Washington, DC

1. Trump pressured on Miller
2. Oil majors criticized on Iran
3. The quieter battleground Dems
4. Primary contests to watch
5. Lopsided Senate funding vote
6. White House’s AI outlook

PDB: Pirro’s job appears safe — for now

Trump hosts Penn State Nittany Lions at White House … Senate Judiciary takes up Blanche’s confirmation … Labor market data released

Trump urged to intervene in Ohio race

President Donald Trump is facing mounting pressure from allies to intervene in Rep. Max Miller’s race as the party runs up against a mid-week deadline for the Ohio Republican to drop out, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Burgess Everett report. Trump said that he plans to “let the families figure that out,” a comment that a White House official said reflects the administration’s views. But Trump and White House aides privately want Miller out of the race, a person familiar with the situation told Semafor. “If he cared about the president and the party, he’d drop out,” a second person close to the White House said of Miller, who has denied the allegations. The scandal also risks dragging down other Ohio Republicans. “It just gives people one more reason to be disgusted with Congress,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.

Trump criticizes oil majors’ Iran windfalls

Trump accused oil majors of “making too much money” after they reported massive windfalls from the Iran war, saying they should “give some back to the public.” ExxonMobil’s second-quarter profits doubled year-on-year, Chevron had its highest earnings on record and Aramco, BP, and Shell all reported blockbuster earnings. Oil prices rose above $100/barrel and average US pump prices hit $4.55 in May as the conflict disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The surging cost of gas is proving a major headwind for Republicans ahead of November’s midterms. But Trump has little room for maneuver: The US’ strategic reserves are already at their lowest levels since the early 1980s, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Purple-district Dems stay above the fray

While some Democratic candidates tear each other apart over the future of their party, Sean McCann is part of a quieter group attempting to stay above the fray, Semafor’s Nicholas Wu reports from Kalamazoo, Mich. McCann and his ilk are trying to defy easy ideological characterization by focusing on Trump’s unpopularity on the economy. “People have seen tariffs and know tariffs are responsible for a lot of the higher costs that they’re facing in everyday life,” the state senator told Semafor in an interview at his campaign office. He isn’t alone in that focus, but Democrats like McCann have an unstated and good reason for wanting to run against Trump’s economy: Their party is struggling over its direction because its own brand is not in great shape. Candidates trying to skirt that will have to work to sell their own brands.

Dems eye critical contests in three states

Both parties are watching Michigan’s Senate primary for insight on Democratic voters — and the type of candidates they’ll send into November — but today features other must-watch primaries around the country, Semafor’s David Weigel reports. Public polls have put Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan; progressives see that race, and contests for the state’s 7th and 13th Districts, as chances to replace establishment Democrats with left-wing challengers. “This is what we started in 2016,” actor Mark Ruffalo said on a Sunday call organized for El-Sayed’s campaign. In Missouri, former Rep. Cori Bush is seeking a comeback against Rep. Wesley Bell, who beat her with AIPAC’s support in 2024; in Washington state, Blue Dog Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez faces a left-wing challenge in the “jungle primary,” after some local Democratic groups protested her over some votes she cast with Republicans.

Behind the Senate’s anti-shutdown vote

Senators in both parties really, really don’t want another government shutdown fight. The evidence: Its astounding 89-4 procedural vote to advance government funding through Dec. 11. The bill’s most meaningful provision blocks a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would allow the Trump administration broad sway over federal grant cancellations, raising fears about politicized decisionmaking. That language helped convince Democrats to support the bill. “There’s meaningful safeguards,” Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., told Semafor. “We’ll see what happens in the House.” White House officials did not answer questions about whether Trump supports the bill. But just one Republican senator voted no: “Continuing spending at this level is equivalent to a $2 trillion deficit, so I consider this vote to be a vote for a $2 trillion deficit,” Rand Paul of Kentucky told Semafor.

— Burgess Everett

WH silent on release of AI framework

The White House is not commenting on whether it plans to publicly release the framework for voluntary reviews of advanced AI models that it plans to brief companies on later today. AI firms including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Meta have yet to see details of the framework ahead of today’s meeting, people familiar with the plans told Semafor. Trump signed an order in June requiring the framework’s completion by Aug. 1, which happened on schedule, a White House official said. The framework is expected to mirror already-underway evaluations of advanced models — but if it’s not released publicly, companies that were not briefed could face a complicated choice about whether to opt in. Invitations to today’s event also referenced an unspecified related event, the people said, which remains unclear.

— Eleanor Mueller

Blindspot: Missiles and MAHA

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: The Pentagon signed a deal to expand production capacity for Patriot and THAAD missile interceptor systems.

What the Right isn’t reading: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a digital cooking show to support the White House’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Majority Leader John Thune would not guarantee a Todd Blanche confirmation vote on the floor before the summer recess, but said: “Ideally we’d like to get it done.”

Playbook: The Democratic Party’s left wing is divided over whether Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., or Ro Khanna, D-Calif., should take over the mantle from Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, ahead of 2028. “It’s not certain AOC will even run for president, and right now just Ro is really out there trying to fill that lane. That leaves a pretty thin field to pull from,” one operative lamented.

Axios: The company behind President Trump’s Truth Social is charging Wall Street clients up to $1.2 million a year for a feed that allows them to see posts fractions of a second before they reach the wider public.

White House

• Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for DC, still holds the job after a fraught meeting with President Trump regarding her decision to drop the case against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. — NYT
• Trump is expected to appear, alongside mining executives, at a Friday event at the State Department focused on critical minerals. — Politico

Congress

• Republican Sens. John Curtis of Utah, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska stopped short of full commitment to supporting Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to the post on a permanent basis. — Politico
• Senate Budget Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is meeting with panel members today to discuss possible progress on another party-line reconciliation bill. — Punchbowl News
• Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he has invited former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to testify before the committee on Sept. 22.

Business

• Defense technology company Anduril is in negotiations to create a new drone boat production facility at the Sparrows Point port in Maryland. – WSJ

Courts

• Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor turned back a request by Palestinian entities to halt a $655.5 million judgment in a past civil case stemming from Americans injured in Israel. — Reuters
• A group of 25 state attorneys general has filed suit against the Trump administration’s latest tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

National Security

• An FBI agent has been charged federally, alleged to have stolen almost $1 million in cryptocurrency from Russia. — NBC

Immigration

• The Department of Homeland Security is on a hunt for online activity that’s critical of immigration enforcement agents, including widespread subpoenas to social media companies that have raised concerns about First Amendment protections. — WSJ
• The US sent a planeload of deported people to Venezuela, though DHS did not confirm the resumption of deportation flights that had stopped following the June earthquake that hit the country. — NYT

Foreign Policy

• China unveiled an AI system for coordinating mass air strikes as part of a growing race to incorporate the technology into military systems, the South China Morning Post reported.

US National Guard troops stand near the recently regilded statue ‘Sacrifice,’ one of ‘The Arts of War’ equestrian statues flanking the Arlington Memorial Base.