Department of Justice spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the department is assessing the reports, which included claims of refusal of water to migrants as well as pushing them back into the Rio Grande to go back to Mexico.

The reports come from an email the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) shared with multiple media outlets including The Hill. The correspondence detailed a state trooper-medic's concerns from time working on the Eagle Pass portion of the border. He was there from late June into early July, according to reporting from CNN.

“The department is aware of the troubling reports, and we are working with DHS and other relevant agencies to assess the situation,” Hinojosa said.

The Texas DPS confirmed to The Hill Tuesday that the Texas Office of Inspector General (OIG) is investigating the reports.

“There is not a directive or policy that instructs Troopers to withhold water from migrants or push them back into the river,” Texas DPS told The Hill.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) released a joint statement with other high-ranking Texas officials stating that "no orders or directions have been given under Operation Lone Star that would compromise the lives of those attempting to cross the border illegally." Abbot created "Operation Lone Star" to "combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas. The operation began in 2021.

“The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Military Department continue taking steps to monitor migrants in distress, provide appropriate medical attention when needed, and encourage them to use one of the 29 international bridges along the Texas-Mexico Border where they can safely and legally cross,” the joint statement continued.

The UAW leadership had asked for an opportunity to brief White House senior staff on their analysis and positions related to the negotiations with the top U.S. automakers, known as the Big Three. 

When Biden learned about that meeting in the West Wing, he asked to also talk directly with Fain and the two of them had a short meeting, a White House official said.

The union's worker contracts expire in September, and Fain has warned automakers Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler, that the union is prepared to strike over negotiations about cost-of-living pay raises, pensions and other issues.

Meanwhile, the union said in May it won’t endorse Biden yet due to concerns over the White House’s focus on electric vehicles. The president has directed major funding towards a transition to EVs, building up manufacturing of parts and charging stations. 

Fain said at the time that UAW wants to see a “just transition” to EVs “where the workers who make the auto industry run aren’t left behind.” He noted that taxpayer money is being used to build up the electric vehicle industry.

The union has historically backed Democrats and endorsed Biden in 2020. Fain has made clear the union is not going to support former President Trump.

Other major unions have backed Biden's reelection bid already, including the AFL-CIO, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers, among others.

The poll, published Wednesday, found that 43 percent of respondents believe that the Supreme Court is too conservative, while 13 percent of those surveyed think that the court is too liberal and 33 percent believe that the current ideology of the Supreme Court is just about right.

This is a change from a September 2021 Quinnipiac University poll, in which 34 percent thought the Supreme Court was too conservative, 34 percent thought it was about right and 19 percent thought it was too liberal.

Along political party lines, 80 percent of Democrat respondents now believe that the Supreme Court is too conservative, compared with 38 percent of independent respondents and 8 percent of Republicans.

In contrast, 25 percent of Republican respondents believe that the Supreme Court is too liberal, compared with 12 percent of independent respondents and 5 percent of Democrats.

By race, Black respondents were more likely to see the nation’s highest court as too conservative compared with white and Hispanic respondents. Younger respondents were also more likely to hold this view than older respondents.

The poll comes weeks after the Supreme Court struck down the use of race as a factor for college admissions, along with the Biden Administration’s proposed student debt relief initiative. 

The court last year also struck down Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that gave women the constitutional right to an abortion. 

Three members of the Supreme Court's conservative majority were appointed by former President Trump, and the court's series of controversial decisions in the past two years has spurred Democratic debates over proposals to expand the court or impose term limits.

A series of scandals centered on Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife have further stoked frustration on the left and prompted calls for legislation imposing ethics rules on the country's highest court.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted from July 13 to July 17 with a total of 2,056 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error was 2.3 percentage points. 

Louis Milione, the former principal deputy administrator for the DEA, previously worked for four years as a consultant to large pharmaceutical companies including Perdue Pharma, according to the AP’s reporting.

Perdue Pharma has been heavily associated with the nation's opioids epidemic as it launched the drug OxyContin, which has been linked to the start of the crisis itself. 

Milione’s work for Perdue involved a $600-per-hour payment to help the company navigate legal challenges from states like Ohio and Oklahoma because of their marketing of OxyContin.

He also worked for the U.S.’s fourth-largest wholesale drug distributor, Morris & Dickson, testifying for them during the company’s attempts to continue to supply painkillers to hospitals and pharmacies after a federal judge found it had not flagged thousands of suspicious orders during the opioid crisis, not wanting to lose its license to do so.  

Milione began serving as DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s foremost deputy in 2021 and previously worked at the agency for 21 years until 2017.

In his time away from the agency, he began a career as a consultant to some companies that he had previous regulating authority over. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The poll, published Wednesday, found that 30 percent of respondents believe the U.S. has recovered better from the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries, while 32 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. has fared worse post-pandemic. 

Thirty-three percent of respondents said that the country’s post-pandemic recovery has been about the same as other countries. 

Along political party lines, 50 percent of Democrat respondents believe that the U.S. has recovered better from the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries, and 24 percent of  Independent respondents and 17 percent of Republican respondents also agreed with the sentiment, according to the poll.

Thirty-two percent of male respondents believe that the country’s post-pandemic recovery fared better than other countries, while 28 percent of female respondents also expressed the same viewpoint. 

Among age groups, 38 percent of respondents who are 55 years or older said that the U.S. has recovered better from the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries, while 26 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 and 23 percent of respondents between the ages of 35 to 54 years said the same thing. 

Among racial groups, 28 percent of white respondents believe that the U.S. has recovered better from the COVID-19 pandemic than other countries, while 34 percent of non-white respondents have the same sentiment, the poll said. 

The poll comes three months after President Biden signed into law ​​a GOP-led resolution to end a national emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the Biden administration has pushed messaging surrounding "Bidenomics," a slogan highlighting the work his administration has done to turn the economy.

The Monmouth University Poll was conducted from July 12 to July 17 with a total of 910 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error was 4.9 percentage points.

The joint proposal from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) lays out 13 guidelines for how mergers would be reviewed. The agencies asked for public comment on the draft that will be open for 60 days. 

The background: FTC, DOJ launch joint inquiry aimed at blocking illegal mergers

“Unchecked consolidation threatens the free and fair markets upon which our economy is based,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

“These updated Merger Guidelines respond to modern market realities and will enable the Justice Department to transparently and effectively protect the American people from the damage that anticompetitive mergers cause.”

FTC Chair Lina Khan, a proponent of antitrust reform and vocal critic of the market power of tech giants, said the draft guidelines update enforcement to “reflect the realities of how firms do business in the modern economy.” 

“Informed by thousands of public comments—spanning healthcare workers, farmers, patient advocates, musicians, and entrepreneurs—these guidelines contain critical updates while ensuring fidelity to the mandate Congress has given us and the legal precedent on the books,” Khan said in a statement. 

Part of the guidelines includes a focus on “platform” companies, urging an update that would allow agencies to “examine competition between platforms, on a platform, or to displace a platform.”

Such an update focused on platforms could be critical in how the agencies take on massive tech companies. The FTC has faced recent hurdles in cases to block tech company’s acquisitions, including Microsoft’s deal to merge with Activision Blizzard and Meta’s acquisition of the virtual reality company Within. 

Appeals court denies FTC bid to temporarily halt Microsoft-Activision deal

Another proposed update would examine impacts on workers, a change from the current standards that focus on how mergers impact consumers. The agencies propose that when a merger involves “competing buyers” they examine “whether it may substantially lessen competition for workers or other sellers.”

The draft also proposes that when a merger is part of a series of multiple acquisitions, the agencies may examine the whole series.

The new guidelines are part of a joint push launched by Justice Department and FTC last year to limit mergers that could harm competition.

The Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers have sought to crack down on major corporate mergers and step up antitrust enforcement. They argue that regulators must do more to prevent mergers that could give a specific business too much power within an industry.

Most Republican lawmakers and business groups have panned the push to bolster antitrust rules, arguing that Democrats and progressive critics of major companies are overstating the harms and underrating the benefits of mergers.

The president received a split rating on his handling of jobs and unemployment, with 47 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving of it, according to a Monmouth University poll conducted July 12-17. 

The White House rolled out the Bidenomics slogan — based on its work tackling inflation, increasing jobs and keeping unemployment low — last month. Since then, the president and top officials have traveled to promote Bidenomics, and it is expected to be a major part of the reelection campaign.

Only 30 percent of respondents thought the U.S. economy is recovering better than the rest of the world’s economies since the COVID-19 pandemic, and 32 percent thought the U.S. economy is recovering worse than other countries, the survey found. 

The president often touts that the U.S. is recovering better than other nations with similar economies, and the White House has pushed out that notion as an indication that Biden’s economic policies are working.

“The president has been touting ‘Bidenomics,’ but the needle of public opinion has not really moved. Americans are just not giving him a lot of credit when it comes to the economy,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. 

The survey also found that 43 percent of respondents approved of Biden’s handling of transportation and energy infrastructure issues. Overall, 7 in 10 Democrats gave the president positive marks on his handling of top policy areas, and more than 8 in 10 Republicans gave him negative marks.

The president received a 44 percent approval rating overall, which is 3 points higher than the same polling from the last three months.

The poll was conducted with a random sample of 910 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

President Biden’s video featuring clips from a Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) speech to tout his legislative accomplishments reached more than 30 million views in 12 hours after it was posted Tuesday evening, according to statistics first shared with The Hill.

The video received the second-highest impressions on a Biden video since he was inaugurated, only behind his reelection campaign launch video that dropped in April.

The video received more than 34 million views as of Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. and more than 10 million of those were in the first three hours since it dropped. It also received more than 200,000 shares and more than 2 million engagements as of Wednesday morning.

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Greene’s speech at Turning Point USA was intended to attack the president on policy issues. But, the Biden campaign video set the speech to uplifting music as she lists the president’s agenda and legislative priorities and compares him to former Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“I approve this message,” Biden said on Twitter, sharing the video Tuesday evening.

When it was first posted, other Democrats rallied around the video and shared it, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (Calif.) and Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Adam Schiff (Calif.).

“Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete,” Greene said in her speech this weekend.

“Programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions, and he still is working on it,” she added.

The memo from an HHS official said the facility has repeatedly refused to provide documents and answer questions from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) about safety and security. HHS also told the lab it’s seeking to cut off funding permanently.

The memo, dated Monday, was first reported by Bloomberg.

The Wuhan Institute “likely violated protocols of the NIH regarding biosafety is undisputed,” wrote the official, whose name was redacted. "As such, there is risk that WIV not only previously violated, but is currently violating, and will continue to violate, protocols of the NIH on biosafety."

The institute, which has not received any federal money since 2020, now has 30 days to respond to the notice. 

“Therefore, I have determined that the immediate suspension of WIV is necessary to mitigate any potential public health risk,” the HHS official wrote. 

The document was made public by the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which has been probing the administration's grants to the Wuhan Institute. Republican members of the panel have insisted the virus was manufactured in the Chinese facility with the aid of U.S. funding and spread worldwide because of a lab leak.

Much of the attention has been focused on EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based organization that received a 2014 grant from NIH that was partly sub-granted to the Wuhan Institute.

The U.S. intelligence community has yet to reach a conclusion about where the virus originated. At the same time, China has blocked international scientists from exploring all possibilities about the virus's origin.

NIH officials have asserted that no taxpayer funds were used for research that could have supercharged a coronavirus and caused the pandemic, but they have also admitted they don't know the full extent of research being conducted in Wuhan.

“What President Biden is trying to do is just a blatant vote buy. The Supreme Court has ruled it’s illegal. He can’t just with a [stroke] of the pen wipe away over half a trillion dollars in student loan debt,” DeVos told host John Catsimatidis on the podcast "Cats & Cosby." 

“It’s just transferring it to all those who didn’t take out student loans or those who faithfully made payments. It’s patently unfair. It’s patently illegal. The Supreme Court has ruled on that,” she added. 

The Supreme Court ruled in June the Biden administration could not give up to $20,000 in student debt relief using the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act. 

Shortly after the ruling, the president announced he would try an alternative path for debt forgiveness through the Higher Education Act (HEA). This route will take longer because it has to go through a negotiated rulemaking process, so little is known about how much relief could be given and who would qualify for it. 

Biden “continues to try to buy these votes by coming up with another scheme. … It sounds really good to say, ‘I’m going to forgive your student debt.’ But it’s not forgiving anything. It’s already a loan made by the federal government. Somebody has to pay for it,” DeVos said. 

It is unclear how much the new plan would cost, but Biden’s old student debt relief plan through the HEROES Act was estimated to cost more than $400 billion if it went through. 

“[It is] patently unfair to the millions of people who faithfully repaid on their student loans. People aren’t stupid. They’re figuring out that this is nothing but a blatant vote ploy on the part of President Biden,” DeVos added. 

The remarks come after a recent survey showed young people are blaming Republicans and the Supreme Court for the lack of debt relief as they are about to begin repaying their student loans for the first time in three years.

Apprehensions at the southern border decreased in June, driven by a substantial drop in illegal border crossings between ports of entry.

According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures, border officials encountered migrants 144,571 times at the border in June, down 30 percent from the 206,702 encounters a month prior.

While the overall number of encounters dropped, encounters with unauthorized migrants at ports of entry rose month-to-month, a sign that the Biden administration's efforts to funnel migrants toward ports of entry are working.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials reported 45,026 encounters at ports of entry in June, up more than 27 percent from 35,315 in May.

That rise stood in contrast with the drop in Border Patrol encounters between ports of entry: 99,545 in June, down 42 percent from 171,387 in May.

The drop in Border Patrol encounters is the second significant contraction in fiscal 2022, after encounters plummeted nearly 40 percent from December to January.

June's figures show the lowest number of border encounters since President Biden's first full month in office, with a number nearly identical to former President Trump's highest posted encounter figures.

In May of 2019, the Trump administration reported 144,116 total encounters, a number that quickly came down, first as a result of Mexico's crackdown on migrants at its southern border and later because of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the two administrations have differed drastically in style, immigrant advocates say they share substance in many of their border and immigration policies.

The Biden administration in February rolled out new asylum regulations that activists said mirrored Trump's asylum ban, a charge the White House and DHS vehemently denied.

Those asylum rules have been challenged, and a hearing is scheduled before a federal court Wednesday.

If the asylum rules are blocked, the administration could lose one piece of the puzzle that it's used to convince migrants to avoid entering the country between ports of entry, and to avail themselves of parole programs designed to help them avoid land crossings altogether.

Updated: 6:47 p.m.

The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry (UA), which represents about 366,000 plumbers, pipefitters and welders, announced its endorsement earlier than it announced in the 2020 cycle.

“The Biden Harris Administration has provided economic opportunity for all United Association members — meaning our members have a fair shot at working family-sustaining jobs while building the future of American infrastructure,” UA general president Mark McManus said in a statement.

The group pointed to Biden’s policies, such as replacing lead service lines, building semiconductor manufacturing facilities and permitting reform, as reasons they wanted to endorse.

UA released a nationwide ad campaign announcing the endorsement, which was backed by a nearly $1 million buy and will run nationwide for four weeks, then only in battleground states for another four weeks.

"This endorsement highlights the groundswell of support we have seen from across the organized labor movement," Julie Chávez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign manager, said in a statement. "That’s because Joe Biden is the most pro-labor president in history — making historic investments in our country’s manufacturing and fighting for our workers."

Biden’s reelection campaign was endorsed by AFL-CIO in June, along with more than a dozen other unions — like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, National Nurses United and the American Federation of Government Employees.

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) also endorsed Biden earlier in June, citing the infrastructure law as an accomplishment of the administration.

“The unprecedented show of support from labor this early in the campaign unlocks the movement’s powerful organizing abilities and resources to help show how President Biden is delivering more jobs, more manufacturing, and lower costs for American families,” Rodriguez said.

But the president hasn’t had all good luck with unions this cycle. The United Auto Workers union in May said it would hold back from an endorsement, citing concerns over the White House’s focus on electric vehicles.

Emhoff will visit Samoa from July 23-24, where he will meet with government officials and community leaders, his office announced Wednesday.

"In particular, the Second Gentleman will highlight our shared work to address the climate crisis, enhance disaster preparedness, promote sustainable and inclusive economic development, and invest in the economic empowerment of women," Liza Acevedo, Emhoff's communications director, said in a statement. "The Second Gentleman’s visit will underscore the strong U.S. relationship with Samoa and the commitment of the United States to the Pacific Islands."

The visit to Samoa will follow Emhoff's trip to New Zealand, where he is leading the U.S. delegation at the Women's World Cup. That event kicks off Thursday in Auckland.

The second gentleman will also attend the U.S. team’s first match against Vietnam on Friday. While in New Zealand, he will meet with private-sector and community leaders to highlight the partnership between the two countries.

Emhoff's trip to Samoa reflects how the Biden administration has sought to build stronger ties with the island and the region as a whole.

Earlier this year, the Peace Corps returned to Samoa for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. Coast Guard has helped Samoa patrol its economic zone.

The announcement is part of an effort by the administration to expose rental housing junk fees, including application fees, which can increase the housing provider's costs to run a background or credit check on a prospective renter.

The background: Biden pledge to fix ‘unfair’ economy resonates with Americans

Additional charges and convenience fees tend to pop up for renters, including fees to pay rent online or to get trash pickup that was otherwise assumed to be included in the final price, senior administration officials said. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a white paper for members of Congress, governors, and local leaders with policy ideas to address rental housing junk fees. States like Colorado and Rhode Island have already enacted such policies, like prohibiting brokers or rental companies from accruing application fees, senior administration officials said.

President Biden has been focused on exposing junk fees across industries. Last month, the White House announced ticket companies — including Ticketmaster and SeatGeek — pledged to eliminate junk fees and roll out all-in pricing numbers for customers.

Biden convened the fifth meeting of the White House Competition Council on Wednesday at the White House to announce the new actions, which the White House said is all part of its so-called "Bidenomics" agenda.

“Bidenomics is about increasing competition, not stifling competition,” Biden said at the top of the council meeting.

“Folks are tired of being played for suckers… and it’s about basic fairness. Today, we’re taking more action,” he added.

Other actions announced Wednesday include steps to help lower food prices and promote competition in agriculture markets by ramping up enforcement measures to stop price fixing.

The Department of Agriculture launched enforcement partnerships with 32 state attorneys general from both sides of the aisle to combat price-gouging and anti-competitive practices in food and agricultural markets. The attorneys general will issue on-the-ground assessments on whether companies in the food and agricultural industry are price gouging.

Additionally, the administration will act to provide clarity about enforcement laws to prohibit anticompetitive mergers. 

The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday released its new proposed merger guidelines for public comment. The updated guidelines aim to give the public, businesses and workers clarity about how law enforcement agencies evaluate mergers based on antitrust laws.

The updated guidelines explain how mergers impact people on a daily basis and how people could benefit from mergers, like for workers to seek higher wages or for farmers to get more profit based on the markets, senior administration officials said.

“I’ve said before, capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism, its exploitation,” Biden said on Wednesday, adding that these new actions are building on momentum out of the administration to reduce costs for Americans.

Biden signed an executive order establishing the competition council two years ago with the goal of promoting competition.

Updated at 3:59 p.m.

President Biden is using clips from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) Turning Point USA speech — intended to attack the president on policy issues — to tout his legislative accomplishments in a video released Tuesday.

The video features Greene's speech set to uplifting music as she lists Biden’s agenda and legislative achievements and compares him to Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete,” Greene said in her speech over the weekend.

“Programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, labor unions, and he still is working on it,” Greene said.

Biden’s policy positions have been largely popular throughout the country, but he has struggled to communicate his agenda and legislative achievements to voters, who often say Biden has not accomplished much. His overall approval rating also has not reflected the approval that many of his policies receive.

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Many have shared Greene's speech at the conservative conference and described it as a gift to Biden’s campaign.

Biden tweeted the video and wrote, “I approve this message.”