads in the race.
“New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers. That’s Zohran Mamdani,” she wrote. In a New York Times essay, Hochul explained her backing as New York Democratic support has coalesced around Mamdani.
When & Where
The president will participate in a bilateral meeting at 2 p.m. at the White House with Bartholomew, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Trump will sign a presidential memorandum at 4 p.m.
Vice President Vance at noon will fill in as host of “The Charlie Kirk Show.”
The House will convene at noon.
The Senate will meet at 3 p.m.
Zoom In
REDISTRICTING TREND: Missouri Republicans advanced a new set of congressional district borders this month that could add a pickup opportunity for the House GOP ahead of 2026. The Show Me State is the third poised to tee up a new House map before the midterms. But Democrats want to try to block the GOP’s new Missouri map.
Here’s a look at other states expected to redraw their House maps in the next wave ahead of midterm contests: Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas, reports The Hill’s Caroline Vakil.
HEALTH & MEDIA: An effort by the administration to curb advertising for pharmaceutical drugs on television is posing a threat to a key revenue stream for media companies and creating a marketing hurdle for some of the country’s largest drugmakers.
HEALTH & CHILDREN ONLINE: The Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI and Meta, about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their chatbots as companions. Recent revelations about how AI chatbots impact the well-being of some children aggravated long-standing worries about the policies and practices of powerful tech companies. The unease has revived efforts to enact legislation to protect children online.
Elsewhere
LONE ALLIANCE: U.S.-Israeli relations have “never been stronger,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Jerusalem. Netanyahu told reporters the relationship was as strong and “durable as the stones in the Western Wall” while at the holy site.
Rubio was in Israel to discuss the war in Gaza following Israel’s attack on Hamas members in Qatar.
The White House sought to distance itself from the strike, which has outraged regional powers and left ceasefire efforts in jeopardy. While Rubio said Saturday that Trump was unhappy with the Israeli strike on the key U.S. ally, he stressed that Israeli relations with Washington remain strong.
“Obviously we’re not happy about it,” Rubio told reporters. “The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military intensified attacks on northern Gaza, destroying multiple high-rise buildings and killing at least 13 Palestinians.
▪ CNN: Israel struck high-rises in Gaza City ahead of a Cabinet meeting to discuss risk of ground operation to the remaining hostages.
▪ The Associated Press: Qatar’s prime minister denounced Israel on Sunday as foreign ministers from Arab and Muslim nations met to discuss their response to Israel’s attack on Doha targeting Hamas.
▪ The Guardian: Trump said foreign workers sent to the U.S. are “welcome” and that he doesn’t want to “frighten off” investors after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested at a factory in Georgia.
EMBOLDENED PUTIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin has ramped up attacks on Ukraine, hit targets in Kyiv and unleashed a drone incursion into NATO member Poland. Over the weekend, Russian drones flew over Romanian territory, also a NATO member.
Ever since his summit with Trump in Alaska, the Russian leader has been emboldened by a lack of a firm U.S. response to his actions, experts told The Washington Post.
Putin is accelerating efforts to overwhelm Ukraine and divide the shaky U.S.-European alliance. Trump last week downplayed the gravity of Russia’s drone incursion in Poland, as European leaders called it an intentional probe of NATO’s defenses and unity.
Over the weekend, the president tied tougher sanctions on Russia to all NATO countries halting their purchases of Russian oil.
“Putin has acted like he has a free hand since the Alaska summit,” former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said in a post on the social platform X.
▪ The New York Times: Russia made drone production a supreme priority. Now it swarms the skies.
▪ CBS News: Ukrainian drones targeted one of Russia’s top oil refineries.
▪ CNN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine’s path to peace.
Opinion
Tyler Robinson and America’s lost boys, by Allysia Finley, columnist, The Wall Street Journal.
America’s judges are under attack. Lawyers have a duty to defend them, by Kellye Y. Testy and Austen Parrish, opinion contributors, The Hill.
The Closer
And finally … Perhaps the most popular winner Sunday night at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards was Stephen Colbert, who received a rousing standing ovation complete with chants of his name as he won for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” two months after CBS canceled his show.
“While I have your attention, is anyone hiring?” the late-night host joked before taking out a resume complete with a vintage headshot.
“The Studio” won as best comedy series while breaking an Emmy award record; “Adolescence” was an award winner as best limited series and “The Pitt” was named best drama.
▪ The New York Times: Here’s the list of all the 2025 Emmy winners.
