Live Updates | US Administration | What to Know Today – August 5, 2025

A joint town hall in Johnston, Rhode Island, featuring Rep. Seth Magaziner and Sen. Jack Reed, turned tense as attendees repeatedly pressed the lawmakers on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Audience members demanded they label the conflict a “genocide” and sever ties with AIPAC. Reed’s description of the war as “complicated” drew laughs and pushback, while Magaziner called the Gaza scenes “horrific” and distanced both himself and Reed from Israeli PM Netanyahu.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), now running for governor, told a town hall in Durango he’s “incredibly angry” at Democrats for losing the 2024 election to Trump, calling it a “catastrophic” failure. “We should never have lost this election,” he said, criticizing the party’s unclear messaging on education, healthcare, and immigration. Bennet pledged to fight “to the death” to protect Medicaid from GOP cuts, slamming Trump’s tax policies and what he called a “cult of personality” in the Senate. His decision to run for governor, he said, was “a matter of conscience” — not a resignation, but a shift in battle lines. ...

Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ defense team has reached out to President Trump for a pardon following the hip-hop mogul’s July conviction on two counts of interstate prostitution, a source close to the legal team confirmed.

In a Newsmax interview, Trump acknowledged, “They have talked to me about Sean,” but made no commitment.

Combs faces up to 20 years in prison, with sentencing set for October.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court today seeking to remove Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic caucus, from office. The move comes after Wu and over 50 Democrats fled the state to block GOP-led redistricting plans. “They’ve abandoned their duty to Texans,” Abbott said, arguing Wu’s absence violates the state Constitution and deprives the House of a quorum. Wu has yet to respond publicly. Abbott had warned on Sunday that he would pursue removal if Democrats failed to return when the House reconvened. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1752148780792-0'); }); ...

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) called on Democrats to “go nuclear” in response to GOP-led redistricting pushes in Texas and other red states.

“If they’re going to do that and go nuclear, so am I,” she told NBC News after her first town hall of the August recess.

Slotkin urged blue states like California and Illinois to fight fire with fire—despite her preference for nonpartisan map-drawing.

The freshman senator has been a rising star, having delivered the Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s address to Congress earlier this year.