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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 11, 2026· Updated

Eleven Days After the Interior Secretary Tells the Smithsonian That Federal Agencies "Cannot in Good Conscience Continue to Support" It "Under Current Leadership," Its First Black Secretary Announces He Is Retiring — Lonnie Bunch Says "It Has Been Stressful," Padilla Says He "Spoke Truth to Power," and the Republican Regent Looks Forward to a Successor Who Will "Preserve America's History"

On Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Lonnie G. Bunch III announced that he will retire as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by the end of the year. Bunch, 73, has spent 38 years at the Smithsonian, was the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and in 2019 became the first African American and the first historian to hold the institution's top job. "It is with very mixed emotions and heartfelt gratitude that I announce my retirement," he said in the Smithsonian's release. Chief Justice John Roberts, who chairs the Board of Regents as the Smithsonian's chancellor, said Bunch "has pursued excellence in the telling of our nation's story" and that the Regents would work with him "to ensure a smooth transition for his successor." The announcement lands after eighteen months of escalating pressure from the Trump administration. A March 2025 executive order directed Vice President JD Vance, himself a Regent, to remove "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from the Smithsonian's museums. In August 2025 the president posted that the institution was "OUT OF CONTROL." On July 4, 2026, the White House Domestic Policy Council issued a 162-page report on the National Museum of American History concluding that the museum "under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America's story honestly," and three weeks later the president ordered "warning signs" posted on the sidewalks outside it. Then on August 28, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley wrote to the Regents that executive departments and agencies "cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership by, for example, loaning artifacts for exhibits, enabling procurement processes and making discretionary grants," alleged that the institution's culture "may have resulted in significant violations of Federal antidiscrimination law," and asked for an in-person meeting with the board. Bunch told The New York Times that the fights with the administration were not the reason — "now's the time" — but conceded that "it has been stressful. And at a certain point, I'd like to wake up in the morning and not look at my cellphone." He told The Washington Post he had been weighing retirement for about a year. The White House did not immediately comment, and House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, whose committee oversees the Smithsonian, issued no statement. Democrats did: Sen. Alex Padilla said Bunch "spoke truth to power" in the face of the president's attacks and that "the job now falls to the Board of Regents and Congress" to protect his work; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Regent, called him "a student of history who has devoted his life to telling America's full history"; Rep. Chellie Pingree, the top Democrat on the appropriations panel that funds the Smithsonian, said he had steered the institution "through a period of unprecedented political interference"; and Rep. Terri Sewell praised "his commitment to telling the full, honest story of our nation." The one Republican Regent to comment, Rep. Carlos Giménez, said he looked forward to a search for "a new Secretary who will preserve America's history and master the art of storytelling for generations to come." The Regents — the Chief Justice, the Vice President, three senators, three representatives and nine citizen members — will choose Bunch's successor.

“So, I'm asking for the Smithsonian to install the 11-foot Washington statue that was featured at the recent Freedom 250 Grand Prix Race in the Museum's Flag Hall, and dedicate it this Constitution Day, September 17, 2026. Immediately design and display a five-year exhibition worthy of the Life, Sacrifice, and Contributions of George Washington. Then, as soon as it is ready, install a 30-foot Washington Colossus where "Infinity" stands today. Replace a sculpture that says nothing about America with the man who, more than anyone else, says everything about America.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 11, 2026

Trump Signs an Executive Order Starting the Removal of Gray and Mexican Wolves From the Endangered Species List — "But You Can Shoot Them as of Today," He Tells Ranchers, and His Agriculture Secretary Has to Explain That They Still Cannot

On Friday, September 4, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Supporting America's Ranchers" that gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum 90 days to determine whether the gray wolf and the Mexican wolf have met the recovery criteria for delisting or downlisting under the Endangered Species Act — and, if he finds they have, to begin the delisting process. The order also directs greater state involvement in wolf management and changes to how livestock depredations are investigated and how ranchers are compensated for confirmed kills. At the signing event Trump told ranchers they could shoot wolves "as of today." Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, standing with him, explained that the animals remain federally protected and that ranchers can only "sit and watch them destroy their herd" while the listing stands — the order starts a review, it does not itself lift protections. The wolf order was signed alongside a second rancher-directed order on meat processing, antitrust enforcement under the Packers and Stockyards Act, and a review of mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef — the White House's answer to the backlash from cattle producers over its decision to waive tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef. Republicans who have pushed delisting bills for years welcomed it. As of the following day no Democratic member of Congress had gone on record against the wolf order; the opposition on the record came from conservation groups.

“But you can shoot them as of today.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 4, 2026

endangered-species-act

The Park Service Has Spent More Than a Year Working to Hand a Quarter-Mile Strip of Yosemite to a Las Vegas Developer — and California’s Two Senators Answer That the Park “Is Not for Sale”

NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026 that since the spring of 2025 the National Park Service has been working, at the direction of Trump political appointees at the Interior Department, to cede a roughly quarter-mile strip of land inside Yosemite National Park to a company controlled through a web of limited-liability companies by Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a Las Vegas-based real-estate and investment firm run by Jeff Pori. The New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Hill matched the reporting the same day. In 2024 Kingsbarn bought 83 acres of undeveloped land immediately outside Yosemite's western boundary, roughly five miles from one of the park's groves of ancient sequoias. The parcel has no direct road connection to Highway 120, the park's main thoroughfare. The exchange under discussion would give Kingsbarn a strip of park land to build that connection; in return the company would buy land of equal value elsewhere in California and turn it over to the Park Service. Interior floated paying for the exchange out of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, money Congress set aside for conservation on public lands. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, objected and kept the deal off the subcommittee's endorsed project list. Career Park Service staff told NOTUS the directive was unprecedented and that Interior leadership pushed them to move faster. Ceding park land to a private party runs against roughly 150 years of practice in which national park boundaries have expanded, not contracted. Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent, said the transfer is "basically illegal" and warned that the specific area is habitat for Pacific fishers and great gray owls. Cicely Muldoon, another former superintendent with 40 years in the Park Service, said the agency's "basic purpose in the national parks is to preserve these places unimpaired for future generations." The Interior Department denied the reporting, calling it a story built on "anonymous allegations to manufacture a political narrative." Lanny Davis, a Democratic lawyer who identified himself as counsel to Kingsbarn, confirmed after publication that the company was pursuing the exchange and said he — not Trump — had brought the proposal to Interior, framing it as "a pro-environmental decision." California's two Democratic senators and the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee all came out against the deal within hours. Padilla's office said it was working with Senate Appropriations staff to block it.

“Yosemite is not for sale.”
Alex Padilla (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

Aug 28, 2026· Updated

The Government Has Paid Nearly $4 Billion to Kill Offshore Wind — and $900 Million of the Latest Settlement Goes Straight to a Private Equity Firm Run by a Trump Donor Who Lives Near Mar-a-Lago

On August 6–7, 2026, the Trump administration announced a $1.22 billion settlement with the German utility RWE. In exchange for the money — drawn from a federal fund — RWE gave up offshore wind leases off New York, California and Louisiana, roughly seven gigawatts of planned capacity, and agreed to reinvest the proceeds in oil, gas or nuclear "conventional energy." It was the latest in a series of buyouts, beginning with a roughly $1 billion deal with TotalEnergies in March 2026, that has now cost taxpayers close to $4 billion. On August 27, 2026, reporting revealed where most of the RWE money is going: $900 million of it will buy a stake in a Louisiana LNG project from Stonepeak, the private equity firm co-founded and run by Australian billionaire Michael Dorrell. Dorrell owns a mansion near Mar-a-Lago and gave a combined roughly $1 million to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee after the 2024 election. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, who had already called the settlements "an insane waste of taxpayer funds and a ridiculous charade that seems to be blatantly illegal," said the Stonepeak connection "now adds the stench of corruption," and said he would expand his existing investigation to cover it. The White House called the reporting "a brazen attempt to insinuate a conflict-of-interest that does not exist," and the Interior Department said "no one at the Department directed which company RWE was to invest in." The buyouts were already under scrutiny. In June 2026, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James led a seven-state lawsuit calling the arrangement a "pay-not-to-play scheme." In July 2026, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) led fourteen senators — including Schumer, Schatz, King and Heinrich — in an investigation of the deals. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called the buybacks "an enormous money pump, pulling billions of dollars out of consumers' pockets." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended them, saying Americans "deserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies."

“The Trump Administration’s backroom buyout with Golden State Wind to stop offshore wind development in favor of gas and oil drilling is, unfortunately, a classic playbook for them to line the pockets of their Big Oil donors.”
Rob Bonta (D-CA) · Aug 28, 2026

IndyCars Race Past the Capitol at 160 MPH: Trump Closes the National Mall for a Grand Prix He Ordered by Executive Order — and the Speaker Says He Will Push to Make It Annual

On August 23, 2026, IndyCar drivers ran 147 laps on a 1.66-mile temporary street circuit looping the National Mall and running down Pennsylvania and Independence avenues, reaching about 160 mph past the Capitol, the Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art. Kyle Kirkwood won. President Trump, accompanied by the first lady, led a slow lap in the presidential limousine and waved the green flag. Organizers put attendance at up to 150,000 over the weekend. The race exists because Trump ordered it. He floated it in an AI-generated video on Truth Social in January 2026 and signed an executive order on January 30 authorizing it as part of the country's 250th-anniversary celebrations, directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to designate a route and secure permits "as expeditiously as possible." When the original route ran into congressional jurisdiction over Capitol grounds, Duffy called organizers and proposed proceeding under the executive order with an adjusted course. The event was run by Freedom 250, a Trump-backed nonprofit lodged inside the National Park Foundation, which the White House built as a parallel to America250 — the bipartisan commission Congress chartered to organize the anniversary. On July 2, 2026, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, led by Ranking Member Jared Huffman, released an interim report alleging that donors who intended to give to the congressionally chartered America250 were instead handed wire instructions routing their money to Freedom 250's bank account, conduct the report said could constitute wire fraud. Race weekend brought three hours of flight suspensions at Reagan National, extensive downtown road and parking closures, and a vibration study by the National Gallery of Art, which implemented protective measures for its collection. Trump administration officials and the House Speaker spent the weekend arguing the event should be repeated; the race's own organizers were more cautious, with Penske Corporation president Bud Denker calling it "the first ever. It might be the only," and IndyCar president Doug Boles calling it likely a one-year event.

“The track is wonderful. You know, we’re going around the Capitol, but this turned out to be a better track, and so now we see the Capitol.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 23, 2026

Interior Finalizes the Deepest Colorado River Cuts on Record — 1.25 Million Acre-Feet a Year, With Arizona Absorbing 760,000 — as Lake Mead and Lake Powell Fall to Levels Not Seen Since 1963

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the Record of Decision and the 2027–2028 Operating Guidelines for the Colorado River on August 21, 2026, ordering the Lower Basin states to cut 1.25 million acre-feet of water use a year — Arizona 760,000, California 440,000, Nevada 50,000 — and adopting a ten-year decision framework through 2036. Combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is now lower than at any time since Powell began filling in 1963, after a record-low 2025–26 snowpack. Arizona Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, who had warned three weeks earlier that the draft framework could place an "unfair burden" on their state, welcomed the final plan and said every basin state now needs to do its part. Gov. Katie Hobbs said the plan saved Arizona from cuts that "would have crippled our economy" while protecting Upper Basin reservoirs at Lake Mead's expense. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it "a necessary step." Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, the only Republican governor among the three Lower Basin states, was the harshest, saying the federal government is "positioning to short Nevada" — the state with just 1.8 percent of the river's allocation.

“We are grateful for the Seven Basin States, the thirty Basin Tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines.”
Doug Burgum (R-ND) · Aug 21, 2026