Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking action against the Trump administration over its sweeping immigration raids in California. On Saturday, the governor signed a bill that prevents U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other law enforcement officials from wearing masks in his state. The law is set to take effect in January.

In response, acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the law would have “no effect on our operations.” In a statementEssayli claimed “the State of California has no jurisdiction over the federal government” and advised Newsom that if he “wants to regulate our agents, he must go through Congress.”

On Monday, the co-hosts of “The Weeknight” shared their reactions to California’s move. Symone Sanders Townsend said the situation reminded her of the HBO series “Watchmen.” In the show, Sanders Townsend said, masks “serve as a double-edged sword,” with vigilantes using them to protect their identities and police using them as a way to shield themselves from accountability. “They become a faceless tool to carry out the law,” she explained.

The BLN host and former Biden White House official said that kind of approach doesn’t belong in a democracy. “I think about the fact that in a democracy, accountability should have a face,” she said. “That is a hallmark of a democracy, right? Accountability has a face. You can put a name to it — who wields power has a face and a name. It’s not in secret.”

“And when law enforcement dons masks and no insignia, honestly, the people then are unable to effectively hold them accountable,” Sanders Townsend said.

While Michael Steele applauded Newsom for “drawing the line” and “pressing the administration” on the issue, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee also agreed with Essayli that the correct path for such a restriction is through Congress.

However, Steele noted the White House has also often acted outside of the normal political process, testing the bounds of executive power. Because of this, he argued, many Democratic governors have had to fight fire with fire and “stand in the breach for their people.”

Alicia Menendez weighed in, saying she couldn’t “help but think of the contrast between all of these agents in masks and all of these folks who are showing up and doing their jobs as gardeners or construction workers and speaking Spanish to one another, knowing that they live in a country where there is racial profiling that’s been sanctioned by the Supreme Court of the United States.”

You can watch Sanders Townsend, Steele and Menendez’s full discussion in the clip at the top of the page.

The man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year was found guilty by a jury Tuesday.

Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested in September 2024 after a Secret Service agent spotted him in some bushes near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was campaigning for president. Ruth, who was found with a rifle, was charged with the attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and weapons violations. A jury found him guilty on all five counts, two of which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Shortly after the verdict was read, Routh attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen but was wrestled out of the courtroom by court officers, NBC News reported. As he was being dragged away, his daughter Sara Routh, who was in the courtroom, shouted, “Dad I love you, don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody,” according to The Associated Press.

Despite having no legal background, Routh represented himself at trial and called only three witnesses: a sniper instructor and two of his former employees. Judge Aileen M. Cannon, citing lack of relevance, cut off Routh multiple times while he was delivering his opening statement and questioning witnesses.

Trump was golfing at the fifth hole at the time of Routh’s arrest, according to the Secret Service agent who first saw him. The weapon found by agents had a scope attached, an extended magazine and an “obliterated and unreadable” serial number, according to the FBI. In the DOJ statement announcing the charges, the FBI said agents also found documents including a handwritten list of dates where Trump was scheduled to appear.

A witness informed law enforcement that Routh dropped off a box with him that contained a handwritten letter that said, “Dear World … This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you,” according to the DOJ’s press release.

“No one ever intended to kill anyone,” Routh argued in courtand said the only thing he was guilty of was caring “deeply for this country.”

The incident was the second attempt on Trump’s life last year. Trump survived an earlier assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear.

“This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him,” Trump responded on Truth Social after the verdict, adding, “A very big moment for JUSTICE IN AMERICA!”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that “this attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation itself.”

Are Salam

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for BLN Digital. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.

This is an adapted excerpt from the Sept. 22 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

If you live in Virginia, here’s a headline you may have seen recently from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Three Va. health clinics close as Trump tax law squeezes system.”

Residents of Virginia’s rural Shenandoah Valley region are about to lose not one, not two, but three of their local health care centers. All three of those centers are run by a hospital organization called Augusta Health.

In a statement announcing these closures, the group said that the decision was “part of Augusta Health’s ongoing response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the resulting realities for healthcare delivery.”

In other words, if you live in rural Virginia and are wondering why you no longer have access to a local health care facility, you can thank President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress for gutting health care funding in their one and only piece of major legislation.

The executive director of Virginia’s Republican Party was asked about those cuts by CNN. He told them the closure of those three rural health care centers is “a win for rural communities,” because now residents will be able to get “better, more consistent” service elsewhere — meaning, not where they live.

Sure, why not? Nothing says “winning” like losing access to the only clinic for miles around in your rural community.

That kind of absolutely tone-deaf, callous response from Virginia Republicans would be strange in normal times. But it is an especially strange thing to hear from them at this important moment.

On Friday, early voting officially began in Virginia’s high-stakes race for governor. Right now, Republicans in Virginia control the governor’s mansion, but recent polls show Democratic candidate former Rep. Abigail Spanberger leading her opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, by as much as 12 points.

Republicans are swimming upstream in this election, voting is already underway — and now the Virginia Republican Party is telling rural voters who just lost access to health care, “Yeah, we did that, and you should be grateful.”

Election Day is six weeks from Tuesday in Virginia. Watch this space.