Washington, DC

1. AI startup joins DC debate
2. US-Russia talk plague
3. Talarico’s Fox fumble
4. Trump’s fuel fix
5. Escalation in Yemen

President Trump’s approval rating is 27% among Latino voters, according to an NBC News poll.

Reflection AI unveils an open-source answer to Chinese labs

Reflection AI, the startup billing itself as America’s answer to open-source Chinese AI, is releasing its first model, called Beam. The release coincides with rising calls for AI regulation, and Reflection wants to be part of the conversation. The company wants to enable “builders of open models to be able to contribute to the discourse that is happening in DC on regulation,” CEO Misha Laskin told Semafor. “You want multiple voices around the table, both open and closed, and they should be working collaboratively on helping the government regulate AI,” he said. “We see this entrance as something that enables more open-model perspectives to be part of the discourse in DC.” Laskin said Reflection is working with both the US Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence and the UK’s AI Safety Institute to assess the model’s capabilities.

— Ashley Gold

Trump administration keeps an eye on suspected plague case

The Trump administration is in touch with Russian officials about a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague in Siberia, a State Department official told Semafor. But Russia’s reluctance to share information is complicating the effort. A State Department spokesman said that “many details have not been confirmed” and that the administration is encouraging “Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.” A former Health and Human Services official told Semafor that it’s impossible to say how bad the situation is in part because of Russia’s lack of transparency. “Two things seem true: Russia was doing something they shouldn’t have been, and it appears they f*cked it up,” the former HHS official said. “Unless they weaponized this pathogen in some very novel ways, if it is what they say it is, it should be containable. It’s not a pandemic-type bug.”

— Shelby Talcott and David Lim

LGBTQ group: Talarico misspoke on trans rights

Texas Democrat James Talarico told an LGBTQ activist that he screwed up an answer to a transgender rights question from Fox News, according to the president of the Human Rights Campaign. In a Monday roundtable with reporters, HRC president Kelley Robinson said that Talarico spoke to a member of the group after he told Fox News that he opposed gender surgery for minors, and opposed letting trans athletes participate in girls sports if “safety or fairness” was at risk. “He actually said, ‘I’m sorry, I messed up,’ and reiterated his support for our issues,” Robinson said. “Folks are still evolving and learning.” Talarico’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Democrats like Talarico and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed have used Fox News interviews to reach new audiences and field questions about cultural issues — getting credit for the effort, but creating some risks.

— David Weigel

Trump turns to states to lower fuel prices

Trump is grasping for options to lower fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections. Tonight, the president is expected to call on states to promote red-dyed diesel, which is diesel exempt from highway taxes, and for Treasury to review diesel taxes, Politico reported. Some red-state governors have already taken matters into their own hands: Texas, Nebraska, Alabama, and Louisiana waived restrictions to allow dyed diesel on their roads, while Ohio and Indiana have suspended some state fuel taxes. Gasbuddy energy analyst Patrick De Haan told Semafor that such moves are largely “Band-Aid solutions.” Dyed diesel exemptions may offer little relief because the fuel is rarely sold at gas stations and truckers crossing state lines could face hefty fines in states that still enforce restrictions. Fuel tax suspensions could modestly lower prices, De Haan added, but could boost demand while global supplies remain tight.

— Lauren Morganbesser

Iran war widens into Yemen

The Iran war is rippling into Yemen, raising risks of broader escalation. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces notched gains against the Houthis today, while Houthi threats against Saudi’s airspace prompted the State Department to warn Americans about potential “drone or missile attacks.” So far, the US has stayed on the sidelines in Yemen, rebuffing Saudi requests for military support, though Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself and said Washington intends to “live by” its defense and security agreement with the kingdom. Pakistan and Türkiye, meanwhile, announced they’d deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a new defense alliance. And other fronts remain live: Vice President JD Vance said moving B-1 bombers from a British airbase was done out of an “abundance of caution.” Iran’s president called talks with the US “meaningless,” leaving little space for a diplomatic off-ramp.

— Lauren Morganbesser

White House

• President Trump’s events are no longer standing-room-only, The New York Times reported; Trump disputed the story on social media.

Campaigns

• Ken Paxton, the GOP’s Senate candidate in Texas, complained that his campaign is controlled by DC in leaked audio. — Politico
• Former President Barack Obama will campaign with Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.

Congress

• Former Illinois Rep. Dennis Hastert, who was the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House and later admitted to committing child sexual abuse, died at 84.
• Democrats are planning ways to hamper the executive branch’s powers if they retake Congress.

Courts

• Supreme Court justices appeared divided during oral arguments in a climate change case today.
• President Trump has appointed more federal judges under 40 than his predecessors. — Politico

Energy

• The Energy Department will announce $150 million in new funding for power lines in Alaska as Vice President JD Vance visits the state. — Reuters

Media

• Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is joining Fox News as an on-air contributor.
• The White House barred Politico from boarding Air Force One today. — CNN

National Security

• The US Army is testing counter-drone technology in the US-Mexico border area.

Health

• Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating pediatricians that he alleges had financial motives for promoting vaccines.
• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists for a new neuroscience tool for studying living brain cells.

— President Trump on Saudi-Yemen tensions.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Ashley Gold, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel, David Lim