Morning Report — Trump deploys Marines amid LA tensions ...Middle East

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In today’s issue:  

President Trump on Monday described the Los Angeles protests against his administration’s migrant deportation policies as “well under control” just as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) filed suit against Trump, alleging he overstepped his authority by mobilizing the National Guard when there was no “invasion” against the U.S. government.

The president told reporters he wanted the governor’s support as clashes between protesters and police quieted while crowds dispersed on Monday. “Gavin is the big beneficiary as we straighten out his problems. I mean, his state is a mess,” Trump said.

Even as the city of nearly 4 million people calmed on Monday, the administration deployed roughly 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to the Los Angeles area, assigned to protect federal buildings and personnel and not to engage with protesters. 

The governor again objected late Monday after he said he learned another 2,000 National Guard members were under Trump’s orders to mobilize. “This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego,” he wrote on social media. “This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”

Newsom maintains that local law enforcement officers have managed crowd control, highway safety and incidents of property destruction. Police used tear gas and more than 600 rubber bullets and other “less than lethal” munitions among the protesters over the weekend, the Los Angeles department said Monday. Newsom argued that use of military troops in domestic law enforcement added to public tensions and represented an illegal infringement of the governor’s sovereign state authority under law. 

The Associated Press: Trump vows to “HIT” any protester in California who spits on police. He pardoned those who did far worse during the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

Newsom, widely viewed as a leading contender for the presidency in 2028, maintains that Trump sought to elbow his way into a weekend drama while failing to evaluate, consult or tap local law enforcement expertise. 

Trump and Newsom have tussled before and spoke by phone on Friday about the demonstrators in Los Angeles who object to federal arrests of migrants targeted for deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The administration boasted on Monday of more than 100,000 nationwide ICE arrests since Trump began his second term. 

The Los Angeles Times: The breakdown between Trump and Newsom deepens as the L.A. crisis intensifies. The White House threatened the governor’s arrest. 

Newsom on Sunday during an interview with MSNBC called the president’s mobilization of an initial 2,000 National Guard troops “an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act.” About 300 guard troops showed up in tactical gear in Los Angeles on Sunday, but it was local law enforcement, some in vehicles, on foot and on horseback, who handled high-tension situations of crowd control and made dozens of arrests as the downtown area was decreed unlawful as a place of public assembly.

The collision of leaders in the City of Angels has now landed in the courts as a test of presidential power, which by itself has become a project for the second Trump term. The president took aim at the largest blue state in the nation by citing a section of federal law that says he can call up members of a state’s National Guard if there is a foreign invasion, if there is a rebellion against the government or if a president is “unable with the regular forces” to carry out laws. 

NBC News: When have other presidents federalized the National Guard?

“It’s been rarely used, for good reason, because the conditions set forth that trigger its use are rare and infrequent — and do not exist here,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D).

▪ The Hill: Newsom accused the Pentagon of lying.

▪ The Associated Press: Here’s how Trump has repeatedly invoked emergency powers since Jan. 20.

▪ The Hill: Trump critics see a “run around” of the federal Insurrection Act.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Trump immigration plans meet a powerful adversary: unions. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday defended 42 Mexican nationals arrested in Los Angeles over the weekend. “We cannot intervene in the politics of the United States,” she said.

Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente said his country’s consular network in the United States provided legal advice to the Mexicans detained in California. Four were quickly deported, he said, either because they had a removal order or because they had volunteered to return. 

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN 

Of all the complexities involving the “one big, beautiful bill,” congressional Republicans are now dealing with a new-age issue: how to handle artificial intelligence. The House version includes language that would essentially put all regulatory control in the hands of the federal government for 10 years. 

Vice President Vance said on a recent podcast he doesn’t think that language will make it into the final bill. I spoke with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), chair of the Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology, who is pushing for that provision to remain.   

“It’s very difficult to be an entrepreneur when you have 50 different state regulations,” Obernolte told me. “So, all this is saying to the states — it's temporary. It's a temporary moratorium that says the federal government has to go first. And once the federal government has regulated the interstate commerce pieces, and we have a plan for doing that, then that will include some guardrails, and the states will be free outside of those guardrails to enact their own legislation.” 

The throughline here for Republicans with their bill isn’t how to make it bigger, as its name suggests. Rather, it’s how to slim it down.  

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY

▪ Mark Zuckerberg, frustrated with Meta’s progress, is personally hiring to create a new “superintelligence” AI team. 

▪ A federal judge in California on Monday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders applied to grant funding requirements. 

▪ “Inside America’s Death Chambers” is The Atlantic’s cover story by Elizabeth Bruenig, a journalist who has witnessed many executions. 

LEADING THE DAY

© The Associated Press | John McDonnell

BIG, BEAUTIFUL BUDGET CUTS: Senate Republicans are deeply divided over how to cut the cost of the House-passed megabill to enact Trump’s agenda. GOP lawmakers have expanded their search for ways to reduce the deficit by cutting Medicare, the Defense Department and the Federal Reserve — areas of the budget that were considered off limits just a few weeks ago. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is warning colleagues to steer clear of cutting Medicare spending, even though proponents of the idea insist it would be targeted only on “waste, fraud and abuse.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said lawmakers are discussing a proposal sponsored by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that could save up to $275 billion by cracking down on insurance companies that overcharge Medicare Advantage.

“No one is more concerned about our national debt than I am. I would like to cut more money on this bill,” Marshall said, proposing a half-trillion dollars in deficit reduction over the next decade. “If it was up to me, we would be going from $7 trillion a year to $6.5 trillion.”

▪ The Hill: Hardline conservatives in the House are making a broad swath of recommendations to make the megabill even more conservative.

▪ Military Times: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will appear before Congress today to discuss the fiscal 2026 military budget, even though the full White House request for his department has yet to be released.

▪ The Associated Press: Here are the Republican senators to watch in the maneuvering over Trump’s big bill.

▪ The Hill: The House on Monday approved a pair of resolutions condemning the antisemitism attack in Boulder, Co., as the chamber looks to crack down on the spate of incidents targeting Jewish individuals.

PROUD BOYS: A $100 million lawsuit brought by five Proud Boys leaders against the Justice Department on Friday faces steep legal odds, but its political cost could be significant. The Proud Boys members claim the government violated their constitutional rights in its prosecution of their efforts to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The Hill’s Ella Lee reports it places the Trump administration in an awkward position: defend the sweeping Jan. 6 prosecution or potentially pay out millions to the right-wing leaders convicted of spearheading the riot.  

“I would be shocked if there was any fulsome opposition put forth by the government here,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

DEPORTATION: Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, are pushing to keep a civil case against the Trump administration alive so they can seek sanctions against officials for allegedly violating orders to return him.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Tennessee asked a judge for a pre-trial detention hearing in the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia for which he was brought back to the U.S. The indictment alleges that Abrego Garcia participated in a years-long conspiracy to haul migrants without legal status from Texas to the interior of the country.

WHERE AND WHEN

ZOOM IN

© The Associated Press | Pablo Martinez Monsivais

UPROAR AT NIH: Thousands of staffers from across the National Institutes of Health are speaking out against the politicization of their research and termination of their work.

In a letter addressed to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, more than 2,000 signatories stated, “we dissent to Administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.” The staffers are demanding that the drastic changes made at the agency be walked back.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he’s removing every member of the independent panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines, an unprecedented escalation in his quest to reshape the agency. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy said the move was necessary to restore faith in vaccines.

Ahead of Kennedy’s Senate confirmation vote, Cassidy, the Louisiana senator, said Kennedy pledged to maintain the panel “without changes.” 

“Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,” Cassidy said in a Monday post on the social platform X. “I’ve just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I’ll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.”

The Hill: Why Trump turned against “gold standard” mRNA vaccines.

DNC TENSIONS: Tensions are reaching a boiling point between David Hogg and Democratic National Committee (DNC) leadership as the organization moves to potentially redo Hogg’s election as vice chair. DNC officials are set to vote virtually this week on whether to redo the vice chair elections, a move that is technically unrelated to the controversy surrounding Hogg. 

It has underscored the frustrations many in the party feel toward the 25-year-old gun control activist. Hogg is rattling members of the party as he’s shown no signs of reversing course on getting involved in Democratic primaries as a sitting DNC officer.

“David Hogg is one of the biggest distractions we’ve had and seen in our party,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, who advised former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and hopes Hogg loses his seat. “I don’t trust him and I don’t think a lot of other people who are associated with the party should trust him.” 

The Hill: Voters are heading to the polls in New Jersey today to choose nominees for the state’s gubernatorial race, one of only two in the country this year. Here’s what to watch.

ELSEWHERE

© The Hill | Greg Nash

UK IN THE US: Ambassador Peter Mandelson, the U.K.’s top diplomat in Washington, helped the Labour government strike the first foreign trade agreement with Trump, scoring what was widely seen as a win for Britain’s economy. Does Mandelson feel vindicated? 

“I probably feel more relieved,” he told The Hill’s Sarakshi Rai. Mandelson had a chorus of naysayers and detractors on both sides of the pond when his appointment was first announced six months ago — not helped by his past criticism of the new U.S. president and reputation as a cunning, center-left political strategist. 

TARIFF TALKS: Trade talks between the U.S. and China in London will continue today as the two sides look to ease tensions over shipments of technology and rare earth elements, but it remains unclear what additional concession Washington or Beijing might be prepared to make in a broader economic agreement.

Trump said that the talks were going well and he was “only getting good reports,” Reuters reports.

CNN: Experts say Beijing is unlikely to give up its strategic grip over the essential minerals, which are needed in a wide range of electronics, vehicles and defense systems.

UKRAINE VS. RUSSIA: Russian forces launched more than 500 drones into Ukraine overnight, an escalation in asymmetrical warfare. Ukraine destroyed most, Kyiv said. Meanwhile, a prisoner exchange is underway between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would unfold "in several stages" over the coming days. The wounded, seriously wounded and soldiers under 25 are being returned.

▪ CNN: Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to make Ukraine pay for its airbase attacks. What does he have left?

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Modern tech and old-school spycraft are redefining war. Ukraine’s strike against the Russian bomber fleet and Israel’s decapitation of Hezbollah herald the transformation of warfare.

GAZA: Israel said Tuesday that it had taken passengers who were detained aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, to an airport in Tel Aviv for deportation. Thunberg, 22, and several others were taken into Israeli custody in international waters early Monday while attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, which faces a food crisis amid Hamas’s ongoing war with Israel.

“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote in a post on X. “The passengers are expected to return to their home countries.”

Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, was also among the passengers. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the Madleen ship, said in a news release that the vessel was “attacked/forcibly intercepted by the Israeli military” and that “its unarmed civilian crew [was] abducted, and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies — confiscated.”

▪ CNN: Aid to Gaza hangs by a thread amid looting and starvation.

▪ The New York Times: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that Hamas had threatened its workers, a claim the militant group denied, as the United Nations warned that Gazans were far from getting the food they need.

OPINION

■ Democrats make Stephen Miller’s day, by The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

■ The best way to end the escalation in Los Angeles, by The Washington Post editorial board.

THE CLOSER

© The Associated Press | Sergei Grits

And finally … ? Nature is hazardous, so scientists are enlisting special helpers to be on the lookout for Asian needle ants, which can leave lethal stings and are holed up in forests in multiple states. The invasive species known as Brachyponera chinensis, roughly translated, means “short, wicked ant from China.”

One week after officials said two Chinese nationals unsuccessfully attempted to smuggle a dangerous fungus into the U.S., let’s not forget Customs and Border Protection agriculture agents last year at Dulles International Airport who spied two dangerous hitchhiking insects among imported flowers headed for a town in Virginia. Seized!  

And a sniffer brigade of trained canines in Ohio has located lanternfly eggs to help humans thwart the spreading bugs that damage grapes, fruit trees, hops and hardwoods. Experienced pups who work for treats have also used their noses to crack down on citrus canker disease in East Coast fruit trees and invasive species in ​​Wisconsin's Mequon Nature Preserve. 

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