Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Despite more than 2,000 National Guard troops authorized by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said students in the nation’s capital will not be aided by their presence as children return to school this week.

“We don’t need federal agencies to help get kids to school,” Bowser told ABC News. “We will take care of getting our kids to school.”

The school year begins as Bowser and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) tout proficiency rates in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and math are the highest since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ELA proficiency rate is the highest on record.

Hundreds of thousands of students are returning to the classroom across major metropolitan school districts this week.

Some 100,000 students return to D.C. schools on Monday amid the Trump administration’s surge of law enforcement into Washington. Student safety is always a top issue for education leaders during back-to-school season. However, the presence of troops in Washington is raising new questions as a military-style vehicle was involved in an accident last week and troops will be gathering throughout the city at Metro rail stations, which is how many students get to school.

Bowser said D.C.’s existing transportation strategies include using the district’s safe passage program with local law enforcement lining the streets. If families feel unsafe, the district offers a safe connect program, which connects students with a ride to school.

Bowser believes using the Guard as law enforcement is unnecessary and said the crime rate had decreased “precipitously” before Trump’s surge.

“I think calling men and women from their homes and their jobs and their families — they have to be used on, you know, on mission-specific items that benefit the nation,” Bowser said, adding, “I don’t think we have an armed militia in the nation’s capital.”

But Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith acknowledged that the federal agents spread throughout the city have made improvements to safety.

“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,” Smith said.

In Philadelphia, where nearly 200,000 students are returning to schools this week, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington argued crime and shootings have also decreased there. He noted that the nation’s eighth-largest school district is investing in “safety zones” by contracting with the Philadelphia Police Department to provide additional patrols in areas that have an uptick in violence.

“We’ve invested more resources and safe paths programs where we contract with community organizations to oversee children as they traverse, as they make their way to school, to ensure their safety,” Watlington told ABC News. In addition, Philadelphia is hiring more school safety officers for the school district staff, Watlington said Watlington said he is fostering a welcoming environment in the City of Brotherly Love, which he said is creating a culture where young people feel connected, seen, and heard.

“We have to build relationships,” Watlington said.

“We’re focusing on that heavily in the school district, because when kids who feel connected, their social and emotional mental health and wellness are attended to, and they have relationships with each other and with adults, when they see something, they’re more likely to say something and so those are a number of things that we’re doing in our strategic plan to provide for the safety and well being of our young people and our staffs,” he said.

But Watlington and Philadelphia parents and families do have anxiety about significant cuts to its public transit system, SEPTA.

“We just can’t go and get more yellow school buses and put them on the street in Philadelphia,” Watlington said. “We rely on public transit, and it is unfortunate, and it’s no fault of our children that they’ll have some impacts to their transportation.”

Still, Bowser and education officials in both D.C. and Philadelphia agree safety is the top priority for their respective cities. At Bowser’s back-to-school pep rally earlier this month, she stressed a community response is needed to ensure a successful first day back.

Bowser urged D.C. residents to clap, cheer, and celebrate the city’s students all week.

“Our children deserve and will get a joyful start to their school year,” Bowser said, adding, “All the adults in our buildings, all of the people in our government are focused on making sure that that happens.”

“We want them to have a great school year, and we’re all going to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former CIA Director and retired Army Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday that he’s dubious that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

“There’s not that much right now that would lead us to believe that,” Petraeus told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “I don’t think, in fact, out of the last two weeks, really, Jonathan, I think what should be clear to all, and I think it is even clear to President Trump, is that despite all of his efforts, again, which we applaud to end the war, to stop the killing, Vladimir Putin clearly has no intention of doing that unless he’s given additional territory, which is heavily fortified, and Russian forces would have to fight for years at the pace that they’re going.”

Petraeus’ comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Trump last week in Washington alongside a contingent of other European leaders in pursuit of gathering more support to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 72 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile into the country in its latest overnight barrage, of which 48 drones were intercepted or suppressed, as the country marked the anniversary of its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. Ukraine continued its own long-range attacks on Russia overnight, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, which said it shot down 95 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions during the latest exchange.

Petraeus said that currently the “obstacle to peace” is Putin. He says that the U.S. should reconsider restrictions on some weapons that it won’t send to Ukraine and send more aid to ultimately bring an end to the 3 1/2-year war.

“And what we need to do is change those dynamics by helping Ukraine far more than we have so far. Lifting restrictions on them, seizing the $300 billion of frozen reserves and European countries of Russian money, giving it to Ukraine. More sanctions on Russia, even including the Gazprom bank, and curtailing the export of oil further than we have already,” Petraeus said.

Petraeus referred to a Wall Street Journal report that the Pentagon is limiting Ukraine’s use of U.S.-made long-range missiles against targets in Russia.

“This is another case where it appears that the Pentagon is carrying out policies that conflict with President Trump’s inclination. Now, I can understand why they would limit the use of certain long-range systems against Russia when they think that Russia might still be willing to make a deal. But that should be very clear not to be the case, at this moment, and I hope that there will be a review of that policy,” Petraeus said.

Nonetheless, Petraeus said he knows the war cannot last forever, saying that the war so far has killed and wounded 1.06 million Russians, including more than 500,000 that haven’t been able to return to the front lines due to the severity of their injuries, and is also having a “very substantial impact” on its civilian workforce.

“This has to have, over time, a very, very substantial impact on the ability of Russia just to find a civilian workforce as well. In fact, it’s reported that they were actually looking in Africa for women who can actually replace some of the men in Russia, in various industries,” Petraeus said.

Petraeus also responded Sunday to the Trump administration either firing or reassigning 16 top military officers, seven of whom are women, thus far into his second term. The latest removals happened Friday, including the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, just weeks after he oversaw a preliminary report that contradicted Trump’s assertion that Iran’s nuclear sites were obliterated by U.S. strikes in June.

“I think it has to be a concern. Obviously, it’s unprecedented. There’s never been anything like this,” Petraeus said. “There have been cases in the past where individuals who’ve gotten crosswise with the president or with the secretary of defense certainly, usually on a policy issue in which they should not have spoken out and indeed were replaced. But the numbers here obviously are much more significant than that.”

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(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported in March before being brought back to the U.S., has been released from criminal custody in Tennessee and is on his way to Maryland, an attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News.

The Salvadoran native has been in criminal custody since the federal government brought him back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges.

Once he is is released, immigration authorities will not be allowed to detain Abrego Garcia due to a ruling from a federal judge who last month ordered the government to return him to Maryland and blocked the administration from deporting him upon his release in Tennessee.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said this week that they hired a private security company to bring him to Maryland.

In her July order, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled that the U.S. government “shall restore Abrego Garcia to his ICE Order of Supervision out of the Baltimore Field Office.”

Xinis said her order to have Abrego Garcia placed under ICE supervision in Maryland, where he was living with his wife and children before he was mistakenly deported in March, is necessary to “provide the kind of effective relief to which a wrongfully removed alien is entitled upon return.”

The July order, which also requires the government to provide 72 hours’ notice if it intends to deport Abrego Garcia to a third country, is “narrowly tailored” to allow the Trump administration to initiate “lawful immigration proceedings upon Abrego Garcia’s return to Maryland.”

The immigration proceedings may or may not include “lawful arrest, detention and eventual removal,” Xinis said.

Abrego Garcia was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.

He was brought back to the U.S. last month to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys accused federal prosecutors of “vindictive and selective prosecution” in a motion seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against him.

In the 25-page filing, the attorneys argued that the government charged him “because he refused to acquiesce in the government’s violation of his due process rights.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been singled out by the United States government,” his attorneys said.

Abrego Garcia’s trial in his human smuggling case is set to begin on Jan. 27, 2027.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Republican National Committee on Friday elected President Donald Trump’s candidate of choice, Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, by unanimous voice vote.

Gruters’ ascendency underscores the RNC’s commitments to boosting those who share Trump’s political vision as the White House zeros in on its priorities ahead of the midterms.

The position had been left open by departing chairman Michael Whatley, who last month launched a bid for retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis’ Senate seat. While co-signing Whatley’s campaign on his social media site, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” to Gruters, who he said would do a “wonderful” job as chairman.

Trump’s backing cleared the prospective field instantly and Gruters ran unopposed.

Whatley also gave Gruters his stamp of approval to replace him.

Gruters chaired the Florida GOP from 2019 to 2023 – and Republicans told ABC News he was mission-critical in eliminating Democrats’ voter registration advantage in the state. After the 2018 election, Democrats had a voter advantage of 263,269. Yet, in the fall of 2022, Republicans expanded their reach, leading voter registration by 292,533 voters — a near 556,000 registered voter swing, per PBS.

“You’re registering almost a million new Republicans in Florida. That was what Joe’s chairmanship was, kind of the hallmark of what he was able to do …after Joe’s chairmanship, Florida slipped from battleground status,” said Scott Golden, a longtime friend of Gruters, who currently chairs the Tennessee Republican Party.

And Golden noted that Gruters, who is currently the RNC’s treasurer, is a “terrific, terrific” fundraiser, another key trait for a party chairman.

“I think everybody feels very comfortable that he’s going to do a very good job as Chairman. He’s a great analyst, a CPA by trade. Obviously, Florida is a great proving ground for politics,” said Golden. “I think most members around the country recognize that and know that he knows what he’s doing. He will run the party competently and make sure that all the resources are on the field to make us successful in ’26.”

Gruters was one of the earliest backers of Trump, throwing his support behind him way back in 2016. Trump paid the favor back and endorsed Gruters’ state Senate re-election run in 2022, and boosted him once again, this time to be Florida’s chief financial officer, noting the pair’s long history.

“Joe was on the ‘Trump Train’ before it even left the station,” Trump wrote on social media in May 2024. “As a State Senator and Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, Joe has done more than anyone to help turn Florida RED, and elect Republicans across the State.”

While Gruters faced nearly no public opposition from members of the committee and members of the president’s political orbit – he does have one public detractor: Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis.

During a news conference where DeSantis offered support to the candidate that would ultimately become Florida’s chief financial officer, he slammed Gruters.

“Joe Gruters has taken major positions that are totally contrary from what our voter base wants to do,” DeSantis said during the July event. “So, if George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ My response would be ‘no.'”

Though Gruters told local publication Florida Politics, he is open to mending fences.

ABC News has reached out to DeSantis for comment.

Veteran Republican political strategist Brett Doster told ABC that Trump not only gets a fundraiser, but a fighter, in Gruters.

“I’ve known Joe for more than 20 years now – since before he was elected to the state house. Joe took a big risk and went with Trump back in 2015 when almost every leader in Florida, out of personal loyalty, was sticking with either Jeb or Marco,” Doster said.

“With Joe Gruters as GOP chairman, Trump gets a practiced mouthpiece who will go to war for the administration on the Sunday shows and will keep the RNC rigidly fixed on the Trump – Wiles playbook for the midterms. Gruters will be undistracted by Congressional or Senate power plays.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced that he is “going out” with police and military in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to oversee the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who are responding to what he says is a crime emergency in the district.

“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump told radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday.

The president mobilized the National Guard one week ago to assist the police, claiming crime was out of control. Officials have said Guard personnel are not making arrests, only helping to detain people briefly if necessary before handing them off to law enforcement.

Violent crime levels have decreased compared to years prior, down 26% since 2024, a 30-year low, according to crime stats released by the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.

Trump also told Starnes that the D.C. deployment was “sort of a test” and indicated that they would copy the model in other cities around America.

“It’s working unbelievably, much faster than we thought. We’ve arrested hundreds of criminals, hardline criminals, people that will never be any good,” Trump said.

The president said that he would put Memphis “early” on the list of next cities to patrol.

“And, you know, unfortunately, we have a lot of cities like that. But I love Tennessee. You know, I won Tennessee by many, many, many points. So it was a landslide, far greater than even, you know, the Republican. Republicans do good in Tennessee, but, I mean, my number was like 35 points, and I’m glad you tell me that I can put that early on a list, and I’m sure that people would love it,” he added.

In June, Trump deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles amid protests against immigration raids carried out by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the administration, alleging that it violated the Posse Comitatus Act — an 1878 law that prevented the president from using the military as a domestic police force. A ruling has not been issued in the case.

Trump went on to say that he “straightened out crime in four days in DC.” The president also rebuffed criticism about his actions in the nation’s capital.

“And all I do, all they do is they say ‘He’s a dictator, he’s a dictator’ — the place, people are getting mugged all over the place, and they give you phony records, like, it’s wonderful and it’s worse than it ever was, but we’ve got it going. People are so happy. They’re going out to restaurants again,” he claimed.

Trump’s remarks came a day after Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller visited the National Guard at Union Station, where they were drowned out by boos from protesters.

Nearly 2,000 guardsmen from D.C. and six states have been mobilized to support Trump’s mission at the nation’s capital. They remain unarmed at this time, but officials have said they expect that to change.

The troops have been stationed outside many tourist hot spots, including the National Mall and Union Station, where crime incidents are known to be lower than other parts of the city. Trump and other officials have not given a timetable of when the troop deployment will end.

Vance on Wednesday dismissed crime statistics that showed incidents were lower in Union Station. He claimed that they do not report the full scope of crime in D.C.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s federal police surge in the nation’s capital, calling it politically motivated and disconnected from crime in the city.

“This doesn’t make sense. The numbers on the ground and the district don’t support 1,000 people from other states coming to Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration will suspend public White House tours due to the construction that is scheduled to start soon on a new ballroom, multiple congressional offices told ABC News.

Spokespeople or the official websites for several of these members say they were told by the White House that the pause on these tours will start in September and tours could be postponed “indefinitely.”

Offices gave various reasons for the pause on tours, including “construction projects,” “extensive renovations” and “because of construction on the new White House ballroom.”

All tours of the White House are scheduled through a visitor’s representative or senator. About 10,000 people toured the White House each week during the Biden administration.

ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment. The Visit the White House page on the White House website doesn’t mention tours being paused, but greets visitors with an “Announcement Regarding Upcoming Expansion” about the ballroom project, which it says will begin in September.

The website for Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., reads: “Unfortunately, the Trump administration recently announced that it would pause all public tours of the White House beginning in September to accommodate construction projects. We apologize for any inconvenience to those who have submitted tour requests for this period, and will share further updates as soon as additional guidance is available.”

The website for Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Va., says: “Beginning on September 1st, 2025, the White House will be undergoing extensive renovations. As a result, all tours of the White House are postponed indefinitely. To read more information from the White House, please read their official statement. We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.”

Other congressional offices said they have received unclear instruction about tours when they’ve asked the administration.

“We haven’t gotten any real guidance from the WH – they haven’t published any new dates and when we’ve inquired they said that “availability has not yet been published as they continue to finalize the president’s schedule,'” one congressional aide said.

Another office said it had reached out to the White House after the Washington Post initially reported that tours would be suspended. Administration officials told their office coordinator that the pause was “because of construction on the new White House ballroom,” an aide said.

Yet another said that they were told White House tours were not immediately barred but rather would halt at the start of September.

A White House liaison “confirmed that we can still book tours through the end of August, but they have cancelled all September tours. They said that they’ll give more info after Labor Day,” an aide told ABC News.

A separate congressional office also said it was waiting for a more “formal announcement from the visitor’s office” about how to move forward with scheduling public East Wing tours.

Another office said its constituents whose September tour was cancelled included “military families who had been approved for tours timed to show their families the White House before they were transferred to new duty stations outside the region.”

“They’re pretty disappointed,” the aide added.

The Trump administration suspended tours for about a month at the start of his second term in January. First lady Melania Trump made the announcement when they reopened in late February.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel, Michelle Stoddart and Caleigh Bartash contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced that he is “going out” with police and military in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to oversee the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who are responding to what he says is a crime emergency in the district.

“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and, with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump told radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday.

The president mobilized the National Guard one week ago to assist the police, claiming crime was out of control.

The plan came a day after Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller visited the National Guard at Union Station, where they were drowned out with boos from protesters.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.

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