2 weeks ago

Trump news at a glance: Democrats say administration refusing shutdown talks as president repeats threat of firings

The Trump administration will start mass layoffs of federal workers if the president decides negotiations to end the government shutdown are “absolutely going nowhere,” a senior White House official has said.

Kevin Hassett told CNN he still saw a chance that Democrats would back down, but added that Trump was “getting ready to act” if he has to.

No tangible signs of negotiations have emerged between congressional leaders since Trump met with them last week. The shutdown began on 1 October, after Senate Democrats rejected a short-term funding measure that would keep federal agencies open through to 21 November. Democrats are demanding that funding include healthcare measures for low-income Americans.

“They’ve refused to talk with us,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told CBS, saying the impasse could be solved only by further talks between Trump and the four congressional leaders.

House speaker says Democrats aren’t serious about shutdown negotiation as Democratic leader blames Republicans

The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, accused Democrats of being “not serious” in negotiations to end the federal government shutdown, while the Democratic leader accused Republicans of driving the shutdown.

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US struck another boat illegally carrying drugs off Venezuela coast, Trump says

US forces on Saturday evening struck another vessel illegally carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela, Donald Trump said on Sunday to thousands of sailors at a ceremony celebrating the US navy’s 250th anniversary.

The United Nations has condemned the US strikes – which the US defends as countering “narco-terrorist” members of Tren de Aragua, designated a foreign terrorist organization, in international waters – as extrajudicial executions.

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Newsom to sue Trump as Pentagon sends California national guard to Oregon

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced on Sunday that he is suing Donald Trump over the deployment of 300 California national guard personnel to Oregon.

Newsom’s proposed lawsuit follows a federal judge’s ruling that blocked the Trump administration from deploying the Oregon national guard to Portland. US district judge Karin Immergut agreed with arguments it would inflame rather than calm tensions in the city.

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Kristi Noem calls Chicago a ‘war zone’ after federal agents shoot woman

Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, called Chicago “a war zone” on Sunday after federal agents shot a woman and the governor of Illinois accused the administration of fueling the crisis rather than resolving it.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday morning, Noem took aim at the city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s Ice raids and deployment of the national guard in Illinois, a measure he called “unhinged and unhealthy”.

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Israel continues Gaza bombardment as Trump plan negotiators arrive in Cairo

Negotiators have arrived in Cairo before talks on Monday expected to focus on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and a broader end to the war, as Israel continued strikes on the Palestinian territory, killing 63 people in the last 24 hours.

The US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to join the talks, according to Israeli media, in addition to Israel’s negotiators and a Palestinian delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas.

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What else happened today:

In a rare display of unity, out-of-power Democrats have embraced the risky politics of a government shutdown as their boldest effort yet to rein in a president whom many Americans and constitutional scholars now view as a threat to US democracy.
Trump is intensifying his attacks on Soros little more than a year before the midterm elections for Congress, in what’s been described as a “chilling message to other donors”. The billionaire reportedly contributed more than $170m to help Democrats during the 2022 midterm cycle.
The Trump administration is targeting 100m acres of forest across the country for logging. One critical wilderness area – Ohio’s sole national forest – could be wiped out.