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      Trump administration says it will partially fund Snap food aid benefits– live

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      The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.Nearly two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over its new rule that limits student loan forgiveness for people who work for non-profits or the government. The lawsuit is being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and has been joined by 20 attorneys general in states including Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia’s attorney general.The US Department of Education issued the final rule last week, which changes the definition of “qualifying employer” and excludes organizations “that engage in unlawful activities” such as “supporting terrorism and aiding and abetting illegal immigration”. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness law was signed into force by George W Bush in 2007.“Public Service Loan Forgiveness was created as a promise to teachers, nurses, firefighters, and social workers that their service to our communities would be honored,” James said in a statement. “Instead, this administration has created a political loyalty test disguised as a regulation.”Donald Trump has long criticized student loan forgiveness programs and has aimed to roll back debt relief bolstered during the Biden administration, which included making it easier for people to qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

      The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown. The administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits. While the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month.

      As the ongoing government shutdown enters its 34th day, Republican leaders maintain they have no plans to abolish the filibuster. Speaking to reporters today, House speaker Mike Johnson said his colleagues in the Senate saw the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate to end debate on a bill, as an “important safeguard” from the “Democrats’ worst impulses”. This, despite Donald Trump decrying the measure on social media, and in a recent interview with 60 Minutes. Johnson said today that the president is simply very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this debate – we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” he added.

      As election day inches closer, candidates to be New York City’s next mayor spent the day traversing the city with eleventh-hour pitches to voters. Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election. The Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, is still the frontrunner in the race, much to the ire of the president. In his 60 Minutes interview, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor – who is running as an Independent – win against the progressive assemblyman leading the polls. “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
      The inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is being removed from his role, according to Reuters. Citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter, the outlet reports that Joe Allen is being removed from his role overseeing the office responsible for rooting out waste, fraud and abuse at the FHFA.Reuters also noted that the website for the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General listed the position as “currently vacant”. It was unclear when the website was updated.In recent weeks, the agency’s leader, Bill Pulte, has made himself known as a loyal supporter of Donald Trump’s efforts to target those he sees as political adversaries. He’s accused Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, of mortgage fraud, and pushed the justice department to investigate New York attorney general Letitia James – who recently plead not guilty after being indicted on two charges of bank fraud, and making false statements to a financial institution.In response, Elizabeth Warren – the top Democratic senator on the banking committee – issued a statement today.“What happened to the watchdog overseeing his agency? What does Pulte have to hide as he continues to use his role to investigate President Trump’s perceived political enemies while failing to lower housing costs for the American people?,” the lawmaker representing Massachusetts said.As election day inches closer, candidates to be New York City’s next mayor spent the day traversing the city with eleventh-hour pitches to voters.Democratic nominee, and frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani, former governor Andrew Cuomo who is running as an Independent, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, all spent a jam-packed weekend attending campaign events and getting as much face time with New Yorkers as possible. A reminder that early voting, which ended on Sunday, saw a record high turn out throughout the city.My colleague, Anna Betts, has been covering the latest on the ground. You can read more of her reporting below.The city of Miami’s mayor Francis Suarez is weighing in on Tuesday’s mayoral race in New York, with none-too-complimentary comments about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate and frontrunner.Suarez, a Republican, was speaking to reporters this lunchtime ahead of the two-day America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday, which Donald Trump will attend.“New York seems to be on the precipice of electing a Democratic socialist, a young charismatic leader. But we’ve been to that movie before, here in Miami,” said Suarez, the termed-out, eight-year mayor whose successor will also be elected on Tuesday.“In this city we’ve had young charismatic leaders that promised us, you know, ‘Give us all your businesses, give us all your property, we’ll make everybody equal’. And they did. They made everybody equally poor, equally miserable and equally repressed,” he said.Suarez says the impact on Miami if Mamdani is elected will be significant, and he predicts an exodus from New York. “There’s going to be a 20, 30, maybe even 40% spike in demand and in real estate prices here in Miami, it’s an inevitable consequence,” he added. “I don’t have a border, you know, I can’t prevent people from coming.”Trump is the headline speaker at the conference, which features luminaries from the worlds of politics, business and sport. They include sports stars Lionel Messi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams; Javier Milei, the far-right president of Argentina; Steve Witkoff, Trump adviser and Middle East envoy; and María Corina Machado, winner of the 2025 Nobel peace prize that Trump was angling for.As is customary during these dueling press conferences throughout the shutdown, each party continues to blame the other for failing to reopen the government.Jeffries just called Donald Trump the “puppet master” of the Republican party, and said that GOP lawmakers refuse to negotiate due to their ongoing deference to the president.Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, is now speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. A reminder that the lower chamber is still out of session as the government shutdown enters its 34th day.Further to that, the Trump administration said $600m would be used to fund states’ administrative costs in administering Snap benefits, leaving $4.65bn that will be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments.The partial payments are unprecedented in the program’s history. A USDA official warned in a court filing that at least some states, which administer Snap benefits on a day-to-day basis, would need weeks to months to make system changes that would allow them to provide the reduced benefits.US district judge in Rhode Island John McConnell and another judge in Boston, US district judge Indira Talwani, said on Friday the administration had the discretion to also tap a separate fund holding about $23bn.Patrick Penn, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the USDA, said in a court filing the agency was carefully considering using those funds but determined they must remain available for child nutrition programs instead of Snap.Per my last post, the administration laid out the US Department of Agriculture’s plan in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island at the direction of a judge who had last week ordered it to use emergency funds to at least partially cover November’s Snap benefits.The justice department said the USDA is complying with US district judge John McConnell’s order and “will fulfill its obligation to expend the full amount of Snap contingency funds today”.But while the administration said it would fully deplete the $5.25bn in contingency funds, it would not use other funding that would allow it to fully fund Snap benefits for 42 million Americans, which cost $8bn to $9bn per month.The Trump administration has said in a court filing that it plans to partially fund food aid for millions of Americans after two judges ruled last week that it must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits in November during the government shutdown.This is per a snap updated from the Reuters news agency and I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.Per that last post, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer quipped on social media today.“Maybe I should file a complaint with the FCC against the Trump White House for editing his unhinged 60 Minutes interview,” the top Democrat wrote on X. “It will use the exact same language Trump lodged against Vice President Harris.”The CBS News program 60 Minutes heavily edited down an interview with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday night, his first sit-down with the show in five years.Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes were broadcast. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online.The edits are notable because, exactly one year before Trump was interviewed by O’Donnell at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday he had sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which he alleged had been deceptively edited to help her chances in the presidential election.While many legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS settled with Trump for $16m in July. As part of the settlement, the network had agreed that it would release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates.At the beginning of Sunday’s show, O’Donnell reminded viewers that Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit, but noted that “the settlement did not include an apology or admission of wrongdoing”.Ahead of election day across the country, my colleague Carter Sherman, has been covering how reproductive rights will be back on the ballot in this off-cycle year. Carter notes the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia could have sweeping consequences for abortion access in two states that have become havens for women fleeing abortion bans. In Pennsylvania, what should have been a relatively sleepy judicial-retention election has evolved into the most expensive race of its kind in nearly 50 years, largely due to heated fighting over abortion. With voters weighing whether to keep three Democratic justices on the state supreme court, advocates fear that liberals may lose control of the bench and, ultimately, lose abortion access in the purple state.Read more of her reporting here. When asked by reporters about the president’s insistence for lawmakers to abolish the filibuster, Mike Johnson said that he had spoken to Donald Trump over the weekend and shared his thoughts with him.“I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it’s an important safeguard. It prevents us, it holds us back from the Democrats’ worst impulses,” Johnson said. “What would the Democrats do if they had no filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?”The House speaker added that he speaks “frankly and honestly” with the president and noted that he was very “passionate” about this issue. “I think what you see in this, this, this debate we’re having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened,” Johnson said.Mike Johnson has said that issuing payments to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) beneficiaries in the midst of the shutdown is “not as easy as hitting go send on a computer”.In recent days, two federal judges ordered the administration to use the program’s contingency funds to pay to Snap recipients. Today, Johnson said this was more complicated than it looked.“It costs over $9bn to fund Snap for a month, and we only have, I think it’s $5.2bn in the contingency fund. So you have a big shortfall,” he said. “You got to go through and recalculate partial payments to the 42 million recipients of the program.”Johnson noted that the president was not appealing against the rulings from the respective judges. “He wants that to be done,” Johnson said. “But he doesn’t see the mechanism to do it. So you have treasury, you have USDA, you have the other agencies involved that are working overtime, literally around the clock over the weekend, trying to figure out how to do this. But everybody needs to know, it’s not the full amount, assuming they could get this done and processed.”Throughout today’s press conference, Mike Johnson has continued to blame Senate Democrats for shuttering the government for 34 days. He, and many congressional Republicans, have claimed that the reason that lawmakers on the left have consistently rejected the House-passed funding bill is due to pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic party.“They fear that personally for their own political future,” Johnson said today. “And they care more about that than they care about Snap benefits flow into hungry families, about air traffic controllers being paid so they can keep the skies safe, border patrol, troops and all the rest … It is extremism on the left that is the direct cause of American suffering right now.”In a short while, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference, on the 34th day of the government shutdown.We’ll bring you the latest lines, particularly when it comes to reopening the lower chamber, as the shutdown is poised to be the longest on record (likely to beat the 35 days during Donald Trump’s first administration).In an interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Trump said that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other”, but he would rather see the former governor win against the progressive frontrunner and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of New York City.“If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” Trump said.Early voting in the closely watched mayoral race ended on Sunday. More than 735,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election. More

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      Trump administration will provide half of usual funds to Snap recipients in November

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      The Trump administration said it would provide partial relief to recipients of food stamps on Monday as the federal government shutdown approached a record-breaking length.Amid mounting uncertainty among the nearly 42 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), the Department of Agriculture said it would use contingency funds to keep benefits going, albeit just 50% of the usual funds recipients receive on their cards.The announcement, in a court filing by the government at the US district court in Rhode Island, came after Donald Trump said the administration would comply with a court order to provide emergency funding after previous refusals to do so on purported legal grounds. Before Monday’s announcement, Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, had suggested that emergency funding might not be available immediately and called for more court guidance on how to fund Snap legally.Money for the program officially ran out on Saturday as a result of the US government shutdown, now in its 34th day and showing no sign of ending as congressional Republican continued their standoff with the Democrats.The US president said on Friday that he would be “honored” to provide emergency funding for the program after Judge John McConnell of the US district court in Rhode Island ruled that the administration could not deny the program funds because of the shutdown.“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible … even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network on Friday. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”McConnell promptly issued an order the following day instructing the administration to start making contingency funds available by midday on Monday.The administration had previously argued that it was legally prohibited from tapping into the contingency fund to provide Snap benefits, arguing that it could only be used in the cases such as natural disasters. The judge rejected that position as “arbitrary”.“The court greatly appreciates the president’s quick and definitive response to this court’s order and his desire to provide the necessary Snap funding,” McConnell wrote in Saturday’s order.The pause in benefits from the program is unprecedented.Bessent told CNN that funds could start flowing by Wednesday, and said he wanted more guidance from the courts on how money could be legally switched around to fund Snap benefits.“There’s a process that has to be followed,” Bessent said. “So, we’ve got to figure out what the process is.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSome states have said it will take days and, in some cases, even weeks to give out benefits to low income recipients because the government did not disperse partial funds for it after the shutdown began on 1 October.Long queues have been reported at food banks across the country. In California and Texas, stadium car parks were converted into distribution sites amid uncertainty over the program’s continuation.Some states, including New York, Oregon and Virginia, declared states of emergency last week to provide funds that would keep benefits available. But the amounts provided were expected to amount to a fraction of normal federal government funding. The federal costs of Snap amounts to about $8bn a month across the US. More

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      Why is Donald Trump threatening military intervention in Nigeria?

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      Donald Trump has threatened to launch a “guns-a-blazing” US military intervention in Nigeria, claiming that the west African country’s government has failed to prevent attacks on Christians.Here’s what we know so far about the unfolding situation.What did Trump claim and what was the US political context?In a post on his Truth Social account at the weekend, Trump said: “Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter” and warned that if the Nigerian government failed to stop the killings, Washington would “immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” and could “go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing”.Trump’s remarks came after weeks of lobbying by US lawmakers and conservative Christian groups urging him to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for alleged religious persecution – a list that also includes Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China.His statement reflected renewed domestic political pressure to appear tough on the marginalisation or persecution of Christians abroad, a theme that resonates strongly with parts of his rightwing, evangelical base.Do Christians face a particular security threat in Nigeria?Nigeria is officially secular but almost evenly divided between Muslims (53%) and Christians (45%), with the remaining population practising African traditional religions. Violence against Christians has drawn significant international attention, and is often framed as religious persecution. However, most analysts argue the situation is more complex.In parts of central Nigeria, deadly clashes between itinerant Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farming communities are rooted in competition over land and water but exacerbated by religious and ethnic differences. The herders often claim reprisals for the killing of their people and cattle, while local communities see the attacks as ethnic cleansing targeting their settlements.Priests and pastors have increasingly been kidnapped for ransom, as they are viewed as influential figures whose worshippers or organisations can mobilise funds quickly. Some analysts say this may be a trend driven more by criminal economics than religious discrimination.What is the wider security situation in Nigeria?In the north-east, Boko Haram and its splinter groups such as Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have waged an insurgency since 2009, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.In the north-west, heavily armed criminal gangs – often labelled “bandits” – carry out mass kidnappings and raids that affect both Muslim and Christian communities. These groups have expanded operations into north-central Nigeria, exploiting weak state presence and local grievances.“Christians are being killed, we can’t deny the fact that Muslims are [also] being killed,” Danjuma Dickson Auta, a Christian and community leader from Plateau state in the Middle Belt, told Agence France-Presse.Meanwhile, in the south-east, separatists seeking to revive the defunct state of Biafra have been linked to violence against government institutions and civilians, with most victims being Christians. In all, thousands have been killed across multiple fronts, creating overlapping humanitarian and governance crises.How has Nigeria responded to its security crises?Successive Nigerian governments have struggled to contain these threats and security forces are stretched thin across multiple fronts. They are also often accused of human rights abuses that previously halted US support – most notably under the Leahy Law, which restricts arms sales to forces accused of violations.In the absence of state police and proper intelligence collaborations at all levels of the security hierarchy, many communities remain unprotected, and vigilante groups have filled the vacuum in some states.How has Nigeria responded to Trump?In a statement on Sunday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not name Trump directly but emphasised that Nigeria “is a democracy with constitutional guarantees of religious liberty”. He said characterising the country as religiously intolerant “does not reflect our national reality”.Meanwhile, his presidential spokesperson, Daniel Bwala, described Trump’s post as “a miscommunication” and expressed hope that both leaders would “iron out” their differences if they meet. He insisted that “a data-driven assessment” rather than “isolated reports and social media videos” should guide international conclusions.Bwala added that any military action “would only happen if it is a joint action with the Nigerian government”, reaffirming Nigeria’s sovereignty.Still, concerns are mounting that Trump’s remarks could affect bilateral relations, particularly aid and sales of arms, or be exploited by secessionist groups such as the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, which is already lobbying in Washington. More

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      Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year – report

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      The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires has soared by $698bn in the past year, according to a new report from Oxfam America published on Monday on the growing wealth divide.The report warns that Trump administration policies risk driving US inequality to new heights, but points out that both Republican and Democratic administrations have exacerbated the US’s growing wealth gap.Using Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022, researchers also calculated that the top 1% of households gained 101 times more wealth than the median household during that time span and 987 times the wealth of a household at the bottom 20th percentile of income. This translated to a gain of $8.35m per household for the top 1% of households, compared with $83,000 for the average household during that 33-year period.Meanwhile, over 40% of the US population, including nearly 50% of children, are considered low-income, with family earnings that are less than 200% of the national poverty line.When pitting the US against 38 other higher-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US has the highest rate of relative poverty, second-highest rate of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second-lowest life expectancy rate.“Inequality is a policy choice,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “These comparisons show us that we can make very different choices when it comes to poverty and inequality in our society.”The report outlines the way that systems in the US, including the tax code, social safety nets, and worker’s rights and protections, have been slowly dismantled, allowing concentrated wealth to turn into concentrated power.Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill”, passed by Congress in May, has been one of the “single largest transfers of wealth upwards in decades”, according to the report, by cutting tax for the wealthy and corporations.But over the last few decades, Republicans have not acted alone.“Policymakers have been choosing inequality, and those choices have had bipartisan support,” Riddell said. “Policy reforms over the last 40 years, from cuts to taxes and the social safety net, to labor issues and beyond, really had the backing of both parties.”Policy recommendations outlined in the report fall into four categories: rebalancing power through campaign finance reform and antitrust policy; using the tax system to reduce inequality through taxes on the wealthy and corporations; strengthening the social safety net; and protecting unions.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThese solutions can be tricky to carry out politically because of long-term stigmatization, particularly of social safety nets and taxation. The report refers to the concept of the “welfare queen” popularized during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, while taxation has always been seen as repressive for all rather than as a tool for addressing inequality.“What’s really needed is a different kind of politics,” Riddell said. “One that’s focused on delivering for ordinary people by really rapidly reducing inequality. There are sensible, proven reforms that could go a long way to reversing the really troubling trends we see.”The report features interviews with community leaders who are actively working to reduce inequality, even as progress has seemingly stalled on the national stage. In one interview in the report, union representatives for United Workers Maryland said the current moment seems ripe with opportunity because many Americans are starting to see how the current set-up isn’t working for them, but only for the people at the very top.“I think it’s brilliant that they see this as an opportunity,” Riddell said. “I love thinking about this moment as an opportunity to look around us and realize our broader power.” More

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      Trump says Maduro’s days are numbered but ‘doubts’ US will go to war with Venezuela

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      Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about potential US intervention in Venezuela, playing down concerns of imminent war against the South American nation but saying its leader Nicolás Maduro’s days were numbered.The president’s remarks, made during a CBS interview released on Sunday, come as the US amasses military units in the Caribbean and has conducted multiple strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels, killing dozens.Asked during the 60 Minutes program if the US was going to war against Venezuela, Trump said: “I doubt it. I don’t think so.” However, when asked if Maduro’s days as president were numbered, he replied: “I would say yeah. I think so, yeah.”Maduro, who faces indictment on drug charges in the US, has accused Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to seize Venezuelan oil.More than 15 US strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific have killed at least 65 people in recent weeks, with the latest taking place on Saturday, prompting criticism from governments in the region.Washington has yet to make public any evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the US.In the same interview, Trump alleged countries including Russia and China had conducted underground nuclear tests unknown to the public, and that the US would test “like other countries do”.“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” he told 60 Minutes.“I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” he said, adding North Korea and Pakistan to the list of nations allegedly testing their arsenals.Confusion has surrounded Trump’s order that the US begin testing, particularly if he meant conducting the country’s first nuclear explosion since 1992.Trump first made his surprise announcement in a social media post on Thursday, minutes before entering a summit with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, in South Korea, saying he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis”.The announcement came after Russia said it had tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, and a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.Asked directly if he planned for the US to detonate a nuclear weapon for the first time in more than three decades, Trump told CBS: “I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes.”No country other than North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear detonation for decades. Russia and China have not carried out such tests since 1990 and 1996, respectively.Pressed on the topic, Trump said: “They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration.”However, Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, on Sunday downplayed any possible tests by the US, telling Fox News on Sunday: “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions.”The US has been a signatory since 1996 to the comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty, which bans all atomic test explosions, whether for military or civilian purposes.Other topics addressed in the interview included:

      Trump said he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats to reopen the government, making clear that he has no plans to negotiate as the government shutdown will soon enter its sixth week.

      Asked to clarify whether he would try to run for a third term, which is barred by the constitution, Trump said: “I don’t even think about it,”

      Trump said immigration enforcement officials hadn’t gone far enough in deporting people who were in the country without legal authorisation.
      With Agence France-Presse More

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      Trump news at a glance: Republicans insist Trump is ‘desperate’ to resolve shutdown as Snap payments end

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      Republicans are insisting that Donald Trump is “desperate” to end the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day.The comments by the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, come as the US president delays food assistance funding for millions of low-income Americans but steams ahead with construction of his $300m gilded White House ballroom.Johnson presented Trump as a man angry and desperate to break the impasse so as to ease mounting pain for ordinary Americans. “He’s just desperate for the government to open, he’s tried everything he can,” Johnson said, adding that Trump was a “big-hearted president, he wants everybody to get their services”.Yet Trump continues to exert an iron grip on the shutdown, resisting political and even federal court pressure to ease the burden on vulnerable Americans while protesting that he has no power to end the impasse.Here are the day’s key Trump administration stories at a glance.Johnson claims ‘big-hearted’ Trump wants to reopen US governmentHouse speaker Mike Johnson’s claims that Donald Trump is desperate to reopen the US government come two days after the president hosted a lavish, Great Gatsby-themed soiree at Mar-a-Lago.Two federal court judges ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use $5bn in contingency funds to keep paying food assistance Snap benefits for up to 42 million low-income Americans. The payments stopped on Saturday under the shutdown, posing the risk of hunger for millions of people.Read the full storyFBI fires top official amid Patel’s outrage at reports of agency jet useA top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group, which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became FBI director in February.Read the full storyThree killed in US military strike on alleged drug vessel in CaribbeanThe US military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said.He said on Saturday the vessel was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. Three people were killed in the strike, he said.It is at least the 15th such strike carried out by the US military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.Read the full storyICE spoils celebrations in ChicagoImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Chicago mean that celebrations of Halloween, All Saints Day on 1 November and Día de los Muertos have been muted in the neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village.“Clearly it’s because of ICE,” said resident Cecilia Romero. Referring to how JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, had unsuccessfully requested that the Trump administration pause immigration enforcement operations for the Halloween weekend that began Friday, Romero added: “I think people are just scared. It’s just kind of sad that kids are not allowed to have fun on a day where they should be [kids].”Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      California voters appear poised to approve a redistricting measure placed on the ballot in August by Democrats and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who have cast it as a chance to check Trump’s power.

      As the US president builds his palace, Americans are going hungry, writes David Smith.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened on 1 November. More

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      FBI fires top official amid Kash Patel’s outrage over reports of agency jet use

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      A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became the second Trump administration’s FBI director in February.Bloomberg Law, which broke the story, said that three unnamed sources had expressed astonishment at the sacking given that Patel’s flight schedules were fully public and trackable on websites. A day after her performance, Patel himself had reposted photos showing him together with his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, on his X account.According to Bloomberg, Patel had become furious over stories published after the event about his use of the FBI jet to go on the date with Wilkins. Soon after, Palmer had been told he could resign instantly or be fired.The dismissal was made official on Friday.Flight logs publicly trackable on Flight Aware for Patel’s plane, N708JH, show that the jet landed at an airport near Penn State on 25 October. That evening Wilkins performed at a Real American Freestyle wrestling event, and the flight logs show Patel’s FBI plane later flying to Nashville.Records for the movements of the jet N708JH were blocked on Flight Aware as of Sunday. A search for the government jet generates a message saying that it is “not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator”.On Sunday, Patel posted a lengthy statement on his X account in which he said he refused to be “distracted by baseless rumors or the noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news”. He said it was a “disgrace” to go after “people doing great work, my personal life, or those around me”, reserving his harshest words for what he called the “disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis – a true patriot and the woman I’m proud to call my partner in life”.He also fueled further speculation by attacking “our supposed allies” whom he lambasted for “staying silent”, though he did not name names. “Your silence is louder than the clickbait haters,” he said.In an earlier statement his spokesperson, Ben Williamson, pointed out that the FBI director is required under government rules to pay some reimbursement for his private jet travel and claimed Patel had “significantly limited” personal trips compared with his predecessors Chris Wray and James Comey. “He’s allowed to take personal time on occasion to see family, friends or his longtime girlfriend,” the spokesman said.As the Daily Beast has noted, Patel was highly critical of Wray’s use of government jets for personal use when Wray was director of the bureau. In 2023, Patel scathingly dubbed Wray “#GovernmentGangster” and accused him of “jetting off on out (sic) tax payer dollars while dodging accountability for the implosion of the FBI on his watch”.Palmer’s dismissal makes him the third head of the FBI critical incident response group to be ditched under Patel. Wes Wheeler was fired in March, and Brian Driscoll in August.Driscoll is now suing the Trump administration for unfair dismissal claiming he was targeted for showing lack of loyalty to the president.Patel’s travel on a government jet for a date night was first spotted by Kyle Seraphin, a former FBI agent who has become a thorn in the side of the Trump administration. His podcast is caustically critical of the current leadership of the FBI.“We’re in the middle of government shutdown … and this guy is jetting off to hang out with his girlfriend in Nashville on our dime?” Seraphin said in a recent podcast.The government shutdown to which Seraphin alluded had entered its 32nd day.In a separate unflattering development for him, Patel is facing heat from a defense lawyer in Michigan who is objecting to the FBI director’s allegations Friday that five young men had been arrested as they planned a Halloween terror attack. The lawyer, Amir Makled, who represents one of the five individuals, said that having reviewed the case he was convinced no such terror event had been in the pipeline.Makled told Associated Press that the FBI director’s claims were “hysteria and fearmongering”. The five men were aged 16 to 20 – and were US citizens and gamers.“I don’t believe that there’s anything illegal about any of the activity they were doing,” he said. More

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      Pall of ICE spoils weekend celebrations in Chicago: ‘I think people are just scared’

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      For 40-year-old Cecilia Romero, the days before and after Halloween are not just any other holiday. It’s the time of year when she can take her kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood she’s from – and a connection to her own past when she would go celebrate as a little girl.She remembers years of streets brimming with families and children, with street vendors selling food and cempasúchil, the marigolds that loved ones place on altars for Day of the Dead – or Día de los Muertos – from 1 to 2 November.But this year, things are much, much different – because of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids that have been happening in and around Chicago since early September.“Clearly, it’s because of ICE,” Romero said. Referring to how JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor, had unsuccessfully requested that the Trump administration pause immigration enforcement operations for the Halloween weekend which began Friday, she added: “I think people are just scared. It’s just kind of sad that kids are not allowed to have fun on a day where they should be [kids].”In the Chicago neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village, Halloween, All Saints Day on 1 November, and Día de los Muertos collectively play an important part in bringing the community together to celebrate, mourn and pray as a whole. This year, amid ICE enforcement and raids, the celebrations were a lot more muted. At any point throughout years past, the corridors of 18th Street in Pilsen and 26th Street in Little Village would be packed with people. Those same corridors were much more empty for hours at a time when the Halloween weekend began Friday on this occasion.Prior to Pritzker’s plea to let families celebrate Halloween, federal agents released pepper spray on 25 October in Old Irving Park in an incident that led to the cancellation of a Halloween parade. On Friday, ICE operations in Evanston got out of control, according to neighbors, close to Chute middle school. Federal agents used pepper spray and arrested three US citizens, according to NBC 5 Chicago, on allegations of “violence against law enforcement”.Marco DeSantiago, 49, grew up on Chicago’s South Side, but has been taking his kids to Pilsen for the Halloween festivities for the last 12 years. And he said the changed tone for the revelry this time was striking.“I guess the big difference this year is you could just feel [the] sadness,” DeSantiago said. “It’s a somberness, we feel personally, I could just see [it] in people’s faces. It’s not a joyous occasion.“You’re kind of doing it to keep it going for the kids but everybody, I think, is feeling pretty sad and upset.”He said that in years past more businesses and people had their doors open to trick-or-treaters – more street vendors were on the street, and the vibe was happier and more celebratory.Instead, it felt more like a solemn occasion, he said, adding: “It’s definitely a different feeling.”View image in fullscreenAt nearby soccer fields owned by the Catholic church and school St Procopius, an annual Día de los Muertos celebration featured the usual elaborately decorated altars with photos of deceased loved ones. The tributes had their favorite snacks and items they owned – rosaries or bags, or even Pond’s face cream, and the iconic orange marigolds, in some cases substituted for a plastic alternative, along with votive candles, decorated skulls, as well as many depictions of the Virgin Mary.Yet a lower attendance than usual was obvious to those who went.“It would be packed from the afternoon till the end, like there will be people coming in and out and so you can definitely see a change or a shift – but I don’t think that has to do with the [lack of] motivation or the love for the holiday,” said Isabel Hernández, 27, who was sitting next to an intricate altar for her grandmother, Lorenza Hernández. “I think it’s more so part of the fear right now of … what’s going on in the city, in the country.”Hernández feels particularly sad for people who might be mourning a recent loss – but, due to the ICE raids, might not feel comfortable or safe enough to be able to celebrate with others or partake in the traditions.“I don’t think the grieving is going to ever just go away, but I think you just have to heal with time … or be able to control it some more,” she said. “I can’t even imagine, for those that just recently lost someone … what they’re experiencing seeing people celebrating and then not being able to celebrate with others. I think that’s really hard.”Hernández’s mom, Cecilia, said that it was important for her and her loved ones to keep going with their traditional celebrations despite the pervading sadness.“One of the questions was like, ‘Should we have this event take place?’” Cecilia, 52, said. “For me personally, I was like, ‘Yes, let’s have it,’ because we don’t want what’s happening out there with ICE [to] take that away from us.”For Romero, she just wants to continue celebrating like she used to. “Hopefully, ICE will leave,” she said. “We don’t want them here. We don’t need them here. You know, our city – and I think our country – has been doing fairly well without them coming in.” More