Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.
In today’s issue:
▪ Fed meets amid political storm
▪ House GOP eyes stopgap
▪ Trump’s UK state visit 2.0
▪ Rubio’s Gaza ceasefire doubts
FBI Director Kash Patel faces a high-stake hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee today as he fends off frustration from the right over his handling of the investigation into Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Patel took to Fox News on Monday to defend his role in the manhunt for the suspect in Kirk’s killing. The FBI chief waved away criticism of a stumble last week in which he announced the arrest of a “subject” — only to reverse course less than two hours later to say they had been released.
“I was being transparent with working with the public on our findings as I had them, I stated in that message that we had a subject and that we were going to interview him, and we did, and he was released,” Patel said.
“Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment, sure, but do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not.”
After a multi-day manhunt, authorities announced Friday the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, saying his father pushed him to turn himself in. Robinson is set to make his first court appearance today.
MAGA BACKLASH: Patel has always been seen as a controversial pick for the top FBI role, with Democrats warning he would politicize the independent law enforcement agency. Now he’s facing a bigger problem: growing criticism on the right.
“He performed terribly in the last few days, and it’s not clear whether he has the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt the violent movements—of whatever ideology—that threaten the peace in the United States,” anti-DEI crusader Christopher Rufo posted on the social platform X on Friday.
Steve Bannon, who regularly hosted Patel on his “War Room” podcast before his FBI appointment, conceded the Kirk shooting manhunt “was not great law enforcement work.”
Tuesday’s Senate hearing — along with a Wednesday hearing before the House Judiciary Committee — will show whether that frustration extends to Republicans in Congress, and give Patel a chance to confront the criticism.
▪ The Hill: Lawmakers set to grill Patel in back-to-back hearings.
▪ Fox News: Knives are out for the embattled FBI director.
Despite some reported tensions within the administration, President Trump has publicly backed Patel.
“I am very proud of the FBI,” Trump told Fox News Digital over the weekend. “Kash—and everyone else—they have done a great job.”
Patel has portrayed his stumbles as being the consequence of atypical transparency, also claiming the 33 hours it took to catch Robinson were relatively fast compared with other high-profile manhunts.
“I challenge anyone out there to find a director who has been more transparent and more willing to work with the media with high-profile cases or any cases that the FBI is handling than we have been under my leadership,” Patel said Monday.
FRIENDLY TURF: Republicans on the House and Senate Judiciary committees are also likely to bring up other issues and investigations that fall in Patel’s wheelhouse, focusing on Trump’s political opponents.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to Patel in July asking him to open a new probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server.
The FBI last month searched the home and office of former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who has become a relentless Trump critic in his second term. An FBI affidavit explained the Trump administration believes Bolton may have wrongly revealed classified information in drafting his memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”
The bureau is also reportedly investigating former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for possible false statements to Congress.
▪ The Hill: Right adopts take-no-prisoners approach to ‘radical left’ after Kirk assassination.
▪ The Hill: Trump ramps up attacks on left after Kirk killing.
▪ Washington Post: Vice President Vance vows retribution on liberal institutions after Kirk’s killing.
Smart Take with Blake Burman
After months of negotiations, the White House is now signaling that a deal could be taking shape to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. The race has been on to find an American buyer for the Chinese social media platform since 2024, when Congress passed a broadly bipartisan bill to shut down the app in the U.S., if it wasn’t sold. Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Leary Ventures, told me there have always been buyers for TikTok, but the difference now is that China could agree to be the seller.
“At the end of the day, if Xi can own 20 percent, it’s, you know, face saving,” said O’Leary. “And the rules are the rules, you’re allowed to have foreign ownership, as long as it’s approved. And so, I think this deal will be approved by Congress.”
O’Leary told me he thinks implementation of a deal could take somewhere between 11-18 months, given the need to rewrite code and other issues. If a deal is announced in the coming days, that would signal just the beginning of some bigger changes to the app used by roughly half of Americans.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 Things to Know Today
1. Israel’s military expanded its operations into Gaza City overnight with strikes that killed at least 34 Palestinians, according to the hospital that received the bodies.
2. At the United Auto Workers, a small but vocal faction is gearing up for a long-shot bid to oust union President Shawn Fain as he prepares to run for reelection.
3. Southwest Airlines requires passengers beginning Sept. 25 to remove lithium batteries from mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs before boarding, as a safety precaution.
Leading the Day
CONGRESS: House GOP leaders are eyeing a plan to avoid a shutdown in two weeks, with sources telling The Hill that it will be a mostly “clean” continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through Nov. 20.
House leaders face a tight time crunch to pass the plan by the week’s end, with lawmakers scheduled to leave Washington next week for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. They are headed for a showdown with Democrats, who have called for any stopgap to include major concessions on health care.
“Partisan legislation that continues the unprecedented Republican assault on healthcare is not a clean spending bill. It’s a dirty one,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote on X on Monday.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Democrats of “playing games” with funding in a Sunday appearance on Fox News. He said the stopgap bill would be “clean in its scope,” adding, “I surely hope the Democrats will not try to make this a big, partisan fight.”
Trump joined the lobbying effort on Monday with a Truth Social post, writing: “In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote ‘YES!’ on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CR this week out of the House of Representatives.”
There’s already grumbling among Republicans.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) posted Monday: “I already hated status quo thinking and approaches (soft incrementalism at best), so I’m out on another CR for the sake of more government.”
Republicans can only lose two votes in the House if all Democrats oppose the measure.
▪ The Hill: Congress’ shutdown showdown intensifies ahead of deadline.
SECURITY FUNDING: Included in the list of requests lawmakers are sorting through is a reported ask from the White House for a $58 million security boost for government officials made in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
Members on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about security in the wake of the shooting, which comes as fears over political violence have been on the rise.
“We’re in a deliberate review process right now to determine what measures are appropriate, how much we could allocate for that,” Johnson told reporters last week. “We’ve got to protect people who run for public office or no one will, and that’s heavy on our hearts and minds.”
Democrats including Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Bennie Thompson (Miss.) have expressed support for considering security funding in the spending deal.
“I don’t know what House Administration, the Speaker and other folks are going to do, but I think every precaution that can be made should be afforded members,” Thompson said Thursday.
RUSSIA SANCTIONS: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday poured cold water on the likelihood that bipartisan legislation to place heavy sanctions on countries that buy oil from Russia will be added to a stopgap spending bill.
Senate Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated and exasperated over Trump’s refusal to give them the go-ahead to move tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that buy its oil.
Trump has pressed European allies to levy harsher sanctions against Russia, but he has dragged his feet on the Senate bill, which GOP senators were hoping to get done in July.
“I would say that Russia sanctions — I’m hoping, I talked to Lindsey [Graham] over the weekend. I hope it’s ripe here soon, but I think one of the things the president is trying to ensure happens before we do secondary sanctions is that our European allies join us,” Thune told reporters.
“I think it would … minimize the effectiveness of the sanctions unless we have all of our allies join us,” he added.
▪ The Hill: Frustrated GOP senators blow steam on Russia: “Sick of” Trump, Vance “love affair” with Putin.
▪ The Hill: Battle brewing over Syria sanctions repeal in Congress.
FED UP: The Federal Reserve’s board of governors begins a two-day meeting Tuesday, with markets expecting a 0.25 percent interest rate cut announcement at its conclusion on Wednesday.
There’s a lot of drama beyond the cost of borrowing.
A federal appeals court on Monday night blocked an attempt by Trump to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook to keep her from participating in this week’s meeting, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court battle.
“Given these unique circumstances, and Cook’s strong likelihood of success on at least her due process claim, the government’s request for relief is rightly denied,” U.S. Circuit Judge Brad Garcia wrote for the majority.
A federal judge last week ruled Cook can continue her work at the Fed as she fights Trump’s attempt to fire her over claims of mortgage fraud. The New York Times reported on documents over the weekend that appear to bolster Cook’s denials of wrongdoing.
▪ Yahoo Finance: ‘Worst kind of setup for the Fed’: What Wall Street is saying about the central bank’s next rate decision.
The Senate on Monday evening voted to confirm Stephen Miran to the Fed board. Trump tapped Miran, one of his top economic advisers, to fill the seat left vacant by Adriana Kugler, who left the Fed in August.
Miran, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, was confirmed in a 48-47 vote along party lines. He’s stepping into a term that expires in January, but could end up serving well beyond that if a successor for the open seat is not named.
He has said he will take a leave of absence from the White House Council of Economic Advisers rather than resign from the post, fueling concerns about his independence from Trump.
Trump for months has called on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates. A recent run of disappointing jobs reports has added to that pressure, with the unemployment rate currently at its highest level since 2021.
While inflation remains above the Fed’s target of 2 percent — consumer prices accelerated 2.9 percent in August, according to the Labor Department, while core inflation held steady at 3.1 percent — Powell signaled last month the jobs numbers were more concerning.
“In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside, and risks to employment to the downside — a challenging situation,” he said during a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. “When our goals are in tension like this, our framework calls for us to balance both sides of our dual mandate.”
When & Where
The president and first lady will depart the White House for London at 8:30 a.m. EDT. They will arrive around 3:50 p.m. EDT
The House and Senate will meet at 10 a.m.
Zoom In
ROYAL TREATMENT: Trump heads to the United Kingdom today for a second state visit, after he made the official trip across the pond in 2019 during his first term.
Repeat state visits are not typical in Britain. Trump will be the first American president to have been invited for two state visits; his first took place at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022.
“I look forward to saying hello to [King Charles III] and [Queen Camilla],” Trump told NBC News. “It’s going to be incredible. It’s such a great honor.”
But questions abound ahead of the visit, The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in The Memo.
European leaders hope British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will work to convince Trump to take a tougher line with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, the forced resignation of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. for his ties to Jeffrey Epstein stands in stark contrast to the stalled document releases in Washington.
And then there’s the proposed “nuclear power pact” between the two countries, details of which remain scarce.
▪ Reuters: The U.S. and U.K. will announce tech and energy deals worth more than $10 billion during Trump’s visit.
▪ BBC: Trump loves all things royal. Will that be the king’s ace card when he visits?
REEL DEAL: Trump suggested Monday that his administration reached a deal on video app TikTok amid trade talks between the U.S. and China, and that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday about the details.
“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,” he wrote on Truth Social. “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy!”
A law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company to divest from the app or face a U.S. ban was set to go into effect in January but has been repeatedly delayed by the Trump administration as the president pursued a deal. The latest extension is set to expire on Wednesday. Trump credited TikTok for its reach among younger voters who supported him during the 2024 presidential contest.
Elsewhere
CEASEFIRE DOUBTS: Secretary of State Marco Rubio cast doubt on the chances for a diplomatic deal to end the war in Gaza. Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Rubio said the U.S. would still pursue a ceasefire, but Hamas is “a terrorist group, a barbaric group, whose stated mission is the destruction of the Jewish state. So we’re not counting on that happening.”
Netanyahu reiterated that Israel “must make sure Hamas is eliminated.”
Their comments come as Israel faces international criticism for strikes on Qatar, a key mediator in the war with Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes on Doha last week were aimed at key Hamas leaders but did not eliminate their intended targets. Netanyahu has raised the possibility of more strikes.
“We are focused on what happens next,” Rubio said, adding he hoped Qatar would continue to assist in negotiations.
As Rubio met with Netanyahu, Arab states in the region held an emergency meeting of their own to discuss their response to the attack.
▪ Axios: Contrary to White House statements, Netanyahu spoke with Trump before Israel bombed Qatar, sources say.
▪ CNN: Netanyahu admits Israel faces prolonged “isolation” over the war in Gaza.
NO-FLY ZONE: Amid the continuing fallout over Russia’s drone incursion into Poland last week, Poland’s foreign minister on Monday called on NATO countries to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect Europe from strikes. But the U.S. and other key NATO players previously rejected requests by Ukraine for a no-fly zone because of the high risk of direct combat with Moscow.
▪ ABC News: Russia holds major war games in Belarus amid NATO tensions.
▪ The Hill: Zelensky condemns Russian incursion in Romanian territory.
Romania this weekend became the second NATO country to allege that a Russian drone breached its airspace during an attack on neighboring Ukraine, prompting Bucharest to scramble fighter jets. The Romanian Air Force deployed two F-16 fighter jets to track the drone presence before it disappeared near Chilia Veche, according to officials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the alleged incursion on Sunday. “It is an obvious expansion of the war by Russia — and this is exactly how they act. Small steps at first, and eventually big losses,” he said.
Opinion
Snowflakes, left and right, threaten free speech, writes The Hill’s Chris Stirewalt.
Eleanor Holmes Norton should not run for reelection, former Democratic National Committee interim chair Donna Brazile, Norton’s chief of staff in the 1990s, writes in The Washington Post.
The Closer
It’s official (according to the NYT’s Ask Vanessa): We have entered the fifth great beard movement.
Vice President Vance walked so they could run: from Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayor’s race to a bunch of “rugged dude” Democrats looking to knock off Republicans in the Senate.
Vanessa Friedman writes, “The new facial hair renaissance seems intrinsically connected to the current discourse around masculinity and the manosphere.”
Plenty of Vance’s MAGA World brethren are on board: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Among those not joining the bearded bandwagon? Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who issued a memo on the military’s grooming standards on Monday.
“The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance,” Hegseth wrote.
