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CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST Charlie Kirk was shot Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University, sparking an outpouring of bipartisan support and calls to lower the political temperature in the country.

"We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!" President Trump posted on Truth Social.

"Dear God, protect Charlie in his darkest hour," Vance President Vance posted. "Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called the shooting "disgusting, vile, and reprehensible."

"In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form," he added.

David Hogg, a prominent Gen-Z activist who survived the 2018 Parkland, Fla., school shooting, said gun violence and political violence “have to f - ng stop."

“Charlie, his family, and all the students who had to witness the shooting are in my thoughts,” Hogg wrote on social media.

Video from the university showed a large crowd gathered outdoors as Kirk addressed the audience.

The TPUSA co-founder appeared to be shot in the neck, with the crowd fleeing, based on eyewitnesses and video circulating on social media.

Kirk was rushed to the hospital. He is in critical condition.

The Utah Valley University Police confirmed to The Hill that at least one shot had been fired. The FBI said it was investigating the shooting.

Follow The Hill's live blog for rolling coverage.

CATCH UP QUICK

• A jury has been selected in the trial of a man accused of attempting to assassinate President Trump as he golfed in south Florida last year.

• Three former high-ranking FBI agents are suing Director Kash Patel in a suit seeking reinstatements to their posts, saying they were fired as part of a retribution campaign.

Russia's latest provocation rallies the West

PRESIDENT TRUMP signaled action against Russia could be on the way, as NATO allies gathered to strategize over how to address Moscow’s latest military provocation.

NATO fighter jets downed Russian drones that crossed into Polish air space on Wednesday.

Russia’s Defense Ministry played off the violation, saying the drones “lost their course” en route to attacks on Ukraine. European leaders insist the breach was intentional, with NATO allies convening an Article 4 meeting.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country is the “closest we have been to open conflict since World War II.”

“I want to emphasize very strongly that there is no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but there is no doubt that this provocation exceeds the existing boundaries and is incomparably more dangerous from Poland’s point of view than all the others,” Tusk said, according to a translation by the BBC.

“The situation is serious, and no one doubts that we must prepare for various scenarios,” Tusk added.

Trump, who has given Russian President Vladimir Putin shifting deadlines to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a peace deal, posted a cryptic message on Truth Social.

“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?” he said. “Here we go!”

The dust-up comes less than a week after Trump hosted Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) called the Russian drone incursion “an act of war.”

“We are grateful to NATO allies for their swift response,” Wilson posted on X.

Russia has ramped up its attacks on Kyiv in recent days, launching drone and cruise missile attacks that killed more than 20 people and damaged a government building.

Bipartisan lawmakers, led by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), issued a statement calling for the swift passage of sanctions against Russia.

“Putin has shown us time and again that he is a liar and a murderer. He never wanted peace. Congress should swiftly pass legislation that imposes crippling sanctions on Putin’s regime and cement continued U.S. military support to Ukraine and NATO’s Eastern Flank,” the lawmakers said in a statement.

GOP senators have so far deferred to Trump on a sanctions package.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday Congress is ready to act at Trump’s direction.

“We stand ready to pass legislation authorizing bone crushing new sanctions and tariffs that can be deployed at your discretion,” Graham said. “Our goal is to empower you as you deal with this mounting threat.”

MEANWHILE...

Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, has further isolated the country from the international community.

The strike provoked a rare rebuke from the White House on Tuesday, which said it "does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”

Trump added: “I’m not thrilled about the whole situation, it’s not a good situation.”

Qatar accused Israel of violating international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unapologetic.

“I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice,” he said. “Because if you don’t, we will.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Putin is testing NATO’s mettle with its wargames in Poland.

• The Free Press: Israel shatters Qatar’s politics of ambiguity.

• The Atlantic: You need to see Epstein’s birthday book for yourself.

Read more:

• NATO’s Article 4 invoked over Russian drones in Poland: What to know.

• GOP rebels join Democrats to vote on repealing Iraq War authorizations.

• Princeton student freed by Iran-backed militia, Trump and Iraq announce.

• 5 takeaways on Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

© Greg Nash

Schumer ambushes GOP; Harris unloads on Biden world

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) ambushed the Senate GOP on Wednesday by using a procedural loophole to file an amendment on a must-pass national defense bill that would force the release of all government records pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Schumer offered the amendment to to the National Defense Authorization Act, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) hopes to pass before Congress leaves town for Rosh Hashanah later this month.

The amendment is the same Epstein transparency bill pushed by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), which Trump opposed and did not receive enough support from Republicans in the House to force a vote.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes:

"Schumer took advantage of Republicans not immediately filling the amendment tree to the defense authorization measure. Thune and his leadership team were in the process of negotiating amendments when Schumer jumped in front of the line by offering his Epstein-related proposal.”

This comes as Congress must pass a bill to continue funding the government to avoid a shutdown at the end of the month, with only 8 legislative work days remaining in September.

The White House is seeking a funding stopgap that would last until Jan. 31, a longer funding patch than Congressional Republicans had been considering.

Schumer on Wednesday warned the proposals Republicans are considering don’t have enough Democratic support to pass the Senate.

“What the Republicans have proposed is not good enough to meet the needs of the American people and not good enough to get our votes,” Schumer told reporters.

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is seeking to move a continuing resolution (CR) combined with updated allocations for several agencies.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Democrats won’t support a “clean” CR that maintains current spending levels.

“A continuing resolution that continues the failed policies of the Republican Party that we voted against is not the type of policy that actually meets the needs of the American people,” Jeffries said.

MEANWHILE…

The first excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris's new book is out, and she’s pointing fingers at President Biden and his staff for her 2024 election loss to President Trump.

Harris said Biden’s decision to run for reelection amounted to “recklessness,” but she argued that it would have been “self-serving” of her to ask him to step aside, according to an excerpt from her book published by The Atlantic.

"‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” she added. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision,” she writes.

Harris’s new book is called “107 Days,” emphasizing the short runway she had to run for president after Biden dropped out in the middle of the campaign following a disastrous debate performance that cemented concerns about his age and ability to run the country.

Harris acknowledges in the book that Biden “got tired,” but she said she doesn’t believe that his struggles in office were due to “incapacity.”

The nation shifted to the right in 2024, with Trump winning every swing state and becoming the first GOP candidate to win the popular vote since George W. Bush in 2004.

In another excerpt, Harris accused Biden’s staff of repeatedly undermining her during her term as vice president.

“I often learned that the president’s staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me,” Harris wrote.

“Their thinking was zero-sum: If she’s shining, he’s dimmed. None of them grasped that if I did well, he did well,” she added.

💡Perspectives:

• Very Serious: Dems must say that sports should be organized by sex.

• The Liberal Patriot: Independents are done with everyone.

• The Bulwark: Mamdani is not a communist.

• Tim Kaine: America's rights depend on laws, not religious authority.

• The Hill: Democratic influencers can’t figure out how to talk to voters.

Read more:

• 5 legal battles over redistricting to watch.

• Trump tied in knots by Mamdani questions in New York.

• Key takeaways from Virginia special election, Boston mayor’s race.

• Democrats target 5 House Republicans with Epstein-related ads.

• Trump’s all-guns-blazing approach backfires on Epstein birthday letter.

IN OTHER NEWS

© Seth Wenig, Associated Press

Wholesale prices fall unexpectedly

Wholesale prices fell unexpectedly in August, further bolstering the case for interest rate cuts when the Federal Reserve meets next week.

The producer price index (PPI) fell by 0.1 percent. Economists had expected PPI to rise by 0.3 percent due to President Trump’s tariffs.

The White House celebrated the positive inflation data.

“The latest PPI report shows there is no inflation - wholesale prices fell and smashed economists’ expectations,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “President Trump has defeated Joe Biden’s inflation crisis while successfully implementing powerful tariffs, which haven’t hiked prices like the so-called ‘experts’ claimed.”

The lower-than-expected PPI, coupled with the softening labor market, all but guarantee the Fed will cut rates at the board meeting next week.

The big question now is whether the Fed will implement one, two or possibly three rate cuts before the end of the year.

Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook will be on hand for next week’s vote after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s attempt to fire her.

Trump’s nominee to fill a vacant board seat, Stephen Miran, will also likely be on hand for his first vote, as he’s expected to be confirmed by the Senate this week.

The latest Fed board meeting comes amid growing fears of an economic recession after the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday the country added almost a million fewer jobs over the 12 months ending in March than had been previously reported.

“I think the economy is weakening,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC. “Whether it’s on the way to recession or just weakening, I don’t know.”

MEANWHILE…

The Supreme Court will quickly consider whether Trump can use emergency powers to justify his global tariffs.

The expedited schedule will put the case before high court in the first week of November, after lower courts rejected the administration’s arguments that the president has the power to enforce tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The Hill’s Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld write:

“The stakes are tremendous. A loss at the high court would doom the president’s efforts to refashion global trade. But a victory could cement new presidential powers and clear Trump’s path to greater executive authority. On the line is Trump’s global “Liberation Day” tariffs and a series of levies specifically against Canada, China and Mexico dating back to February.”

💡Perspectives:

• Inflation erased U.S. income gains last year.

• Trump administration loosens corporate taxes after pulling out of global deal.

• Trump says US, India continuing to negotiate trade deal.

• Trump signs order to crack down on prescription drug advertising.

Read more:

• New York Post: Zarutska’s murder exposes the left’s incoherence on crime.

• MSNBC: GOP tries to sell Americans on the benefits of being occupied.

• Spiked: Why the media ignored the North Carolina train murder.

• Washington Examiner: The grim news about jobs.

• CNN: Massive jobs revisions are a stain on Joe Biden’s legacy, too.

DC federal takeover ends

The president is looking for new cities to send in troops to combat crime, as the federal takeover of Washington, D.C., draws to a close.

Trump’s emergency order taking over the Metropolitan Police Department expires on Wednesday, although National Guard troops are expected to continue their patrols in the city for an unspecified amount of time.

House Republicans took up a slate of bills Wednesday aimed at overhauling the District’s criminal justice system and reducing the autonomy of the local government.

The president made a rare trip out to dinner in the nation’s capital on Tuesday night to showcase the city’s safety.

Crime has fallen and thousands of arrests have been made over the past month, although Democrats question whether the extraordinary measures were worth it.

Trump has been in a standoff with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) over crime in Chicago, with the president threatening to send National Guard troops there next.

However, the administration appears to be backing off, saying it only wants to go into cities where local leaders will support the federal intervention.

“[Chicago is] a progressive city and they don't want the president's help. That’s on them,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News on Tuesday night. “Chicago should be begging Donald Trump for help to keep Chicago safe - yet they aren't. So we’re going to a city who wants us there.”

Still, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ramped up immigration raids in Chicago this week, following similar surges in Boston and Los Angeles.

ABC News reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials made three arrests on Tuesday as part of their “Operation Midway Blitz.”

MEANWHILE…

Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee who was murdered on the light rail in Charlotte, N.C. last month, has become the face of the GOP’s crime crackdown.

Security video captured the brutal stabbing of Zarutska by Decarlos Brown Jr., who has a long criminal record. Brown faces murder charges and President Trump said Wednesday he should face the death penalty.

“The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a “Quick” (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY,” he posted on TruthSocial. “There can be no other option!!!”

The Trump administration has blamed lax crime policies and the judges who freed Brown without bail for Zarutska’s death.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday said the federal government is launching an investigation into the Charlotte transit system’s security protocols.

Zarutska’s family is pressing Charlotte’s leaders for public safety reforms.

“This could have been anyone riding the light rail that night,” the family said in a statement to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. “We are committed to making sure this never happens again.”

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Source: The Hill - News