Abbott targets ‘ringleader’ Democrat in high-stakes redistricting showdown: Unbiased Updates, Aug. 6, 2025
The Texas Supreme Court is now involved in a political showdown. Gov. Greg Abbott wants more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who fled the state hauled back and arrested. Now, one legislator has been singled out as the “ringleader.”
Plus, President Donald Trump insists his deputy attorney general’s recent interview with Ghislaine Maxwell was “totally above board.” But why was she moved to a lower-security prison just days later, and where’s the transcript?
And a major vaccine shake-up. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulls $500 million in government funding for mRNA vaccine research, stopping projects with Pfizer, Moderna and others in their tracks.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.
Texas governor launches legal bid to remove Democratic caucus chair
The Texas Supreme Court will consider Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency move to remove Democratic State Rep. Gene Wu from office. Justices gave Wu until Friday, Aug. 8, at 5 p.m. to respond.
Abbot claimed Wu, the Texas House Democratic caucus chair, led the walkout of more than 50 Democrats. The group fled Texas, blocking a quorum and stalling a redistricting plan that would add five new GOP-leaning U.S. House seats.
Wu, speaking from Chicago, said he’s not backing down.
“Look, this isn’t my seat. This seat belongs to the people of the state of Texas. Until the people of the state of Texas tell me to go away, I will stay here and fight with everything that I have,” Wu said. “If you believe in this country, stand up for it before it’s gone, before Donald Trump and Greg Abbott steals all of it.”
So far, the Democrats’ plan has worked, with no quorum on Monday or Tuesday. Leaders have moved the redistricting vote to Friday.
Civil arrest warrants are now out for the Democrats who left. And while the state’s Department of Public Safety has been ordered to bring them back, President Donald Trump said the FBI might get involved.
Trump team weighs releasing Maxwell interview transcript
Top Trump administration officials are scheduled to meet at Vice President JD Vance’s house on Wednesday night to discuss the Jeffrey Epstein case. The discussion will focus on whether to release the recording and transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent conversations with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, according to CNN.
Blanche, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel will attend the meeting.
Questions arise about Maxwell’s transfer from a Florida prison to a minimum-security facility in Texas, just days after her talks with Blanche.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.
Trump denied any involvement in the transfer during a Tuesday interview with reporters and also defended the credibility of Blanche’s interview with Maxwell.
“I didn’t know about it at all, no, I read about it just like you did,” Trump said.
“Do you believe that she’s credible to be listening to? Your deputy attorney general sat down with her recently,” a reporter asked.
“I will say this, Todd Blanche is one of the most highly respected people you’ll ever meet. So I know this,” Trump said. “I didn’t discuss it with him, but anything he talked about with her or the fact that he did that, not unusual, number one, and most importantly, is something that would be totally above board.”
Meanwhile, Maxwell’s attorneys have resisted the Justice Department’s effort to unseal grand jury testimony against her.
In a court filing on Tuesday, her lawyers stated that unsealing the testimony would be “a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
Her attorneys also said Maxwell has not been given the opportunity to review the grand jury material.
Maxwell is currently challenging her conviction, arguing she should have been covered by a deal federal prosecutors in Florida offered to Epstein and any of his co-conspirators.
The Supreme Court has indicated it will consider whether to hear Maxwell’s case in September.
Senate Democrats: Trump lag on sanctions boosts Putin, undercuts Ukraine
A new report from Senate Democrats accuses the Trump administration of going soft on Russia’s war machine. They said in turn, the actions are weakening U.S. leverage in Ukraine.
The report claims Trump has failed to advance the tough sanctions regimen built under former President Joe Biden. The sanctions were designed to choke off Moscow’s cash flow and critical supplies.
Lawmakers said that the lapse has helped Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuild his military and prolong the war.
In a joint statement, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said: “Every month he’s spent in office without action has strengthened Putin’s hand, weakened ours and undermined Ukraine’s own efforts to bring an end to the war.”
The White House called the criticism political, saying Trump is selling weapons to NATO allies, threatening Putin with new penalties and working to negotiate a ceasefire.
Trump spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, and said Putin faces fresh sanctions if there’s no peace deal by Friday.
A new video of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arriving in Moscow ahead of expected meetings with Russian leaders, including Putin, was also released on Wednesday. This is his fifth trip to Moscow since Trump took office.
RFK Jr. pulls $500 million meant for vaccine development
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that it would halt nearly two dozen projects worth $500 million, all using mRNA technology. The decision comes from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a familiar vaccine critic.
The move hits some big pharma players, including Pfizer and Moderna, which make COVID and RSV shots. Moderna was also testing a combo COVID-19 and flu vaccine.
Kennedy said the administration was transitioning to a different approach — a “universal” vaccine that mimics natural immunity.
“And it could be effective. We believe it’s gonna be effective against not only coronaviruses, but also the flu. And it’s going to be a much safer and much more effective vaccine,” Kennedy said.
However, the backlash was swift.
Mike Osterholm from the University of Minnesota told The Associated Press that he hasn’t seen a more dangerous decision in public health in the last 50 years.
It’s the latest change from Kennedy, who has already removed COVID shot recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. He also dismissed the panel that establishes vaccine guidelines.
NWS to hire or re-hire 450 as hurricane season heats up
The National Weather Service (NWS) received approval for much-needed support. Just months after deep cuts left the agency struggling, the service was authorized to hire or rehire 450 meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians.
The new positions, including 126 already approved, will be assigned to front-line, mission-critical roles, according to CNN. It’s a move coming as hurricane season ramps up, just weeks after deadly flooding in Texas.
Staffing has decreased by over 550 since the start of the second Trump administration, falling below 4,000 employees.
The hiring freeze exemption, pushed by lawmakers, also grants the NWS “direct hiring authority.” This allows the agency to expedite job offers in sectors with critical shortages.
Trump tours White House roof, teases $200M ballroom plans
Some presidents walk the halls of the White House, but on Tuesday, President Donald Trump took to the roof.
Video shows the president walking above the West Wing with his renovation team, waving, fist-bumping and answering questions from reporters below. Reports indicated Trump had an aerial view of the site where his new ballroom investment will live.
Trump’s upcoming $200 million White House ballroom marks the first major structural update to the executive mansion since the Truman balcony in 1948.
And in true Trump fashion, when asked what else he might be building, he joked, “Missiles… nuclear missiles.”
SAN original report
Bail out? Tax hike? How will Kerr County pay for billions in flood damage?
In the weeks since the water has receded back into the banks of Texas Hill Country’s Guadalupe River, the extent of the damage from the deadly July 4 floods is coming into focus. It can be measured in lives — 136 people died, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, and three remain missing.
It can also be measured in the money it will take to fix the physical damage left behind — somewhere between $18 billion and $22 billion, according to AccuWeather.
The numbers raise the question: How can a small, rural community rebound from a storm that unleashed water “as heavy as a jumbo jet”? And how can that community afford it?
SAN correspondent McKenna Oxenden examines these questions and provides a detailed breakdown here. Read the full story now >
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
