In Case You Missed It … This Week in News

A lot happened in the world this week – Make sure you didn’t miss it with Liberty Nation GenZ’s weekly news roundup!

Sunday, August 3, 2025

Texas Democrats Flee State to Stop Redistricting Vote

Political tensions are high in the Lone Star State. “Texas House Democrats on Sunday left the state in a bid to stop Republicans from advancing House maps that would give the GOP five more pickup opportunities ahead of 2026,” The Hill reports.

“The Texas Democrats said they were denying Republicans a quorum, or the minimum number of lawmakers needed present in order to conduct legislative business, following a similar tactic they employed the last time the GOP pursued midcycle redistricting in 2003. Most of them traveled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, all of which are Democrat-led states,” the news site relates.

Trade Rep Hails ‘Positive’ Talks With China

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday said the Aug. 12 deadline for China to reach a trade deal with America may be relaxed in the wake of “very positive” negotiations between the two nations.

Florida Sets New State Record as Executions in US Rise

“Under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has executed nine people in 2025, more than any other state, and set a new state record, with DeSantis overseeing more executions in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976,” the Associated Press reports. “Across the country, more people have been put to death in the first seven months of this year than in all of 2024. Florida’s increase is helping put the US on track to surpass 2015’s total of 28 executions,” the wire service details.

TUESDAY, August 5, 2025

House Committee Subpoenas Clintons in Epstein Probe

“The House committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein case issued subpoenas Tuesday to former President Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several top former Justice Department officials for their testimony,” NBC News reports. “The House Oversight Committee announced it had sent out the deposition subpoenas to the Clintons; former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, William Barr, Merrick Garland, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales; and former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller ‘for testimony related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein,’” the network notes. “That subpoena also directs the Justice Department to turn over the ‘full, complete, unredacted Epstein Files’ to the committee ‘on or before August 19, 2025.’”

Criminal Probe Launched Over Schiff Mortgage

“Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is under criminal investigation for mortgage fraud, a Trump administration source told Fox News,” the network reports. Fox News host Laura Ingraham stated Tuesday evening that “the source said a criminal investigation is being conducted by the US Attorney’s Office in Maryland on possible charges involving mortgage fraud,” Fox relates. “The investigation comes a month after a story broke about the Federal Housing Finance Agency sending a criminal referral to the Department of Justice alleging that Schiff, in multiple instances, falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms. In a 2011 affidavit signed by the then California congressman, Schiff certified that a property in Montgomery County, Maryland, is his primary residence. Schiff also owns a condominium in Burbank, California, which he has also claimed as his primary residence as recently as 2023, during his campaign for Senate.”

Texas AG Paxton: Runaway Dems Face Removal From Office

“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Tuesday he would begin the process of removing from office Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state amid the redistricting battle if they do not meet the state House Speaker’s deadline to return to the state Capitol by Friday,” The Hill reports. “‘Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas, and a failure to respond to a call of the House constitutes a dereliction of their duty as elected officials,’ Paxton said in a statement,” the news site chronicles. “Gov. Greg Abbott (R), in turn, called for the arrest of the Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state. … Texas Republicans released a new congressional map last week that would result in five new seats for Republicans ahead of next year’s midterm elections.”

RFK Jr. Scraps $500 Million for mRNA Vaccine Research

“The federal government is calling off around $500 million worth of vaccine development projects that use mRNA technology, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday,” CBS News reports. “The 22 now-terminated projects were funded through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA. Most of the projects that were canceled were for vaccines that fight COVID-19 or the flu, Kennedy said,” the network details. “They include proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and other drugmakers, along with a now-shuttered award to Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine, according to an HHS statement. Kennedy framed the move as part of a step away from research into mRNA vaccines. Those types of vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to prompt the body to make proteins that induce antibody production to protect against an infection. ‘HHS has determined that mRNA technology poses more risk than benefits for these respiratory viruses,’” Kennedy said.

Trump Calls for DC to Charge Violent Youth Criminals as Adults

President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a change in District of Columbia law to allow teens 14 and older who commit crimes to be charged as adults. “Crime in Washington, DC, is totally out of control. Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post. He included an image of a bloodied young man, who has been identified as former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old software engineer. Coristine was assaulted by a group of teens during an attempted carjacking on Sunday. “If DC doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take federal control of the city, and run this city how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore,” Trump added.

Thursday, August 7, 2025

New Trump Tariff Blitz Goes Into Effect

“President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs took effect on Thursday, slapping levies on dozens of countries,” ABC News reports.  “Tariffs between 10% and 41% were applied to nearly 70 countries beginning at 12:01 am Thursday, significantly expanding the reach of Trump’s confrontational trade policy,” the network details. “It’s midnight. Billions of dollars in tariffs are now flowing into the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Foreign Semiconductors Will Face 100% Tariff

“President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will implement a 100% tariff on semiconductors manufactured overseas unless the companies have committed to build in the US,” Yahoo Finance reports. “Trump made the announcement during a press event in the Oval Office alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was on hand to unveil an additional $100 billion investment in research and manufacturing in the US,” the news site relates. “‘The good news for companies like Apple is, if you’re building in the United States, or have committed to build, without question, committed to build in the United States, there will be no charge,” Trump said. The semiconductor tariff is a part of the Trump administration’s Section 232 national security investigation into chip manufacturing.

Sen. Tom Cotton Queries Intel on New CEO’s Ties to China

“Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel’s board chair on Wednesday with questions about the chipmaker’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former company Cadence Design,” Reuters reports. “Writing to ‘express concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations and its potential impact on US national security,’ Cotton asked in the letter to Intel chairperson Frank Yeary whether the company’s board was aware of the subpoenas sent to Cadence during Tan’s time there as CEO before Intel hired him. Cotton asked what measures were taken to address those concerns,” the wire service writes.