The Latest: Congressional Leaders Meet With Trump As Possible Government Shutdown Looms

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders met at the White House on Monday with President Donald Trump in a late effort to avoid a government shutdown, but both sides thus far have shown hardly any willingness to budge from their entrenched positions.

If government funding legislation isn’t passed by Congress and signed by Trump on Tuesday night, many federal government offices across the nation would be temporarily shuttered and nonexempt federal employees furloughed, adding to the strain on workers and the U.S. economy.

Republicans are daring Democrats to vote against legislation that would keep government funding mostly at current levels, but Democrats have held firm. They’re using one of their few points of leverage to demand Congress take up legislation to extend health care benefits. Meanwhile, Trump has shown little interest in entertaining Democrats’ demands on health care.

Earlier Monday, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House and agreed to Trump’s proposal to end the war in Gaza but it was unclear whether Hamas would accept the terms. Trump laid out a 20-point plan for ending the Israel-Hamas war and establishing postwar Gaza governance.

The Latest:

Judge suspends Trump administration plan to cut hundreds of Voice of America jobs

A federal judge in the nation’s capital agreed Monday to temporarily suspend the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate hundreds of jobs from the government-funded broadcaster.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that the U.S. Agency for Global Media cannot implement a reduction in force that seeks to eliminate 532 jobs for full-time government employees. Those employees represent the vast majority of remaining staff at Voice of America.

Kari Lake, the agency’s acting CEO, announced in late August that the job cuts would take effect on Tuesday. But the judge’s ruling preserves the status quo at the agency until he rules on the plaintiffs’ underlying motion to block the reduction in force.

Voice of America was founded to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II.

YouTube to pay $24.5 million to settle lawsuit over Trump’s account suspension after Jan. 6 attack

Google’s YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit by Trump over his 2021 account suspension following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

According to documents filed in federal court in California, $22 million of the settlement will be contributed to the Trust for the National Mall to help pay for the construction of the White House State Ballroom. The rest will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union.

Google is the latest big tech company to settle lawsuits brought by Trump. In January, Meta Platforms agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook. Elon Musk’s X agreed to settle a similar lawsuit brought against the company then known as Twitter for $10 million.

The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, the filing stated. Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment beyond it. The disclosure of the settlement came a week before a scheduled Oct. 6 court hearing to discuss the case with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California.

Trump administration explores possible new path to cut off Harvard’s federal funding

The Trump administration is pursuing a potential new way to cut off Harvard from future federal funding, officials say.

The Trump administration is referring the university to a process called debarment, according to a letter Monday to Harvard President Alan Gerber from the Office for Civil Rights in the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

A federal judge in Boston ruled earlier this month that the government must restore $2.2 billion in research funding to the Ivy League university that was frozen earlier this year.

Talks between the university and the Trump administration over antisemitism issues on campus have stalled and the government is seeking a new way to cut off the university’s federal funding. The process of debarment basically would declare Harvard ineligible to do business with the government.

House speaker warns FEMA ‘won’t be funded’ in any shutdown but most critical operations would continue

Mike Johnson says the Federal Emergency Management Agency “won’t be funded” if a shutdown occurs. But a large part of FEMA’s disaster-related operations and spending would continue because that money comes from the Disaster Relief Fund, which has about $10 billion in its coffers.

Nearly 85% of active FEMA staff, more than 20,000 people, would remain in their positions during a shutdown, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo.”

Meanwhile, of the Department of Homeland Security’s nearly 272,000 employees, about 14,000 are expected to be furloughed in the event of a federal government shutdown, according to the agency’s preparation plans.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol are retaining most of their workforce as “exempt/excepted” from the reductions.

Vance calls Democrat’s shutdown fight ‘preposterous’. Last year, he embraced the idea

Vice President JD Vance, as he appeared with Republican congressional leaders at the White House on Monday, said it was “not reasonable” for Democrats to use their proposals “as leverage and to shut down the government unless we give you everything you want.”

He called that “preposterous” and “totally unacceptable.”

But last year, when Vance was a senator and Congress was similarly staring down a potential government shutdown, albeit over different sticking points, he embraced the idea of some Republicans using the threat of a shutdown to negotiate.

“Why shouldn’t we be trying to force this government shutdown fight to get something out of it that’s good for the American people?” Vance said in a September 2024 podcast interview. “Why have a government if it’s not a functioning government?”

The Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank welcomes Trump’s peace proposal

The Palestinian government in the Isareli-occupied West Bank has welcomed President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war and pledged to implement reforms called for in his plan.

“The State of Palestine welcomes the sincere and determined efforts of President Donald J. Trump to end the war on Gaza and affirms its confidence in his ability to find a path toward peace,” it said in a statement.

Trump’s plan calls for the Palestinian Authority to make a series of reforms in order to return to Gaza and potentially clear the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“We have affirmed our desire for a modern, democratic, and non-militarized Palestinian state, committed to pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power,” the statement says. It promised a series of reforms, including new elections, changes to its schoolbooks and ending a system that pays the families of militants involved in attacks on Israelis.

Democrats say they raised concerns about costs of health care coverage in meeting with Trump

Democratic leaders said that negotiations on extending health insurance tax credits must happen now as part of talks to fund the federal government and avert a shutdown.

The comments came Monday afternoonafter Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries returned to the Capitol following their White House meeting with President Donald Trump.

Republicans have said that negotiations on the enhanced tax credits could occur in December before they expire and that those negotiations shouldn’t be part of a bill to fund the government.

“We think when they say later, they mean never,” Schumer said, adding, “now is the time we can get it done.”

Vance, after meeting, says he thinks federal government is headed for a shutdown

Vice President JD Vance said Monday afternoon that he believes the federal government is headed for a shutdown “because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”

He spoke after Democratic and Republican leaders met with Trump at the White House. Republicans are calling on Democrats to approve a clean short-term funding patch to avoid a shutdown and tackle other pressing policy issues later.

Vance said that if Democrats want to talk about fixing health care policy in the U.S., Republicans would be willing to meet with them, “but do it in the context of an open government providing essential services to the American people.”

Speaker Mike Johnson said the House has done its job by passing a continuing resolution to fund the government and that if Democrats “make the decision to shut the government down, the consequences are on them.”

It was Trump’s first meeting with the “big four” leaders in Congress since retaking the White House for his second term.

White House meeting comes at tenuous moment for Israel

The White House talks and Netanyahu’s apology for the attack in Qatar come with Israel increasingly isolated and losing support from many longtime allies. At home, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears more fragile than ever. And the White House is showing signs of impatience.

It remains to be seen how Netanyahu will be able to justify to far-right members of his coalition his acceptance of the proposal after promising to press on against Hamas until it is “eliminated.”

The Trump plan indicates that once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty.” It also says Hamas members who wish to leave Gaza would be provided safe passage to receiving countries.

Schumer and Jeffries emerge from White House meeting

“There are still large differences between us,” said Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader.

Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the leading Democrat in the House, urged Trump and Republicans to negotiate, but said it’s up to the president.

“He’s the decision maker,” Schumer said. “He can avoid a shutdown.”

Trump administration to send 100 troops to Illinois to guard ICE facilities and staff, governor says

Federal officials plan to send 100 troops to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities or staff in Illinois amid a surge in immigration enforcement operations focused on the Chicago area, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday.

Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard had been notified of a memo sent by the Department of Homeland Security to the Defense Department.

Pritzker, a Democrat who has been among President Donald Trump’s loudest opponents, accused the Republican president of trying to consolidate power.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy troops to Chicago, pointing to the city’s gun violence and other crime.

Pritzker and other leaders in Chicago and Illinois have opposed any use of federal troops in the city, saying they are not wanted or needed.

Hamas is reviewing the peace proposal

Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief presented Trump’s proposal to Hamas negotiators, who are now reviewing it in “good faith,” according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition anonymity.

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Associated Press reporter Josef Federman contributed.

Agencies can fire workers during a shutdown, personnel office says

Guidance from Trump’s Office of Personnel Management says federal offices can engage in “reduction in force” activities during a federal shutdown.

The Office of Management and Budget headed by Russ Vought had already advised agencies to prepare for mass firings, or RIFs.

According to the personnel office guidance, “OMB has determined that agencies are authorized to direct employees to perform work necessary to administer the RIF process during the lapse in appropriations as excepted activities.”

Shutdown would furlough more than half of US-based State Department personnel

The State Department expects to furlough more than half of its remaining direct-hire personnel in the United States if the federal government shuts down this week.

If that happens, U.S. embassies and consulates abroad will remain open and able to provide services to American citizens needing assistance and no permanent layoffs are foreseen, the department said.

According to a 71-page plan posted to its website Monday, the department said that only 10,344 of 26,995 domestically employed staffers whose work has been deemed essential will be exempted from the shutdown furloughs.

Employees deemed to “excepted” from shutdown plan are those whose jobs are necessary to respond to emergencies and national security.

Trump and Netanyahu end news conference without taking questions

After each leader spoke at length, Trump suggested that it was “not really appropriate to take questions,” citing his already full agenda for the rest of the day.

That’s despite reporters having packed the room and waited for much of the afternoon for the opportunity to ask Trump and Netanyahu questions.

Trump then hinted that he might change his mind, and even asked Netanyahu if he’d like to take a question from a “friendly” Israeli reporter.

But the prime minister responded, “I would go by your instinct. We’ll have enough time for questions. Let’s settle the issue first.”

The pair left the room, ignoring dozens of shouted questions from reporters, as White House press officials tried to restore order by yelling, “Thank you, press!”

Hostages’ families welcome Trump’s ceasefire plan

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the proposal is a “historic agreement that will allow our people to heal, end the war, and chart a new future for the Middle East.”

The grassroots group, which represents many of the hostages’ families, called on Netanyahu to immediately halt the fighting in Gaza to prevent harm to their loved ones.

“There is no reason to risk their lives when Israel has adopted President Trump’s historic initiative,” it said.

Netanyahu says he supports Trump’s plan to end war in Gaza

The Israeli leader, in his opening remarks, said to Trump: “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza which achieves our war aims.”

He said the plan will ensure that “Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” with Hamas being disarmed and Gaza being demilitarized.

There is still no word from Hamas on the plan.

Netanyahu said if Hamas doesn’t accept the plan or doesn’t comply, “then Israel will finish the job by itself. This could be done the easy way, or it could be done the hard way. But it will be done.”

Trump: Gaza’s people have ‘had a rough life with Hamas’ but could have ‘a brighter future’

There are many Palestinians who wish to live in peace,” Trump said.

The president, partly reading from prepared remarks and partly speaking off-the-cuff, said his plan would give the Palestinian people a chance to have that peace.

“I challenge the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny because that’s what we’re giving them. We’re giving them responsibility for their destiny,” he said.

Trump says Israel would have the US’s ‘full backing’ to destroy Hamas if the group rejects his plan

The president said that if the militant group does not accept the plan, Israel “would have my full backing” to “finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.”

“Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do,” Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

But he said he hoped they’d have a peace deal.

White House releases plan to end Israel-Hamas war

The White House released its 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza and establish governance for Gaza moving forward.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Israel or Hamas has approved the plan, which was released shortly before Trump’s news conference with Netanyahu.

The plan calls for a temporary governing board that would be headed by Trump and include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It wouldn’t require people to leave Gaza if they don’t want to, and calls for the war to immediately end if both sides accept.

‘Mine, baby mine’: Trump administration again boosts coal

Officials said Monday they will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants, as Trump continues his efforts to reverse the yearslong decline in the U.S. coal industry.

Under Trump’s orders, the Energy Department has required fossil-fueled power plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep operating past their retirement dates to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

The latest announcement would allow those efforts to expand.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the initiative would fulfill a Trump promise to “mine baby, mine.”

Netanyahu apologizes for Israeli strike inside Qatar targeting Hamas leaders

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Qatar for an airstrike Israel conducted against Hamas operatives in Qatar earlier this month in Doha.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the matter said Netanyahu spoke by phone with Qatari Emir Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to express regret over the strike that killed at least one local Qatari security guard. The call came as Netanyahu was meeting with Trump to discuss a new plan to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private diplomatic conversation.

Qatar and other Arab nations condemned Israel’s strike and said it dealt a significant blow to efforts to end the conflict in Gaza.

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Associated Press reporter Joe Federline and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Israel protesters urge Trump to end the Gaza war

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the U.S. diplomatic office in Tel Aviv are calling on President Donald Trump to end the war and bring home the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Protesters hoisted large posters of the hostages, blew horns and pounded on drums.

“Bring them home now,” the crowd chanted. “Why are they still there?”

Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, said Trump is the families’ best hope.

“Fight for us President Trump. Force a full agreement on Netanyahu and the end of the war,” she said.

ICE says the man killed in Dallas shooting last week was from El Salvador

The agency identified the 37-year-old man who was shot and killed while being transported in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van as Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.

ICE said Monday that it wasn’t known when or where Guzman-Fuentes entered the country. It said he was arrested on criminal charges in 2012 in Florida and in 2020 in Texas.

The agency said he was transferred to ICE custody on Sept. 24 after Dallas police arrested him in August.

Guzman-Fuentes was killed when a gunman opened fire Wednesday on the Dallas immigration field office. Two other detainees were critically wounded and the gunman fatally shot himself.

Trump wants 100% import tax on movies made outside of US

The president has little love for foreign cinema, saying the movie business “has been stolen” from Hollywood and the U.S.

“Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

It was unclear how these tariffs would operate, since movies and TV shows can be transmitted digitally without going through ports.

Nor was it clear what this would mean for globetrotting U.S. movies that depend on foreign locations as part of the story, such as the James Bond franchise.

Nor was it clear what the legal basis would be for these import taxes. Trump has previously relied on national security grounds and an economic emergency in the form of trade deficits to justify his tariffs.

Trump’s team keeps posting AI portraits of him. We keep clicking

Here he is, depicted at six months in office, chiseled and brawny, as mighty as the very nation.

Here he is as a Star Wars Jedi wielding a patriot-red lightsaber, rescuing our galaxy from the forces of evil.

On Trump’s social media accounts and his second-term administration, a new official image of the president is emerging bit by bit: one generated artificially.

Artificial imagery isn’t new for Trump, an early target of AI-generated simulacra who later exploited the technology during his 2024 campaign for the presidency.

“It works both ways,” the Republican president said of AI-generated content at a news conference earlier this month. “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”

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White House: Church attack suspect “hated people of the Mormon faith”

Leavitt said federal authorities are still investigating Sunday’s deadly attack on the Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, house of worship that killed four and wounded eight.

But she said investigators are looking into possible animus by the suspect toward members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

“Well, from what I understand, based on my conversations with the FBI director, all they know right now is this was an individual who hated people of the Mormon faith,” Leavitt said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.”

Leavitt said she was briefed by FBI Director Kash Patel earlier Monday.

Trump threatens no federal funding for NYC if Mamdani wins

The president said Monday morning that New York City, his former home, “won’t be getting any” federal cash if frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.

“Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises,” Trump wrote on social media. “He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?”

Still, the president sees a political upside in having a democratic socialist be one of the prominent figures in the Democratic Party.

Mamdani “will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party,” Trump wrote.

Pentagon confirms 200 National Guard troops called to duty in Portland

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement the troops have been called into service immediately and will serve for 60 days “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.”

The deployment is being made over the objections of state leaders and is similar to one last summer in Los Angeles but is on a much smaller scale.

Trump had announced on Saturday that he would send troops to Portland. The state’s governor, Democrat Tina Kotek, said Sunday that she objected to the deployment in a conversation with the president.

Deal for new Trump Plaza in Saudi Arabia

A London-listed luxury real estate developer says it plans to launch a Trump Plaza in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah in the second collaboration with the Trump Organization, following the success of Trump Tower Jeddah.

Monday’s announcement by Dar Global said the $1 billion landmark development is to rise along King Abdulaziz Road in the heart of the city.

The company said the project is its second collaboration in Jeddah with The Trump Organization and plans to launch Trump Plaza Jeddah that represents the second Trump-branded development in Saudi Arabia, following the launch of Trump Tower Jeddah in December last year.

Federal government shutdowns are nothing new

Congress often finds itself at the brink of one as the two major political parties’ differences grow more intractable with each passing year. Democrats are threatening to vote against keeping the government open on Oct. 1.

Democratic leaders in Congress say they won’t budge unless Republicans immediately extend health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year, among other demands.

Republicans say they don’t want to add any complicated policies to keep the government open for the next seven weeks.

Time and time again, lawmakers hold out until just before the deadline and negotiate a last-minute compromise. But this time Democrats see some potential political advantages to a shutdown with their base voters spoiling for a fight.

History shows the tactic almost never works, and federal employees are caught in the middle. The White House has already laid out a plan to potentially lay off hundreds, if not thousands, of federal employees.