THE BIG PICTURE
Happy Monday! Here’s what on tap today:
Michigan's most important Democratic primary in years is Tuesday — and the progressive is leading
Trump sued a bank for "debanking" him — and the bank cited money laundering
Trump is sabotaging his own Senate majority — and Republicans know it
Trump's $1.8bn slush fund for his allies is officially dead — for now
ICE left a woman in the freezing cold — and she froze to death
BUT BEFORE WE DIVE IN: Notice News is 100% independent — no billionaire owner, no algorithm deciding what you see. That only works because readers fund it directly. Become a paid subscriber to keep it that way (and get our expanded Sunday edition every weekend).
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
1. Michigan's most important Democratic primary in years is Tuesday — and the progressive is leading
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive epidemiologist backed by Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen, leads Haley Stevens 54-39 in a new Emerson poll of likely Democratic primary voters heading into Tuesday's Senate race in Michigan.
Stevens has Chuck Schumer, Gretchen Whitmer, and the retiring incumbent in her corner. El-Sayed has the energy — voters under 50 are breaking for him by 42 points, and independents by 27.
The winner faces Republican Mike Rogers in November for a seat that could determine Senate control. El-Sayed is running on universal healthcare and calls himself "a capitalist who understands how capitalism works" — which is either a smart lane or a hedged one, depending on who you ask.
One voter who switched from McMorrow to El-Sayed put it simply: "I've never seen people more excited about a candidate."
2. Trump sued a bank for "debanking" him — the bank just said it was investigating money laundering
The Trump family's lawsuit against Capital One just blew up in their faces. In a new court filing, Capital One revealed it closed over 300 Trump-affiliated accounts "for anti-money laundering reasons" — after its AML team identified "transaction patterns" flagged by federal banking guidance.
This is the first time a major bank has publicly acknowledged money laundering concerns involving Trump's business. Capital One says it only disclosed the review because the Trump Organization sued them for it.
The Trump family filed the suit in March 2025, claiming Capital One closed the accounts out of "woke" political bias after January 6th. A Trump-appointed judge already tossed an earlier version of the lawsuit.
Trump is also suing JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon for $5 billion over a similar account closure.
Why does someone need 300 bank accounts?
3. Trump is sabotaging his own Senate majority — and Republicans know it
The Republican Party is knifing each other — their words, not ours. Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have devolved into open war, with the two men speaking only on an "as-needed basis," according to Thune himself.
The flashpoint is Trump's "Save America Act" — a voter suppression bill that doesn't have the Senate votes to pass — and Trump's response to that reality has been to publicly humiliate Thune instead of counting votes. He's also moved to oust Thune ally Sen. John Cornyn in favor of MAGA loyalist Ken Paxton, stalled intelligence surveillance renewals, and killed a bipartisan housing bill Republicans wanted to run on.
Republicans are trailing Democrats by 8 points in a CNN poll released last week. Sen. Jim Justice called the infighting "not really productive." Sen. John Curtis said Republicans are "longing" to work "more in harmony" with the White House.
When asked if Thune was still "the man for the job," Trump said: "We're going to find out. I'll let you know."
4. Trump's $1.8bn slush fund for his allies is officially dead — for now
Todd Blanche formally killed Donald Trump's $1.8bn "anti-weaponization fund" Sunday night, issuing a written order terminating the program after weeks of Republican senators blocking his attorney general nomination over it.
The catch: Blanche had been saying the fund was dead for weeks, but the Justice Department refused to put it in writing — because Trump kept publicly expressing support for reviving it. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins reportedly wouldn't budge until they got something on paper.
So to recap: the acting AG had to formally terminate his own boss's slush fund — designed to compensate Trump's political allies with public money — just to get confirmed as the permanent AG. The fund is gone… at least for now. Blanche's confirmation hearing is cleared. And Trump, who wanted to hand $1.8 billion to his friends, may have gotten outmaneuvered by two senators from his own party.
But since when does something being in writing mean Trump won’t do it anyway?
5. ICE dropped a Haitian woman in 20°F Pittsburgh wearing summer clothes. She froze to death.
Daphy Michel was 31 years old. ICE released her at a Pittsburgh bus shelter in early March — in 20-degree weather, wearing summer clothes and an ankle monitor — and she froze to death.
Michel had spent six months in county jail following a reported mental health crisis, then was arrested by ICE before being dumped at that bus stop with no apparent plan for what happened next.
Her family is now preparing to sue the United States and "multiple other governmental and non-governmental entities" this month.
This is what the deportation machine actually looks like in practice — not efficiency, not security, just a 31-year-old woman in a bus shelter in the cold. Her family called her someone who "showed love for everyone."
KEPT OUT OF YOUR FEED
What the algorithm buried:
Here's why Ms. Rachel endorsing a dozen progressive candidates is the most effective thing that's happened this week
RFK Jr. and Dana Bash got into a fiery 15-minute argument as he inexplicably blamed the CNN host for the failings of public health
Zohran Mamdani wants NYC to own its own supermarkets — and the grocery industry is panicking
Rand Paul mocked his Democratic governor for skipping Kentucky's Fancy Farm picnic — then Andy Beshear told him he has no balls — and that’s not all
Mitch McConnell also missed that picnic — an event he'd attended for over 40 years — and the crowd chanted "Where's Mitch?" while his colleagues pretended not to notice
Trump threatened Canada with a secret revenge plan for wildfire smoke — essentially an old man yelling at clouds
Wall Street executives are distancing themselves from Truth Social's new premium tier — which is essentially just corruption
Russian forces suffered 42,860 casualties in July — the deadliest month of the year — while Putin gave a speech praising his military's "unwavering resolve."
Mary Trump says her uncle has lost one of his core political superpowers
And if you feel like fighting in the Facebook comments this morning, we could use some backup on these posts:
NYC just recorded the fewest murders in history — and these people are angry about it
Kamala Harris says SCOTUS should be expanded to 13 justices
Trump’s own DOJ admits he lied about the Reflecting Pool ‘vandals’
NOTICE POLLING
Last week we asked, Do you think Democratic Socialists will overperform or underperform expectations in the midterms?
95% OF YOU SAID OVERPERFORM:
“I believe (and hope) that the Democratic Socialists will do very well in the upcoming midterms, and the results will send shockwaves through the Democratic and Republican parties all across the U.S.!”
- cdmalin
“Americans are looking for a change-and Democratic Socialists are the change - thus they are winning just about everywhere. I, myself, am tired of the same old all talk no performance that I've seen in the democratic party over the last 30 years.”
- twoasps
“It seems the democratic socialist are serving the people who are voting for them needs rather than the big donors.”
- dalesallybaldwin
“I keep tellin' ya, people are TIRED of the status quo!”
- michaelhogshooter
That’s all for today — we will see you tomorrow!
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