Principals

1. WH rescissions drive
2. Epstein files haunt Trump
3. Trump backs Ukraine
4. House crypto vote
5. Second reconciliation tensions
6. Tariff threats
7. Dem admaker’s warning

PDB: Noem defends Texas flood response

Afghans to lose TPS today … China’s exports exceed expectations … Dow futures ⬇️ 0.32%

Trump makes final blitz on rescissions

President Donald Trump is getting directly involved in the $9.4 billion rescissions measure this week and talking to senators directly, people familiar with the matter said. Senators are also bracing for him to erupt if the federal cuts fail, and the White House does not want the Senate to amend the package, a senior administration official told Semafor. This week “may be a huge pivot point in how this town does business,” budget director Russ Vought said ahead of Tuesday’s procedural vote. There’s also a political squeeze: Trump is telegraphing that Republicans who fight for Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding won’t have his support. Meanwhile, the National Congress of American Indians is urging Congress to reject those cuts. Republicans aren’t counting on the support of either Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, or Susan Collins, R-Maine, though neither senator has made a final call.

— Burgess Everett

Trump tells base: Epstein who?

Trump wants his base to forget about Jeffrey Epstein: The president on Saturday defended Attorney General Pam Bondi, wondering “what’s going on” with his supporters amid intense backlash over the DOJ and FBI memo that effectively declared the Epstein case closed. “It’s never enough for some people,” he wrote, urging his fans to not “waste Time and Energy on” the accused sex trafficker. But the issue isn’t showing signs of abating: FBI deputy director Dan Bongino didn’t show up to work on Friday after a fight with Bondi, and he’s considering leaving his post entirely, Semafor reported. That sentiment at least briefly extended to FBI director Kash Patel, who privately weighed also leaving should his second-in-command depart. But Patel on Saturday declared his loyalty to the position and Trump and others, like Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., are backing up Bondi amid the debacle.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump: ‘Sophisticated’ weapons to Ukraine

Trump has suddenly become a staunch backer of Ukraine, a transformation that will continue today as he announces plans to send more weapons to Kyiv. Trump told reporters last night that the US would give Ukraine “sophisticated military” equipment and Axios reports that the package is expected to include offensive weapons (potentially the kind of long-range missiles that could strike targets in Russia). The president, who is slated to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte later this morning, also confirmed plans to send more Patriot missile defense systems to Kyiv that Europe is expected to pay for. It’s quite the shift from Trump’s Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy less than five months ago, driven by Trump’s mounting frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. We’re also watching the Russia sanctions package — and whether it gets Trump’s explicit endorsement.

House gets ready to get rolled on crypto

The House Rules Committee meets today to ready a trio of cryptocurrency bills for floor votes this week — a watershed moment for the industry and its allies in Washington. “All that work for the past three years is going to come to fruition,” House Financial Services Chair French Hill said on the Thinking Crypto podcast Friday. But it’s not exactly going according to plan for the House, which will advance the Senate’s stablecoin bill, not its own, so it lands on Trump’s desk this month. They will include their tweaks to that proposal in a separate, broader overhaul of crypto regulation — but there’s no guarantee of Senate action on that anytime soon. “We want to hold the Senate to their commitment [because] it’s very, very important for President Trump to have both of these bills on his desk as close together as possible,” Hill said.

— Eleanor Mueller

Tensions build over next reconciliation bill

Senate Republicans are open to doing another party-line bill after the success of Trump’s megabill. But after the House dinged their two-bill approach in favor of the single “big, beautiful bill,” Senate GOP leaders are confused, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t have another one, I’m just saying the irony is: ‘Oh we’re gonna have three. Before, we could only pass one.’ So, which one is it?” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va, a member of leadership, said. Senate Republicans think the single-bill exercise was rooted in doubts the House could pass multiple reconciliation bills. “These senators are misunderstanding the debate that was had,” a House GOP leadership source said, adding that it was about how to pass tax cuts — not whether the House could pass multiple bills. We’ll see if that’s true soon enough.

Trading partners confident despite threats

US trading partners are still optimistic that talks with the Trump administration will pan out despite renewed tariff threats. The European Union is delaying planned tariffs on $25 billion worth of US goods, after Trump threatened 30% tariffs on the bloc beginning in August. European officials believe market reaction will ultimately cause Trump to back off, the Financial Times reported. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also projected confidence, despite an equivalent tariff threat. “These tariffs are real if the president doesn’t get a deal that he thinks is good enough,” White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett insisted on ABC. The US will soon get more data about the economic impact, with Tuesday’s release of the June consumer price index. A Wall Street Journal survey found economists predicting cooler inflation and a smaller risk of a recession than they did last quarter.

Top firm to Dems: Get online or get out

An up-and-coming Democratic admaker is warning Democrats in 2026 battleground districts that they “must take social media seriously.” “If you do not feel like you can handle communicating directly with voters or constituents… now is a great time to retire,” the firm wrote in a strategy memo shared with Semafor’s Max Tani that will be sent to Democratic campaigns and firms today. Only 16% of Democratic lawmakers in DC post videos even occasionally on their campaign accounts, the firm found, and only 4% are posting there more than once a week. That lack of communication effectively cedes the internet to the opposition, the memo argued: “If they’re not hearing from you, they’re hearing from someone else.” Still, the firm gave a shoutout to Democrats who’ve put in a lot of effort online, like California Sen. Adam Schiff and New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé.

Debatable: Synthetic food dyes

The Trump administration announced plans to phase out eight synthetic food dyes earlier this year, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has worked on convincing companies to remove artificial dyes from their products. The push earned him rare praise from lawmakers on the left, like progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, but resistance from the candy industry, which uses the dyes to market treats to kids. Some studies have linked synthetic dyes to behavioral issues in children, but other experts have pushed for more research. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., argued that Americans “should not be consuming products that contain dyes that have been proven unsafe and banned in other countries.” But Christopher Gindlesperger of the National Confectioners Association called for further study of food dyes and said federal officials need to give companies more time to find alternatives.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Ahead of his planned meeting with New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani this week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Mamdani must reassure the Jewish community “that he’s going to stand up for their safety and security.”

Axios: President Trump could take one of three paths to defuse the blowback on the Jeffrey Epstein issue: Appoint a special counsel to review the case, remove redactions to already released documents, or petition the courts to unseal Epstein-related files.

Playbook: At least one MAGA ally has been pushing behind the scenes for Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to hold an “all-questions-addressed news conference” on Epstein.

White House

• President Trump was booed when he appeared in New Jersey to present the FIFA Club World Cup to tournament winners Chelsea on Sunday.
• Former President Joe Biden defended his use of the autopen to pardon large batches of people before he left office; he maintained he granted the pardons orally and denied that aides had acted without his permission. — NYT

Congress

• Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he plans to force a floor vote on release of the “FULL Epstein files,” the latest Democrat to pile on.