Rob Menendez, a congressional Democrat, called the supreme court\u2019s decision \u201cindefensible\u201d, adding:<\/p>\n
double quotation markTaxpayers shouldn\u2019t fund tearing people from the only home they\u2019ve ever known, nor should our legal system fast-track these unilateral deportations.<\/p>\n
The conservative-dominated high court granted an emergency request by the Trump administration<\/a> to suspend a lower court ruling that restricted, but did not outright ban, so-called \u201cthird-country removals\u201d.<\/p>\n After the ruling, Democratic lawmakers pushed for the tightening of protections to prevent such deportations where lives could be at risk and to uphold due process.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress must step in. No one should be shipped off to a country that is not their own without basic due process and a meaningful opportunity to raise legitimate fears for their safety,\u201d House Democrat Lois Frankel said<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n Donald Trump announced that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a \u201cmorally binding\u201d agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. Trump did not give further details on the controls, but he suggested that the deal would allow the companies to largely \u201cself-police\u201d their products and technology. Later, Trump signed an executive order calling for \u201cartificial intelligence\u201d to be renamed \u201csuper intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n Jack Smith faced Senate lawmakers on the judiciary committee for a contentious hearing that saw a number of Republicans accuse the former special prosecutor of perjury, and conducting a political witch-hunt against Trump when he secured two indictments against the president that were later dismissed when he took office.<\/p>\n A Republican senator blocked a bipartisan bill that would have prevented Donald Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center without the approval of Congress. Mike Lee, of Utah, objected when the Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley asked the Senate to pass the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act<\/a> by unanimous consent.<\/p>\n The US Senate rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.<\/p>\n JD Vance and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr spoke at the conclusion of the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington. Several reporters were denied entry to the event.<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors have charged a Venezuelan delivery driver shot by ICE agents in Texas this month with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, 28, was shot by federal immigration officers after a traffic stop in Texas on 20 September. The charge echoes similar claims federal immigration officers have made about immigrants and anti-ICE protesters, including Minnesota mother Renee Good, \u201cweaponizing their vehicles\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.10 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Rachel Leingang<\/a> and Riley Messer<\/p>\n Some of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr\u2019s Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.<\/p>\n The ascension of RFK Jr to secretary of health and human services has boosted his putative campaign to end chronic illness in the US, which he believes is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices, along with an overuse of what he falsely claims are dangerous vaccines. The \u201cMaha\u201d movement blends long-running mainstream concerns about food and farm safety with conspiracy theories about everything from medicine to milk. A Maha \u201csummit<\/a>\u201d in Washington this week will feature JD Vance and several members of Trump\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n A KFF poll<\/a> from May 2026 reveals that some Maha themes resonate with a broad segment of US adults. About four in 10 say they support the Maha movement, while a majority of the public say there is not enough regulation of pesticides used in agriculture (64%) or of chemical food additives (75%).<\/p>\n Cross-partisan support in Washington on some of these issues poses a threat to the food industry\u2019s bottom line \u2013 though the Trump administration has largely stopped short<\/a> of enacting new regulations.<\/p>\n But several large corporations are fighting back. An effort by the Center for Food<\/a> Integrity, an industry-funded non-profit, tracks public sentiment around key issues central to Maha and suggests ways that agricultural interests can counter those narratives by appealing to emotion or scientific reasoning.<\/p>\n They call it Gaha: Growing a Healthier America. Documents show the coordinated effort is tracking Maha closely and researching ways to respond to the movement\u2019s claims without alienating its supporters. They are focused on several key areas: seed oils, pesticides, high-fructose corn syrup, regenerative agriculture, organic farming, raw milk\/dairy and \u201cbig ag\u201d, internal documents obtained by the Guardian and Documented show.<\/p>\n Read the full report here: <\/p>\n Share<\/a>Hegseth expected to announce cuts at Quantico address \u2013 reports<\/p>\n Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to announce a 20% cut to the generals and admirals serving in the military, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n Hegseth plans set out the reductions today in a speech at his second so-called \u201cState of the Forces\u201d address at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Fox News first reported the cuts, which are due to be completed by 1 January 2027. The Pentagon did not immediately return the Guardian\u2019s request for confirmation.<\/p>\n This is the latest cull at the Department of Defense, after Hegseth blasted \u201cfat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon\u201d in last year\u2019s address, and ordered a 20% reduction in active-duty four-star generals, and a 10% cut in one to three star officers.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.34 EDT<\/p>\n Donald Trump will be in Washington today. We\u2019ll hear from him at 11am ET for a Hispanic Heritage month at the White House. Later, the president will make an announcement alongside the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, widely expected to be about a multibillion-dollar investment from South Korea, according to reports.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring you the latest as those get under way.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.15 EDT<\/p>\n Iranian officials indicated today that they have received an official US response to Tehran\u2019s latest proposal to end the seven-month war, which Donald Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier.<\/p>\n The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a rejection or not.<\/p>\n Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi presented the US response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people,\u201d Pezeshkian said. \u201cThe agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.14 EDT<\/p>\n The \u2060Republican chair of the congressional committee focused on China is calling on the Trump administration<\/a> to scrutinize US ally South Korea\u2019s warming ties with China, which he said pose \u201csignificant risks\u201d to the United States.<\/p>\n In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, representative \u2060John Moolenaar urged \u201cheightened vigilance\u201d about the \u2060relationship, citing deepening leader-level ties, \u200bSouth Korean semiconductor investment in China, and unfair treatment of American firms in South Korea compared with Chinese rivals.<\/p>\n Moolenaar described South Korea as \u201ca major American ally,\u201d but warned of \u201cthe potential for frictions to develop into a structural shift in Seoul\u2019s \u2060alignment\u201d requiring \u201cclose monitoring and, as necessary, concerted action\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Trump campaign ads paid with public money violate federal law, critics say Federal regulators have been urged to stop the broadcast of White House advertisements promoting Donald Trump<\/a> that critics say amounts to government propaganda and violate laws against using public money to promote partisan causes.<\/p>\n Public Citizen, an advocacy group, called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene and block further airing of three ads it said<\/a> were \u201cdesigned to boost the image and character of Donald Trump\u201d as part of the Republicans\u2019 campaign for November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n \u201cFederal law explicitly prohibits using appropriated public funds for government propaganda, self-aggrandizement, or partisan political advertising,\u201d the organization wrote. \u201cYet, that is exactly the nature of Trump\u2019s recent campaign ads.\u201d<\/p>\n Broadcast stations cannot reject ads from legally qualified political candidates \u2013 but Trump is not technically a candidate, although he has urged voters to imagine that he is<\/a>, on the November ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic Citizen strongly urges the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to direct broadcasters to stop broadcasting these apparently illegal campaign advertisements and calls on individual broadcasters to cease airing the campaign advertisements,\u201d the group wrote in a letter addressed to both agencies.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Joseph Gedeon<\/p>\n The US Senate on Tuesday evening rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank<\/a>, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.<\/p>\n The resolution, led by the Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, would have given the state department 30 days to report to Congress on those deaths and on wider human rights conditions in the territory, including Israel\u2019s detention of Palestinian children.<\/p>\n The resolution failed to advance by a vote of 47 to 51. Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, joined Republicans<\/a> in voting against the resolution, while Kentucky Republican Rand Paul voted in favor.<\/p>\n Van Hollen was able to force the vote under section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, a law that lets senators demand human rights reports on countries receiving US military aid. The measure drew 24 Democratic and independent sponsors, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the foreign relations committee.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I was pleased that so many of my Democratic colleagues joined this effort, it\u2019s clear the United States must do more,\u201d Van Hollen said in a statement after the vote. \u201cIt is our responsibility to ensure recipients of US taxpayer dollars act in line with our laws and our values \u2013 this resolution was an opportunity to shed light on a reality that flies in the face of that principle.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.13 EDT<\/p>\n Experts have expressed skeptism of putting \u201cso much faith in self-policing\u201d in response to Donald Trump\u2019s AI accord.<\/p>\n Robin Jia, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Southern California, said it\u2019s crucial to ensure the leading labs\u2019 intentions are \u201cwell-aligned with the broader interest of the American public\u201d.<\/p>\n He pointed to the recent disclosures of hacking incidents and said:<\/p>\n double quotation markAs the models get better, the consequences of such things are only going to get greater.<\/p>\n Some also took issue with the accord\u2019s vague, broad language.<\/p>\n Alex Pascal, executive director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe only way to reduce the risks and harms of AI to Americans is through robust legal liability, regulation and fundamentally changing the race dynamics that are driving unsafe decision-making by frontier AI developers whose costs are borne by the American people.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.12 EDT<\/p>\n Nick Robins-Early<\/p>\n Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a \u201cmorally binding\u201d agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. He announced the deal, called the Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities, following a White House luncheon with top tech executives.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a constitution in a way, and the biggest \u200bpeople in the world signed that, and \u200bI signed it as president, and it really \u2060is a form of protection,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Trump also signed an executive order renaming artificial intelligence to \u201csuperintelligence\u201d, similar to a declaration he made at the United Nations last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Order directs all departments and agencies to use the terms \u2018Super Intelligence\u2019 and \u2018SI\u2019 in official correspondence, public communications, policy documents, and non-statutory documents within the executive branch and to no longer acknowledge the terms \u2018Artificial Intelligence\u2019 or \u2018AI\u2019,\u201d the order declared.<\/p>\n The agreement, which Trump suggested would allow the companies to perform \u201ctremendous self-policing\u201d of their products and technologies, outlines a vague framework for how AI firms would establish safety standards as they test out new products.<\/p>\n The tech industry has faced increased public scrutiny following a series of incidents where major AI companies inadvertently hacked into outside organizations during safety tests.<\/p>\n While lawmakers, AI researchers and even some AI companies have called for more government oversight of artificial intelligence, Trump has broadly rejected calls for more regulation of the technology \u2013 citing competition with China and threats to economic growth.<\/p>\n The joint commitment that Trump posted to his Truth Social account on Tuesday appears to carry no enforcement mechanisms or legal implications and is instead a voluntary commitment.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.11 EDT<\/p>\n Democratic lawmakers call for protections over third country deportations after ‘indefensible’ supreme court ruling<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.<\/p>\n Democratic lawmakers have called for more formalized steps to prevent the US government from deporting people to countries where their lives would be in danger or they could be subject to torture.<\/p>\n It comes as the US supreme court<\/a> on Tuesday lifted restrictions on the deportations of immigrants to countries that are not their own, while agreeing to hear the issue on its merits in December.<\/p>\n Rob Menendez, a congressional Democrat, called the supreme court\u2019s decision \u201cindefensible\u201d, adding:<\/p>\n double quotation markTaxpayers shouldn\u2019t fund tearing people from the only home they\u2019ve ever known, nor should our legal system fast-track these unilateral deportations.<\/p>\n The conservative-dominated high court granted an emergency request by the Trump administration<\/a> to suspend a lower court ruling that restricted, but did not outright ban, so-called \u201cthird-country removals\u201d.<\/p>\n After the ruling, Democratic lawmakers pushed for the tightening of protections to prevent such deportations where lives could be at risk and to uphold due process.<\/p>\n \u201cCongress must step in. No one should be shipped off to a country that is not their own without basic due process and a meaningful opportunity to raise legitimate fears for their safety,\u201d House Democrat Lois Frankel said<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has defended third-country deportations as necessary since the home nations of some of those who are targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n Donald Trump announced that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a \u201cmorally binding\u201d agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. Trump did not give further details on the controls, but he suggested that the deal would allow the companies to largely \u201cself-police\u201d their products and technology. Later, Trump signed an executive order calling for \u201cartificial intelligence\u201d to be renamed \u201csuper intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n Jack Smith faced Senate lawmakers on the judiciary committee for a contentious hearing that saw a number of Republicans accuse the former special prosecutor of perjury, and conducting a political witch-hunt against Trump when he secured two indictments against the president that were later dismissed when he took office.<\/p>\n A Republican senator blocked a bipartisan bill that would have prevented Donald Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center without the approval of Congress. Mike Lee, of Utah, objected when the Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley asked the Senate to pass the Protecting Presidential Memorials Act<\/a> by unanimous consent.<\/p>\n The US Senate rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.<\/p>\n JD Vance and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr spoke at the conclusion of the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington. Several reporters were denied entry to the event.<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors have charged a Venezuelan delivery driver shot by ICE agents in Texas this month with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, 28, was shot by federal immigration officers after a traffic stop in Texas on 20 September. The charge echoes similar claims federal immigration officers have made about immigrants and anti-ICE protesters, including Minnesota mother Renee Good, \u201cweaponizing their vehicles\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tait.jpg\")
Robert Tait<\/p>\n