Speaker Johnson says it would 'premature' to call Congress back over hurricane relief
House Speaker Mike Johnson said it “would be premature to” call Congress back into session right now to address hurricane relief.
“FEMA has the resources they need to get about delivering those resources and services,” Johnson, R-La., told NBC News during a campaign stop in Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
Johnson pointed to the time it takes to assess damage.
“So it’s going to take them a number of weeks to be able to fully even access those areas, to then assess the damage levels,” he said. “When they get the numbers and when they send, the Congress will act immediately.”
Johnson is in Pennsylvania to campaign for Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican state representative who is challenging Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat, for her House seat.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren rips TD Bank settlement on money laundering by drug cartels
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blasted TD Bank's settlement today in a criminal case in which it pleaded guilty to failing to monitor money laundering by drug cartels and agreed to pay $3 billion in fines and other penalties to the Justice Department and federal financial regulators.
“Big banks treat government fines as the cost of doing business,” Warren said. “This settlement lets bad bank executives off the hook for allowing TD Bank to be used as a criminal slush fund. The Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency need to do better."
As part of the deal, TD Bank, whose U.S. unit is the 10th-largest American bank by assets, is accepting limits on its growth, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced. The total assets of TD Bank’s two U.S. banking subsidiaries will be barred from exceeding $434 billion.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said a monitor will oversee the bank’s compliance with anti-money-laundering practices for three years as part of a settlement. TD Bank admitted that over a six-year period that ended last October, it failed to monitor a stunning $18.3 trillion in customer activity, which allowed three money laundering networks to transfer more than $670 million through accounts at the bank, Garland said.
As part of today’s settlement, TD Bank, the second-largest bank in Canada, will pay $1.3 billion to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the largest such penalty FinCEN or the Treasury Department have ever imposed on a depository institution.
“The vast majority of financial institutions have partnered with FinCEN to protect the integrity of the U.S. financial system,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said. “TD Bank did the opposite.”
“From fentanyl and narcotics trafficking to terrorist financing and human trafficking, TD Bank’s chronic failures provided fertile ground for a host of illicit activity to penetrate our financial system,” Adeymo said.
Trump says powerful companies have 'raped' the U.S.
Trump said in his speech to the Detroit Economic Club that foreign companies have become powerful and have "raped our country."
"We were stupid. We allowed them to come in and raid and rape our country. That's what they did. Oh, he used the word 'rape,'" he said. "That's right, I used the word 'raped.'"
Trump did not specify which foreign companies he was referring to. He made similar remarks in 2016, accusing the U.S. of allowing China "to rape our country."
Sen. Jacky Rosen wants to hear Harris' economic vision, says she 'is her own person'
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., is looking for Harris to focus on the economy in her Univision town hall in Las Vegas this afternoon.
“What I want to hear from her tonight, or wherever she is, is what she’s been doing: It’s about an opportunity economy, one that works for everyone; it’s about expanding our middle class,” Rosen said in a brief interview before a meeting with Culinary Workers Union members this morning.
Asked whether Harris should distinguish herself more from Biden in order to win the competitive battleground state, Rosen said, “The race is about Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump. It’s about me versus Sam Brown. It’s about what she brings to the table, what her experience teaches her, what she knows about who she’s met and her experiences and the dreams that people have shared with her, that they want for this country.”
“She is her own person,” Rosen said, adding later, “I think that she’s been clear about who she is and how she’s trying to translate the dreams of most Americans into reality.”
Sen. Ed Markey warns Project 2025 would gut the National Weather Service
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., warned on X this morning that Project 2025 would "gut the National Weather Service."
Markey issued the warning in a repost of a National Weather Service message on X from yesterday that showed a map displaying dozens of tornado warnings in Florida.
"Project 2025 would gut the National Weather Service — they want to put your safety behind a paywall," Markey wrote.
The National Weather Service is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which Project 2025 says should be "broken up and downsized."
Project 2025, a policy blueprint from the conservative Heritage Foundation, argues that people rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges and that they're not produced by the National Weather Service. It also says forecasts made by the agency are unreliable compared with those produced by private companies.
"The NWS should be a candidate to become a Performance-Based Organization to better enforce organizational focus on core functions such as efficient delivery of accurate, timely, and unbiased data to the public and to the private sector," the Project 2025 proposal says.
‘My form of therapy’: Kamala Harris sips beers and jokes in talk show tour
The audiences cheered for Harris during her media blitz this week. So did the talk show hosts posing the questions.
“You’ve gotta win,” Howard Stern told her on his eponymous radio show.
“I personally cannot understand why anyone would vote for him,” Joy Behar of ABC’s “The View,” said of Donald Trump.
“Would you like to have a beer with me so I can tell people what that’s like?” asked CBS’ Stephen Colbert.
Out came the Miller High Life, and the vice president gamely clinked cans with Colbert and sipped.
Looking to gain ground with crucial voting blocs, Harris shed some of the caution she’s shown since entering the race and sat for a series of interviews, albeit on her own terms with mostly friendly hosts. Her campaign believes the appearances will help introduce her to Americans who never much thought about Harris before she became the presumptive Democratic nominee in July and want to learn more about her life story.
Trump vows help 'like never before' to Florida storm victims if he's elected
In a video message today on his social media site Truth Social, Trump vowed that help "is on the way" and would be available to storm victims in Florida "like never before" if he wins the presidential election in November.
"Hopefully on Jan. 20, you’re going to have somebody that’s really going to help you and help you like never before," he said in the video. "Because help is on the way. Together, we will rebuild, we will recover, and we will come back stronger, bigger, better than ever before."
Trump also praised Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response to hurricanes Milton and Helene. "Your governor is doing an excellent job," he said. "I’ve been talking to him and watching. Ron is doing a really good job. We’re proud of him."
Trump made no mention of Biden or Harris in the video. The former president has repeatedly made false claims about the Biden administration's response to the hurricane and where FEMA money is going.
After Hurricane Helene, Trump falsely claimed Biden did not speak to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, which both the president and the governor refuted. Trump also baselessly claimed the federal government and Democratic governors are ignoring Republican-leaning areas, and that FEMA's money was being diverted to help migrants, which FEMA said was false on a dedicated fact-check page.
Florida lawmakers speak to Biden about recovery from hurricanes
Several Republican lawmakers from Florida said today that they've spoken to Biden about the federal government's response to hurricanes Milton and Helene.
Sen. Rick Scott said in a post on X that he had just spoken to the president about the response and is focused on ensuring that FEMA, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Agriculture are "fully funded" and have "boots on the ground until Florida is fully recovered."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who represents Florida's 13th Congressional District, which covers Pinellas County along the state's Gulf Coast, said she also had just gotten off the phone with Biden.
"He is personally overseeing that FEMA does not create problems with the debris removal and is supportive of the 15 Billion in FEMA funds ONLY FOR Hurricane victims. If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately," she wrote in a post on X.
Neither of the lawmakers — who often attack the president and his administration — criticized Biden in their posts.
Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., who represents Florida's 12th Congressional District, which includes a part of Orlando, said in a post on X yesterday that he had spoken to Biden and called for returning to Washington, D.C., as soon as possible to vote on an emergency aid package for FEMA.
A group of House Democrats sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., yesterday calling on him to reconvene Congress quickly to pass more funding for hurricane assistance.
Johnson, however, hasn't committed to calling the House back into session before the election. Both chambers are scheduled to be on recess until after Election Day next month.
Trump digital ad features Black women saying they're 'not with her'
The Trump campaign is up with a new digital ad featuring a half-dozen Black women saying they will not be voting for Harris in November.
The ad is running on YouTube and is targeted statewide in specific swing states and in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, which Trump has carried twice, earning an Electoral College vote separate from the statewide result each time. The Trump campaign has been targeting northern Maine with digital ads more actively over the last few weeks.
In this new digital ad, the Black women featured cite several reasons for not voting for Harris, including immigration, the economy and crime. The ad ends with a full-screen graphic that says, “Not With Her.”
Black voters are typically a strong bloc for Democrats, but the Trump campaign has made efforts to try to peel off support this year, especially among men.
“I’m with her” was a main slogan of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, which she lost to Trump.
Ethel Kennedy, matriarch of the famous family, dies at 96
Ethel Kennedy, who lost her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, and brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, to assassins’ bullets, and who channeled her grief into raising her 11 children and a lifetime of public service, died Thursday. She was 96.
Kennedy had recently suffered a stroke and was receiving treatment when she died, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., a grandson, said in a statement posted on X.
“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy,” the former congressman said. “She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week.”