Good morning, everyone. I’m working to secure an interview with Rep. Nicole Collier, who remains locked inside the Texas State Capitol after refusing Republican demands to sign a so-called “permission slip” just to leave. At the same time, we’re tracking the looming release of Epstein files from the Department of Justice to the House Oversight Committee — and as I said last night, I will not stop pressing on this story. There’s a lot unfolding, and I’m not backing down.

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With that, here’s the news:

• After ending their walkout, Texas Democrats were shadowed by law enforcement under GOP-imposed “permission slips” meant to stop further protests against Trump-backed redistricting.
• Texas Democratic Rep. Nicole Collier refused GOP demands for a law enforcement escort during a redistricting standoff, spending the night on the House floor in protest against Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps, drawing support from colleagues and Beto O’Rourke as the fight over gerrymandering escalates nationally.
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• Collier vowed to remain locked inside the Austin statehouse chamber until Wednesday after rejecting GOP conditions requiring a law enforcement escort, calling herself a “political prisoner” under Republican “surveillance protocol” as the redistricting standoff continues over maps Democrats say will harm minority representation.
• Trump said he chose not to call Putin in front of European leaders during their meeting, explaining he felt it would be “disrespectful to President Putin.”
• Trump blamed Ukraine for its own invasion, saying “it’s not a war that should’ve been started,” arguing Ukraine should not have taken on a much larger nation and suggesting it “probably took a lot of money too.”
• Trump said he wants to “try and get to heaven if possible,” joking that he’s “really at the bottom of the totem pole.”
• Geneva is emerging as the likely site for a potential Putin–Zelenskyy peace summit, backed by French President Emmanuel Macron and confirmed as feasible by Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who suggested Switzerland could use Geneva’s UN role and grant temporary immunity to bypass Putin’s arrest warrant under the Rome Statute.
• Ukrainian mayor Vitalii Maletskyi said Russia’s overnight drone strikes on Kremenchuk prove “Putin does not want peace,” noting that while Putin spoke of peace to Trump and Zelenskyy met with European leaders in Washington, the attacks damaged energy and transport infrastructure, leaving thousands in Poltava region without power but causing no casualties.
• The Department of Justice agreed to start handing over Jeffrey Epstein investigation files to the House oversight committee on Friday, after a broad subpoena, with Chair James Comer saying the process will take time to redact sensitive material and praising the Trump administration’s commitment to transparency.
• Donald Trump woke up complaining about windmills in New Jersey:
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• A federal judge in Miami issued a split ruling on detainees’ rights at the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration center, dismissing claims about lack of confidential legal access as moot after the Trump administration reassigned their cases to the Krome North processing center.
• Victorinox, maker of Swiss Army knives, is considering shifting some production steps like cleaning and packaging to the U.S. to reduce tariff costs, after Trump’s administration raised duties on Swiss imports to 39%, with the U.S. accounting for 13% of the company’s revenue.
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a FOIA request after armed border patrol agents appeared at his redistricting press conference in Los Angeles, calling it Trump’s attempt to intimidate opponents and likening it to authoritarian tactics; the DHS denied political motives, while Newsom vowed his “election rigging response act” would counter Texas’s Trump-backed redistricting plan.
• SoftBank agreed to invest $2bn for a 2% stake in Intel, boosting the chipmaker’s shares, while reports indicate the Trump administration is also weighing a potential U.S. government stake of up to 10%.
• Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced he will step down on Sept. 8 to become co-deputy director of the FBI alongside Dan Bongino, as the bureau faces scrutiny over the Epstein case; Gov. Mike Kehoe will name his replacement Tuesday.
• A DHS agent fired at a fleeing vehicle during an immigration stop in San Bernardino County after the driver struck two CBP officers, with video showing agents smashing car windows before shots were fired; the driver, an undocumented Mexican resident of 23 years, later reported the masked men to local police, who declined to arrest him under California’s sanctuary policies, escalating tensions as Trump’s administration intensifies immigration raids in the state.
• A Florida man, Donald Jamesbrown Henry, was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing his friend Shawn Popp during a 2022 argument over Trump’s business bankruptcies, facing at least 16 years and nine months in prison and possibly life, after jurors rejected his self-defense claim.