Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Thursday on one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice, just days after President Donald Trump called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to swiftly prosecute him and other political adversaries.
Trump celebrated the development, while Comey denied wrongdoing.
“My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either,” Comey said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the president announced sweeping new tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, upholstered furniture and heavy trucks, set to go into effect on Oct. 1.
Trump also signed an executive order that he claims will allow the popular social media platform TikTok to continue operating nationwide, while addressing the national security concerns around the app.
See previous updates here, and read the latest below:
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We're continuing our coverage of Trump's presidency and the government shutdown here:
House Democrat: ‘Law Is Very Clear’ Trump Can’t Use Shutdown For Mass Layoffs
Trump and Russ Vought, his Office of Management and Budget director, have been threatening mass firings of federal workers amid the government shutdown. But that would be plainly illegal, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Wednesday.
“As an appropriator, I know it's illegal and unconstitutional what they're talking about,” Levin said on a press call led by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
“The law is very clear on this,” continued Levin, who is an attorney and a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “A shutdown triggers furloughs, temporary furloughs, so the government declares people as either essential or as non essential, and they either are sent home on furlough or they have to work without pay. But in no event does a shutdown give the legal ability for – particularly for the budget director – to just go firing a bunch of people.”
He noted a lawsuit was just filed Tuesday in a California district court aimed at preemptively preventing Vought from moving forward with plans for mass firings during the shutdown.
The suit, brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, accuses OMB and Vought of planning for an unlawful abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.
Levin called Vought’s threats nonsense.
“All they've got is intimidation and bullying and mean-spirited garbage on social media,” said the California congressman. “That's all they got.”
Karoline Leavitt Suggests It Is ‘Refreshing’ To Have A President That Spreads Conspiracy Theories Online
Over the weekend, Trump reposted a fake Fox News clip of himself announcing a fantastical health care system using “medbeds” — an imaginary technology supposedly able to cure any ailment, regrow limbs or reverse aging. Conspiracy theorists posit that the technology exists but is being kept from the general public by a group of shadowy elites.
Asked what the president was trying to communicate, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dodged.
“I think the president saw the video, and posted it, and then took it down,” Leavitt said. (Trump later deleted his post.) “He has the right to do that. It’s his social media.”
“I think it’s refreshing that we have a president who’s so open and honest, directly himself. Many a times on Truth you are hearing direct from the president of the United States,” she added.
Vance Says He Doesn't Know Why Top Democrat Was Offended By 'The Sombrero Thing'
JD Vance appeared baffled that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) would be offended by Trump posting an AI-generated picture of the top Democrat sporting a sombrero and exaggerated handlebar mustache.
Vance appeared before reporters at the White House on Wednesday, and was asked about the president's trolling of Jeffries amid crunch talks to avert a government shutdown.
Jeffries called the video “racist,” and challenged Trump to “say it to my face.”
“On the sombrero thing,” Vance began. “Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist, and I know that he said that. But I honestly don't even know what that means. Is he a Mexican-American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?”
Vance excused Trump for “having a little bit of fun.”
The allusion to Mexican stereotypes appears to be a way to highlight a misleading Republican talking point about health care and undocumented migrants.
The People Fired Over Posting About Charlie Kirk Are Fighting Back
Following the murder of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, conservative activists and politicians hunted down social media posts by ordinary people who expressed their negative feelings about Kirk. The goal? To get them fired from their jobs. And to a large extent, it worked. But a growing number of those fired in the wake of this campaign are fighting back with lawsuits challenging their removals as a violation of their free speech rights.
“We have been inundated with requests for help,” said Will Creeley, legal director for The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech nonprofit that provides legal aid to people whose civil rights have been violated.
Read more here.
'Shutdown Clock' Blaming Democrats Appears On White House Website
The Trump administration ramped up the shutdown blame-game Wednesday by featuring a ticking clock on the White House website with a message pointing a finger at Democrats for the stalemate.
The page includes a digital clock displaying how long the federal government has been shut down – 12 hours, 34 minutes and 45 seconds at the time of writing – above the words “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government.”
The page on the site also claims “Americans Don’t Agree with Democrats’ Actions,” and provides a list of statements from organizations opposed to the shutdown.
Aside from a few conservative groups, such as Log Cabin Republicans, few of them explicitly hold the Democrats responsible.
A headline linking to the clock sits at the top of the White House website's front page, which also directs visitors to a video of Democrats "in their own words."
The partisan takeover of the White House website will likely raise more questions about taxpayers' dollars being used for political ends.
Federal workers received an email from their leaders late Tuesday blaming Democrats in Congress for the shutdown.
The Democrats say they back a shutdown to safeguard health care for millions of Americans, with Republicans countering with wildly misleading claims about helping "illegal aliens."
Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments On Trump's Bid To Fire Fed Governor
Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook will stay in her role for now after President Donald Trump attempted to fire her in January after the Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it wants to hear oral arguments in her case in January.
Read more here.
Trump Admin Says $18 Billion Hold For New York City's Subway Projects Is Because Of 'DEI'
The Trump administration said it's putting $18 billion in funding for New York City subway projects on hold over diversity initiatives, despite the more likely case that the hold is happening because of a government shutdown.
White House budget director Russ Vought announced the hold on Wednesday, and in a social media post blamed "DEI principles."
"Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles," Vought posted.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to starve New York City of federal funding should Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani win the mayoral election.
“Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises,” Trump posted on his social media account, Truth Social. "“He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?"
While Vought blamed Wednesday's funding hold on diversity initiatives, a source told the Associated Press that the real reason for the hold is due to the government shutdown, which has left workers on the projects furloughed.
Federal Workers Receive Emails Blaming Democrats For Government Shutdown
Workers at several federal agencies received an email from their leaders late Tuesday blaming Democrats in Congress for the government shutdown — a clear use of government resources toward political ends by the Trump administration.
“President Trump opposes a government shutdown, and strongly supports the enactment of H.R. 5371, which is a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government through November 21,” the email stated, according to a copy provided to HuffPost.
Vance Uses Misleading Claim To Blame Dems For Shutdown
Appearing on “CBS Mornings” Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance used a misleading, much-used talking point about immigrants to blame the Democrats for the federal government shutdown.
The vice president claimed it was a “far-left” faction of Senate Democrats who have “decided to shut down the people's government.”
Vance said Democrats “wanted to give a massive amount of taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens” for health care, a claim that has been debunked.
Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for federally funded health benefits, including Medicare and Medicaid, and Democrats are only looking to restore health care for “lawfully present” authorized migrants.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has accused Vance of pushing “an outright lie.”
Nonetheless, Vance accused Democrats of using a “hostage taking tactic” while also urging both parties to get together to “fix the health care problem and work together for a change.”