Major win for president as former personal lawyer wins approval despite outcry over $1.8bn slush fund

The US senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in a major win for Donald Trump, who will now have his one-time personal attorney sitting atop the nation’s law enforcement apparatus.

Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the deciding vote in Blanche’s favor after two other Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – voted against him. Every Democrat rejected Blanche’s nomination.

“Mr Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr Blanche,” Cassidy said Friday on the senate floor announcing his decision. “It is between Mr Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr Blanche.”

The vote came after Blanche’s nomination had been in limbo for weeks. He faced pushback from Republican senators over the department’s deal to create a $1.8bn so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and to give the president, his sons, and business tax immunity.

House Democrats are adding a dozen Republican-held seats to their list of targets for the November midterms, expanding the national campaign map to districts Donald Trump won easily less than two years ago.

The move brings the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's list of targets to 58, an ambitious list that reflects Trump's diminished standing with the electorate and Democrats' belief that they can capitalize on voters' frustrations over the economy, the war in Iran and the chaotic nature of the Republican president's second administration.

Over the last few weeks, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine has privately made clear to other top Trump advisers that the US needs to find an off-ramp from the war with Iran — because the military options on the table to escalate the conflict could backfire and airpower alone is unlikely to achieve Donald Trump’s stated objectives, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

“Caine is looking for an off ramp,” one of the sources said bluntly.

Caine is not alone in his view that the war has reached a crossroads. He has discussed concerns about the military options for escalating the conflict and raised the prospect of finding an off-ramp from the war with other key Cabinet officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, two of the sources said.

Trump determined to link life-saving shots to autism, despite science and political risk.

The White House is drafting an executive order on the disproven link between vaccines and autism, according to independent reports from The Washington Post and Bloomberg, which both cited unnamed sources with knowledge of the efforts.

Bloomberg reported that the executive order, which is still taking shape and is subject to change, could be issued as soon as next week. The Post said the order’s drafting so far is aimed at the childhood vaccine schedule, autism research, and parental choice for vaccinations.

Dozens of high-quality studies encompassing data from millions of children worldwide have already been carried out on the topic and have consistently found no link between childhood vaccines and autism. The claim of a link stems from an unethical, fraudulent study that was retracted years ago, and its author was stripped of his medical license.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirmed Friday he’s staying on the nation’s highest court, weeks after a swell of speculation about a possible retirement.

“Obviously, I’m here for another term,” Alito, 76, said in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal’s editorial section.

Discussion of Alito’s future hit a fever pitch in June, when a mistake by a veteran Supreme Court reporter at National Public Radio resulted in the erroneous publication of a previously prepared retirement story.

German energy company RWE has said it will abandon its offshore wind projects in the US after reaching a $1.2bn (£892m) payout deal with Donald Trump's Department of the Interior (DOI).

RWE said that it will now reinvest the sum into conventional gas projects, including $900m (£669m) in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project in Louisiana.

In a troubling sign for the economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that it revised down the prior two months’ jobs by a combined 103,000.

The U.S. economy shed 23,000 jobs in July, a sign that the labor market had not stabilized after four months of positive growth.

The unemployment rate ticked down only slightly to 4.1%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting the release to show 83,000 added roles, more than June’s 57,000.

In yet another troubling sign for the labor market, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that it revised down the prior two months by a combined 103,000. May’s jobs total was cut by 66,000 to 129,000 total jobs added, while June’s total was lowered by 37,000 to a total gain of 57,000.

Estimates for previous two months were revised down sharply but unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%

US employers unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July and gains for the previous two months were revised down sharply by a combined 103,000 jobs, painting a weaker picture of the labor market than past data indicated.

The unemployment rate, however, held steady at 4.1%. Economists had projected an unchanged unemployment rate and 83,000 new jobs for the month.

The latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics illustrates the continued summer slump in job growth amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Pressure has been mounting within the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to combat persistently high inflation, but July’s job report and its latest revisions may cool those expectations at the central bank’s next meeting.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also said she will vote against Blanche’s nomination, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., remains undecided.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, came out Friday against Donald Trump’s pick of Todd Blanche for attorney general, leaving the nomination hanging by a thread.

Murkowski joins fellow centrist Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to oppose the president’s choice. With Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., out indefinitely, and Democrats expected to vote no, a third GOP opponent would block the nomination for the powerful job.

Despite the “numerous constructive meetings” she’s had with Blanche, Murkowski said in a statement, “I will oppose his nomination.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered inspections of hundreds of Boeing 737 Max jets for cracks in the body of the plane, warning that undetected damage could reduce the aircraft’s structural integrity.

The new airworthiness directive applies to an estimated 471 US-registered Boeing 737 Max 8s, Max 9s and Max 8-200 airplanes.

Cracks were found on some planes in a structural reinforcement around the forward service door on the right side of the airplane, next to the front galley, the FAA said.

Airlines must inspect the area on a schedule based on each airplane’s usage and repair any cracking before returning an affected airplane to service.

Move to raise levy on goods made with polysilicon aims to protect domestic US supply chains from China, the major producer

Donald Trump has ordered a new 15% tariff on imported products made of polysilicon, an important ingredient in microchip manufacturing that is primarily produced by China.

The new tariff, which will take effect on 4 December, is aimed at supporting US chip and solar panel supply chains to compete with Beijing on artificial intelligence and energy.

The executive order signed by the president on Thursday evening said: “The plan of action in ⁠this proclamation will, among other things, help ensure the commercial viability of United States production of polysilicon and its derivatives that is necessary to meet United States economic and national security requirements.”

Like his U.S. Senate rival, Ken Paxton, the Austin state lawmaker introduced a plan to address what he called an “affordability crisis.” But they differed on who is to blame for rising costs.

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico proposed a sweeping economic agenda on Wednesday that called for repealing recent GOP tax cuts for the wealthy and enacting universal childcare, among other policies meant to lower everyday costs.

“We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis,” Talarico said during a nearly 30-minute speech to an audience of 1,300 people in Arlington. “For too many of our neighbors — for too many Texans — the American dream has become an American nightmare.”

Throughout his campaign, Talarico has stuck to a populist economic message that links rising costs to billionaire political influence and an economy he says is tilted in favor of the ultrawealthy over working people. Wednesday’s address kicked off a monthlong tour to promote his first detailed rollout of his proposals to reverse course, under the banner of what he is calling the “New American Dream.”