JD Vance on 2028, Clancy Juror Dispute, NBA's LA Clippers Hit With Major Penalties: AM Update 9/4

Vice President JD Vance hosted the first White House press briefing since Karoline Leavitt's departure, taking questions on 2028, the midterms, and the future of the Supreme Court.

A recent Fox News poll found 70% of voters want to slow data center construction in their communities.

A very large chunk of the political backlash over data centers is that people associate them with their power bills going up. The way to bridge that gap is for people to build a nuclear power plant or any other power plant next to a data center.

Vice President Vance is scheduled to represent the administration at Ground Zero in New York, while President Trump attends the commemoration at the Pentagon.

I don't think it's a special security concern, though. Actually, I will we'll follow up with Secret Service just to get you an actual answer on that. You can't have one person be in multiple locations at the exact same time, so we just decided as a team that I would go to New York for 9/11.

The House considered a Republican-backed constitutional amendment permanently limiting the Supreme Court to nine justices, which received 212 votes in favor and 206 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority.

Our commitment in the Trump administration is that we would like to have nine Supreme Court justices. We also know that Democrats have explicitly promised that they will pack the United States Supreme Court if they're given additional power.

Vice President Vance was asked whether he could support Senator Ted Cruz or Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in 2028 amid reporting they are testing the waters.

I'm still not going to take the bait. I'd encourage any Republican to be focused not on a job a few years from now, you should be focused on the midterms. What I'm focused on is trying to get as many Republicans elected as possible, so that we can do as much good as possible for the second two years of the Trump administration.

Do you want to live in a country that has safety and security and prosperity? If the answer is yes, then vote for Congress. On every single issue, the Democrats have taken the side of fraudsters, of criminals, and of far-left interest groups over the side of the American people.

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial entered a seventh day of jury deliberations after her attorney unsuccessfully tried to have one juror removed from the panel. The jury told Judge William Sullivan twice this week that it could not reach a unanimous decision, prompting a dynamite charge. The foreperson reported that one juror was not following the court's instructions on reasonable doubt, and the judge declined to remove the juror. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington later told reporters the juror has been identified and expects the judge to question that person further.

The NBA handed the Los Angeles Clippers a massive punishment over an effort to funnel extra compensation to Kawhi Leonard outside his official contract. The Clippers lost five first-round draft picks from 2029 through 2033, a $30 million fine, and Steve Ballmer was suspended for one year. The investigation found the Clippers helped Leonard obtain endorsement deals with four companies doing business with the team, allegedly offering them valuable Clippers business as an incentive. Leonard was ordered to pay $700,000 and his former business manager Dennis Robertson was banned from NBA business for five years. The Clippers and Ballmer denied the allegations, calling the findings biased and promising legal remedies, while Leonard denied knowingly participating.

Arbitration is only activated by the player and the union, and when Kawhi settled via the union, the arbitration option evaporated. When Kawhi got the slap on the wrist, the thing the Clippers had been threatening the entire time went away.

The Clippers are now reportedly left to decide whether to take their fight outside the league and into court.

Gloria Steinem died at her home in New York City following a period of declining health, surrounded by loved ones. Steinem served as an author, journalist, and political organizer for over 60 years, advocating for women in the workplace, the Equal Rights Amendment, and legal abortion. She first attracted widespread attention in 1963 after working undercover at the Playboy Club and publishing an expose. In 1971, she helped establish the National Women's Political Caucus, and in 1972 co-founded Ms. magazine. Steinem had recently completed another memoir set to be released this fall.