Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows gavels to restore order during debating for the newly introduced redistricting bill, House bill 4 during a House meeting in the State Capitol on August 20, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Texas Republicans are triumphant Thursday morning after a success in their efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps – but California Democrats are set to make their move, in a redistricting battle that has become a proxy war between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
After a long day of debate on Wednesday, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill with new congressional maps that could flip five congressional districts red by making them more favorable for Republicans.
Democrats, who had fled the state to deny a quorum in the legislature for weeks, now say they are ready to take on the maps in court.
“Big WIN for the Great State of Texas!!! Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself. Texas never lets us down,” Trump, who pushed Texas to redraw maps, wrote on his social media platform late Wednesday.
The state Senate is set to consider the maps bill on Thursday, and the bill is likely on a glide path to the desk of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“While Democrats shirked their duty, in futility, and ran away to other states, Republicans stayed the course, stayed at work and stayed true to Texas. I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk,” Abbott wrote on Wednesday.
In California, both bodies of the state legislature meet on Thursday and are set to take on and potentially pass legislation that would put new maps on the ballot in a November special election.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been pushing the initiative and says new maps in California would only take effect if other states redraw lines, wrote on X late Wednesday, “Congratulations to @GregAbbott_TX — you will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump’s most loyal lapdogs. Shredding our nation’s founding principles. What a legacy.”
And in another post, he simply wrote, “It’s on, Texas.”
Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the situation Tuesday evening, backing Newsom.
“Given that Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying: gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies, redistrict right in the middle of a decade between censuses – which is not how the system was designed; I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this,” Obama said at a fundraiser in Martha’s Vinyard.
“Because what he has said is, I would prefer not to do it. If we were to redraw our maps, we could obviously gain more Democratic seats. That is not my preference, but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game. And California is one of the states that has the capacity to offset a large state like Texas,” he added.
Trump, on his own platform, criticized Newsom early Thursday, claiming the governor was “way down in the polls.”
“He is viewed as the man who is destroying the once Great State of California,” the president posted.
Republican legislators in California have said the endeavor to get new maps on the ballot is overly costly and subverts the will of the voters in California, who they say support independent redistricting.
(NEW YORK) — After a long day of debate, the Texas House of Representatives passed a Republican-favored congressional map Wednesday evening that could flip five districts red by merging Democratic seats in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas to form new Republican-leaning seats and by making two Rio Grande Valley districts currently held by Democrats more competitive.
Districts currently held by Democratic Reps. Al Green, Marc Veasey, Julie Johnson, Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett are potentially targeted.
The vote came weeks after state Democrats decried the unorthodox mid-decade redistricting as blatant gerrymandering to increase the number of GOP congressional seats.
The new map does not appear to significantly weaken any GOP-held seats but experts have said it would rely on the durability of Hispanic support for Republicans in 2024 to carry into next year’s midterms. The maps have gone through some small adjustments since being first introduced in July.
It is likely that the redistricting plan, which was pushed by President Donald Trump, will pass. The map could pass the state Senate as soon as the end of the week and would then go to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
In a press conference after the vote, House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu acknowledged that Democrats had lost this round.
“This part of the fight is over, but it is merely the first chapter,” Wu said, adding later that a lawsuit against the new maps will be coming together soon but not until after Abbott signs the legislation.
House Democrats attempted to stall deliberations for hours during Wednesday’s floor session before the final vote with various long shot amendment proposals. Wu proposed an amendment to table consideration of the maps until the Jeffrey Epstein files are released by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, but Wu’s amendment was dismissed as not germane to the matter at hand. Members also voted down an amendment from Rep. Chris Turner to kill the bill and several others attempted to get amendments to either table or scuttle the maps, all to no avail.
Before the final vote, Democrats decried Republicans’ efforts as undemocratic and said they were were working solely at the behest of Trump.
“You may not understand gerrymandering, you may not understand redistricting, but I hope you understand lying, cheating and stealing, because this is what people do, people like Donald Trump, people like the Republican Party of Texas, when they can’t win, they cheat,” Wu said.
Democratic Rep. Joe Moody said, “These maps are deepening the struggle for communities of color that will only worsen because one small man in D.C. demanded it. This is where division becomes dictatorship, the government against the people. Some people here are doing so much winning that they can’t see what we’re all losing.”
Democratic Rep. Harold Dutton told Republicans, “I don’t think you’ll ever win. I think you’ll win perhaps a battle, but the war, the war, you will always remember that the war will be won by right and justice.”
During the hours-long comments from Democrats who accused Republicans of pushing forward with the maps without their input as they pitched various amendments, GOP Rep. Todd Hunter, who authored the bill, snapped back — particularly after Rep. Gervin Hawkins made similar insinuations — that the House was unable to get any work done because Democrats fled the state.
“You own the walkout, you said you did that, but don’t come into this body and say we didn’t include you. You left for 18 days, and that’s wrong,” Hunter said.
The special session was delayed after Democrats left the state to avoid a quorum, despite threats of arrest from Abbott and other Republican leaders.
Some Democrats returned to the statehouse on Monday and allowed the legislature to reach a quorum. All 88 House Republicans voted for the bill and 52 of the 62 Democrats in the House voted against it.
A handful of Texas House Democrats refused law enforcement escorts to ensure they wouldn’t leave the state again. They stayed overnight in the Texas House in solidarity with state Rep. Nicole Collier, who had refused to sign a “permission slip” allowing her to leave the state Capitol with a law enforcement escort.
“Look I’m not gonna lie. I want to cry, but I’m too angry,” Collier said after the House vote. “I want to cry, but I’m too furious.”
She added, “My feet hurt, my back aches, but I think about the people who have no home, have no bed to sleep in, who have no job to work at. I think about the people who don’t earn livable wages. I think about the people who don’t have health care. I can fix my back, but what are we gonna do for them? … The fact that I’m still mad, angry and furious means that I still want to fight.”
The Texas state Capitol also dealt with a social media threat Tuesday night that led to the evacuation of grounds and the building, but Democratic lawmakers who were already in the building remained inside.
Following the vote, Abbott said he was planning to add proposed legislation to the special session that in the future would punish legislators who deny a quorum.
“We need to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state,” Abbot said in a statement.
Republicans continued to take victory laps over the bill passing the Texas House — and even before it passed, were sounding a defiant note.
“You will not silence the majority in the state of Texas. You can throw your tantrum, you can leave, you can run, and you can ignore the will of the rest of the voters,” Republican state Rep. Katrina Pierson said before the bill passed its final vote in the House. “But it’s honestly time to pick a new narrative. The racist rhetoric is old.”
Abbott, who had placed redistricting on the agenda for both of the special legislative sessions he called, wrote in a statement congratulating Republican House members that Democrats had “shirked their duty, in futility.”
“I congratulate Speaker Burrows and the Republican members of the Texas House of Representatives for passing congressional districts that better reflect the actual votes of Texans,” Abbott wrote. “While Democrats shirked their duty, in futility, and ran away to other states, Republicans stayed the course, stayed at work and stayed true to Texas. I will sign this bill once it passes the Senate and gets to my desk.”
California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been pushing a plan to draw new congressional maps in California in response to Texas or to other Republican-led states redrawing theirs, wrote in a post on X, “Congratulations to @GregAbbott_TX — you will now go down in history as one of Donald Trump’s most loyal lapdogs. Shredding our nation’s founding principles. What a legacy.”
In another post, he wrote simply, “It’s on, Texas.”
California’s legislature is set to take up and vote on redistricting legislation on Thursday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in her own post, wrote, “Game on.” Hochul has expressed support for redrawing New York’s congressional maps, but state legislators have said the earliest maps could be in effect is likely 2028.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington continued Wednesday, protesters booed Vice President JD Vance during a photo op with the guardsmen stationed in the city.
The protesters jeered Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as they visited Union Station, blocks from the U.S. Capitol, to thank the troops at a Shake Shack where they bought lunch for the guard members.
“Well, a lot has changed in the past seven days,” Vance told the troops, referring to when the federal surge against D.C. crime began. “You guys are doing a hell of a job. I’m proud of you and we’re grateful,” he told the troops. So, we’ll say hello for a bit — just want to shake some hands and say hey to you guys.”
“Free D.C.,” the protesters shouted as the three officials arrived and then later inside the Shake Shack. The chants drowned out much of what Vance, Hegseth and Miller said as they tried to speak to reporters.
Vance and Miller dismissed the jeers, calling the protesters “crazy” and “communists.”
“They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities,” Vance said.
Vance was asked why troops were stationed at Union Station instead of parts of the city with higher crime rates. The vice president said the station was being overrun with homeless people and visitors didn’t feel safe.
“This should be a monument to American greatness,” he said.
Vance added that he believed that crime statistics do not report the full scope of crime on the streets of the nation’s capital.
At a back-to-school event Wednesday morning, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city doesn’t need federal agents to ensure safety in D.C.
“Crime has gone down in our city and it has gone down precipitously over the last two years because of a lot of hard work, changes to our public safety ecosystem, including changes to the law,” Bowser said. “And we know that those facts don’t comport to what some people are saying, but those are the facts.”
Bowser also said she doesn’t believe the National Guard should be used for “law enforcement.”
“They have to be used on mission specific items that benefit the nation,” she said of the guardsmen.
However, when asked about how her relationship with President Trump has changed since the start of the year, Bowser said her plan is to “represent the district.”
Flanked by Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith, Bowser repeatedly deferred to Smith when asked about the city’s crime data.
The MPD has been collaborative with the federal agencies and so far has developed a congenial relationship with its federal partners, according to Smith. Smith also acknowledged having federal agents spread throughout the city has been helpful to the city’s police force.
“Hearing from the officers on the street, some of them have found it to be very helpful, some people in the community have found it to be very helpful,” she said.
ABC News’ Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Rally highlights, White House glamour shots and his signature moves. President Donald Trump made a surprise return to the popular video app TikTok with three montages posted to a new official @whitehouse account Tuesday night.
“America we are BACK,” the first post was captioned. Trump pledged “I am your voice” as the video played.
The account isn’t Trump’s first foray with the Chinese-owned app. Both he and his 2024 rivals, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, signed up for TikTok in an effort to reach the 170 million users the company claims it has in the U.S. Trump last posted to his 15 million-plus followers from his former account @realdonaldtrump on Election Day. Candidates especially hoped to court young voters on the platform.
But TikTok has faced scrutiny from the U.S. government since Trump’s first administration. In August 2020, he released an executive order calling for “aggressive action” against TikTok to protect national security. One Republican-introduced bill that became law in 2022 banned most federal employees from downloading the app on government devices.
U.S. authorities have listed concerns about possibilities of stolen U.S. user data and a potentially manipulative and addictive algorithm.
Trump threatened to ban the app in his first term, but has thrice in his second term delayed the enforcement of a 2024 bipartisan law requiring TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell it in the U.S. or be banned.
In anticipation of the initial ban deadline, TikTok briefly left app stores in the U.S. the day before Trump’s second inauguration and went dark for 14 hours. A pop-up message crediting him appeared when the app started working again, reading, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was among many tech leaders who Trump invited to his inauguration.
The company offered various alternatives to divesting, including increased oversight and data protection. The latest pause on the ban is set to end on Sept. 17, though Trump repeatedly vowed to cut a deal for TikTok, even suggesting the sovereign wealth fund he created in February could be used to keep TikTok operating in the U.S.
Despite security concerns, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to ABC News that TikTok will be a powerful tool for the president.
“The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible,” Leavitt said. “President Trump’s message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we’re excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before.”
Leavitt also appeared in a clip on the White House account.
The account racked up more than 140,000 followers by Wednesday afternoon, still catching up to Trump’s more than 10 million Truth Social followers and more than 108 million followers on his less frequently used X account.
(WASHINGTON) — As President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops continued, protesters lashed out at three of his top officials who took time for a photo op with the guardsmen on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.,’s Union Station.
Protesters booed and jeered Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as they came to the station, located blocks from the U.S. Capitol, to thank the troops. The crowd’s chants drowned out the voices of the officials.
“Free DC,” the protesters shouted as three officials arrived in their motorcade.
Vance, Hegseth and Miller stopped by at the station’s Shake Shack and bought and ate lunch for the guard members.
Vance and Miller dismissed the jeers of the protesters, which drowned out their press gaggle, calling them “crazy” and “communists.”
“They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities,” Vance said.
Vance was asked why the troops were stationed at Union Station instead of parts of the city with higher crime rates. The vice president claimed that the station was being overrun with homeless people and visitors didn’t feel safe.
“This should be a monument to American greatness,” he said.
Vance added that he believed that crime statistics do not report the full scope of crime on the streets, however he declined to talk about evidence that backed his claim up and told a reporter to “You just got to look around.”
The event happened at the same time that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was giving a news conference on Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney For Washington, DC Jeanine Pirro. Win McNamee/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, has instructed prosecutors in her office to not seek felony charges for individuals who carry registered rifles and shotguns in the district, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The policy shift, according to the sources, followed concerns relayed by the Justice Department’s solicitor general, John Sauer, that the district’s restrictive firearm statutes infringe on the Second Amendment rights of residents as affirmed in several recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We will continue to seize all illegal and unlicensed firearms, and to vigorously prosecute all crimes connected with them,” Pirro said in a statement to ABC News. “And we will continue to charge a felon in possession of any of these firearms. Our resolve to prosecute crime is not lessened by defective DC code statutes, as the DOJ works to change those statutes.”
Pirro added in her statement, “If anyone is carrying a weapon illegally, they will absolutely be charged.”
The policy shift, which was first reported by the Washington Post, comes as the administration has publicly touted numbers of illegal firearms seized in its ongoing surge of federal resources intended to combat D.C. crime.
Prosecutions for those types of offenses, according to Pirro’s statement, would continue; the shift is instead related to a D.C. statute that bars people from carrying shotguns or rifles in the capital without permits, which Pirro’s office says violates the Supreme Court’s holdings in two recent Second Amendment cases in 2008 and 2022.
“Nothing in this memo from the Department of Justice and the Office of Solicitor General precludes the United States Attorney’s Office from charging a felon with the possession of a firearm, which includes a rifle, shotgun, and attendant large capacity magazine pursuant to DC Code 22-4503,” Pirro said in her statement to the Post. “What it does preclude is a separate charge of possession of a registered rifle or shotgun.”
In an aerial view, the State Capitol is seen on August 14, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(AUSTIN, Texas) — After weeks of delays and protests from Democrats, the Texas state House is slated Wednesday to consider moving forward on the controversial redistricting plan.
Republicans have put the bill for the redistricting on the agenda for when their special session convenes again today on the House floor at 10 a.m. local time.
The move came weeks after state Democrats decried the unorthodox mid-decade redistricting as blatant gerrymandering to increase the number of GOP congressional seats. The special session was delayed after Democrats left the state to avoid a quorum, despite threats of arrest from Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders.
Some Democrats returned to the statehouse on Monday and allowed the legislature to reach a quorum, but they continued to speak out against the controversial redistricting.
It is likely that the redistricting plan, which was pushed by President Donald Trump, will pass.
Texas House Democrats said they are still planning to resist the maps and call out what they say it means for their constituents. They plan on fighting the bill on the floor.
A handful of Texas House Democrats refused law enforcement escorts. It stayed overnight in the Texas House, in solidarity with state Rep. Nicole Collier, who had refused to sign a “permission slip” allowing her to leave the state Capitol with a law enforcement escort.
The Texas state Capitol also dealt with a social media threat Tuesday night that led to the evacuation of grounds and the building, but Democratic lawmakers who were already in the building remained inside.
The bill, which was newly filed for the second special session after the first one was adjourned due to not having a quorum, passed out of committee on Monday.
The Texas Senate is expected to pick up the bill once it passes the House.
(NEW YORK) –The Texas State Capitol was cleared of visitors Tuesday evening and closed to the public after a social media threat, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
The disruption came amid protests in support of Democratic State Rep. Nicole Collier, who has been confined to the House after she refused a law enforcement escort during a contentious redistricting fight that saw several Democrats leave the state earlier this month to hamper the redrawing of new maps.
In a statement, the Texas Department of Public Safety said the message was posted earlier Tuesday. “In that message, the individual calls on others to go to the Capitol building and take action by shooting and killing those who will not allow lawmakers to leave,” the department said.
The department said it evacuated the public from the Capitol building around 6:30 p.m. local time “for the safety of those at the Texas State Capitol, and out of an abundance of caution.”
The department said it’s working to identify the person responsible for the posting. The Capitol was closed to the public for the rest of the day.
While the public was evacuated from the Capitol, some Democratic House Members remained in the building with many state troopers present.
Several hours before the building was cleared of visitors, a handful of Texas House Democrats said they planned to stay overnight in the State Capitol in solidarity with Collier — joining her in refusing law enforcement escorts mandated for them because they had broken quorum to prevent House Republicans from changing the state’s congressional maps to make five districts more GOP-friendly.
A few of them tore up their paperwork to consent to an escort during a media availability outside the House chamber Tuesday afternoon.
Democratic state Rep. Penny Morales Shaw told reporters at a news conference, “This is illegitimate, this is a wrongful use of power and I will not condone it, and I don’t want to be a part of setting a very bad and low precedent for future legislators.”
Shaw was joined by state Reps. Rhetta Andrews Bowers, Cassandra Hernandez and Mihaela Plesa outside the House chamber.
Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers told reporters, “We walked in, we are not running from anything. We have not been running from anything this entire time. So I want to be clear that this is a blatant violation of our freedoms as Texans, as Americans, and of duly elected officials.”
Saying the law enforcement escort was a waste of taxpayer dollars, Bowers added, “We are representatives of the people of Texas. Those resources belong to Texans right now, families in the Hill Country who lost everything to devastating floods need our help. Yet, instead of providing relief, those dollars are being spent on constant [Department Public Safety] patrols.”
Some Democrats returned to the statehouse on Monday and allowed the legislature to reach a quorum, but they continued to speak out against the controversial redistricting.
It is likely that the redistricting plan, which was pushed by President Donald Trump, will pass. The House is set to consider the bill containing the new maps on Wednesday, according to an updated House calendar. The bill, which was newly filed for the second special session after the first one was adjourned due to not having a quorum, passed out of committee on Monday.
Hernandez said that other colleagues are heading to the Capitol to stay overnight and plan to fight the bill when they are on the House floor tomorrow. She did not specify how many were en route or when they could show up.
“So while we’re in here, doing our slumber party for democracy, you will see that we will be working on the floor, strategizing and making sure that we bring the fight tomorrow, and we will not allow them to continue to keep silencing our communities and taking away our abilities as duly elected officials to represent the people that we have been elected to represent in all of Texans,” she said.
Collier and House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu posted a video on X on Tuesday chronicling how they and their colleague, state Rep. Vince Perez, slept in the chambers Monday night.
“We had two chairs that we put together. [Wu] slept in two chairs. I slept in two chairs. Our other colleague, Vince Perez, he slept in a couple of chairs,” Collier said in the X video.
Wu, who did sign the waiver, said in his post that he joined Perez and Collier in support of “#goodtrouble,” referencing the late Democratic Rep. John Lewis.
“We know this is a #riggedredistricting process. Democrats are not giving up!” he posted.
Collier echoed that statement.
“I think they need to find their resistance,” she said of her supporters.” Finding your voice and your resistance — that will make a change in America.”
Plesa said Collier had gotten support and calls from people around the country — including former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris called Collier Tuesday and gave her words of encouragement, according to a representative for the former vice president.
“Know that we’re in the rooms with you no matter what. And you have our support,” Harris told Collier.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows responded to Collier’s action in a statement Tuesday, saying, “Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules.”
“I am choosing to spend my time focused on moving the important legislation on the call to overhaul camp safety, provide property tax reform and eliminate the STAAR test — the results Texans care about,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Texas House Democratic Caucus told ABC News that Collier is effectively stuck in the Capitol until Wednesday at the earliest if she doesn’t sign the form, because that is the earliest the House could do a rules change.
Collier told ABC News on Monday that she was taking a stand for herself and her constituents.
“Look, I’m not a criminal. I’ve exercised my right, and I am tired of the government controlling our movement, and so this is nothing more than the government exercising its control over people who exercise their constitutional rights to resist,” she said.
Collier said she had no issue with the DPS officers themselves since they were ordered by the state Republican leadership to escort the selected Democrats; however, she was angry that the directive was made in the first place.
“I’m tired of being pushed around and told what to do when I disagree with the actions of our government,” she said.
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to dig in deeper into the harm that you’re doing. You are going to get what you want,” Collier said of the Republican leadership. “This is just petty and unnecessary, and I don’t think that it is fair. It’s demeaning to me as a person and to my community, and I just won’t take it.”
Exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. (Emily Chang/ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday confirmed the White House is conducting a review of the Smithsonian museums and expressed frustration over their portrayal of dark parts of America’s history, including slavery.
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
“We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made,” Trump added. “This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”
The Smithsonian declined to comment.
ABC News reported last week that the White House planned to do a wide-ranging review of the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibitions and operations ahead of America’s 250th anniversary next year.
In a letter sent to Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the White House wrote that it wants to ensure that the museums “reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story.”
When Trump visited The National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2017, he had a different opinion about the discussion of slavery in the museum.
In his remarks that day he praised Bunch, the current secretary of the Smithsonian who was then the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Trump referred to the museum as “incredible,” “done with love,” and a “truly great museum.”
He praised abolitionist figures Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. He even recounted a story he’d learned about a runaway slave. He called the tour of the museum “a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms.”
The White House review is said to be focused on eight museums, including The National Museum of African American History and Culture, The National Museum of American History, The National Museum of Natural History, The National Museum of the American Indian, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The National Air and Space Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Trump signed an executive order back in March directing Vice President JD Vance and Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the Smithsonian.
Last week, ABC News visited the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History and National Museum of African American History and Culture, and took photographs of multiple exhibits displayed information and historical artifacts about slavery, segregation and the civil rights movement.
ABC News’ Averi Harper, Hannah Demissie and Emily Chang contributed to this report.
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu attends a news conference at the conclusion of a House meeting on August 18, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(AUSTIN, Texas) — A trio of Texas Democrats slept overnight in the state house instead of traveling home with a mandated law enforcement escort ordered by the Republican leadership as they continued their peaceful resistance against the state leadership and their controversial redistricting plan.
State Representatives Nicole Collier and Gene Wu posted a video on X on Tuesday chronicling how they and their colleague, state Rep. Vince Perez, slept in the chambers after Collier refused to sign a waiver mandated by State House Speaker Dustin Burrows.
Although the Democrats returned to the statehouse Monday, those who denied quorum were allowed to leave the Capitol only if they signed a form agreeing to be under the custody of Texas Department of Public Safety officers.
Texas Democrats fled the state in protest of the Republicans’ plan to redraw congressional maps. Some Democrats returned to the statehouse on Monday and allowed the legislature to reach a quorum, but they continued to speak out against the controversial redistricting.
It is likely that the redistricting plan will pass.
Collier and Wu talked about how they had to make do with their surroundings as they slept in the chambers.
“We had two chairs that we put together. [Wu] slept in two chairs. I slept in two chairs. Our other colleague, Vince Perez, he slept in a couple of chairs,” Collier said in the X video.
Wu, who did sign the waiver, said in his post that he joined Perez and Collier in support of “#goodtrouble”, referencing the late Rep. John Lewis.
“We know this is a #riggedredistricting process. Democrats are not giving up!” he posted.
Collier echoed that statement.
“I think they need to find their resistance,” she said of her supporters. ” Finding your voice and your resistance — that will make a change in America.”
It was not immediately known if Perez signed the waiver.
Burrows responded to Collier’s actions on Tuesday in a statement, “Rep. Collier’s choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules.”
“I am choosing to spend my time focused on moving the important legislation on the call to overhaul camp safety, provide property tax reform and eliminate the STAAR test — the results Texans care about,” he added.
A spokesperson for the Texas House Democratic Caucus told ABC News that Collier is effectively stuck until Wednesday in the state House at the earliest if she doesn’t sign the form, because that is the earliest the House could do a rules change.
Collier told ABC News on Monday that she was taking a stand for herself and her constituents.
“Look, I’m not a criminal. I’ve exercised my right, and I am tired of the government controlling our movement, and so this is nothing more than the government exercising its control over people who exercise their constitutional rights to resist,” she said.
Collier said she had no issue with the DPS officers themselves since they were ordered by the state Republican leadership to escort the selected Democrats; however, she was angry that the directive was made in the first place.
“I’m tired of being pushed around and told what to do when I disagree with the actions of our government,” she said.
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to dig in deeper into the harm that you’re doing. You are going to get what you want,” Collier said of the Republican leadership. “This is just petty and unnecessary, and I don’t think that it is fair. It’s demeaning to me as a person and to my community, and I just won’t take it.”
