Trump Dangles $5,000 Payments if Republicans Win, and Deportees Are Stranded in Haiti

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From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, September 10th. Here's what we're covering.

SPEAKER_4 (0:29)

If we lose, you're going to lose your border.

You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose your safety and security. You're going to lose your wealth.

Tracy Mumford (0:39)

Last night in Dallas, President Trump kicked off the GOP's first-of-its-kind midterm convention as his party stares down the possibility of major losses in November.

SPEAKER_4 (0:51)

So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot.

Tracy Mumford (0:57)

In a primetime, made-for-TV speech, Trump repeatedly urged Republican voters to turn out the same way they have when he's been a candidate. And he also tossed out a new idea to try and get people to the polls.

SPEAKER_4 (1:11)

If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000, it will be called, the Trump Dividend.

Tracy Mumford (1:21)

Trump claimed he would send a $5,000 check to every American adult if Republicans keep control of Congress.

SPEAKER_4 (1:30)

Now all we have to do is win under my leadership.

Tracy Mumford (1:33)

The president has made similar promises in the past to send out cash, which haven't actually happened. This plan would likely cost more than a trillion dollars and would need sign-off from Congress.

In all, over the nearly two-hour speech, the president largely dismissed the issues that have been weighing down his party in the polls. He said the US is winning the war with Iran, which has been largely unpopular with voters, and he shrugged off concerns about affordability, high gas prices, the rising cost of groceries, etc. as, quote, fake.

SPEAKER_5 (2:08)

This historic midterm convention is rallying Republicans at the perfect time because so much is on the line this November.

Tracy Mumford (2:19)

In addition to Trump, a whole list of Republican candidates and lawmakers also took the stage. They largely avoided talking about the war as well, instead going on the offensive.

Tabitha Brown (2:29)

We face the most dangerous, radical, and frankly, weird Democrat candidates in American history.

Tracy Mumford (2:40)

Maybe the most surprising moment of the night was when one prominent Democrat made an appearance.

John Fetterman (2:45)

I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes in socialism and that anti-American way of life.

Tracy Mumford (2:54)

Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. In a minute-long video, Fetterman appeared to undercut his own party and echoed Republicans rhetoric that Democrats have become increasingly extremist. In recent months, Fetterman has been amping up his connections to Republicans while consistently denying rumors that he's on the brink of switching parties. The convention will continue in Dallas tonight.

Now two quick updates on the Trump administration. From cash gifts to White House staff to a proposal that could upend the census.

First, financial disclosure forms from the White House show the president gave $45,000 each to his executive assistant Natalie Harp and two other close aides. Each payment was recorded as a, quote, cash gift for the holidays last year and is equal to about a third of the staffer's salaries. The disclosure raises questions about whether the gifts violate the federal government's policy against political appointees getting bonuses. That policy exists, one ethics expert told The Times, to prevent even the appearance that a federal employee would feel more beholden to the person giving them cash than to the public. In addition to Harp, the group who received cash gifts from Trump includes Chamberlain Harris, his former receptionist who he installed on the Federal Commission where she greenlit his ballroom project and pushed for a gold coin with his face on it. In a statement posted on social media, the White House said the gifts were allowed because they, quote, have nothing to do with any of these individuals' official government duties.

And the Trump administration is proposing overhauling the census by no longer counting immigrants unless they have green cards. Historically, the census has counted all US residents. The Fourteenth Amendment lays that out, calling for the counting of, quote, the whole number of persons in each state. Those numbers get used to determine how many congressional seats states get and where billions of dollars of federal money are allocated. While the proposal is likely to face legal challenges, if it goes through for the 2030 census, areas with more immigrants, which tend to vote Democratic, could lose representation and funding. The administration also wants to remove questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation from the census, which could have major implications for anti-discrimination policies and civil rights protections. The White House referred questions about the changes to the Commerce Department, which oversees the census. The department did not respond. In his first term, Trump made a similar effort to change the census by adding a question about citizenship, and a federal court rejected that.