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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Aug 20, 2026· Updated

The National Debt Crosses $40 Trillion Months Ahead of Schedule — Driven in Part by the Tariff Revenue the Supreme Court Took Away — and the Treasury Secretary Says "There's Nothing Magic About the $40 Trillion Number"

On August 19, 2026, the Treasury Department reported that total federal debt outstanding had crossed $40 trillion for the first time, finishing the day at $40,047,425,768,420.22 — roughly $32.3 trillion held by the public and $7.8 trillion in intragovernmental holdings. The milestone arrived months earlier than the Congressional Budget Office had projected. The government borrowed $1.8 trillion in the first ten months of fiscal 2026 — more than in all of fiscal 2025 — and the gap widened after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, costing an estimated $250 billion in revenue and forcing Treasury to refund more than $100 billion in import taxes it had already collected. The debt has doubled in under a decade, having stood at just under $20 trillion at the end of the Obama administration. Republicans who control both chambers reacted with alarm rather than a plan. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Tex.) called the debt "an existential threat" and renewed his call for an Article V constitutional convention. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), whose chamber had just left town for August recess without acting on Trump's demand that it address the debt ceiling, told reporters "$40 trillion in debt — seems to me that should get our attention." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted that voters had "40 trillion reasons 2 reject unaffordable socialist policies," drawing ridicule from critics who noted he had voted for the tax and spending bills that produced it. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called it "bad" and demanded a balanced budget. Democrats pointed at the majority. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member on the Budget Committee, said Republicans "only care about 'fiscal responsibility' when it's time to cut your health care." House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said "The Republican economy is a disaster. Vote them all out in November." The administration's answer was growth. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the next morning that "there's nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that," and said there was a "very good chance" the deficit under Trump had already peaked.

“There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that. Global growth is the way to take care of this mountain of debt.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Aug 20, 2026

Rep. Cory Mills Loses His Florida Primary by 13 Points While Under House Ethics Investigation — and Trump, Who Endorsed Him in February and Never Withdrew It, Says He Told Him to "Get Out of the Race"

Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) lost the Republican primary in Florida's 7th Congressional District on August 18, 2026 to Ryan Elijah, a former Fox 35 Orlando news anchor who entered the race late. Elijah took 46.9% to Mills's 34.4%, a margin of more than 13 points. Mills spent the cycle under an ethical cloud: a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged dating violence and potential campaign-finance violations, an assault allegation, and an ex-girlfriend's claim that he threatened to release sexually explicit images and videos of her. Mills has denied wrongdoing and has never been charged. Four days before the primary, Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters in Daytona Beach that he had not endorsed Mills and did not support him. President Trump endorsed Mills in February 2026 and never publicly rescinded it. The day after the loss, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had privately told Mills to quit the race, and gave Elijah his "Complete and Total Endorsement." Mills's defeat was one of three Trump-endorsed primary losses that night — along with Catalina Lauf in Florida's 19th District and Megan Degenfelder in Wyoming's governor primary — bringing his 2026 cycle total to 12, more than the 2018, 2020 and 2024 cycles combined.

“We now have a great candidate, Ryan Elijah, running in his place! Ryan stands for EVERYTHING MAGA, and is respected by ALL. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 19, 2026

Wyoming Sends Harriet Hageman to a Near-Certain Senate Seat and Election-Denying Secretary of State Chuck Gray to Her House Seat — but Rejects Trump's Pick for Governor

Wyoming's August 18, 2026 primaries reshuffled the entire federal delegation of the country's reddest state, and split the difference on President Trump. Rep. Harriet Hageman, the state's lone House member and Trump's endorsed candidate, won the Republican nomination for retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis's open seat with roughly 65% of the vote against businessman Sam Mead. She will face Democrat James Byrd, a former state representative, in November. In her victory statement Hageman framed the race as a fight against "a rising tide of Marxists." Secretary of State Chuck Gray — a prominent election denier and Trump ally — won the crowded nine-way primary for Hageman's open at-large House seat with about 25% of the vote, ahead of conservative activist Steve Friess at 20%. Former Wyoming Freedom Caucus chairman John Bear, whose faction backed rivals, said "I don't think any of us anticipated this kind of loss." But in the governor's race, Trump's endorsement did not carry. State Sen. Eric Barlow, a Gillette rancher and former speaker of the Wyoming House, beat Trump-backed Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Wyoming GOP-endorsed Brent Bien for the nomination to succeed retiring Gov. Mark Gordon. Barlow, who ran on a "we're running for Wyoming, not against anybody" message, credited a backlash to "a lot of out of state money and agendas." Degenfelder's loss was one of three Trump-endorsed primary defeats that night, pushing his 2026 cycle total to 12 — more than 2018, 2020 and 2024 combined.

“I don't think any of us anticipated this kind of loss.”
John Bear (R-WY) · Aug 19, 2026

ICE Starts Detaining Haitians in Springfield, Ohio and Fitting More Than a Hundred With Ankle Monitors — as Ohio's Two Republican Senators Predict a "Booming Bonanza" Without Them and the Republican Governor Says the Opposite

Three weeks after Temporary Protected Status ended for roughly 350,000 Haitians, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began targeted enforcement in Springfield, Ohio — the city of about 60,000 that became a national flashpoint in 2024 over false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets, and that is now home to an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitians. Clark County Sheriff Christopher Clark said on August 18, 2026 that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations personnel had been in the county since the prior Tuesday conducting targeted enforcement, and that he had learned it only because he asked for a meeting. By August 19 at least 15 to 17 Haitians had been detained, several of them held at the Butler County Jail, and more than 100 others had been summoned to ICE offices — including the Westerville field office — and fitted with electronic ankle monitors, a practice reporters could not find ICE using anywhere else in the country. Mayor Rob Rue confirmed the operations and said the city neither directs nor controls them, urging residents to "treat one another with dignity and respect." DHS would say only that it "does not discuss ongoing or future operations." The same week, Ohio's two Republican senators told reporters they were not worried about Springfield's economy losing its Haitian workforce. Jon Husted said the city was "on the rise" with "a bunch of new jobs coming." Bernie Moreno, a longtime critic of TPS, predicted "a big, huge, booming bonanza" and said the jobs would go to American citizens. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine — who defended Springfield's Haitians through the 2024 controversy — took the opposite view in a New York Times op-ed, writing that deporting "hard-working individuals" threatens his state's economic momentum.

“ICE has advised city staff that its enforcement and removal operations is conducting field enforcement activity throughout the nation as part of its daily duties, including in Springfield and surrounding areas. These are federal immigration enforcement operations. The city does not direct or control ICE enforcement activity.”
Rob Rue (R-OH) · Aug 19, 2026

Trump’s Pick Byron Donalds Routs the DeSantis Camp by 20 Points to Win Florida’s Governor Primary — and Will Face David Jolly, the Republican Congressman Who Became a Democrat

On August 18, 2026, Florida Republicans nominated U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds for governor, handing President Trump's hand-picked candidate a victory of more than 20 points over a crowded field that included Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, the candidate widely understood to be Gov. Ron DeSantis's preferred successor. Donalds took roughly 48 percent of the Republican vote. DeSantis, who has an icy relationship with Donalds and whose wife Casey had been floated for the race, declined to endorse anyone before the primary, saying he was "not involved in any Primaries." On the Democratic side, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly — who represented Florida's 13th District as a Republican from 2014 to 2017 before leaving the party and registering as a Democrat — won his primary with about 61 percent. Jolly used his primary-night remarks to claim a cross-party "new coalition" and to attack Donalds as purchasable, saying Donalds "will sell his governorship for a buck." Donalds, who is seeking to become Florida's first Black governor, called for Republican unity and predicted Jolly would lose again in November. The Republican Governors Association, chaired by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, congratulated Donalds the next day and attacked Jolly's party switch. The general election is November 3, 2026, for the seat term-limited Gov. DeSantis must vacate.

“Congratulations to Byron Donalds on his primary victory. He has the vision, experience, and the right plan for lowering costs, protecting law and order, and defending the American Dream. Hardworking families and the next generation of Floridians have a fighter on their side in Donalds. Democrats continue to prove they can't gain ground in Florida with David Jolly campaigning as a so-called moderate while voters know he's just another career politician they can't trust. From switching parties to promoting far-left woke policies like irreversible gender transition surgeries for minors, Florida voters will reject Jolly in November.”
Greg Gianforte (R-MT) · Aug 19, 2026

Aug 19, 2026· Updated

Mary Peltola Finishes First in Alaska's Senate Primary — Ahead of the Incumbent — and Dan Sullivan, Whose Ballot Line Was Shadowed by a Second Dan Sullivan, Says Democrats Tried to "Steal an Election"

Alaska's nonpartisan top-four primary on August 18, 2026 sent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola to a November general election that the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up. Peltola led on primary night with roughly 48 percent to Sullivan's 42.8 percent — a first-place finish for the challenger over a two-term incumbent, though Alaska's primary sends the top four candidates forward regardless of margin and Peltola led the 2024 House primary before losing that November. The race was dominated by the presence of a second Republican candidate named Dan Sullivan — a Petersburg man who filed as Dan J. Sullivan and drew 2.4 percent. Sen. Sullivan and President Trump called the candidacy a Democratic trick; Trump posted on Truth Social two days before the primary that "the Crooked, Radical Left Dumocrats have put up another man named 'Dan Sullivan'" and told voters on primary day to pick the incumbent. Peltola's campaign said it had no involvement with either Dan Sullivan. Peltola, who has outraised Sullivan roughly $18 million to $12 million and campaigns on "fish, family, freedom," attacked the senator's votes as service to "corporate greed" and to the reconciliation law she says pushed 10,000 Alaskans off Medicaid. Sullivan, who won Trump's endorsement, dismissed the primary-night numbers, renewed his objection to Alaska's ranked-choice system, and accused national Democrats and the Peltola campaign of complicity in trying to trick Alaska voters. Democrats need a net four seats to take the Senate.

“The Democratic Party is talking about "we care about fair elections." It's bulls---. The Democrats in D.C., the Peltola campaign, are complicit in trying to trick Alaskans.”
Dan Sullivan (R-AK) · Aug 19, 2026

Aug 19, 2026· Updated

Trump Orders the Pentagon to "Substantially Reduce" Joint Exercises With South Korea, Citing His Relationship With Kim Jong Un and Seoul's Refusal to Join the Iran War — Drawing Bipartisan Backlash

On Sunday, August 16, 2026, hours before the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise was set to begin, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" the joint military exercises the United States conducts with South Korea. He said the drills were costly and sent a signal "totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he described as "unthreatening and respectful" during his time in office, and he grounded the decision in his "very good relationship" with Kim Jong Un. Trump added a second rationale in the same post: he had recently asked South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to join the US in the "Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran," and Seoul had declined. Ulchi Freedom Shield, a roughly ten-day exercise focused on cyberattacks, drone activity and GPS disruption, began Monday, August 17 — too late to cancel outright, which is why the order was to shrink it rather than scrap it. South Korea's defense ministry said it would "proceed as previously notified and scheduled," and President Lee's office said the two governments had "maintained close coordination." The backlash was bipartisan. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on Senate Armed Services, called it "another inane, haphazard decision" and warned that China and Russia were watching. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said cutting the drills does nothing but free up North Korean troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran, called it "shortsighted and a mistake." Sen. Andy Kim objected to the unilateral, social-media announcement of a joint decision, and Reps. Frank Pallone and Pramila Jayapal accused the president of appeasing a dictator. As of publication no Republican member of Congress had gone on record defending the decision. The move revives objections Trump raised in his first term, when he suspended major drills after his 2018 Singapore summit with Kim, and lands as US military hardware has been pulled from the Indo-Pacific for the war against Iran.

“I know Kim Jong Un very well, and he’s going to be fine. As long as we have a smart president, he’s going to be fine.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 19, 2026

Aug 19, 2026· Updated

ICE Agent Points a Gun at a U.S. Citizen in Northern Virginia; Her Dashcam Video Contradicts the DHS Account

On Monday, August 10, 2026, ICE officers conducting what the Department of Homeland Security described as a targeted enforcement operation in the Bailey's Crossroads area near Falls Church, Virginia, drew a firearm on Carolina Molina — a U.S. citizen, Northern Virginia native and licensed professional counselor who performs psychological evaluations in immigration cases. Molina says she was driving between immigration attorneys' offices dropping off business cards when she saw agents making arrests, and that she shouted at them from her car. DHS said in a statement that an "anti-ICE agitator began to drive her car in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them — all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away," and that officers stopped her vehicle fearing for their safety. Molina's dashcam footage, which she released and which went viral on August 12, does not show her driving at the officers; a masked agent is seen approaching her window with a gun pointed at her, telling her "you almost ran us over." Molina was not arrested or charged. Fairfax County's Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez said the federal account "does not match the video." Northern Virginia's House delegation responded within a day. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-8), whose district includes Falls Church, said his office had contacted Molina and that he would demand "answers and consequences." Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA-11), who represents most of Fairfax County, called it a product of ICE's broken accountability system. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10), in whose district Molina lives, tied the encounter to a national pattern of armed confrontations between ICE agents and American citizens. The incident landed as ICE was promising to have every field officer equipped with a body camera by the end of August — a rollout already under scrutiny over provisions letting agency leadership withhold footage after serious injuries or deaths in custody.

“Last week, ICE agents threatened Carolina Molina with a gun and lied about her following them and trying to run them over. This dangerous and dishonest nonsense, unfortunately, matches what we’ve seen from ICE, not just in Virginia, but across the country. We want these agents off our streets and out of our communities.”
Don Beyer (D-VA) · Aug 19, 2026

One State Sues Another Over an ICE Agent: Minnesota Takes Greg Abbott to Court for Refusing to Extradite the Officer Charged With Shooting Into a Minneapolis Home

On August 18, 2026, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to force him to extradite Christian Castro, an ICE agent charged in Hennepin County with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Castro is accused of firing his gun at the front door of an occupied Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, striking a Venezuelan man in the leg, and then lying about the circumstances of the shooting. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause on both sets of charges. Castro was arrested in Texas on May 29, 2026. Gov. Tim Walz's extradition warrant has sat with Abbott's office since June 3 unsigned. Extradition between states is ordinarily a ministerial act under the Extradition Clause of the Constitution and the federal Extradition Act; Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she had "never heard of anything taking this long." Abbott, asked about the suit at an Austin news conference the same day, tied his refusal to unrelated grievances against Minnesota, saying he did not trust Gov. Walz and would not respond "until they step up and do what's right." Ellison warned that Castro could walk free as early as August 26 if the warrant is not signed. The case is a rare state-versus-state clash arising directly from federal immigration enforcement.

“Christian Castro’s not above the law, and Greg Abbott isn’t either. This means that as early as Aug. 26… Christian Castro could walk free.”
Keith Ellison (D-MN) · Aug 18, 2026

A Democratic Socialist Who Raised Under $1 Million Beats a $16 Million Impeachment Witness: Angie Nixon Upsets Alex Vindman for Florida's Democratic Senate Nomination

On August 18, 2026, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon — a Jacksonville Democrat and former union organizer who joined the Democratic Socialists of America during the campaign — defeated Alex Vindman in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat Marco Rubio vacated, winning roughly 56% to 44%. The margin was the story. Vindman, the retired Army lieutenant colonel who became nationally known as a witness in President Trump's 2019 impeachment, raised more than $16 million; Nixon raised under $1 million, a spending gap of roughly 16 to 1. She ran on Medicare for All, opposition to U.S. military aid to Israel, and an economic message aimed at working-class voters, and was endorsed by Reps. Maxwell Frost, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley — but not by Sen. Bernie Sanders or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the left's best-known national figures. Nixon will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who took roughly 75% of her own primary vote and was appointed to the seat by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2025. No Democrat has won a Florida Senate race since 2012. On the same night, Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican gubernatorial nomination and former Rep. David Jolly won the Democratic one, and Rep. Jared Moskowitz turned back a DSA-backed primary challenger in Florida's 25th District — making the night a split verdict for the left rather than a sweep. Senate Democratic leaders moved quickly to embrace Nixon, while the National Republican Senatorial Committee said Florida "will never elect a socialist to the US Senate."

“Angie Nixon has dedicated her career to fighting for Florida. A lifelong native of Jacksonville and a former union organizer, Angie's dedication to put working families first runs deep — and now, she's running to take that fight to the Senate. Ashley Moody's votes have cost Florida, from her siding with private insurance companies over Floridians to ripping away health care. In November, Florida will have a clear choice at the ballot.”
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) · Aug 18, 2026

The Forest Service Files to Rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule "In Its Entirety," Opening Nearly 45 Million Acres — About a Third of the National Forest System — to Roads and Logging

On August 18, 2026, the U.S. Forest Service filed a proposed rule to rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule in its entirety, stripping road-building and timber-harvest prohibitions from roughly 44.7 million acres of national forest — about one-third of the National Forest System. Public comment runs through September 21, 2026. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins framed the repeal as wildfire policy, saying outdated restrictions had kept tens of millions of acres off-limits to treatment and had "tied the hands of local forest managers." Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said more than 40 percent of inventoried roadless areas — primarily in the West — carry high or very high wildfire hazard potential while only 5 percent have received hazardous fuels reduction treatment since 2014. No state is more affected than Alaska, which holds close to a third of the acreage; Colorado and Idaho have their own state-specific roadless rules and would not be covered by the repeal. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte welcomed the proposal as an end to Washington's "heavy thumb" on nearly 60 percent of Forest Service land in his state. Rep. Jared Huffman, the ranking Democrat on House Natural Resources, called it "reckless" — noting the administration is proposing thousands of miles of new roads in the middle of one of the worst fire seasons on record after firing thousands of Forest Service employees — and said Democrats would fight it in Congress. Wildland fire scientists signed a letter opposing the rescission, and conservation groups have signaled litigation.

“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of forested acres off-limits to the very treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities. Today, we filed a proposal to restore authority to local forest managers who know the land best, removing the barriers that have kept them from doing the work the land demands.”
Brooke Rollins (R-TX) · Aug 18, 2026

A Career Civil Rights Lawyer Says the Administration's Campus Antisemitism Investigations Were "Predetermined, Without Regard to the Evidence" — and Jamie Raskin Opens an Investigation Calling Them a "Pre-Baked Frame-Up"

On August 18, 2026, lawyers for Haley Van Erem — a career attorney who spent nearly a decade in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division before being detailed to the multi-agency antisemitism task force — filed a 28-page whistleblower disclosure with the inspectors general at DOJ and HHS and with the Office of Special Counsel. The disclosure alleges that the Title VI investigations of Harvard, Brown, Columbia and Cornell were marked by "extraordinary procedural irregularities, predetermined outcomes without factual or legal support," that "the outcomes of the investigations were predetermined, without regard to the evidence," and that the whole exercise was a "politically mandated effort" to extract money through settlement demands and funding freezes. It says hundreds of millions of dollars were suspended before the investigations were finished, that Columbia investigators flagged false statements and constitutionally protected activity being cited as Title VI violations, that a Harvard-assigned attorney warned the proposed settlement demands were unrelated to remedying antisemitism and likely violated the First Amendment, and that the task force also targeted Muslim professors. Van Erem left the department in May 2025, she says, because she was "unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law." Columbia agreed to pay $200 million over three years and Brown agreed to spend $50 million on Rhode Island workforce development, both without findings of wrongdoing. The same day the disclosure surfaced, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on House Judiciary, wrote to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon demanding documents and a transcribed interview before September 1. A Justice Department spokesperson said Van Erem "did not work on university investigations" and that the department "stands behind the integrity of these investigations."

“Antisemitism at American universities and medical schools is real. It needs to be addressed seriously. But your "investigation" into antisemitism was fake, a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature.”
Jamie Raskin (D-MD) · Aug 18, 2026

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