Early Edition: September 29, 2025

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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:

FEDERALIZATION OF DOMESTIC POLICING

President Trump on Saturday said he had directed troops to be sent to Portland, Oregon, and that he authorized the troops to use “full force” to respond to protests around ICE facilities. According to a Pentagon memo to Oregon leaders received yesterday, 200 members of the Oregon National Guard are being placed under federal command and control in connection with the plan. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) said she “made it very clear” to Trump that she objects to the deployment. Chris Megerian and Konstantin Toropin report for AP News; Luke Broadwater, Anna Griffin, and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.

(See Trump Administration Litigation below for the lawsuit filed on Sunday by Oregon and Portland.]

Members of 13 federal agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, will start arriving in Memphis today in connection with Trump’s crime crackdown order, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said on Friday. The operation will also include 300 troopers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and an unspecified number of National Guard troops, Lee said. Juliana Kim reports for NPR. The Guard is acting under the command and control of the Governor and deployed at the request of a Presidential Memorandum.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

During an extraordinary gathering of hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, tomorrow, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning to address the army leaders on military standards and the “warrior ethos,” according to multiple sources. Trump yesterday said he would attend the meeting, saying that “It’s really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things.” According to a former defense auditing official, the likely cost of the army leaders’ travel to the event is in the millions of dollars. Tara Copp, Ellen Nakashima, Dan Lamothe, Alex Horton, and Noah Robertson report for the Washington Post; Yamiche Alcindor and Alexandra Marquez report for NBC News.

Trump on Friday called for Microsoft to “immediately terminate the employment of” Lisa Monaco, Microsoft’s head of global affairs, alleging without proof that Monaco is a “menace to U.S. National Security.” Monaco served as Deputy Attorney General under the Biden administration. Separately, Trump also said he “would certainly imagine” the DOJ is investigating former FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom Trump accused of doing “a terrible job.” Sebastian Herrera reports for the Wall Street Journal; Yamiche Alcindor and Alexandra Marquez report for NBC News.

Tulsi Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month eliminated the group that writes the Global Trends report. The report, published every four years, outlines the future risks to the United States and the world. The Office said that it found the draft 2025 report to “violate professional analytic tradecraft standards in an effort to propagate a political agenda” and that the group “had neglected to fulfill [its] purpose.” According to former officials, some of the report’s warnings, in particular on climate change, had become politically inconvenient. Julian E. Barnes and Helene Cooper report for the New York Times.

The Energy Department has added “climate change,” green,” “emissions,” and “decarbonization” to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s “list of words to avoid,” according to a Friday email seen by POLITICO. Other words to avoid include “energy transition,” “sustainability/sustainable,” “‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ energy,” “carbon/CO2 ‘Footprint’” and “tax breaks/tax credits/subsidies.” Zack Colman reports.

The White House is developing a plan that could give universities that pledge to adhere to the values and policies of the Trump administration an advantage in the award of federal research grants, according to two White House officials. Laura Meckler and Susan Svrluga report for the Washington Post.

The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police officers, sources told AP News on Friday. The FBI Agents Association confirmed that more than a dozen agents have been fired and described the move as unlawful in failing to respect the employees’ legal rights. Eric Tucker reports for AP News.

In cooperation with the Justice Department, multiple federal regulators have sent or are about to send requests for information concerning alleged political and religious discrimination by banks to a number of financial institutions, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Journal, the regulators who have sought information from banks include the Small Business Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Gina Heeb, AnnaMaria Andriotis, and Dylan Tokar report.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

New York City Mayor Eric Adams yesterday announced he would abandon his re-election campaign, ending weeks of speculation. Adams gave no indication he had a specific job lined up after his term expired. At one point, Trump administration aides had been involved in discussions to offer Adams an administration post to encourage him to leave the race and to counter the Democratic front-runner, Zohran Mamdani. Nicholas Fandos, Dana Rubinstein, William K. Rashbaum, and Maggie Haberman report for the New York Times.

In the years before his death, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was apparently linked to billionaire and former Trump advisor Elon Musk, tech billionaire Peter Thiel, and Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, according to documents published by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday. Hailey Fuchs reports for POLITICO.

The Dominion Voting Systems election tech company has settled its defamation lawsuit against Trump’s former lawyer and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to court records and a statement by Dominion. The company did not specify the terms of the settlement. Rylee Kirk reports for the New York Times.

Project 2025 publishers, the Heritage Foundation, and their spinoff, the Oversight Project, last week issued a call for the FBI to designate “Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism” as a domestic terrorism threat category. The groups’ publication alleges, without proof, that “experts estimate that 50% of all major (non-gang related) school shootings since 2015 have involved or likely involved transgender ideology.” Dell Cameron and Andrew Couts report for WIRED.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to persuade Trump to oppose Taiwanese independence, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The sources said that Xi plans to press Trump on this issue as the United States shows eagerness for a Washington-Beijing trade deal. Lingling Wei reports.

The Taliban administration released U.S. citizen Amir Amiry yesterday following negotiations mediated by Qatar. Amiry’s release comes weeks after the Taliban announced an agreement with the United States on prisoner exchanges. The Taliban continue to hold at least three U.S citizens, a U.S. official told the New York Times. Elian Peltier and Adam Goldman report.

U.S. military officials are drawing up plans to target drug traffickers inside Venezuela, four sources told NBC News. The sources said that U.S. strikes within Venezuela’s border could begin in a matter of weeks. Courtney Kube, Gabe Gutierrez, and Katherine Doyle report.

The Trump administration revoked Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visa on Friday after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York. “Revoking it for denouncing genocide shows the U.S. no longer respects international law,” Petro posted on social media on Saturday. Luis Jaime Acosta and Natalia Siniawski report for Reuters.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS

A Biden administration Pentagon plan to field thousands of AI drones by August 2025 to prepare for a potential conflict with China has fallen short of its goal, according to sources. To accelerate the program, the Pentagon is moving the work to a new division known as the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group. Shelby Holliday, Heather Somerville, and Brenna T. Smith report for the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS

The U.N. Committee Against Torture last week sent a request to Ghana to halt onward deportations of at least five migrants who were recently deported from the United States to Ghana. The request highlights that the affected individuals had U.S. court-ordered protections against being returned to their home countries where they face a risk of torture. Mattathias Schwartz and Chris Cameron report for the New York Times.

Attorney General Palm Bondi announced on Friday that she will send Justice Department agents to ICE facilities to protect immigration officials “to safeguard federal agents, protect federal property, and immediately arrest all individuals engaged in any federal crime.” Kaanita Iyer reports for CNN.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE

Negotiations over the latest iteration of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza are “at their final stages,” Trump told Axios yesterday, asserting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “on board” with the plan. In a statement, Hamas said that the group has not received any new ceasefire proposals from mediators, and stressed that negotiations have been suspended since Israel’s failed attempt to kill its leaders in Doha three weeks ago. U.S. officials suggested that Arab and Muslim countries have been in touch with the militant group on the proposal. Barak Ravid reports.

Netanyahu will give Israel’s response to the newest U.S. proposal for a Gaza ceasefire when he meets Trump in the White House later today, according to a senior Israeli official. Other Israeli officials suggest Netanyahu is expected to present reservations to the plan during the meeting and push for changes. Netanyahu yesterday said that the deal has “not been finalized yet.” Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland report for Reuters; Tal Shalev, Oren Liebermann, and Kit Maher report for CNN.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

The Israeli military has killed at least 18 people across Gaza today and advanced to within a few hundred meters of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa and Al-Helo hospitals, according to medics. The Médecins Sans Frontières medical charity late on Friday said it had been forced to suspend its activities in Gaza City after its clinics were encircled by Israeli forces. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and May Angel report for Reuters; Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Alexander Cornwell report for Reuters.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas conflict has now surpassed 66,000 deaths, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday. Samy Magdy, Melanie Lidman, and Giovanna Dell’Orto report for AP News.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

The vast majority of officials and diplomats gathered at the U.N. General Assembly Hall on Friday appeared to walk out as Netanyahu took the stage for his address. In his speech, Netanyahu said that Israel would “finish the job” in Gaza, and claimed that the Israeli intelligence services were livestreaming his speech to the phones of people across Gaza. Gaza residents told CNN they had not received any messages or streams related to the speech. Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler report for Axios; Tal Shalev, Jennifer Hansler, and Oren Liebermann report.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities yesterday with nearly 600 drones and 48 missiles, killing at least four people in the capital. “This vile attack came virtually as the close of U.N. General Assembly this week, and this is exactly how Russia declares its true position,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday. Marc Santora reports for the New York Times; James Waterhouse and Rachel Muller-Heyndyk report for BBC News.

The United States is considering Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles, Vice President JD Vance said yesterday. Tomahawk missiles have a 2,500km range, which would allow Ukraine to strike targets deeper inside Russia. Steve Holland reports for Reuters.

Defense ministers from ten EU countries agreed on Friday to develop a drone wall along their borders with Russia and Ukraine to detect, track and intercept drone incursions into European airspace. “Russia is testing the EU and NATO, and our response must be firm, united and immediate,” EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said. Lorne Cook reports for AP News.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Moldova’s pro-European ruling party won a majority over the Russia-leaning Patriotic Bloc in yesterday’s parliamentary election. “The people of Moldova have spoken […] they chose democracy, reform, and a European future, in the face of pressure and interference from Russia,” President of the European Council Antonio Costa said on social media. Dan Peleschuk reports for Reuters.

Denmark this week banned all civilian drone flights to “simplify security work” for the police ahead of a European Union summit in Copenhagen, the Danish transport minister said yesterday. Nick Thorpe and Tabby Wilson report for BBC News.

Israel has reintroduced its demand for a humanitarian corridor to Syria’s southern province of Sweida in Israel-Syria security talks, four sources told Reuters. A Syrian source said the demand had derailed plans to announce a deal this week. In previous talks in Paris, Syria rejected this same request as a breach of its sovereignty. Maya Gebeily reports.

The Indian government on Friday detained Sonam Wangchuk, the leader of a popular protest movement in Ladakh, accusing him of instigating violent protests that threatened national security. The protests in Ladakh last Wednesday, associated with Wangchuk’s arrest, called for greater governmental autonomy in the region. Anupreeta Das and Hari Kumar report for the New York Times.

IRAN

The U.N. Security Council on Saturday reinstated an arms embargo and other sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, activating the snapback mechanism. While Tehran has warned of a harsh response to the reimposition of sanctions, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that Iran had no plans to leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.

Iran’s intelligence service attempted to recruit “hundreds of [Israeli] citizens” via phone calls on Saturday, the Israeli police said in a statement. When they picked up, “a person spoke to them and offered to recruit them to an Iranian organisation.” Dana Karni and Catherine Nicholls report for CNN.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

The Supreme Court granted an injunction on Friday, allowing the Trump administration to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid previously appropriated by Congress. The majority wrote that based on its “preliminary view” of the case’s merits, the plaintiffs did not have a legal right to bring a lawsuit under the relevant federal statutes. The short, unsigned order on the court’s emergency docket was issued over the dissent of three liberal judges. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.

Oregon and Portland yesterday sued to block Trump from deploying the state’s national guard, arguing that the move amounts to an unconstitutional abuse of power. “Far from promoting public safety, Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry”, the lawsuit contends. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to uphold Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. In a pair of petitions, the government lawyers argued that the Constitution’s promise of citizenship was conferred on “freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal aliens.” Abbie VanSickle reports for the New York Times.

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions