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Today's Political News Compilation - Wednesday, August 19, 2026

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Below are some of the top political news stories of the day:



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The US national debt now stands at $40 trillion

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Updated 6:07 PM CDT, August 19, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump’s almost-6-month-old war in Iran to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.”

However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone are already affecting Americans’ pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest, and creating more expensive goods and services.

“If we want to improve our living standards, today and for the next generation, now is the time for lawmakers to put our nation on a more affordable and sustainable path,” says Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank focused on U.S. fiscal challenges. ...

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Biden admin released illegal immigrant accused of fatally stabbing Fairfax County mother

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
The man allegedly behind the stabbing death of a Virginia mother in Fairfax County is an immigrant in the country illegally who was admitted by the Biden administration, a federal source tells Fox News.

Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos, a 19-year-old Salvadoran national, was caught and released at the southern border during the Biden administration. The source said Cedillos-Campos was allowed into the U.S. in El Paso, Texas, in April 2024.

"[Former President Joe] Biden and [former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas...
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How one NYC suburb could decide which party controls the House

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
The question of which party controls the House majority for the latter half of President Donald Trump's term could come down to a group of suburbs just north of New York City.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., the first Republican to represent the area in roughly 40 years, is facing off against Democrat Army veteran Cait Conley in his bid for a third term in New York's 17th Congressional District.

The expected close margins and dwindling number of battleground districts mean the race has garnered national attention, but Lawler is accusing Conley of ducking...
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Texas mom backs Ten Commandments in classrooms as legal battle reaches Supreme Court

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
As roughly two dozen Texas families fight to keep the Ten Commandments off public school walls, one Austin-area mom is making no apologies for wanting them in her kindergartner's classroom.

Brittany McFarland, a Christian mother whose 5-year-old daughter attends public school in Texas, told Fox News Digital she was "pleasantly surprised" by the new classroom displays and said the fierce backlash over them reflects a much bigger battle over faith, values and religious liberty in America's public schools.

"I feel like our country, we've been kind of...
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Trump reveals exact number of North Korea's nuclear weapons

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that North Korea possesses 57 nuclear weapons as he previewed a possible meeting with leader Kim Jong Un later this year.

Trump made the remark while defending his relationship with Kim, arguing that his rapport with the North Korean leader is "a good thing," not a bad one.

Trump’s unusually precise figure appears to be the first time a U.S. official has publicly put an exact number on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. Public assessments have generally estimated that Pyongyang has roughly 50 to 60 assembled...
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Top Dem group reveals new congressional targets in bid to flip House: 'Proven fighters'

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is adding five new races to its Red to Blue list, a program that looks to equip candidates in particularly competitive districts.

The Red to Blue program is backing Tom Perriello in Virginia, Nancy Lacore in South Carolina, Matt Dunlap in Maine, Zach Dembo in Kentucky and Leela Gray in Florida, bringing the program’s designated races to a total of 37.

The additions indicate a growing number of seats the party’s House campaign arm believes it can win as they try to retake the House of...
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Ex-Zambian minister killed in security raid on opposition

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 1
Police confirm Mutotwe Kafwaya's death after growing demands for information about his whereabouts.
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ICE, Iran quietly worked together on deporting Iranians to Iran, emails show

  • News source: Politics - CBSNews.com
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 2
Los Angeles — U.S. immigration officials worked with Iran to deport Iranians in late 2025 and early 2026, newly released emails show, revealing a working relationship between the U.S. and Iranian governments despite tensions mounting between them.

Hundreds of emails exchanged between U.S. immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, offer the most transparent play-by-play yet of how the two countries worked together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three...
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El-Sayed's agenda puts ‘permanently’ changed America on the line in Michigan Senate race, GOP firebrand warns

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 4
Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon is sounding the alarm on her belief that Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s opposition to Sharia law bans, association with far-left streamer Hasan Piker and progressive policies will "permanently" change America.

"This is not, if this person gets in, how much damage can they do in six years?" Dixon told Fox News Digital.

"This is someone who fundamentally disagrees with the Constitution and the founding of this country and has come out and said the founding of this was wrong and he...
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One monthly bill Americans can’t avoid is quietly surging thanks to emerging industry: data

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 4
Americans could soon feel the artificial intelligence boom in an unavoidable place — their monthly electric bills.

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas finds that the rapid growth of AI data centers could make electricity more expensive for households in the coming years.

And researchers estimate existing data centers that have popped up all over the country in recent years have already pushed average wholesale electricity prices 2% to 6% higher nationwide, with even larger surges in areas where these facilities are concentrated.

The...
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Canadian marathon route was 674m too long

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 5
The organisers of the Edmonton Marathon admit the course for the 2026 edition was measured more than half a kilometre too long.
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Mushroom killer must stay in jail forever for 'truly dreadful' crime, appeal court told

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 5
Prosecutors say Erin Patterson's sentence was "manifestly inadequate" as it allows for the possibility of parole.
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Missing teen hiker found dead in Australian bush after eight-day search

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 6
The state premier initially said Lily Hooper had been found alive before police confirmed her death.
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Four workers dead after being hit by train in Japan

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 5
The train collided with the four men at Shin-Kanuma Station, north of Tokyo, authorities say.
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Former Liberian vice president charged in drug-trafficking probe

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 5
Jewel Howard-Taylor faces charges of illegally facilitating, importing and selling drugs, alongside money laundering.
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Alina Habba shuts down speculation she could replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 8
One of the betting favorites to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary declared Wednesday that she is not in the running for the job.

The 28-year-old White House press secretary, fresh off maternity leave, announced earlier this month that she would end her tenure at the podium at the end of August to spend more time with her two young children.

As speculation continued to swirl over whom President Donald Trump would tap to succeed Leavitt, bettors on prediction market platform Kalshi began favoring Alina Habba for the role...
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Founder of collapsed Chinese property giant Evergrande sentenced to life in prison

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 8
Hui's sentencing marks a key moment in the fallout from Evergrande's collapse, which shook China's property sector.
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Israel confirms soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed and opens criminal investigation

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 5
The five-year-old Palestinian girl initially survived the attack and pleaded for help but her body was recovered later with those of six of her relatives.
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Captured Ukrainian-born soldiers tell BBC why they fought for Russia

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 3
Men born in Ukraine who fought for Russia are tried for treason, but at a prisoner of war camp in western Ukraine, many believe they were defending their homeland.
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Russia launches missile strikes on Kyiv and surrounding region, killing at least eight

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 10
Apartment blocks and warehouses were targeted in the "massive attack" on Thursday, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
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Missouri judge hands Trump, GOP major redistricting win ahead of midterm elections

  • News source: FOX News
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 8
A Missouri judge handed President Donald Trump and Republicans a major redistricting victory Wednesday, ruling that the state's referendum process cannot be used to challenge congressional maps drawn by the Legislature and allowing a new GOP-friendly map to remain in place for November's midterm elections.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled Wednesday that Missouri's constitutional referendum provisions "do not apply to congressional redistricting enacted by the General Assembly," siding with Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in a...
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Former Liberian vice president charged in drug-trafficking probe

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 8
Jewel Howard-Taylor faces charges of illegally facilitating, importing and selling drugs, alongside money laundering.
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Israel opens up bids for highly-sensitive West Bank settlement project

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 6
The UK's foreign secretary condemned the move as "an unacceptable and destructive act".
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Missing teen hiker found dead in Australian bush after eight-day search

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 6
Lily Hooper was reported missing on 12 August after failing to return from a hike in a Sydney national park.
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Giant whales move into Greenland waters as ice disappears

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 8
Melting sea ice from climate change has opened up the region for giant whales to undertake 'feeding frenzies'.
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Sacked Ukrainian defence minister calls for presidential election

  • News source: BBC News - World
  • Replies: 0
  • Views: 7
Martial law has been in place in Ukraine since February 2022, under which elections are suspended.
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