August 22, 2025 - Trump administration news

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage. Follow these links for updates on the DOJ’s release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and of tonight’s Texas redistricting vote, or scroll through the updates below for more of today’s reporting.

FBI agents carry empty boxes into former national security adviser John Bolton's house on Friday.

If you’re just catching up, it’s been quite a news day.

The FBI searched the home and office of John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and a public critic of the administration, Trump threatened to widen his federal crime crackdown to other cities, and diplomacy to resolve the war in Ukraine grinds on.

Here are some of Friday’s top headlines:

One last thing to keep an eye on tonight: You can follow our ongoing coverage of the Texas state Senate, where Republicans are nearing a final vote on new congressional maps. It’s the epicenter of a now-nationwide battle over partisan redistricting.

Sergio Gor waits before President Donald Trump arrives for an event at the Kennedy Center on August 13.

President Donald Trump says he is “promoting” Sergio Gor, the head of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, to be the next ambassador to India and special envoy for south and central Asian affairs.

In a social media post announcing the move this afternoon, Trump said Gor will remain in his current role at the White House until his confirmation.

Some background: While the move is being labeled by the White House as a promotion, Gor clashed with many members of the administration in recent months. Several of Trump’s top advisers blamed Gor for the falling out between Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. Gor had presented Trump with negative information on Musk’s pick to lead NASA.

In his message today, Trump offered only praise for Gor, whom he said “is a great friend, who has been at my side for many years.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson testifies during hearing at the US Capitol on March 5.

You may have heard President Donald Trump say earlier today that he will widen his law enforcement and National Guard crackdown in Washington, DC, to include other cities — singling out Chicago as next on his list.

Now Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is responding to Trump’s comments, writing in a statement that he has “grave concerns” about the impact of such a deployment in the city.

While Johnson said Chicago has not received any formal communication about the Trump administration sending federal law enforcement or troops there, “We take President Trump’s statements seriously.”

Johnson said that over the past year, the city has reduced homicides by more than 30%, robberies by 35% and shootings by almost 40%, and that federal involvement would threaten to undermine the progress made on a local level. These figures largely align with preliminary year-to-date crime statistics released by the Chicago Police Department earlier this month.

Some more context: Trump’s rationale for his crime crackdown has also faced pushback in the nation’s capital, where officials point to declining crime statistics that appear at odds with the president’s law and order rhetoric. Read a fact check here.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on August 1.

President Donald Trump’s team had been discussing releasing the audio and transcripts of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for several weeks, keeping a close eye on public attention surrounding the matter as they debated multiple options for what to do, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

White House officials began discussing ways to get ahead of the story, including potentially releasing the audio and transcripts.

While many in the administration argued against resurfacing the Epstein story, officials said, others insisted the White House needed to be more proactive in dealing with the fallout of the Epstein files, and they believed releasing the materials from the Maxwell interview would help them better control the narrative.

Another concern with publishing the transcript and audio was that many parts of it would need to be redacted, two White House officials told CNN. One of the officials said that Maxwell shared a number of names of victims that had never been made public.

The Trump administration decided at some point this month that they wanted to release the audio and transcript of Blanche’s interview with Maxwell, sources familiar with the decision tell CNN. In early August, the Justice Department was going through the materials and digitizing, transcribing and redacting the audio, CNN previously reported.

Today, when the story was likely to take center stage anyway — with the Department of Justice set to deliver a tranche of Epstein-related documents to the House Oversight Committee — the Justice Department published the transcripts.

Follow the latest updates on the Maxwell interview and Epstein files here.

Posters of Israeli hostages are displayed outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, on July 24.

Families of the hostages held in Gaza demanded answers after President Donald Trump said “probably” fewer than 20 of the remaining hostages were still alive.

At a World Cup announcement in the Oval Office Friday, Trump said he “got a lot of people” out of Gaza, taking credit for a ceasefire deal that was negotiated by the Biden administration. “So now they have 20 [living hostages], but the 20 is actually probably not 20 because a couple of ‘em maybe aren’t around any longer.”

Trump’s comments drew an angry response from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, which released a statement demanding an update.

“Mr. President, there are 50 hostages. For us, each and every one of them is a whole world,” the forum said in a statement released Friday evening. “If Minister [Ron] Dermer — who speaks only with the Americans but does not speak or meet the families of the hostages — knows otherwise, he should first update the families. It is our sacred duty to prevent further sacrifice and to bring everyone home.”

The statement references Ron Dermer, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close confidants. The forum has repeatedly asked for a meeting with Dermer.

After Trump’s remarks, Netanyahu’s hostage coordinator sent a message to the hostage families on Friday evening insisting that Israel’s information has not changed.

“According to the information in Israel’s possession, there is no change from the information you have previously received from us: 20 of the hostages are alive. Two are in critical condition, with grave concern for their lives,” said the message from Gal Hirsh, which was obtained by CNN.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, right, leaves his hotel to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell on July 25.

The Justice Department has publicly released a transcript and audio of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Separately, the Justice Department says it has transmitted records related to the late convicted sex offender Epstein to the House Oversight Committee.

President Donald Trump earlier today voiced his support to the Epstein files being sent over to the House Oversight Committee.

Follow the latest updates on the files here.

Remember: Blanche interviewed Maxwell last month at a Florida courthouse against the backdrop of fierce public backlash, including from members of Trump’s base, over the administration’s perceived lack of transparency surrounding documents related to Epstein’s case.

Maxwell, a British socialite and ex-girlfriend of Epstein, was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a years-long scheme with the disgraced financier to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. She has attempted to appeal her conviction.

This post has been updated with additional information.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton waves from a vehicle leaving the building that houses his office in Washington, DC, on Friday.

John Bolton has left his office in downtown Washington, DC, which was searched by FBI agents today.

As he walked to his vehicle, Bolton ignored questions from CNN.

A separate federal magistrate authorized the search of the former national security adviser’s office, a source familiar with the matter told CNN’s Kristen Holmes earlier today.

The FBI arrived at the office after federal agents began searching Bolton’s home in suburban Maryland as part of a resumed investigation into the possible unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

If you’re just joining us, catch up with this report from CNN’s Evan Perez:

President Donald Trump holds an printed pictured of him and Russian President Vladimir Putin from their meeting in Alaska, in the Oval Office on Friday.

President Donald Trump said Friday he will give Russian President Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks,” further extending his deadline for potential consequences against Moscow after urging the Russian leader to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in hopes of ending the war.

Asked by CNN’s Alayna Treene if there’s a possibility he does nothing if Putin doesn’t come to the table, Trump said, “We’ll see. I’ll see whose fault it is.”

“If there are reasons why, I will understand that; I know exactly what I’m doing. We’re going to see whether or not they have a meeting, that will be interesting to see, and if they don’t, why didn’t they have a meeting? Because I told them to have a meeting,” Trump said.

“But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump added, reprising a timeline he’s repeatedly issued to determine Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump also pulled out from the Resolute Desk a photo of him and Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, that he said the Russian leader had sent him.

“I was just sent a picture from someone who wants to be there very badly,” Trump said, referring to the World Cup, for which he’d just announced the draw would be held at the Kennedy Center in December.

“He’s been very respectful of me and of our country, but not so respectful of others,” Trump added, suggesting Putin could be coming to the US for the World Cup.

An Intel processor is seen in this illustration taken August 19.

President Donald Trump said today he reached an agreement with the CEO of Intel that would involve the chipmaker giving a company stake worth $10 billion to the United States.

“I said, I think you should pay us 10% of your company,” Trump said of his conversations with Intel’s CEO. “And they said yes.”

Trump said the deal will was a win for both sides.

The agreement will aim to prop up the struggling American chipmaker and boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States, although it is not immediately clear how involved the Trump administration aims to be in strategic decision-making at the company. Trump also said he would do more of these types of deals.

Some background: After Trump met with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan at the White House last week, reports emerged that the White House was considering the unusual move of taking an equity stake in the company. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the discussions, saying the deal would likely involve converting grant funding from the Biden-era CHIPS Act into an equity stake.

The announcement also comes just two weeks after Trump called for Tan’s immediate resignation following reports about his alleged connections to China.

Members of the National Guard patrol a Metro station in Washington DC, on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump said Friday he can keep troops in Washington, DC, “as long as I want” if he declares a national emergency.

“If I think we’re in great shape here, that’s one thing,” he said in the Oval Office. “But if I don’t, I’m going to just say it’s a national emergency. And if I have a national emergency, I can keep the troops there as long as I want.”

Trump seemed to conflate keeping the National Guard deployed in DC with his takeover of the local police department. He said he could subvert a provision under the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act, which says the federal government can seize control of the city’s police force for up to 30 days during emergencies. After that, he would need congressional approval to continue controlling the Metropolitan Police Department.

In a hearing last week, Justice Department attorneys told a federal judge that unless Congress extended Trump’s ability to effectively control Washington, DC’s police department, Trump’s order would expire.

But Trump, who pledged to eliminate crime when he deployed federal law enforcement earlier this month, has now suggested on multiple occasions that he’ll need to maintain his influence over the city’s policing for far longer to cut down on crime long-term.

“It’s one thing to get them out, it’s another thing to keep them out for a long period of time,” Trump said. “That’s going to take more than 30 days.”

The president also said he’s already talked with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune about a planned request for $2 billion to funnel toward beautifying DC. He said that would be “very easy to get.”

Holmes Lybrand contributed to this post.

This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

President Donald Trump gave his support to the Jeffrey Epstein files being sent over to the House Oversight Committee.

The committee intends to make public some files it subpoenaed related to the Epstein case, though it will first redact them to shield victims’ IDs and other sensitive matters, a committee spokesperson said Tuesday. The panel is expected to start receiving materials from the Justice Department today.

Trump said he has told Attorney General Pam Bondi to give Congress as much information as possible.

“The whole Epstein thing is a Democrat hoax. So we had the greatest six months, seven months in the history of the presidency, and the Democrats don’t know what to do, so they keep bringing up that stuff,” Trump claimed.

Many Republicans have called for more transparency surrounding the case and the release of records related to the matter, with the issue roiling the House before recess. Speaker Mike Johnson took steps to delay until September a vote of the full House to publicly release the DOJ’s Epstein files.

CNN’s Ted Barrett and Sarah Ferris contributed reporting.

Soccer fans hoping to get a visa to visit the United States and watch FIFA World Cup matches in 2026 will “have a very easy time getting in,” but it will depend on the countries they come from, President Donald Trump said at the White House.

“Certain countries are going to be very, very easy, and other countries are going to be obviously a little bit more difficult,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem added there is a process to quickly vet and approve visa applicants.

Trump announced the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw will take place on December 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, combining the world’s biggest soccer tournament with the cultural institution he has sought to overhaul.

Next year’s tournament will span across the US, Mexico and Canada. Eleven American cities will be hosting games, but Washington is not one of them — an unusual situation for a host nation’s capital city during the World Cup.

FBI members walk outside the home of the former White House national security adviser John Bolton on Friday.

President Donald Trump repeated Friday afternoon that he doesn’t know anything about the FBI search of John Bolton’s home but that he expects to be briefed by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I purposely don’t want to really get involved in it. I’m not a fan of John Bolton,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.

Earlier Friday, the president said he knows “nothing” about the probe.

Trump noted the FBI also searched his Mar-a-Lago property after he left office following his first term. “So I know the feeling. It’s not a good feeling,” he said.

Photographers, tourists and residents gather in downtown Chicago to view "Chicagohenge" in March.

President Donald Trump said Friday that Chicago will be the next city that his administration targets for a federal crackdown on crime.

“We’ll straighten that one out, probably next, that will be our next one after this,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York.”

The president has credited his federal takeover of Washington, DC’s, police force with driving down crime in the city — touting a weeklong stretch without any murders as a “miracle,” despite the fact that such weeks have occurred in DC multiple times so far this year.

Trump also dismissed polling showing that most city residents disapprove of the deployment of federal troops, and he claimed that residents of Chicago and other cities are clamoring for a similar law enforcement crackdown.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right, and Vice President JD Vance, on Friday.

President Donald Trump is speaking to reporters right now in the Oval Office.

He warned Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser to “get her act straight” and threatened a federal takeover of the city if she doesn’t.

“I’m tired of listening to these people say how safe it was before we got here. It was unsafe. It was horrible. And Mayor Bowser better get her act straight, or she won’t be mayor very long because we’ll take it over with the federal government running like it’s supposed to be run,” Trump said.

For context: As CNN’s Daniel Dale has reported, violent crime in DC declined in 2024 and 2025 after a spike in 2023. The Trump Justice Department is investigating whether the DC Metropolitan Police Department manipulated crime dated.

Earlier today, Trump accused Bowser of providing “false and highly inaccurate crime figures” on crime, threatening a “complete and total federal takeover” of DC if she doesn’t “immediately stop.”

This is not the first time Trump has threatened a federal takeover, though it comes after he has already made the unprecedented move of taking over the police department.

Vice President JD Vance speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump in Peachtree City, Georgia, on Thursday.

Vice President JD Vance deflected when asked today if the FBI search of John Bolton’s home and office was retribution for his criticism of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy knowledge, saying in part that the media and Americans should “let the investigation unfold.”

“I suspect that if the media and the American people let this case actually unfold, if they let the investigation unfold, as it’s currently doing, they’re going to find out that what we’re doing is being very deliberate and being very driven by the national interest, and by the law here and that’s as it should be,” Vance said in an interview on NBC for “Meet the Press.”

The vice president also emphasized that the investigation is in the “very early stages” and that the administration will let the “investigation proceed.”

CNN observed FBI personnel at Bolton’s house in the Washington, DC, area this morning. They were seen speaking to a person on the porch of the house, and at least four to six agents were seen going inside. Some of the agents took bags out of the vehicles to bring inside, but nothing was seen coming out of the residence.

President Donald Trump was asked earlier this morning about the FBI search of his former national security adviser John Bolton’s home.

The president said he knows “nothing about it” and he expects to be briefed later on.

Here’s what else he said:

A commercial truck and private vehicles enter the United States from Canada at the Pacific Highway Port of Entry in Blaine, Washington, on February 1.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he’s lifting retaliatory tariffs that were placed on an extensive list of American goods earlier this year. The move is set to take effect September 1.

The tariffs he’s dropping include those on goods that comply with the terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Carney said. Carney, however, is not removing the 25% tariff placed on American steel and aluminum, as well as tariffs on American cars.

Carney said Trump specifically told him that removing these tariffs would kick-start trade negotiations. Carney sought to establish throughout a news conference that he’s not capitulating to Trump by removing tariffs but rather was “matching” the US, which hasn’t charged duties on Canadian goods that comply with USMCA.

More context: Canada is America’s top export market and has been one of the only countries so far to impose retaliatory tariffs on American goods. The move to lift tariffs could boost the American economy if businesses import more from the United States as a result.

It comes after Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke yesterday.

Carney said he and Trump agreed to “intensify our discussions to address current trade challenges in those strategic sectors and to seize major immediate opportunities for us both in trade, investment and security.”

Today’s move was viewed as a goodwill gesture by the White House.

The official added: “We look forward to continuing our discussions with Canada on the Administration’s trade and national security concerns.”

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo contributed reporting.

This post has been updated with the latest from Carney’s announcement.

President Donald Trump is planning to announce this afternoon that the 2026 World Cup draw will occur at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on December 5, according to a senior White House official.

The World Cup draw is typically in December ahead of the quadrennial tournament and will spell out all the matchups for the group stages for the month-long showcase. This year’s World Cup features more teams than ever before as FIFA expanded the tournament to 48 teams for the first time.

Why this matters: With the draw being held at the Kennedy Center, the nation’s capital will finally have a role to play in next year’s tournament. Though it’s typical for a host nation’s capital to be included as a host city, Washington was not selected as one of the host cities for the tournament.

Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino have developed a close relationship during his two terms in office and Infantino has frequently been spotted at the White House and accompanying the president at other events, including the trophy ceremony at the Club World Cup final earlier this summer.