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Texas house fails to meet quorum for third day
The Texas legislature failed to meet quorum for a third time today, after only 95 of the 100 representatives needed were present. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers defied Governor Greg Abbott’s demands to return, and remain out of state in protest over a new GOP-drawn congressional map.
Speaker Dustin Burrows attempted to reconvene the house today and meet quorum after it failed earlier this week.
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Trump says he and Putin will meet 'shortly'
Trump has said he will soon have an update on Russia and would be meeting with Putin “very shortly”. Today was the original deadline he had set to end the Ukraine invasion or bring new sanctions. At the event with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the president made vague remarks about next steps, saying:
President Putin I believe wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace. Now, President Zelenskyy has to get … everything he needs, because he’s going to have to get ready to sign something, and I think he is working hard to get that done.
Asked if Zelenskyy would have to give up territory, the president responded: “You’re looking at territory that’s been fought over for three and a half years. A lot of Russians have died. A lot of Ukrainians have died. So we’re looking at that, but we’re actually looking to get some back and some swapping. It’s complicated.”
Trump has said he would also soon announce details on the location of a meeting.
The US president and the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have officially signed the peace agreement, establishing a so-called “Trump route for international peace and prosperity”.
The corridor for transit and trade will connect mainland Azerbaijan with the autonomous Nakhchivan region, and the AP reported that the Trump administration said it was the Armenians who suggested naming it after the US president.
Both leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan heaped praise on Trump and suggested he should receive a Nobel peace prize, which Trump has expressed interest in winning.
Trump kicks off peace deal signing with leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia
In the state dining room, Donald Trump is flanked by the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to his right, and the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, on his left.
Trump says that both nations agree to “stop all fighting forever”. But a key part of the agreement is that it establishes what will be now known as “the Trump route for international peace and prosperity”. This is a key transit corridor that will have US development rights.
Trump adds that he thinks Aliyev and Pashinyan are “going to have a great relationship”.
Ahead of today’s peace deal signing, here’s a recap of where things stand
The Texas House failed to meet quorum for a third time today, after only 95 of the 100 representatives needed were present. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers continue to defy Governor Greg Abbott’s demands to return, and remain out of state in protest over a new GOP-drawn congressional map. The Democrats’ next stop on their tour to deny quorum is California. They’ll hold a press conference at 5pm ET today with Governor Gavin Newsom in Sacramento.
Abbott has spent the last 24 hours ratcheting up and repeating threats against the absent Democrats. He vowed to “call special session, after special session, after special session with the same agenda items on there”, in an interview with NBC News.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration wasted no time today. A few standout items are below.
First, the DoJ has issued two grand jury subpoenas to the New York attorney general, Letitia James, also a longtime Trump adversary, according to various reports. One of the subpoenas is tied to a civil fraud case her office brought against Trump, and the other is reportedly tied to the attorney general’s investigation into NRA.
The Trump administration is also demanding that UCLA pay the federal government $1bn over multiple instalments to settle claims of antisemitism. That’s according to a report from CNN. If the proposal is agreed to, it would mark the biggest settlement the government has received from a higher education institution.
And then, according to new reporting by the New York Times, the president has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the Trump administration considers terrorist organizations. In response Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said her government had been informed of a coming order but that it had nothing to do with the US military operating on Mexican soil.
Finally, for now at least, the Trump administration was handed a win when it comes to its ongoing showdown with the judiciary over the president’s immigration agenda. A federal appeals court overturned Judge James Boasberg’s ruling that found probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in contempt of court over their handling of the deportations of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants under the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act.
Trump fires IRS commissioner after only two months on the job – report
The New York Times is reporting that Donald Trump is replacing the IRS commissioner, Billy Long, only two months after her was confirmed.
Long is a former congressman from Missouri and a notable Trump ally – who pushed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. According to the Times, Long is being primed for an ambassador nomination. It is unclear who lead the agency next, according to the Times.
Long is the sixth person to run the IRS this year alone, there have been four acting commissioners since Danny Werfel’s resignation in January, following Trump’s inauguration.
A senior administration official tells the Times that treasury secretary Scott Bessent will be named acting commissioner.
We’ll be bringing you the latest as Donald Trump prepares to welcome the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, followed by the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. They’re expected to sign a peace deal, which would be a landmark development in decades of tension and fighting. Pashinyan is due to arrive soon.
The meeting will be certainly be an opportunity for the president to highlight his “peacemaker-in-chief” bona fides, but peace is more elusive in one of the hallmark international conflicts of Trump’s second term.
Today is Trump’s original deadline for Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine, or face fresh sanctions. So far there’s been no update, but Trump has said he is ready to meet with Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s refusal to sit-down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The exact time and location remain undefined, but the UAE has been floated, given Putin’s refusal to talk in Kyiv.
Trump administration seeks $1bn settlement from UCLA – report
The Trump administration is demanding that the University of California, Los Angeles, pay the federal government $1bn over multiple installments to settle claims of antisemitism, according to a report from CNN.
The settlement would also require UCLA to pay $172m to a fund for Jewish students and other individuals affected by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, per CNN. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
CNN notes that if the proposal is agreed to, it would mark the biggest settlement the government has received from a higher education institution. CNN has not yet received comment from the University of California system.
According to CNN’s reporting, “the proposed agreement prohibits overnight demonstrations and calls on the school to revise its policies and procedures on protests. It also requires UCLA to discontinue race and ethnicity-based scholarships and provide the resolution monitor with admissions data.”
Burrows is now speaking and says that he and attorney general Ken Paxton have tried to make the civil arrest warrants they have filed against Democratic lawmakers “enforceable beyond state lines”.
Also, notably, Burrows is enacting a new policy that states that any member breaking quorum will no longer have their paycheck or per diem deposited electronically. While the Capitol is not withholding pay – as that violates the state’s constitution – they are now stipulating that their paychecks must now be picked up in person.
Burrows said the statehouse will withhold a percentage of absent Democrats’ monthly expenses, and any administrative work that requires the House’s approval will need to be done in person.
Texas house fails to meet quorum for third day
The Texas legislature failed to meet quorum for a third time today, after only 95 of the 100 representatives needed were present. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers defied Governor Greg Abbott’s demands to return, and remain out of state in protest over a new GOP-drawn congressional map.
Speaker Dustin Burrows attempted to reconvene the house today and meet quorum after it failed earlier this week.
Abbott threatens to add more Republican seats to gerrymandered map: 'We may make it six, or seven or eight'
In an interview with Ruthless Podcast, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, threatened to add “six, or seven or eight” new seats to the GOP-drawn congressional map that Democrats are already protesting by breaking quorum.
The current proposal is a gerrymandered map that could secure Republicans five seats in Texas ahead of the 2026 midterms.
When asked about how he sees this redistricting battle ending, Abbott was resolute: “One way or the other, they [Democrats] are coming back, and it’s going to end with these maps being passed.”
