Rogers, El-Sayed face off in Michigan

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Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed are facing off in their first Senate debate Thursday night.

The tightly contested race has shined a spotlight on Michigan, which President Trump won in 2024, and former President Biden took in 2020.

This is not the first planned debate between the two. They were set to face off last month, but Rogers skipped out because he said the moderator showed “favoritism” toward his Democratic opponent.

Talking points: Rogers, who has championed most of Trump’s policies on the campaign trail, broke with the president on Wednesday after calling for an end to the U.S.’s trade war with Canada.

Tonight, he will likely have to defend his stance, in addition to the war in Iran and affordability. The GOP is navigating a difficult midterm landscape, especially as Trump’s approval rating continues to plummet.

El-Sayed, who beat the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the Democratic primary, will likely field debate questions that focus on his more leftist policies, including past calls to defund the police and connections to left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.

Big figures in the fray: Trump called El-Sayed “terrible” and said he “goes back to the days of the Jihad” on Truth Social on Wednesday. He also said Rogers is an “extremely good candidate.”

El-Sayed has been endorsed by former Vice President Harris, who campaigned alongside him last month. And former President Obama is set to rally with him later this month.

What, when, where: Rogers and El-Sayed are facing off in Grand Rapids. The debate will be televised at 7 p.m. EDT by WOOD TV8, a news station owned by The Hill’s parent company, Nexstar Media.

Scott Tranter, Decision Desk HQ’s (DDHQ) director of data science, on Sunday said that “time is running out” for Rogers to close the gap between him and El-Sayed. DDHQ’s forecast shows the Democrat with a 67 percent probability of winning in November, while the Republican holds a 33 percent chance.

During a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, Trump defended his remarks from earlier this week, when he suggested that Iran could “hit” San Diego and Los Angeles.

“You want to see trauma? You want to see problems? And I said it the other day, let them hit a missile into San Diego or Los Angeles on the way. You want to see a horror show? Let them hit San Diego. Let them hit Los Angeles,” the president said to a crowd of supporters.

“You want to see some bad things happen? You want see a country in free fall? We’re not going to let that happen,” he added.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), in response to Trump’s original comments, which he made at a Nebraska rally on Tuesday, told The Hill that the president was “mentally ill” and encouraged lawmakers to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Trump administration pushes back: White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X , “The media freakout over President Trump’s comments is not rooted in reality.”

He added that Trump was “clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”

Another rally incident: The president also accused protesters at the event, held to encourage support for GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton , of being “paid by enemies of our nation.”

The Hill’s Ryan Mancini wrote , “More protesters heckled, with at least one approaching the podium. Rally attendees pushed some of the demonstrators out, with Trump joining in to mock them. He at one point said the protesters ‘are really bad-looking people.’”

Trump will award Elon Musk , and other big leaders in the tech industry, the National Medal of Science on Thursday, according to NewsNation, The Hill’s broadcast partner.

The White House’s “ Science: A New Golden Age ” summit will also present prizes to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang , Google co-founder Sergey Brin and founder and CEO of Dell Technologies Michael Dell .

“The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology,” Liz Huston , assistant White House press secretary, said in a statement about the event. “These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation.”

According to a bombshell report from The Wall Street Journal, prior to her confirmation, Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle allegedly asked a Trump donor to pay off a $100,000 credit card bill.

The Journal says it reviewed text messages between Guilfoyle, who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., and former congressional candidate Eric Deters .

“It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that’s all it will show. Please,” the texts read.

Three days before her confirmation, Guilfoyle again asked Deters, according to the Journal, writing, “Honey please I need you to get this done for me today.”

Rubio’s take: When asked about the report , Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things.”

Another report from the Journal published Tuesday painted an unsavory picture of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and alleged that he contributed to a contentious workplace environment, leading to the departure of a few key officials.

During a Wednesday interview with Fox News’s Lauren Ingraham, Bessent pushed back .

“You’ve apparently made the Wall Street Journal very angry. A piece today read like a TMZ article. Apparently, you have very high standards for your staff. They’re saying that you’re tough on your staff. Have you ever thrown a binder at a wall, Mr. Secretary?” Ingraham asked.

“Look, the Wall Street Journal is a shadow of its former self, and I think it’s a disgrace for you to say that they’re like TMZ. TMZ does a good job of what they do,” Bessent replied.

Bessent further criticized the reporting, telling Ingraham, “There were two — the disgruntled employees … versus, like, the 28 who told them that I’m a great employer, and we have some great employees that come to work every day, just like the American people, and they want to work hard.”

Senate Judiciary Democrats called out their GOP counterparts and demanded they apologize to former special counsel Jack Smith after a hearing flub last week. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) accused him of attending an Atlanta Hawks NBA game, implying that he may have met with fellow Trump prosecutor Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), whom Smith has denied meeting.

Democrat Bernadette Greene-Placentia , who is challenging Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (R) in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, said she was raped by two men while repairing a campaign sign in August.

Oil prices are up Thursday amid reports that the White House is weighing strikes on Iran.

Associated Press : Palestinian factions set to delay legislative elections

NBC News : Missouri sued over alleged decades of underfunding at historically Black university

New York Times : This Photo Is an A.I. Fake. Can You Tell?

Politico : French PM tries to defuse anger over schools, fuel and agriculture in sweeping speech

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

1:30 p.m. Trump goes to the Institute of Peace for Golden Age of Innovation summit.

6 p.m. Trump participates in a telerally.

🦸 Celebrate : Today is National Hero Day. Go thank all the heroes in your life — doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, journalists…

📖 Canadian Poet Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”

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