The House minority leader added that the imperative to pass legislation that extends Affordable Tax Care (ACA) subsidies is because open enrollment (the period where Americans get to choose or amend their health insurance options for the year) begins on 1 November.
“That’s just the beginning of the open enrollment period. It will last until early to mid December, and so Republicans can try to run away from this problem that they’ve created by continuing to break our health care system,” Jeffries added.
Public health experts have told the Guardian that with expiring ACA tax credits, enrollees might start getting letters from their insurance providers in the coming weeks, outlining a hike in monthly premium prices.
Jeffries says that federal workers also deserve to remain paid, as White House says funding available for military to receive paychecks
“I agree with making sure that our men and women in uniform are paid,” Jeffries said. “We also need to make sure that we take of all of our hard working federal civil servants, which is why Republicans should be back here in Washington working with us to reopen the government.”
'Republicans have gone radio silent': Top House Democrat holds press conference on day 14 of government shutdown
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, is now addressing the press. He’s repeating the Democrats’ refrain that the shutdown is the result of Republicans’ unwillingness to negotiate on health care provisions.
“We’re open to sitting down, anytime, anyplace, with anyone in terms of our Republican colleagues, either here at the Capitol or back in the Oval Office,” Jeffries said. “But there has to be a willingness amongst Republicans to actually have a conversation. And since the White House meeting over two weeks ago, Republicans have gone radio silent.”
US strike on boat off Venezuela kills six, Trump says
A US strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela today has killed six suspected drug traffickers, Donald Trump said in a social media post.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump greets Argentina's Milei at White House
A few moments ago Donald Trump welcomed Argentina’s president Javier Milei to the White House.
Asked by a reporter if Hamas was holding up its end of the deal, Trump replied: “We’ll find out.”
More news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information
CBS News has joined the list of leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings who have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.
In a joint statement with ABC News, CNN, Fox News Media and NBC News, CBS News said:
Today, we join virtually every other news organization declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements, which would restrict journalists’ ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues. The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the US military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.
The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials.
The move follows a shake-up in February in which long-credentialed media outlets were required to vacate assigned workspaces which was cast as an “annual media rotation program”. A similar plan was presented at the White House where some briefing room spots were given to podcasters and other representatives of non-traditional media.
The news outlets join the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, the Guardian, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost and trade publication Breaking Defense in saying they will not sign on to the agreement.
For more on that here’s my colleague Edward Helmore’s story:
Updated
Trump says phase two for Gaza 'begins right now' despite darkening outlook for fragile ceasefire
Phase two for Gaza “begins right now” Donald Trump has declared, even as the days-old truce appears increasingly fragile. The US president wrote on Truth Social just now:
ALL TWENTY HOSTAGES ARE BACK AND FEELING AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED. A big burden has been lifted, but the job IS NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase Two begins right NOW!!! President DJT
A crucial aspect of phase two of Trump’s peace plan is for a surge of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, as masses of Palestinian people face starvation and parts of the territory have had famine declared. But Israel has reportedly informed the United Nations it will only allow 300 aid trucks – half the agreed number – into Gaza on Wednesday and said the Rafah crossing will remain closed, because it claimed Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreement regarding the release of the bodies of the remaining 24 deceased hostages.
Hamas has told mediators that the remains of four hostages will be transferred to Israel tonight at 10pm local time. The group has previously indicated that recovering the bodies of some dead hostages may take longer, as not all burial sites amid the sea of rubble in Gaza are known.
Indeed on Sunday, US vice-president JD Vance acknowledged the challenges and said that locating some of the bodies would take longer, while some may never be found. He told Fox News:
The reality is that some of the hostages may never get back, but I do think, with some effort, we’ll be able to give them to their families so they at least have some closure.
We do want to give these people the ability to have a proper burial with their loved ones who were murdered by brutal terrorists, and that matters to us. It matters to the families, and it will remain a focus, but it’s going to take some time.
You can follow all the latest developments from Gaza here:
Updated
Powell says “there is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals”.
“We’ll set policy based on the evolution of the economic outlook and the balance of risks, rather than following a predetermined path,” he adds, ending his remarks.
Updated
Available data continues to show that goods price increases primarily reflect tariffs rather than broader inflationary pressures, Powell says.
Consistent with these effects, near-term inflation expectations have generally increased this year while most longer term expectation measures remain aligned with our 2% goal, he says.
While the unemployment rate remained low through August, payroll gains have slowed sharply, Powell says, likely in part due to a decline in labor force growth due to lower immigration and lower labor force participation.
In this less dynamic and softer labor market, the downside risks to employment have somewhat risen, he says.
Updated
Powell says that based on the data available, “it’s fair to say that the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed much since [the Fed’s] September meeting four weeks ago”.
But according to data available prior to the government shutdown, growth and economic activity “may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected”.
Jerome Powell delivers his last scheduled remarks before Fed's next meeting
Fed’s Powell addresses economy pulled between risks to growth, jobs and prices
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will shortly deliver his last scheduled remarks before the Fed’s next meeting, with the economy experiencing stronger-than-expected growth and a recent jump in productivity, but still adjusting to tariff and immigration policies that economists worry could lead to both higher inflation and higher unemployment.
Challenging for a central bank responsible for keeping inflation low and employment as high as possible, Powell and his colleagues are also facing a drought of official data amid the ongoing federal government shutdown that has delayed the September jobs report and other key statistics. An update on consumer prices is now scheduled for 24 October, before the Fed’s 28-29 October meeting.
I’ll bring you any key snippets from his remarks here.
Updated
US tariffs on China on 1 November depend on Beijing’s actions, says Greer
US trade representative Jamieson Greer has said it is up to China whether additional 100% tariffs on its exports to the United States kick in on 1 November or sooner, but said it might be difficult for Beijing to find an off ramp.
Greer told CNBC that US and Chinese officials met for staff-level talks in Washington on Monday, adding that he thought there was still a chance to work through a dispute over critical minerals restrictions.
We think we’ll be able to work through it, but again, we can’t have a situation where the Chinese keep this regime in place, where they want to have veto power over the world’s high-tech supply chains. I think they have realized that they’ve overstepped.
With the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to re-escalate, China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the US was “threatening to intimidate” with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, “which is not the right way to get along with China”. Its spokesperson said that China would “fight to the end” in trade talks.
The comments came shortly after the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said China wanted to “to pull everybody else down with them” by damaging the world economy.
For more on that, here’s my colleague Amy Hawkins’ report:
Updated
Several major international US airports, including Phoenix Sky Harbor, Harry Reid international in Las Vegas, Seattle-Tacoma and Charlotte Douglas airport in North Carolina, are opting to block a video from the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, that blames Democrats for the ongoing federal government shutdown from airing at their checkpoints.
Airport authorities in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte and Westchester county, New York, have refused to display the footage at security checkpoints, saying the overtly political messaging potentially violates state and federal law, including the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from partisan political activity.
In the video, obtained first by Fox News, Noem tells travelers: “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA [Transportation Security Administration] employees are working without pay.”
The Port of Portland told the Guardian it “did not consent to playing the video in its current form, as we believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging”. It added that Oregon law bars public employees from promoting or opposing any political party or affiliation – and that “consenting to playing this video on Port assets would violate Oregon law”.
Las Vegas’s Harry Reid international airport also declined to display the TSA video on similar grounds, saying in a statement “its content included political messaging that did not align with the neutral, informational nature of the public service announcements typically shown at the security checkpoints” and also pointed to the Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act is a 1939 federal law that prohibits political activities by federal employees to ensure government programs remain non-partisan.
Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport also told the Guardian that it “declined to post the video” to stay “consistent with airport policy”, which does not allow for political content.
Supreme court rejects Alex Jones appeal to order requiring him to pay $1.4bn to Sandy Hook families
The supreme court has declined to hear Alex Jones’s challenge to a $1.4bn judgment awarded to families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in 2012.
Jones, a noted conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, made several false statements that the shooting – which killed 20 children – was a hoax.
Justices today rejected Jones’s appeal of the Connecticut Appellate Court’s decision in a defamation lawsuit, issued in 2022. Jones argued that the judgment violated his rights under the US constitution to due process and free speech.
Senate Democrats say firings are part of Trump administrations 'playbook' to dismantle federal government
A group of Senate Democrats who represent Maryland and Virginia, two states with a high proportion of government workers, decried the firings of thousands of the government workers during the ongoing shutdown.
According to a court filing in the ongoing lawsuit challening recent firings, filed by the largest union representing federal workers, more than 4,000 employees have been laid off.
“This is all part of the Trump 2025 playbook,” said Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen. “Stop attacking employees, stop attacking the American people, and start negotiating to reopen the federal government and address the looming health care crisis is upon us.”
Bondi says Facebook has removed page targeting immigration agents, at justice department's urging
Attorney general Pam Bondi has said that Facebook has removed a page that was being used to target and dox Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in Chicago.
“The wave of violence against Ice has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put Ice officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement,” she added.
A reminder that the Department of Homeland Security launched a large scale federal law enforcement effort in Chicago last month called ‘Operation Midway Blitz’. DHS has said that more than 1,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested since the operation began.
Johnson defends administration's move to keep military paid during shutdown
The House speaker has said that the Trump administration has “every right” to move around the “duly appropriated dollars from Congress to the Department of Defense”.
The Pentagon and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has said that unspent funds from research and development accounts will be used to pay members of the military while the government is shutdown. That means that troops will still receive a paycheck on 15 October, and a separate funding bill to keep them paid won’t be needed for the time being. Democratic lawmakers, however, have questioned the legality of this move.
“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it,” Johnson snapped back today. “I’m grateful for a commander in chief who understands the priorities of the country.”
Over the weekend, Trump said that he would “not allow the Democrats to hold our military, and the entire security of our nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous government shutdown,” when he ordered defense secretary Pete Hegseth to release funds to ensure that service members still receive a salary.
House Republicans continue to blame Schumer and Democrats ahead of eighth attempt to pass funding bill
The House speaker repeated many of the same points he’s made throughout this government shutdown, now entering its 14th day.
He continued to criticize the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, who he accuses of holding out on the House-passed funding bill to appease the left-wing base of his party.
“We’re certainly not going to allow the American people to be taken hostage for his political gain,” Johnson said today.
He also repeated many of the misleading claims that congressional Republicans have made in recent weeks, namely that the Democratic-written stopgap funding bill provides federal healthcare for undocumented aliens. Their continuing resolution actually would actually keep in place many of the Medicaid provisions that were scrapped by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
This includes allowing lawfully present noncitizens – which includes several groups, such as refugees and asylum seekers, those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking who are awaiting visas or documentation – to still enroll in certain federal health care programs. All of these immigrants have entered the country legally and are accounted for by the federal government.
A reminder that undocumented immigrants remain ineligible for federally funded health insurance.
Johnson praises Trump for ‘pursuing peace with such determination and success‘
House speaker Mike Johnson has spent the first part of his press conference praising Donald Trump for “pursuing peace with such determination and success”, with regard to the hostage and prisoner exchange, along with the ceasefire in Gaza.
Per my earlier post, regarding the timing of the Senate votes today, it’s worth noting that the upper chamber will only vote on the House-passed funding bill that was written by Republicans, as Politico first reported.
Lawmakers do not plan to hold a vote on the dueling Democratic version, which includes several health care provisions – including the extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
We’re due to hear from the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, shortly.
Updated
Democratic lawmakers praise Trump for brokering Gaza ceasefire deal
Top Democratic leaders in Congress have praised Donald Trump for brokering a ceasefire deal in Gaza, which saw the release and exchange of the living Israeli hostages and almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners on Monday.
“Congratulations to President Trump for the historic Gaza agreement,” wrote senator Dick Durbin, of Illinois, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We know there are still critical elements to be negotiated and settled but the release of the Israeli hostages and the Palestinian prisoners is a good faith start. Now let’s negotiate a political ceasefire on Capitol Hill.”
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, also piled praise on the White House. “I commend the enormous advocacy of the tireless hostage families, President Trump, his administration, and all who helped make this moment happen,” he said in a statement.
The chorus continued as former Democratic presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton gave credit to Trump and his team’s foreign diplomacy skills.
“The road to this deal was not easy. My Administration worked relentlessly to bring hostages home, get relief to Palestinian civilians, and end the war,” Biden said. “I commend President Trump and his team for their work to get a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line.”
Former top CDC official says reversal of mass firings is causing 'instability and confusion'
More than a thousand employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received notice that they were losing their jobs on Friday in a move that erased entire offices and was partially reversed over the weekend.
It caused “instability and whiplash”, said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer at the CDC.
About 700 reduction in force (RIF) notifications were sent to employees in error, the Trump administration reportedly says, though there does not seem to be public evidence of an error. Another 600 terminated employees have not been reinstated.
“It seems like they just took a sledgehammer to the agency versus a scalpel,” Houry said. “The fact they brought half back already just shows they didn’t think through what they were doing.”
The entire staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a highly respected epidemiology journal, were terminated and then reinstated. So were employees working on global health and suicide prevention, as well as “disease detectives” and staff at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
But the entire human resources department is still gone, which will affect operations of the entire agency.
The Washington office is still cut, which “makes it difficult to communicate with Congress”, since they were the main channel for congressional inquiries, Houry said.
Staff with the CDC’s institutional review board, which reviews the design of studies, and the ethics office and oversees all conflicts and interests for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
In the next 30 days, some science protocols will be up for renewal by the institutional review board.
“They’ll have to be shut down,” Houry said.
Read more of Melody’s report below.
Government shutdown enters day 14, as House speaker says it’s ‘barreling toward one of the longest on record’
The government shutdown enters its 14th day, with little end in sight. On Monday, the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, said it was “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history”.
The longest government shutdown on record lasted 35 days, during Trump’s first administration.
Johnson will host a press conference at 10am ET today, where we’ll bring you the latest. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers will also speak to the media at 11am ET on Capitol Hill.
The Senate is poised to take up the dueling funding bills – that have failed to clear the upper chamber repeatedly – later today. Votes are currently scheduled for 5.30pm ET.
Updated
Donald Trump touched back down at the White House in the early hours of Tuesday morning (local time).
Later he’ll welcome Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, to Washington for a bilateral lunch meeting. Milei is a close ally of Trump’s, and will benefit from an extraordinary $20bn cash bailout from the administration, as Argentina’s economy continues to suffer.
That meeting will be closed to the press as of now, but we’ll let you know if that changes.
We’ll also hear from Trump at 4pm ET, when he holds a ceremony to honor the late conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.
China has hit back at accusations from the US that it is trying to hurt the world economy, as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to re-escalate, amped up by aggressive rhetoric on both sides.
China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the US was “threatening to intimidate” with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, “which is not the right way to get along with China”. Its spokesperson said that China would “fight to the end” in trade talks.
The comments came shortly after the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said China wanted to “to pull everybody else down with them” by damaging the world economy.
It follows the US and China starting to charge each other increased port fees on cargo ships, increasing trade tensions.
The US announced plans earlier this year to begin charging duties on China-linked ships to counter what it says are unfair maritime trade practices. Those tariffs – and retaliatory charges from China – came into effect on Tuesday.
State media said that Chinese-built ships would be exempt from the new measures.
The commerce ministry said on Monday that it had notified the US about the rare earth export controls Beijing announced last week in advance, contradicting comments made by the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, over the weekend that the US had not been warned.
Private equity acquisition of hospitals have led to an increase in deaths among emergency department patients receiving Medicare, according to a recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
It’s the latest in a series of recent studies illustrating that private equity acquisition of health facilities leads to worsening patient outcomes, including death.
“Each of them sort of comes up with the same result,” said Martin Kenney, distinguished professor in the department of human ecology at the University of California, Davis and author of Private Equity and the Demise of the Local. “Private equity takes over things in the medical field, quality goes down, prices go up,” Kenney explained.
Researchers found that private equity acquisition leads to increased deaths in nursing homes, increased post-operative complications for common inpatient surgeries and even an increase in medical conditions acquired in the hospital, such as bloodstream infections and injuries from falls.
Notably, the Department of Health and Human Services condemned private equity’s role in worsening patient outcomes toward the end of the Biden administration.
Donald Trump describes Time magazine photo of him as 'the worst of all time'
Donald Trump is unhappy with the photo of him used on the front of Time magazine, describing it as “the worst of all time”.
It is not the first time that Trump has been upset by a picture of himself. In March, he was ridiculed after publicly demanding the removal of a portrait at Colorado’s state capitol building, calling it “truly the worst”.
However, it now appears he is even more dissatisfied with the Time front cover. Here it is, make up your own minds as to whether it looks “really weird” or is a fair depiction of the president’s image:
On his Truth Social website, the president wrote:
Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time. They “disappeared” my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?
Updated
The firings of hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have been reversed, according to several reports citing officials familiar with the matter, and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers.
On Friday, the White House budget office announced that as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, reductions in force (RIFs) across agencies have begun.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses the CDC, initially said that all employees that received layoff notices “were designated non-essential by their respective divisions”.
However, over the weekend, the administration rescinded more than half of the 1,300 termination notices it sent to public health officials at the CDC, according to Axios and Reuters, citing sources familiar. Around 600 people at the agency remain fired.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that members of the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), informally known as “disease detectives”, as well as the team that compiles the widely respected scientific journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, were among the employees reinstated.
Barack Obama took aim at institutions and businesses who made deals or worked out settlements with the Trump administration, noting on a new podcast episode: “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”
In a talk with Marc Maron on the comedian’s last edition of his long-running WTF With Marc Maron, the former US president said institutions – including law firms, universities and businesses – that have changed course during the Trump administration should have stood by their convictions.
Instead of bending to the administration, Obama noted that universities should say: “This will hurt if we lose some grant money in the federal government, but that’s what endowments are for. Let’s see if we can ride this out, because what we’re not going to do is compromise our basic academic independence.”
He also noted that the organizations that did concede to Trump should be able to say: “We’re not going to be bullied into saying that we can only hire people or promote people based on some criteria that’s been cooked up by Steve Miller,” in reference to the top White House aide and architect of Trump’s hardline immigration policy.
Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.
Graham said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the government and prepared to “have a rational discussion” with Democrats – but not with the government shut down.
“I’m willing to vote to open the government up tomorrow,” Graham said. “To my Democratic friends: I am not going to vote to extend these subsidies.”
Graham, speaking to Democrats, added: “It’s up to you. If you want to keep it shut down, fine. It’s not going to change how I approach healthcare.”
The senator’s comments came as Vice-President JD Vance warned that permanent cuts to the federal workforce will only get “deeper” as the shutdown continues.
Vance told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures that “the longer it goes on, Maria, the more significant they’re going to be. If you remember, we went nine days before announcing any significant layoffs.
“The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be,” Vance continued.
President Donald Trump will visit Malaysia on 26 October, the country’s foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said on Tuesday, adding that he was “looking forward” to witnessing a ceasefire deal between south-east Asian neighbours Thailand and Cambodia.
Tension over undemarcated points on the two nations’ 817km (508 mile) land border erupted into a deadly five-day conflict in July, killing at least 48 and temporarily displacing hundreds of thousands in their worst fighting in more than a decade.
“During the summit, we hope to see the signing of a declaration, known as the Kuala Lumpur Accord, between these two neighbours to ensure peace and a lasting ceasefire,” Mohamad told the media.
US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information
Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.
The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials.
The move follows a shake-up in February in which long-credentialed media outlets were required to vacate assigned workspaces which was cast as an “annual media rotation program”. A similar plan was presented at the White House where some briefing room spots were given to podcasters and other representatives of non-traditional media.
On Monday, the Washington Post joined the New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, the Guardian, Reuters, the Associated Press, NPR, HuffPost and trade publication Breaking Defense in saying it would not sign on to the agreement.
Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor, said the policy runs counter to constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press.
“The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information,” Murray wrote in a statement published on X. “We will continue to vigorously and fairly report on the policies and positions of the Pentagon and officials across the government.”
Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto asked president Donald Trump on Monday if he could meet with Trump’s son Eric, an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, according to comments by the leaders picked up by a microphone after Trump had addressed a Gaza-focused summit in Egypt.
Trump and Prabowo, who were also seen on video, appeared to be unaware that a live microphone was recording their conversation.
The two spoke in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh after Trump delivered remarks to a group of world leaders gathered for the summit, which followed the announcement of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The White House, Prabowo’s office, Indonesia’s foreign ministry and the Trump Organization’s Indonesian business partner, MNC Group, did not respond to requests for comment on the exchange, Reuters reported.
It was not clear in the audio whether the two were referencing the Trump Organization or any business deals involving the president or his family.
Letitia James pushes back against 'powerful voices trying to silence truth'
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that New York attorney-general Letitia James struck a defiant tone Monday during her first public appearance since being indicted on federal fraud charges related to her purchase of a home in Virginia.
The Democrat took the stage to thunderous and sustained applause and chants of “We love Tish” during a boisterous rally for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the city’s Washington Heights neighborhood, AP reported.
James warned of “powerful voices trying to silence truth and punish dissent” and “weaponize justice for political gain,” though she stopped short of naming president Donald Trump, who had pushed for months for justice department officials to bring charges against her.
“We are witnessing the fraying of our democracy, the erosion of our system of government,” James said. “This, my friends, is a defining moment in our history.”
She called on supporters to protect “every norm and every rule of law” as she vowed she “will not capitulate.”
“You come for me, you got to come though all of us!,” James roared, to loud cheers. “Every single one of us!”
A federal grand jury indicted Letitia James, the New York attorney general, last week for bank fraud and making false statements. Two charges were brought against James, who had brought a civil fraud case against the Trump Organization in 2022 that Trump claimed was a malicious prosecution.
Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, personally presented the case to the grand jury on Thursday, the person said. US attorneys do not typically present to a grand jury.
In other developments:
Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.
Argentina’s libertarian leader is lavishing praise on Trump ahead of his first White House meeting with the US president on Tuesday. “It is an honor to consider you not only an ally in the defense of those values, but also a dear friend and an example of leadership that inspires all those who believe in freedom,” Javier Milei said.
Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms”, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.
Trump is expected to posthumously award Charlie Kirk the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom later today. Kirk was shot and killed last month while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.
US military veterans increasingly face arrest and injury amid protests over Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and his push to deploy national guard members to an ever-widening number of American cities. The Guardian has identified eight instances where military veterans have been prosecuted or sought damages after being detained by federal agents.
Barack Obama took aim at institutions and businesses who made deals or worked out settlements with the Trump administration, noting on a new podcast episode: “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”
The firings of hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control have been reversed, according to several reports citing officials familiar with the matter, and the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers.
