US raises alarm over American detained in China

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Your usual 12:30 correspondent welcomed a new baby, Liam, and is out for the next few months on maternity leave! 🍼👶

Programming note: We will have a rotating cast of Hill folks taking the reins while she’s out. For today, we’re Abigail Walker and Claire Leibowitz . Please send your tips, comments and story ideas to awalker@thehill.com or cleibowitz@thehill.com .

US officials raise alarm over citizen imprisoned in China

Army can’t make up its mind on cadet standards

Sparks are still flying after the Ossoff-Trump-Harp drama

Sean Duffy says Harvard can corrupt ‘young girls’

Darline Graham defends national security stumble

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex return to the U.K.

An American citizen who runs a think tank focused on politics in Myanmar was arrested in China, and U.S. officials are now highlighting the “significant deterioration” in his treatment.

What happened?: Min Zin was arrested in June, but U.S. officials on Thursday designated him as “wrongfully detained,” a powerful label “that makes advocating for his release a top U.S. priority,” The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports .

He had a 10-year visa to enter China and frequently attended academic conferences in the country. He was detained upon his arrival on June 3, accused of spying and endangering China’s national security.

How is he being treated?: Zin is being held at an unknown location, which means U.S. consular officials cannot observe his living conditions and can only see him when Chinese officials bring him to a hotel. He was placed at the opposite end of a long conference table during the last conversation, making communication difficult.

Not normal: “Chinese authorities barred U.S. officials from discussing with Min Zin any questions related to his case, interrogation, treatment, his work on Myanmar or his colleagues,” Kelly writes. “A consular officer, who has dealt with Americans detained in China for more than two years, called it one of the most disruptive and restrictive visits he’s ever experienced, according to the account.”

Officials are also concerned about Chinese authorities blocking basic humanitarian care for Zin, including blocking reading materials and keeping him in constant light, blocking his ability to sleep.

On the agenda: President Trump is expected to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit on Sept. 24.

Zin’s family and friends hope the escalation to “wrongfully detained” and Trump’s attention will secure his release.

🔎 Insiders can read the rest of Laura Kelly’s reporting here .

“The Army is eyeing new minimum academic standards for college students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), but not without some internal drama,” The Hill’s Filip Timotija reports .

The service branch issued the changes earlier this month but pulled them only days later.

What was withdrawn?: Incoming ROTC cadets — undergrad students — would have to meet one of three academic benchmarks: a 20 on the ACT, a 1000 on the SAT or a result in the 50th percentile on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a standardized test on science, math and language.

Where did they go?: A memo reviewed by The Hill said the standards required “further staffing and analysis,” and there was apparently a lack of consultation with senior leaders.

^ Read the New York Post’s report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reaction: ‘Hegseth angry as Army scraps new SAT minimum meant to screen out ‘stupid’ officers’

This comes as Hegseth has emphasized a focus on fitness and grooming for service members.

“Backers of the Aug. 5 memo say cadets should show intellectual agility before becoming officers. Others question if ACTs and SATs are reliable measures to assess an officer’s future performance,” Timotija writes.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) might take the cake for causing the longest news cycle with the fewest words. Maybe because it’s August, but he sure did rankle Trump world.

“He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar,” Ossoff said during a Georgia rally last weekend, referring to the president’s executive assistant, Natalie Harp.

The comment got a roar from the crowd and continues to reverberate on social media. Trump’s allies have ripped into Ossoff for comments they call sexist and reckless.

His son, Eric Trump , swatted back at the critics , calling speculation about his father’s relationship with Harp “absolute trash.”

“Natalie is an incredible young woman — a cancer survivor, a genuinely good person, and arguably one of the hardest-working people in the White House. She’s deeply committed to my father, to her job, and to this country,” he said in a post on the social platform X.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle chose to poke fun at Ossoff , describing the senator as a “cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama.”

Should he really be saying this? Trump allies weren’t the only ones who found the comments to be in poor taste.

Democratic strategist David Axelrod wasn’t impressed by Ossoff’s comments either.

“No one has been more consistently eloquent or incisive in exposing @realDonaldTrump than @Ossoff,” he wrote. “The paragraph from his weekend speech that has gotten so much attention was a brutal takedown. But two words in it, ‘with Natalie’ seemed gratuitous and unnecessary.”

DUFFY FAMILY VALUES : Harvard University is no place for young women with conservative, Catholic values. At least that’s what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy implied during the second episode of “Great American Road Trip,” a series on the department’s YouTube page, which centered on Boston, Massachusetts.

“If I send you there, I think what happens is they have professionalized figuring out how they can take good, young girls like you, and I think, corrupt their minds,” he said to his daughter, Paloma, after she expressed interest in attending the prestigious institution.

Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday tried to defend her lackluster performance earlier this week in a primary runoff debate.

When asked Tuesday night if and why the South China Sea and Taiwan were a national security issue for the U.S., Graham candidly responded , “I’m not that informed on national security.” She then paused before saying, “But I do support the military.”

Not impressed : Former South Carolina state Rep. Adam Morgan (R) reacted to the stumble, calling it a “stunning debate flop” and insisting on X that Graham is “not qualified for this 6-year position.”

“I tripped up on one question last night regarding Taiwan,” Graham said during a Fox News interview yesterday. “I have said many times I’m not a politician, certainly not a career politician. I don’t speak politician.”

But…she is definitely a politician : Following the death of her brother Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last month, Darline Graham was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) to serve out the remainder the late senator’s fourth term.

Graham is now vying for the full-time job . Though backed by the president and the Republican National Committee, she must still convince South Carolinians that she’s prepared to fill her brother’s shoes.

“Lindsey Graham was well informed on the United States’ national security,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley wrote on X. “Darline Graham admits she’s not. This is not something you inherit. And it’s critical in the U.S. Senate.”

— Secretary of State Marco Rubio outperformed Vice President Vance in multiple hypothetical 2028 match-ups against Democrats. The Emerson College and The Hill poll pitted them against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was the only Democrat to hold a lead against the two. Ossoff, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), former Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) all trailed behind Rubio. Ocasio-Cortez was the only one to (hypothetically) lose to both Republicans.

— Poll mania: Another survey found that Republicans are trailing Democrats by 8 points on a generic congressional ballot. Half of respondents said they would back a Democrat if the midterm elections were held that day, 43 percent said they would back a Republican and 6.3 percent were unsure.

— Young Democrats are vying for Congress , putting affordability at the top of their agenda. Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District, Angela Gonzales-Torres in California’s 34th Congressional District and Melat Kiros in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, among others, have shown little hesitation in making the high cost of living a key part of their campaigns.

Politico: EU backs top international court against Rubio

AP News: US agency under scrutiny after watchdog warns of forced labor in Dominican Republic

Reuters: US envoy Huckabee tells Israeli settlers not to take Palestinian Americans’ land

NOTUS: Judge Blocks Trump’s Abstinence-Only Overhaul of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program

The House and Senate are out. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EDT)

2 p.m. Trump participates in signing time.

4 p.m. Trump and first lady Melania Trump make a “Fostering the Future” announcement in the Rose Garden.

🥓 Celebrate : Today is National Bacon Lovers Day!

👑 We hope the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stock up. Prince Harry and Meghan are moving back to the U.K. after six years in America. Of course, bacon is a key component of an English breakfast, but we’re confident it’s better on this side of the pond.

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