Trump hosts GOP senators at White House as shutdown drags on
Follow the latest news on President Donald Trump and his administration | Oct. 21, 2025
With the shutdown stretching into a fourth week, President Donald Trump flaunted White House renovations while hosting Senate Republicans in the revamped Rose Garden, as the standoff over government funding showed no signs of ending.
Today’s live updates have ended. Read what you missed below and find more coverage at apnews.com.
Senate Republicans projected a unified front at the White House Rose Garden Tuesday, arriving at President Donald Trump’s invitation as they refuse to yield to Democratic demands for health care funds into the fourth week of the government shutdown.
While hosting, Trump praised the GOP leadership, singling out senators by name, trashed former President Joe Biden and previewed his own upcoming foreign travel and tariff policies. “We’re a wealthy nation again,” Trump said.
The country, meanwhile, is feeling the financial hit of the shutdown, which is on track to become among the longest in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are going without pay, Head Start programs for preschoolers nationwide are scrambling for funds, and economists warn of curbed economic growth.
Still, there are few signs of any end to the stalemate.
Other news we’re following:
- Trump-Putin summit is on hold, US official says: The meeting between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin aimed at resolving the war in Ukraine was announced last week but is now uncertain following a call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to a U.S. official. The reversal is the latest bout of whiplash as Trump continues his efforts to end the war he previously boasted he could settle in one day if he were elected to a second term. The meeting was supposed to take place in Budapest, although a date had not been set.
- Vance arrives in Israel: The vice president on Tuesday joined special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in the region to shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. Vance will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and is expected to stay until Thursday.
- Construction begins on Trump’s new ballroom: Crews on Monday started tearing down part of the White House’s East Wing to build a new ballroom Trump has championed, despite lacking approval for construction from the federal agency that oversees such projects.
Sen. Jeff Merkley plans to speak as long as he’s able
The Oregon Democrat is going to hold the Senate floor tonight as long as he’s able to keep speaking and standing behind a poster that says, “Ring the alarm bells: authoritarianism is here now!”
Merkley, who is 68, is warning that Trump’s moves since taking office amount to an authoritarian seizure of power. He has also criticized the Supreme Court for not putting more limits on presidential power.
“We are in the most perilous moment for our Constitution, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War,” Merkley said.
Since Trump became president this year, Senate Democrats have engaged in several marathon speeches to protest his actions.
Immigration agents conducting sweep on NYC’s famed Canal Street confronted by protesters
An immigration enforcement sweep targeting vendors on Manhattan’s famed Canal Street turned chaotic on Tuesday after droves of angry New Yorkers surrounded federal agents and attempted to block them from driving off, prompting arrests and fierce stand-offs along a bustling downtown corridor.
The confrontation began shortly after 4 p.m., as federal agents fanned out across a section of Chinatown that has long served as a not-so-underground market for knock-off designer handbags, watches, perfumes, electronics and other goods.
An Associated Press reporter observed dozens of agents as they detained a street vendor selling bedazzled smartphone cases, one of a number of arrests in the area.
A contingent of protesters, many of whom appeared to be on their way home from work, then surrounded the masked officers, attempting to block their vehicle as they shouted “ICE out of New York” and called on other pedestrians to join them.
Trump pick to lead federal watchdog agency withdraws after offensive text messages were revealed
Paul Ingrassia, who was nominated to lead the Office of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to have his confirmation hearing this week.
But after the texts came to light, several Republican senators said they would not support his nomination. They included some of the most conservative and stalwart Trump allies in the Senate.
“I will be withdrawing myself from Thursday’s HSGAC hearing to lead the Office of Special Counsel because unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time,” Ingrassia posted in an online message.
The post came after Senate Majority Leader John Thune had said he hoped the White House would withdraw the nomination.
The growing opposition to Paul Ingrassia comes after a Politico report of a text chat that showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having “a Nazi streak” at times.
Senate Democrats plan to speak through the night
Senators are planning to hold the Senate floor all night in a show of resolve on their demands on health care in the shutdown fight and opposition to Trump.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, started off the relay of speeches by charging that Republicans are “unwilling to clean up this mess” created by enacting legislation that will lead to millions of people losing Medicaid coverage.
“Colleagues, I’m coming tonight to ring alarm bells because we have become an authoritarian nation over the last nine months,” he said. “We are deep into an authoritarian takeover.”
Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated Sen. Merkley’s political party. He is a Democrat, not a Republican.
JUST IN: Trump’s pick to lead federal watchdog agency withdraws amid GOP objections over his MLK and ‘Nazi streak’ text messages
Trump commemorates Diwali in Oval Office
He was surrounded by tech CEOs and several members of his own administration who celebrate the “Festival of Lights,” which is observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.
In front of his desk was a traditional, brass five-wick lamp set on a table decorated with flowers. Trump read a message about the significance of Diwali, saying that the lamp is lit to “symbolize the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil.”
The gathering included FBI director Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. director of national intelligence.
After asking several tech CEOs to spell out how much they’ve invested in the U.S., Trump invited IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna to light the lamp. At Krishna’s request, Trump lit one of the lamp’s five wicks.
Trump says he’d ‘love’ to meet with Congress’ Democratic leaders but ‘the government has to be open’
The president’s comments followed Chuck Schumer, the leader of Senate Democrats, saying he and Hakeem Jeffries, leader of the House Democrats, reached out to Trump and urged him “to sit down and negotiate with us” to end the government shutdown.
Schumer said they suggested such a meeting happen before Trump leaves for a trip to Asia on Friday.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “I would love to meet, I would like to meet with both of them. But I set one little caveat: I will only meet if they let the country open.”
“So, I’ll do it as soon as they open up the country,” he added.
Trump says he’d be the one to decide if federal officials should pay him back for past probes
Asked about a New York Times report that he’s demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for federal investigations brought against him before his second term, Trump responded “could be.”
He said he didn’t know the numbers involved, and suggested he’d not spoken to officials about it.
But he added: “All I know is that, they would owe me a lot of money.”
Trump said he could collect repayment for things like investigations into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and then donate it to charity. Or, he said, he could use it to help pay for a ballroom he’s building at the White House.
Trump said that, when it comes to federal matters, “It’s interesting, cause I’m the one that makes the decision, right?”
“That decision would have to go across my desk,” the president said.
Trump says he doesn’t want ‘wasted meeting’ as he confirms Budapest talks with Putin are off for now
“I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump said of holding off on plans to meet with the Russian leader in Hungary in the coming weeks. “I don’t want to have a waste of time — so we’ll see what happens.”
Correction: This post has been updated to correct the date of the call between Rubio and Lavrov to Monday, not Tuesday.
Trump says he spoke with India’s prime minister
At an event celebrating the Hindu holiday Diwali, Trump said he spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about trade and “a lot of things.”
Trump has put a 25% tariff on goods from India because of its buying of Russian oil, putting the combined tax rate that the U.S. president has placed on imports from the country this year at 50%.
The U.S. president described the situation with India on trade as “interesting.”
Trump taps Hegseth’s top military aide to be the Army’s No. 2 officer
President Donald Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve to serve as the Army’s second highest-ranking officer, according to congressional records.
Gen. James Mingus is currently vice chief of staff and hasn’t publicly said he plans to step aside. He’s been in the job less than two years, and it’s typically a tenure that lasts at least three years.
The move posted in congressional records Monday is the latest in a series of surprise and unexplained firings, reassignments and promotions that have been transforming the senior ranks of the military under Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Officials in the Army and Hegseth’s office wouldn’t offer any details on Mingus’ apparent ouster and the promotion of LaNeve, who is now Hegseth’s top military aide.
Senate Republicans press Trump administration over Argentine beef plans
Several GOP senators representing agriculture-rich states are pushing back at the president’s stated plans to buy Argentine beef in order to make beef cheaper for U.S. consumers.
Trump floated the idea to reporters when traveling back from south Florida on Sunday evening.
But that’s prompted concerns from Senate Republicans who say the move would ultimately hurt American ranchers.
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said he spoke with Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about the issue when the president hosted Senate Republicans for lunch at the White House on Tuesday.
“It’s very important that we support our cattle ranchers,” Hoeven said, adding that he expects the administration to say more about the issue.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines also raised his objections to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, he said.
“I’m more concerned about the Argentine beef coming in that’s undercutting our Made in America cattle,” Daines said.
The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump’s ballroom
The White House has started tearing down part of the East Wing to build the ballroom President Donald Trump wants added to the building. Demolition started Monday.
The White House on Monday started tearing down part of the East Wing, the traditional base of operations for the first lady, to build President Donald Trump’s $250 million ballroom despite lacking approval for construction from the federal agency that oversees such projects.
Dramatic photos of the demolition work showed construction equipment tearing into the East Wing façade and windows and other building parts in tatters on the ground. Some reporters watched from a park near the Treasury Department, which is next to the East Wing.
▶ Read more about the demolition here
Judge says DHS texts in Rep. McIver prosecution should be removed
A federal judge overseeing the Trump administration’s prosecution of U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver on charges she assaulted immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center told the government to remove social media posts he called “prejudicial” to the congresswoman.
U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper on Tuesday heard arguments in the case brought by Republican Trump’s Justice Department against the Democratic congresswoman representing Newark, the state’s biggest city. Semper didn’t issue a ruling from the bench but told the government’s attorneys nine social media posts should be removed.
The posts, which came from the Department of Homeland Security’s X account as well as the account for one of its spokespeople, referred to the May 9 visit by McIver and other members of Congress as “a reckless stunt by sanctuary politicians.”
A message seeking a response from Homeland Security was sent Tuesday. McIver, a Democrat, was charged following the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement use the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to hold White House talks, official says
The meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, according to the official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
NATO in a statement announced that Rutte will be in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday and planned to hold private talks with Trump but did not offer further details.
The official did not provide any detail about Trump’s agenda for his talks with Rutte. But the conversation comes on the heels of Trump last week calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “stop where they are” in the more than three-year war.
On Sunday, Trump said the industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands.
Earlier Tuesday, the official said that Trump was putting on hold plans to meet with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, in the coming weeks.
UN experts call US strikes in the Caribbean a violation of international law and sovereignty
A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council blasted the “covert actions and threats” the U.S is using against Venezuela, saying that the attacks are taking place without proper legal basis.
“These actions also violate the fundamental international obligations not to intervene in the domestic affairs or threaten to use armed force against another country,” the experts said in a statement. “These moves are an extremely dangerous escalation with grave implications for peace and security in the Caribbean region.”
The statement said that experts have relayed their concerns to U.S. officials.
Trump administration lawyers agree to extend order blocking National Guard in Chicago area
Attorneys representing the Trump administration agreed Tuesday to a potential 30-day extension of an order temporarily blocking the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area.
This comes ahead of U.S. District Judge April Perry’s hearing scheduled Wednesday to decide if her two-week order should be extended.
Trump administration lawyers also say they want to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in before discussing next steps, according to Tuesday court filings.
Lawyers representing Chicago and Illinois also on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme to block the Trump administration’s request to allow the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area, calling it a “dramatic step.”
Jeffries says he won’t be intimidated
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says the U.S. is experiencing a “moment of extreme political violence, and that impacts every single person in public service.”
“But we will not be intimidated,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries is speaking at the Capitol following the arrest of a man charged with threating to kill him. The suspect had also been part of President Trump’s mass pardon of those convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol.
“When it comes to these extremists out there, you better watch how you talk when you talk about me,” Jeffries said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he had warned on the day of the mass pardons “that President Trump and his administration would be responsible for whatever happens with these people. “
“They’ve got a responsibility to rein them in,” Raskin said.
After White House lunch, Thune says Republicans are united
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are a “united team” amid the government shutdown.
Thune made the remarks after GOP senators dined with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The South Dakota Republican reiterated said he believes Trump wants to sit down and negotiate health care subsidies with Democrats who are demanding they be extended. But not until they vote to reopen the government, he said.
“Senate Republicans, House Republicans and the president of the United States are all in favor of reopening the federal government,” Thune said.
Trump predicts Republicans ‘should do fantastically well in the midterm’ but, if not, his administration’s accomplishments ‘are going to be taken away’
The president noted that, historically, the sitting president’s party often loses seats in Congress during the midterms.
“Statistically, when you look, a president gets elected and for some reason … you lose the midterms. I don’t know why,” he said, adding that no could really explain why such a historical norm usually holds.
“We have to win the midterms,” Trump continued. “Otherwise, all of the things that we’ve done, so many of them, are going to be taken away by the radical left lunatics.”
The party that wins the presidency usually does struggle in the next electoral cycle -- which could bode well for congressional Democrats in 2026.
An exception was 2022, however, when Democrats defied historical odds in congressional races -- even after Joe Biden’s 2020 election.
Shutdown? What shutdown?
Usually during a shutdown, all non-essential federal government activities are on hold.
But the Trump administration has found ways to ensure troops get a paycheck and minimize other impacts of a shutdown.
Now, Trump is hinting at easing another casualty of the shutdown.
“We should probably just open them,” Trump said of museums closed during the shutdown.
The Smithsonian museums, research centers and the National Zoo are shuttered because of the shutdown -- at least for now.
Trump defends his tariffs, saying TV ads against them are wrong
The president says he’s been watching the anti-tariff ads paid for by Canada’s Ontario province, saying he’d do the same thing if he was Canadian.
Still, Trump doesn’t think the ads are convincing to his supporters watching TV in the U.S.
“I do believe that everybody’s too smart for that,” Trump told senators who were gathered for lunch at the Rose Garden.
Trump credited his tariffs for generating what he claims will be $20 trillion worth of investments in America.
The White House has been unable to verify the sum is anywhere close to the level claimed by the president. Trump is traveling in the next several days to Japan and South Korea, in part, to finalize the terms of investments from those countries as part of an agreement to minimize the tariff rates Trump is charging on foreign goods.
Trump taunts Rand Paul at lunch
In the middle of complimentary shoutouts to various GOP senators, Trump paused to note that one of their own was not attending the lunch.
“We have everybody one but person,” Trump said. “You’ll never guess who that is.”
It was an easy guess — the uninvited was Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a constant thorn in the side of the White House who, as Trump said, “automatically votes no on everything.”
If Paul had asked, Trump said he would “begrudgingly” allow him to come.
Earlier this year, Paul was told that he and his family would not be invited to the big congressional picnic that the president hosts for members of Congress every summer.
After Paul called it a petty move, Trump issued an invite on his social media account, saying “of course” Paul and his family were invited to the South Lawn event.
Trump hosts GOP senators for lunch
The president is spending part of his Tuesday playing host, having Senate Republicans over for lunch at the Rose Garden.
“The incredible Rose Garden, it’s just an incredible place,” Trump said in remarks that opened up the lunch.
Dozens of GOP senators and senior administration officials are in attendance on the patio, which was decked out with yellow umbrella-covered tables for the occasion.
Cheeseburgers and fries are on the menu, as well as “Rose Garden chocolates” for dessert.
Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest on hold for now
Plans are on hold for President Trump to sit down with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to talk about resolving the war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official.
The meeting had been announced last week. It was supposed to take place in Budapest, although a date had not been set.
The decision was made following a call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The back-and-forth over Trump’s plans are the latest bout of whiplash caused by his stutter-step efforts to resolve a conflict that has persisted for nearly four years.
JUST IN: Trump-Putin summit planned for Budapest is on hold after call between Rubio and Lavrov, US official says
Trump gets peace award from Richard Nixon Foundation
Trump on Tuesday received the Richard Nixon Foundation’s Architect of Peace Award, inviting surviving members of the former president’s family to the Oval Office.
White House aide Margo Martin posted pictures of the event, which was closed to the news media, on the social media site X.
Trump took Nixon family members to the West Wing colonnade to see his Presidential Walk of Fame and a picture of Nixon, who resigned in 1974 following the Watergate scandal.
Past winners of the award include former President George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George H.W. Bush. Kissinger has twice won the award, which was established in 1995.
Vance plans visit to the Holy Sepulcher
Vance, making his first trip to Israel as vice president, said he came to the country once before, but only “for about 36 hours.”
This time, his plans include visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It contains the site of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, as well as the believed location of his burial tomb.
“I think the world’s Christians will know that this country, that this region of the world means a great deal to me,” Vance said.
Mahmoud Khalil fights deportation in federal appeals court
Mahmoud Khalil appeared Tuesday in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia as he challenges Trump administration efforts to deport him over his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University.
The government wants to overturn a lower court order granting Khalil’s June release from a Louisiana immigration jail. Its attorney, Drew Ensign, said the case belongs before an immigration judge in Louisiana who ruled that Khalil could be deported. “All of this is being conducted in an improper forum,” Ensign said. “So that should be a full stop.”
Khalil’s attorneys asked the three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the order, which prevents his detention and deportation.
Khalil, a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen, issued a statement after the hearing: “I’m stating unequivocally: I will continue my legal fight in federal courts for my rights, and for everyone’s right, to free speech.”
▶ Read more about Khalil’s efforts to block his deportation
More than 100 Census Bureau workers targeted for layoffs in Arizona
More than 100 U.S. Census Bureau workers have been told they will be laid off in December due to a lack of funding from the federal government shutdown.
The 101 employees work at the Census Bureau’s call center in Tucson, Arizona, according to a mass layoff notice filed earlier this month with the state of Arizona. These workers help conduct surveys and answer questions about the statistical agency’s surveys. The bureau has another call center in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Earlier this year, around 1,300 Census Bureau employees took deferred resignations, voluntary separations or early retirement in recent months as part of the DOGE efforts to cut federal government spending.
Vance says trip to Israel had been in the works for a while
Vance also tried to downplay that his visit was meant to be some sort of urgent play to keep the ceasefire agreement in place.
“My visit had nothing to do with the events of the past 48 hours,” said Vance, who was on his first visit as vice president to Israel and only his second ever to the country.
“We actually tried to plan this visit, frankly, months ago. And now we thought this would be a good time to do it.”
Vance urges patience for Hamas returning bodies
Vance also urged a ‘little bit of patience’ amid growing Israeli frustration with Hamas’ slow pace of return of remains of hostages.
“Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” Vance said. “It’s just a reason to counsel in favor of a little bit of patience.”
Kushner says Israel and Hamas are transitioning to ‘peacetime posture’
“Both sides are transitioning from two years of very intense warfare to now a peacetime posture,” Kushner said during a press conference with Vance.
That comment came despite violence in Gaza that has tested the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
Kushner acknowledged that violence, but downplayed it. He said: “A lot of people are getting a little hysterical about different incursions one way or the other.”
Kushner, Witkoff met with hostages
The U.S. president’s top advisers to the Middle East met with 10 of the released hostages and their families Tuesday.
“It was really an emotional moment,” Witkoff recalled at a news conference later at a newly-opened civilian military cooperation center in Israel.
Saying he felt “blessed” to be in that meeting, Witkoff noted that many were emotional and grateful to Trump for his work in securing the ceasefire and release of hostages.
“I didn’t see any victims in that room,” Witkoff said. “I saw very strong people.”
Vance visits civilian military cooperation center in Israel
U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited a newly opened civilian military cooperation center in Israel that the U.S. says is central to keeping Trump’s Gaza peace plan on track.
Vance said that fragile ceasefire is going “better than I expected” it would.
Vance was also expected to meet with families of hostages whose remains are still in Gaza and some of the living hostages released last week. Witkoff and Kushner met with nine of them on Tuesday.
▶ Read more about developments involving Israel, Hamas and Gaza
AP Photos: Inflatable costumes deflate tensions at anti-Trump rallies
Protesters have taken to wearing oversized inflatable costumes to deflate tensions and draw attention at rallies against Trump administration’s policies.
Crowds across the U.S. and abroad rallied Saturday during “No Kings” demonstrations against what they call a slide into authoritarianism. While Republicans dismissed them as “Hate America” rallies, many had a festive, red-white-and-blue feel.
The trend began in Portland, Oregon, when a protester showed up in inflatable frog costume. Now, crowds there gathering daily and nightly outside an immigration facility have embraced the absurd, adding unicorn, axolotl, dinosaur and banana costumes.
Republican senators praise Trump’s COVID-19 vaccine push as administration sows doubt in vaccines
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La, who chairs the Senate health committee, and the Senate’s No. 2 Republican John Barrasso, R-Wy, on Tuesday introduced a resolution nominating Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Operation Warp Speed.
Cassidy said the project that accelerated vaccine development with pharmaceutical companies during Trump’s first term “not only saved millions of lives but brought the American economy back to life.”
The praise highlights a tension between some Republicans’ support for vaccines and the Trump administration’s erosion of trust in the shots.
Trump recently falsely suggested a link between vaccines and autism. And Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has taken steps to sow doubt in immunizations, including changing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and firing a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee.
AP Investigation: Who benefits from the MAHA anti-science push?
Powerful anti-vaccine advocates and people selling potentially harmful goods such as raw milk are profiting from the push to write anti-science policies into law across the United States.
They portray the Make America Healthy Again movement as grassroots, but it’s fueled by a web of well-funded national groups led by people who’ve profited — financially and otherwise — from sowing distrust of medicine and science.
The Associated Press found state legislation that includes language in the text or public testimony that explicitly spells out that a reason to change the law is to make money or increase sales for dairy farmers.
▶ Read more about who’s profiting from the anti-science push
AP Investigation: Wave of anti-science bills pushed by Kennedy allies hits statehouses
More than 420 anti-science bills attacking longstanding public health protections — vaccines, milk safety and fluoride — have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S. this year. It’s part of an organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law.
An Associated Press investigation found that the wave of legislation has cropped up in most states, pushed by people with close ties to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Around 30 have been enacted or adopted. The effort would strip away protections that have been built over a century and are integral to American lives and society.
▶ Read more about what the AP investigation found
Ukraine and European leaders accuse Putin of stalling peace efforts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday of stalling for time amid diplomatic efforts to end his invasion of Ukraine. Their statements oppose any move to make Kyiv surrender land captured by Russian forces in return for peace, as Trump has on occasion suggested.
Eight European leaders as well as senior European Union officials said in a joint statement they intend to go ahead with plans to use Moscow’s billions of dollars (euros) of frozen assets abroad to help Kyiv win the war, despite some misgivings about the legality and consequences of such a step. They also expressed support for Trump’s peace efforts ahead of a meeting with Putin in Budapest, Hungary.
No date has been set for the Budapest summit, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated Tuesday there’s no sense of urgency. “Preparation is needed, serious preparation,” he told reporters.
▶ Read more about diplomatic efforts for peace between Russia and Ukraine
Trump says he’s giving Mideast peace a chance
Trump said in a social media post that he’s not ready to give a green light to U.S allies who have “explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm” offered to go into Gaza and “straighten out Hamas” if the militant group continues to “act badly.”
The Republican president said he told these countries and Israel, ‘NOT YET!’ because “There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right.”
If they don’t, Trump said “an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL!”
Trump commented while Vice President JD Vance is visiting Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others to help shore up the fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The president also thanked Indonesia for helping out with the Middle East.
Thune prediction spells trouble for Trump nominee
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he hopes the White House will withdraw the nomination of Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s pick to lead the Office of Special Counsel.
The growing opposition to Ingrassia comes after a Politico report on a text chat showed him saying the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell.” Ingrassia also described himself in the chat as having “a Nazi streak” at times.
“He’s not going to pass,” Thune told reporters.
Another Republican, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who serves on the committee with jurisdiction over the nomination, said he doesn’t support Ingrassia’s confirmation, either.
A committee hearing to consider Ingrassia’s nomination is scheduled for Thursday.
Obama to join New Jersey and Virginia governor candidates
Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as they run for governor in Virginia and New Jersey.
Their campaigns announced Tuesday that he’ll join them on Nov. 1 in rallies in Norfolk, Va., and Newark, N.J. Election Day is Nov. 4 in both races.
Spanberger, who formerly served in the CIA and Congress, is up against Marine veteran and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor’s race.
Sherrill, a congresswoman, former federal prosecutor and U.S. Navy fighter pilot, faces Republican former Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli.
Trump endorsed Ciattarelli and said Earle-Sears is “very good.”
Most Americans worry about health care costs: AP-NORC poll
Most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive, according to a new AP-NORC poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.
About 6 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their health costs going up in the next year, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds — a worry that extends across age groups and includes people with and without health insurance.
Many Americans have other health care anxieties, too: About 4 in 10 Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about not being able to pay for health care or medications they need, not being able to access health care when they need it, or losing or not having health insurance.
▶ Read more about American views on health care
North Carolina GOP advances map to secure another House seat for Trump
Republicans have formally begun redrawing North Carolina’s congressional districts, saying their intent is to keep Trump in power.
The new boundaries are aimed at thwarting the reelection of Democratic Rep. Don Davis, one of the state’s three Black members of Congress.


“The motivation behind this redraw is simple and singular — draw a new map that will bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation,” said GOP Sen. Ralph Hise, the plan’s chief author. If Democrats take back the House, they will “torpedo President Trump’s agenda.”
After a Senate vote Tuesday, final General Assembly approval is expected this week. Democrats plan an outdoor rally Tuesday, but lack the votes to stop it, and state law prevents Democratic Gov. Josh Stein from vetoing redistricting action. Litigation is likely.
Belize ‘safe third country’ agreement aids Trump’s crackdown
Details of the “safe third country” agreement Belize announced with the United States on Monday aren’t immediately clear, even to the Belize Senate, which must ratify the deal before it can take effect. It comes as the Trump administration pressures countries in Latin America and Africa to help him carry out his immigration crackdown.
The deal appears to be similar to Paraguay’s “safe third country” agreement, in which asylum seekers currently in the U.S. could be sent there to pursue protections. A State Department post on X called it “an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation’s asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together.”
Belize opposition leader Tracy Taegar Panton wrote on social media that the deal “could reshape Belize’s immigration and asylum systems, impose new financial burdens on taxpayers, and raise serious questions about national sovereignty and security.”
Missed paychecks and programs running out of money
The effects of the shutdown are worsening. Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about eventually getting paid.
Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families face funding cutoffs. The National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing 1,400 federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air controller shortages and flight delays across the United States.
Still, there has been little urgency in Washington as each side believes the other will eventually cave.
▶Read more about where both parties stand on the shutdown
What about Trump?
Tuesday’s White House meeting will be a chance for Republican senators to engage with the president on the shutdown after he has been more involved in foreign policy and other issues.
The president last week dismissed Democratic demands as “crazy,” adding, “We’re just not going to do it.”
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said they’ll talk strategy: “He’ll give us his ideas, and we’ll talk about ours,” Hoeven said. “Anything we can do to try to get Democrats to join us” and pass the Republican bill to reopen the government, he said.
Democrats say Trump has to be more involved for the government to reopen.
“He needs to get off the sidelines, get off the golf course,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. “We know that House and Senate Republicans don’t do anything without getting permission from their boss, Donald J. Trump.”