Former President Donald Trump blasted former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney as “an irrelevant RINO” after Cheney threw his support behind Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race.
In a post to Truth Social on Friday night, Trump responded to Cheney’s prior announcement saying, “Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races!” Liz Cheney lost her 2022 Republican primary in Wyoming to Trump-backed candidate Representative Harriet Hageman. Liz served in Congress from 2017 until 2023. She also announced her endorsement for Harris earlier this week.
Advertisement
The former president continued by calling Dick Cheney, who served under the Bush administration, “the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris. I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!”
In his statement on Friday, Dick Cheney said in part, “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly sparred with Liz Cheney since she served on the House Select Committee, tasked with investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The committee ultimately recommended that the Department of Justice investigate Trump for his actions related to the attacks.
This is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump addresses the Economic Club of New York on September 5 in New York City. Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump addresses the Economic Club of New York on September 5 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for free
The stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White House
The White House is developing plans to set up a US sovereign wealth fund able to make big investments in strategic sectors, in a break from Washington’s economic orthodoxy as it tries to compete with deep-pocketed geopolitical rivals.
A White House official said on Friday that senior members of the Biden administration, including Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and Daleep Singh, the top aide on international economics, had been working on the plans “quietly” in recent months.
The White House official said “the fund’s structure, funding model and investment strategy are still under active discussion”. However, the push was “serious enough” that other government agencies were involved and they planned to “engage Congress and key stakeholders in the private sector on next steps”.
Advertisement
The Treasury department, which would likely have a voice in the talks, declined to comment.
For years, Washington has looked warily at sovereign wealth funds — pools of money held and invested by the government — being set up in countries around the world, arguing that they distort global trade and investment and represent unfair economic competition.
But the plans under way under Joe Biden’s presidency are the latest sign of the way America’s approach to the global economy has changed as competition escalates with China and Russia, and tensions rise in the Middle East.
The White House official said the “premise” of the effort was the US “lacks a pool of patient and flexible capital that could be deployed at home and abroad to advance strategic interests . . . at the pace and scale needed for the US to prevail in a contested geopolitical environment”.
The official said the investments could be deployed to shore up the resilience of supply chains and finance “illiquid but solvent companies that need greater scale to compete against [People’s Republic of China] rivals”.
Advertisement
In addition, a US wealth fund could inject equity into sectors where there are high barriers to entry, such as specialised shipbuilding and nuclear fusion. Another use could involve funding the creation of “synthetic reserves of critical minerals”, the official said.
The White House talks, which were first reported by Bloomberg News, have been going on internally for months. But the idea of creating a US sovereign wealth fund burst on to the political stage this week when former president Donald Trump, who is running for a second term, backed it during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
“We’ll be able to invest in state-of-the-art manufacturing hubs, advanced defence capabilities, cutting-edge medical research and help save billions of dollars in preventing disease in the first place,” Trump told the audience.
The idea was supported by John Paulson, the hedge fund manager and one of Trump’s biggest allies on Wall Street.
“It would be great to see America join this party and instead of having debt, have savings,” he said.
Advertisement
The campaign of Kamala Harris, the US vice-president who is running against Trump for the presidency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund.
The balance of power in the House of Representatives will likely be decided by 43 of the most competitive races, according to the most recent ratings by the Cook Political Report.
174 Solidly Democratic districts
192 Solidly Republican districts
218 districts for control
Advertisement
16 Likely Dem.
10 Likely Rep.
These districts are the most competitive in the battle for House control.
13 Lean Dem.
24 Tossups
Advertisement
6 Lean Rep.
• Democratic incumbent • Republican incumbent
Note: Districts without an incumbent party have been redistricted since 2022.
Republicans could maintain control of the chamber by winning just ten of the 24 seats rated as tossups if they also secure the seats rated Likely or Lean Republican. They have incumbents in 13 of those tossup seats.
Advertisement
District
Incumbent
2022 margin
Alaska 1
Peltola
Ariz. 1
Schweikert
Ariz. 6
Ciscomani
Calif. 13
Duarte
Calif. 22
Valadao
Calif. 27
Garcia
Calif. 41
Calvert
Calif. 45
Steel
Colo. 8
Caraveo
Maine 2
Golden
Mich. 7
open
Mich. 8
open
Neb. 2
Bacon
N.J. 7
Kean Jr.
N.M. 2
Vasquez
N.Y. 4
D’Esposito
N.Y. 17
Lawler
N.Y. 19
Molinaro
N.C. 1
Davis
Ohio 13
Sykes
Ore. 5
Chavez-DeRemer
Pa. 7
Wild
Pa. 8
Cartwright
Wash. 3
Gluesenkamp Perez
District
Incumbent
2022 margin
Calif. 47
open
Conn. 5
Hayes
Ill. 17
Sorensen
Ind. 1
Mrvan
Minn. 2
Craig
Nev. 3
Lee
N.Y. 18
Ryan
N.Y. 22
Williams
Ohio 9
Kaptur
Ore. 6
Salinas
Pa. 17
Deluzio
Texas 34
Gonzalez
Va. 7
open
District
Incumbent
2022 margin
Iowa 1
Miller-Meeks
Iowa 3
Nunn
Mich. 10
James
Pa. 10
Perry
Va. 2
Kiggans
Wis. 3
Van Orden
District
Incumbent
2022 margin
Ala. 2
open
Calif. 9
Harder
Calif. 49
Levin
Fla. 9
Soto
Kan. 3
Davids
Md. 6
open
Mich. 3
Scholten
Nev. 1
Titus
Nev. 4
Horsford
N.H. 1
Pappas
N.H. 2
open
N.Y. 3
Suozzi
Ohio 1
Landsman
Ore. 4
Hoyle
Texas 28
Cuellar
Wash. 8
Schrier
District
Incumbent
2022 margin
Calif. 3
Kiley
Calif. 40
Kim
Colo. 3
open
Fla. 13
Luna
Fla. 27
Salazar
Mont. 1
Zinke
N.Y. 1
LaLota
Pa. 1
Fitzpatrick
Texas 15
De La Cruz
Wis. 1
Steil
Note: Districts without historical vote margins have been redistricted since 2022.
Top Federal Reserve officials have left the door open to half-point interest rate cuts, even as they signalled the US central bank would move cautiously at its meeting this month following a mixed jobs report on Friday.
In appearances on Friday, governor Christopher Waller and president John Williams of the New York Fed endorsed a series of rates cuts this year given the fall in inflation and softening of the US labour market.
Now that “downside risks” had increased, Waller said the economic backdrop “requires action” from the Fed to avoid undue damage to the labour market, which he said was “continuing to soften but not deteriorate”.
Waller stressed the economy was “performing in a solid manner” with “good” prospects for continued growth, adding he expected rate cuts would be “done carefully”. The latest jobs report, he said in a moderated discussion, was no cause for panic but represented a return to a more “normal” pace of growth.
But he signalled he was open to cutting more aggressively if the data warranted it — comments that sparked a rally in US Treasuries.
Advertisement
“If the data suggests the need for larger cuts, then I will support that,” he said.
The two-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks interest rate expectations, dropped 0.1 percentage point to 3.65 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell 0.02 percentage points to 3.71 per cent.
Fed funds futures markets fluctuated on Friday, at one point pricing in a higher probability of a half-point rate cut from the Fed this month. Those bets were scaled back, however, but traders still expect more than a full percentage point of cuts this year, suggesting the central bank may have to escalate its response.
US stocks also sank on Friday, with the S&P 500 down 1.7 per cent and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gauge shedding 2.5 per cent by the mid-afternoon in New York.
Williams also signalled that the Fed would react to incoming data as needed even as he underscored the economy remains on solid footing and monetary policy was “well positioned” to keep it that way.
Advertisement
Their comments came just after data showed the US added 142,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.2 per cent.
The figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday came in below economists’ expectations for 165,000 new positions but surpassed the downwardly revised 89,000 jobs created in July.
A month ago, the BLS reported employment in July rose by just 114,000, which lifted the unemployment rate to 4.3 per cent and sparked concerns that the world’s largest economy was heading for a recession.
Fed officials will meet on September 17-18 when they are expected to agree to lower rates by a quarter point from their current 23-year high of 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
Analysts said market expectations for a 0.5 percentage point cut in September was an overreaction.
Advertisement
“The market is overly worried about a recession, and this report shows that there is no sign of a recession,” Torsten Slok, Apollo Global Management’s chief economist, said. “There is no need to go 50 [basis points] when the unemployment rate is falling.”
You are seeing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is most likely due to being offline or JavaScript being disabled in your browser.
Fed officials are scrutinising the labour market for signs of weakness as they try to push inflation back down to the central bank’s 2 per cent target, which is based on the annual change in the personal consumption expenditures index.
Core PCE, which strips out volatile food and energy prices and is closely watched by policymakers, was 2.6 per cent in August, compared with a peak of more than 5 per cent in 2022.
The increase in August payrolls was in line with the average pace of jobs growth in recent months but marked a slowdown from the monthly gain of 202,000 over the past 12 months, according to the BLS. Construction and healthcare sectors were the strongest. The manufacturing sector recorded job losses.
Advertisement
Combined, employment in June and July was 86,000 roles lower than previously reported, stoking concerns that the labour market started losing momentum earlier than thought. For the month, average hourly earnings increased 0.4 per cent, translating to a 3.8 per cent year-on-year rise.
Williams forecast the unemployment rate would steady at about 4.25 per cent this year as the economy expanded by as much as 2.5 per cent, indicating little concern about an impending recession.
While Tom Porcelli, chief US economist at PGIM Fixed Income, does not expect the Fed to deliver a half-point cut this month, he said the data warrants multiple ones, underscoring the vast range of views about the economic outlook.
“If you’re waiting for evidence to show up in the most lagging of economic indicators — the payrolls report — then you are already late,” he said.
In an interview on Friday, former New York Fed president William Dudley said he was also fearful the Fed was moving too slowly, having previously advocated for the central bank to cut rates in July. He said both a recession and a soft landing were “in play”.