Trump to host GOP senators at White House amid demolition work and government shutdown – US politics live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

US appeals court could reconsider ruling in Trump’s favor on Portland troop deployment

Victoria Bekiempis

A decision in Donald Trump’s favor by a three-judge panel issued on Monday, which lifted a block on his planned deployment of Oregon national guard troops to Portland, could be reconsidered by a new, larger panel of federal appeals court judges.

Hours after the three-judge panel decided, 2-1, that Trump has the legal authority to deploy federalized troops to Portland, a judge on the ninth circuit court of appeals formally requested “a vote on whether this case should be reheard” by a larger panel of judges.

That triggered a formal order for lawyers for the state of Oregon and the city of Portland to submit written briefs arguing for a rehearing, and lawyers for the Trump administration to argue against it, by midnight on Wednesday.

After those briefs are submitted, all 29 active judges on the appeals court, the country’s largest, will vote on whether or not to rehear the case.

Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, said that she hopes the full ninth circuit court of appeals vacates the panel’s 2-1 decision, as the dissenting judge, Portland-based Susan Graber, urged her colleagues to do.

“I’m very troubled by the decision of the court,” Kotek told reporters. “I still urge the Trump administration to send all the national guard members home.”

If the vote for a new hearing wins, legal journalist ‪Chris Geidner‬ said, the case will be heard again by 11 judges, including the court’s chief judge, Mary Murguia, an Obama nominee, and 10 randomly assigned judges.

Americans blame Republican lawmakers more than Democratic lawmakers for a partial government shutdown, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that also showed Republican president Donald Trump’s approval rating increasing slightly.

The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, showed Trump’s approval at 42%, up two percentage points from earlier in the month, within the poll’s two-point margin of error. Trump’s rating has held between 40% and 44% since early April.

The poll found that 50% of respondents see the Republican congressional leadership as deserving the most blame for the shutdown, while 43% see top congressional Democrats as the main culprits. The third-longest government shutdown in US history entered its 21st day on Tuesday.

The shutdown started on 1 October and has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers on furlough, hitting a sliver of the workforce in what economists see as a tiny drag on economic growth, though many Americans are feeling the shutdown via a wave of air traffic delays.

About one in five poll respondents said they have been financially impacted by the shutdown, while two in five said they know someone who is feeling the pinch, Reuters reported.

President Donald Trump’s hopes for a quick summit in Budapest with Russian president Vladimir Putin stalled after a preparatory session between the leaders’ top foreign-policy aides this week was put on hold, CNN reported on Monday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNN said the reason for postponing the meeting between US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was unclear. One source cited differing expectations about ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, CNN said.

Rubio and Lavrov may talk on the phone again this week, CNN reported, after the two held a call on Monday that Moscow called “constructive.”

Russia’s foreign ministry could not immediately be contacted outside business hours.

The anticipated meeting between Rubio and Lavrov was considered to be the key preparatory step for the second summit this year between Trump and Putin. The two leaders agreed in a phone call last Thursday to meet soon in Budapest, Hungary.

Trump hosts GOP senators in Rose Garden amid White House construction work

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.

We start with the news that president Donald Trump will host Senate Republicans for lunch in the White House’s Rose Garden later today as ongoing demolition work takes place on the building’s east wing.

A GOP source confirmed the plan for the White House visit to Rollcall, as the president bulldozes on with plans for a new $250m ballroom. The visit also comes amid the partial government shutdown that shows no signs of abating.

Construction crews started demolishing part of the East Wing of the White House to make way for Trump’s planned ballroom, prompting widespread criticism on social media and beyond. One former lawmaker even called the renovation an “​​utter desecration”.

The Washington Post, which obtained and published photos of the demolition activity and cited two eyewitnesses, reported on Monday that demolition was under way, and shared an image showing construction in progress and parts of the exterior ripped down.

Other images, including ones seen in the New York Post, also show demolition of parts of the East Wing. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.

On his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said “ground has been broken on the White House” to build the new ballroom.

Read our full story here:

In other developments:

• President Donald Trump claimed a key victory in a US appeals court Monday as a divided three-judge panel decided he is allowed to deploy federal troops to the city of Portland, Oregon. Trump had claimed the right to send the national guard to the liberal stronghold for the purported purpose of protecting federal property and agents. The ruling marks an important legal victory for Trump as he continues to send military forces to Democratic-led cities.

• Oregon governor Tina Kotek, has called on a federal appeals court to review and overturn a decision made by a three-judge panel on Monday that would permit Trump to deploy federalized national guard troops to the streets of Portland against the wishes of state and local officials. Kotek said she hoped the full ninth circuit court of appeals vacates the panel’s 2-1 decision, as the dissenting judge, Portland-based Susan Graber, urged her colleagues to do.

• Former FBI director James Comey formally asked a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against him, arguing he was the victim of a selective prosecution and that the US attorney who filed the charges was unlawfully appointed.

• The US government shutdown extended into its 21st day on Tuesday with no resolution in sight, as a prominent Republican lawmaker publicly broke ranks with party leadership over the decision of Mike Johnson, the House speaker, to keep Congress shuttered for weeks.

• Donald Trump reposted an AI-generated video of him flying a fighter plane emblazoned with the words “King Trump” and dumping brown sludge onto protestors, in what appears to be a retort to the widespread No Kings protests that took place Saturday against his second presidency.

• Donald Trump welcomed PM Anthony Albanese to the White House, signing a rare earth minerals deal. It came amid rising trade tensions with China, which tightened its rare earth exports and is facing a 100% tariff threat from the US.