Washington, DC

1. Trump links autism to vaccines
2. Blanche takes helm
3. Hormuz impasse
4. North Carolina rumblings
5. AI posturing

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Trump links autism and childhood vaccines

President Donald Trump linked rising rates of autism diagnoses to an increase in childhood vaccines today, before signing an executive order changing decades of federal vaccination guidance. “I came in and I said I want to find out what’s going on with autism,” Trump said. “It’s many, many times what it used to be years ago. And we had progressively more and more vaccines.” Trump said the new guidelines would reduce the number of vaccinations the federal government recommends, while encouraging parents to space out shots over individual medical appointments, rather than grouping them. “Large amounts of vaccine, vats, are being pumped into your child’s body,” Trump said. “We’re doing 20% of that.” In recent months, the administration had seemed to back away from vaccine skepticism as pollsters deemed it a risky gambit. The scientific consensus is that vaccines do not cause autism.

Blanche sworn in as attorney general

Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general this afternoon, capping a brutal confirmation fight. Blanche, who has run the Justice Department in an acting capacity for months, officially takes over as the department faces low morale, staffing challenges, and growing pressure from the White House. In the near term, Blanche must make charging decisions on cases Trump is watching closely and deal with the potential ouster of some of his underlings; next year he may well have to contend with an avalanche of House investigations if Democrats retake the chamber. And he can’t count on much support from Republicans in the Senate. He could even face the same fate as his predecessor, whom Trump ousted for failing to deliver indictments against his political rivals (though he hasn’t spoken to Blanche about prosecuting one such rival, Anthony Fauci).

Hormuz impasse deepens

Prospects for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz dimmed today as Trump demanded compensation from Iran, while Tehran doubled down on its own conditions for reopening the waterway. Iran is seeking restitution from the US for damage inflicted during the war, prompting Trump to hit back on Truth Social that he was “likewise demanding compensation” from Iran for American troops killed from conflicts stretching from the current war back to the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, a condition he said he will insist on in all future negotiations. Internally, Iran reshuffled its security leadership, replacing its top national security adviser with a longtime Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander — a move analysts say could further consolidate the Guards’ influence over negotiations. The deepening impasse continues to drive up shipping costs, as supertanker rates for Middle East-China voyages near $500,000 a day.

— Lauren Morganbesser

Blue Dogs back a Democrat for Chuck Edwards’ seat

North Carolina Republicans are gathering tonight to pick a replacement candidate after Rep. Chuck Edwards dropped out in the face of sexual harassment allegations. There’s already at least one declared candidate, state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, though a party committee will vote to pick the nominee. Trump won the purplish seat by about 10 points in 2024, but Democrats believe population shifts are putting the Asheville-area district in play. Democratic candidate Jamie Ager, a farmer, was contesting the seat even before the revelations of Edwards’ scandals, and he’s posted hefty fundraising totals. He’s backed by the centrist Blue Dogs. But unlike in Ohio, where Republicans fret that controversial Rep. Max Miller’s domestic abuse allegations will put his seat in play, the GOP is confident a new candidate can win the North Carolina seat.

— Nicholas Wu

Sanders, Zuckerberg pitch AI visions

The artificial intelligence public messaging battle between Washington and Silicon Valley escalated today, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., upping the ante on controlling the technology, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pitching a vision for expansion. Sanders, who set the AI agenda on the left early with a data center moratorium bill, released a letter he sent to leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta that warned them to pause all AI development. “Stop building machines that humans cannot control,” Sanders wrote. Zuckerberg, one of the recipients of Sanders’ letter, published a 6,500-word essay calling for the release of more open-weight models and promising to establish a $1 billion fund for communities that host his company’s data centers. Both public figures are trying to influence the debate around AI and data centers, which polling shows Americans across the political spectrum view skeptically.

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White House

• President Trump nominated a loyal supporter to serve as inspector general at the Department of Interior, whose office is responsible for an inquiry into the Reflecting Pool renovation. — WaPo

Campaigns

• Democrat Alani Bankhead said she won’t drop out of Montana’s Senate race before the Monday afternoon deadline, a welcome development for Republican Kurt Alme. A spokeswoman for independent Seth Bodnar said his “campaign isn’t slowing down,” a dynamic that will split Alme’s opposition between two candidates, Burgess Everett reports.

Courts

• A US district court allowed President Trump to narrow his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC, potentially reducing the financial records he must disclose.

Outside the Beltway

• Former Rep. Ben Jones, D-Ga., died at 84.
• Florida’s attorney general demanded scores of records from The New York Times, accusing it of “editorial malpractice.”

Health

• The Trump administration proposed a new rule that requires food companies to tell the government when they add new ingredients to their products.

Immigration

• The State Department announced it has revoked more than 175,000 visas during President Trump’s second term. — Fox News
• Some MAGA activists view Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin as too soft on immigration and are pushing for him to be ousted. — Axios

World

• A Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian industrial city killed 13 people in one of the deadliest attacks on Russian territory since the start of the war.
• A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, killing at least 111 people.

— President Trump on Democrats.

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, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel