Live updates: NYC mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa face off on debate stage

Cuomo, after attacking Mamdani for being a democratic socialist, said many Jewish voters feel his opponent is antisemitic.

“There are a lot of New Yorkers who support me — and there are a lot of Jewish New Yorkers who support me because they think you’re antisemitic,” he said. 

The moderators then asked Cuomo whether he personally felt Mamdani was antisemitic.

Asked why he lost the Democratic primary, forcing him to run as an independent, Cuomo said it was because he lacked social media prowess and he didn't campaign enough.

"I did not do enough on social media, which is a very effective medium. Now, I think the assemblyman did do a better job on TikTok and social media than I did during the campaign," he said, referring to Mamdani, before he added, "I've also increased my activity significantly, but my agenda is exactly the same."

Mamdani responded that Cuomo lost because of his lack of focus on "affordability."

The candidates sparred over how to handle prostitution after Cuomo repeatedly accused Mamdani of wanting to legalize it.

Mamdani said that prosecutors have said "prosecuting women for prostitution is something that actually leads to less safety" and that while he doesn't want to legalize prostitution, "I do not think that we should be prosecuting women who are struggling."

Cuomo responded that it’s illegal and that "you have to enforce the law," criticizing Mamdani's position as too liberal.

Sliwa's answer hemmed closer to Mamdani's: "You don't go after the women; the women are the victims," adding, "You lock up the johns."

Asked whether the candidates had ever called 311, the city's nonemergency help line, Mamdani said he called 311 for heating issues in his apartment.

Sliwa said he has called the service, saying “311 is a joke,” a reference to the Public Enemy song.

Cuomo said that he tried to do it but that his call was dropped multiple times.

The top two types of 311 calls are about noise and illegal parking, according to the city.

While Gov. Kathy Hochul has backed Mamdani, she has also said she wouldn't raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers. That could be a problem for Mamdani, who says he would pay for his plans by raising taxes on the rich and corporations.

Asked how he'd pay for his policies if Hochul didn't agree to raise taxes, Mamdani demurred, essentially arguing that he wouldn't take no for an answer and that people were wrong to count out his mayoral bid in the first place and they'd be wrong to count him out now.

Asked in a follow-up question what he would prioritize if he couldn't secure all the funding needed for his policies, Mamdani said freezing rent-stabilized apartment costs and universal child care.

During the Democratic primary debates, some of the biggest clashes between Cuomo and Mamdani were around one simple point: Mamdani's name.

But this time, it's Sliwa who is struggling to say Mamdani's first and last name, leading Mamdani to repeatedly correct him.

Asked how to make the city safer and how they would change the New York Police Department, Cuomo said he would add 5,000 police officers, put 1,500 officers in subways, raise starting salaries and add officers because the attrition rate is so high.

Sliwa said that the city needs 7,000 police officers and that their insurance was stripped from officers, who don’t have “qualified immunity.” Sliwa said he would bring back that insurance.

Mamdani touted his proposal to ensure that police officers aren’t responding and policing mental health crises by adding more mental health professionals through a Department of Community Safety.

Mamdani later said he has apologized for statements he has made about the police, including calling the department “racist.”

The debate turned to affordability roughly an hour in. The candidates were asked how much they spend for basic items.

On groceries:

Cuomo: $150

Sliwa: $175

Mamdani: $125-$150

Sliwa is dishing out criticism for both Mamdani and Cuomo — but neither are taking the bait, instead moving past his criticisms to lob more at each other.

However, both Mamdani and Cuomo have chimed in at times to say they agree with Sliwa — when he has been criticizing the third man on the stage.

Sliwa took aim at Cuomo, arguing that he wasn't tough on crime when he was governor.

"I knew Mario Cuomo; you’re no Mario Cuomo,” Sliwa said, referring to Cuomo's father, who was governor from 1983 to 1995.

Cuomo has sought to defend his record as governor tonight. When he was asked about balancing the right to protest with maintaining order as mayor, Cuomo said: "We have to provide public safety that makes New Yorkers feel safe. Demonstration is one thing; violating the law is something else."

Sliwa evoked the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo during a clash over policing, criticizing him for the state's spending $60 million on legal fees related to those allegations and other investigations related to his time in Albany.

While Cuomo again tried to brush the allegations aside as "political," Sliwa repeatedly hounded him and asked whether he thought all of the alleging harassment, including a state trooper assigned to his detail, were lying.

The candidates have talked about issues ranging from Gaza to Trump to the National Guard so far. Things may be shifting soon, as they talk about police staffing in the next question.

Cuomo and Mamdani clashed over Cuomo’s relationship with the Muslim community, with Cuomo defending his record with Muslim constituents and suggesting Mamdani's political positions don't align with his faith.

Cuomo said he is "very fond of the Muslim community, and he appeared to try to discredit Mamdani, saying, "I don’t think, in any way, the assemblyman is representative of the Muslim community, which is a vital community in New York City."

"I think he’s playing his own politics. Many of his positions don’t even follow the Muslim faith," he added.

The Mamdani campaign is fact-checking Cuomo in real time. sending an email suggesting that Cuomo lied minutes ago when he said he last spoke to Trump after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Mamdani’s campaign pointed to a New York Times article that reported that Cuomo spoke directly to Trump recently about helping Cuomo win the race for mayor. Mamdani’s campaign alleges that Cuomo sent two of his top advisers to the White House to brief Trump.

The candidates were asked what they would do if Trump sent the National Guard to New York City. Silwa, a Republican, broke with the president and said the city doesn’t need the National Guard.

"If you were going to send the National Guard, you don't need to send them to New York City. There are other cities that could desperately use their help," he said.

Although this is a mayoral debate for New York City, within the first 30 minutes of the debate, there have been several questions and references to Trump, which could bring more national attention to the race ahead of Election Day.

Mamdani has been repeatedly criticized first for defending the slogan "globalize the intifada," comments he has later distanced himself from but not fully disavowed.

Asked about it onstage, Mamdani said he has learned from Jewish New Yorkers that "this phrase evokes many painful memories, memories about bus attacks in Haifa, restaurant attacks in Jerusalem" during violence in Israel, repeating his line that he discourages the language.

Cuomo pushed back by saying Mamdani "still won't denounce 'globalize the intifada,' which means kill all Jews."

Later, Sliwa told Mamdani that "Jews don't trust you are going to be there for them when they are victims of antisemitic attacks," to which Cuomo replied: "I agree."

Mamdani said "of course" he believes Hamas should lay down its arms when he was asked whether he believes it should do so, after he faced criticism over his response to a similar question on the subject in a Fox News interview yesterday.

"Of course I believe that they should lay down their arms. I’m proud to be one of the first elected officials in the state who called for a ceasefire, and calling for a ceasefire means ceasing fire. That means all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons, and the reason that we call for that is not only for the end of the genocide, but also an unimpeded access of humanitarian aid," Mamdani said.

"I, like many New Yorkers, am hopeful that this ceasefire will hold. I’m hopeful that it is durable, I’m hopeful that it is just, and for it to be just we also have to ensure that it addresses the conditions that preceded these conditions, like occupation, like the siege and apartheid, and that is what I’m hopeful for," he added.

Pushing back against Mamdani's criticism, Cuomo accused Mamdani of not being a Democrat, noting his affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and his support for the progressive movement to protest President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza during the Democratic primary.

"You're not a Democrat, right? You're a Democratic socialist. You didn't vote for Kamala Harris, right?" Cuomo said.

Mamdani cut in, calling the charge incendiary, saying: "I said leave it blank in the presidential primary because primaries are a place to air dissent, and like many Americans, I was horrified by the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. And if you want to look for me on the ballot, you'll find me as the Democrat."

It’s striking that Sliwa, the Republican nominee, says he hasn’t spoken to Trump in years.

It underscores not only that Trump hasn't endorsed the Republican candidate in this race, in his longtime home city, he has instead sent some positive signals about Cuomo as a potential vehicle for trying to defeat Mamdani — without making any official endorsement.

Trump said Friday on "Fox and Friends," "I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly primeitime."

After Mamdani blasted Cuomo for his reaction to the Justice Department's indictment of state Attorney General Letitia James, noting that Cuomo's statement didn't mention James by name, Cuomo argued that "both sides" have weaponized the Justice Department.

"Political weaponization of the justice system is wrong; both sides do it. It's wrong when Donald Trump does it, it's wrong when they did it to Comey, it's wrong when Comey did it to Hillary, it was wrong when it happened to Tish James," he said.

Sliwa cut the tension in the room after a serious clash between Cuomo and Mamdani over Trump with a simple quip: "There are high levels of testosterone in this room."

The candidates were asked how they would handle Trump.

Mamdani said that on his first official call with Trump, he’s willing to work with him on lowering the cost of living for New Yorkers.

Cuomo said that he hasn’t spoken to Trump but that they worked together every day during the Covid pandemic. He said he would fight every step of the way if Trump went after New York.

Pushing back against Cuomo's attacks on his relative inexperience in political office, Mamdani evoked the accusations that Cuomo's administration undercounted nursing home deaths during the Covid pandemic.

“If we have a health pandemic, why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their death in nursing homes? That’s the kind of experience that’s on offer here today. What I don’t have in experience I make up for in integrity, and what you don’t have in integrity you could never make up for in experience," Mamdani said.

Cuomo argued that "what you said was false" and that while "people died during Covid and my heart breaks for everyone that died in this state and across the nation," the allegations are a "political issue."

Mamdani defended his managerial experience when he was asked about his readiness to lead as mayor.

"I have the experience of having served in the New York State Assembly for five years and watching a broken political system, the experience of seeing a governor in Andrew Cuomo who would rather have served his billionaire donors then the working-class New Yorkers who voted for him," Mamdani said.

The first major question of the debate went to Cuomo, who was asked to reconcile with his 2021 resignation after multiple sexual harassment allegations emerged.

While he apologized at the time, Cuomo argued that the state attorney general's report, which detailed the accusations, was "political" and that there was "nothing" to the allegations.

The investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James' office found that Cuomo sexually harassed almost a dozen women, including his employees, and violated laws. Cuomo has apologized for making people uncomfortable, but he said at the time, "I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances."

Even some plugged-in politicos may not recognize Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa — because he is, in his own words, "without [his] iconic red beret."

The beret has been one of the staples of Sliwa's wardrobe for decades, but he said he wouldn't wear it today "because I'm talking to the people of New York about the really serious issues."

As Mamdani and Cuomo (and Republican Curtis Sliwa) take the stage in just a few minutes for tonight's debate, a look back at the past debates in the race shows how the two main candidates have positioned themselves as diametric opposites.

The two men regularly evoke each other as foils — Cuomo panning Mamdani as an inexperienced radical leading his party in the wrong direction and Mamdani framing Cuomo as a scandal-prone, entrenched power he has staked his campaign on toppling.

And some of the most memorable moments from the Democratic primary debates (back when Cuomo was running as a Democrat) were during clashes between the two men.

The New York mayoral debate has kicked off.

Where they stand was decided on a Zoom call: Mamdani is on the right, Sliwa in the middle and Cuomo on the left.

Mamdani arrives with a raucous band of supporters walking from Trump Tower all the way to 30 Rock, building momentum all the way as supporters joined for a grand arrival.

Cuomo arrived to a more subdued group of supporters outside NBC headquarters.

Multiple GOP congressional offices earlier this year received American flags with “optical illusion” swastikas embedded in them, two Republican sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The news comes one day after Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, called the flag with the swastika “vile” and “deeply inappropriate” after tin was seen in one of his staffers’ offices in the background of a meeting. 

One of the sources, whose office received a flag back in January, said it was initially difficult to see the flag’s swastika with the naked eye, calling it an “optical illusion.” But once people discovered the swastika in the center of the flag, they threw it out, the source said.

Read the full story here.

Trump announced two policy changes today aimed at making in vitro fertilization more affordable — a long-awaited follow-up to his pledges to require health insurers to cover IVF services and to issue an executive order aimed at lowering the cost of fertility treatments.

However, the announcement was not a new rule that insurers must cover IVF. Rather, the Trump administration said the White House has negotiated with two specialty pharmacies and a drug manufacturer to lower the cost of a commonly prescribed fertility drug that stimulates the ovaries to produce eggs.

In addition, the administration announced forthcoming guidance from the Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services departments that will help employers offer fertility benefits outside of major medical health insurance plans, the way they offer dental, vision or life insurance.

Read the full story here.

The Democratic Party’s ongoing reckoning is fueling more primaries against longtime lawmakers, new fundraising reports show — the latest in a string of signs that some veteran Democrats next year may face their toughest challenges yet as the party grapples with generational and ideological divides.

Fourteen House Democratic incumbents face primary challengers who raised $100,000 or more in the most recent fundraising quarter, with nine also outraised by their primary opponents. The number includes some challengers who are pouring their own money into campaigns against entrenched incumbents, seeing the possibility of rare political opportunities.

It’s rare for a sitting House member to lose a primary. Just four of the hundreds who ran for re-election last year — two Democrats and two Republicans — lost their bids for renomination.

But the angst within the Democratic Party about its direction is providing more financial fuel for primary challengers than in recent years. Just five House Democrats faced primary challengers who raised over $100,000 at this point in the 2024 election cycle, according to a review of campaign finance filings from October 2023.

Read the full story here.

Former intelligence analysts accustomed to tracking autocratic countries abroad have warned in a new report that American democracy is in decline and in jeopardy if current trends continue.

The assessment, titled “Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline,” is written in the detached language typically used in spy agency reports on foreign states. 

 "We assess with high confidence that democratic backsliding in the United States is accelerating, characterized by a consolidation of executive power, erosion of institutional checks and balances, and deliberate weakening of civil service protections and oversight mechanisms,” it says.

The cumulative effect of an assertion of presidential power at the expense of other branches of government and independent institutions places the country on a trajectory toward “competitive authoritarianism,” the analysts wrote.

Trump said U.S. forces would not be involved in going into Gaza after he threatened on social media earlier today "to go in and kill" Hamas.

“No, I didn’t say who would go in, but somebody would go in. It’s not going to be us, we won’t have to," Trump said when he was asked in the Oval Office about the Truth Social post.

"There are people very close, very nearby, that will go and they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices," he added.

Trump had warned that if Hamas "continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them," amid reporting that Hamas has killed members of a Palestinian group in Gaza in recent days.

A federal grand jury indicted former national security adviser John Bolton today, a senior Justice Department official said.

Bolton is the third person to be hit with federal charges in the last month after Trump called for their prosecution.

Bolton was indicted in federal court in Maryland, where he lives and where prosecutors have been investigating whether he improperly retained classified materials after his acrimonious departure from the first Trump administration.

The two other prominent Trump political adversaries to face charges in recent weeks are former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has maintained that Bolton handled records appropriately.

Read the full story here.

A federal appeals court today ruled that the National Guard cannot be deployed in Illinois, denying the Trump administration's bid to pause a lower court's order that halted the deployment.

The administration "has not demonstrated that it is likely to succeed" on its claim that it's necessary to deploy hundreds of members of the National Guard in the state, the ruling by a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Trump directed guard members to be deployed in Illinois in late September, saying they were needed to combat crime and keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities safe.

Three labor unions represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the Trump administration today over a program that is searching the social media posts of visa holders, arguing that the practice violates the First Amendment rights of people legally in the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, asks a judge to block the administration from engaging in “viewpoint-based investigation and surveillance.” It also asks for a court order to purge any records created under the administration’s program.

The Trump administration has said it is scouring social media for posts it deems hostile or threatening and then using that information as a basis to revoke some people’s visas. Trump announced the basis for the policy in January in an executive order targeting noncitizens in the country who “bear hostile attitudes” or support “threats to our national security,” and the Department of Homeland Security said in April it was screening foreign nationals’ social media activity for antisemitism.

Read the full story here.

In a post on X, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the news that Trump plans to meet with Putin.

"The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world. We are ready!" he wrote.

The Chamber of Commerce, the country's biggest business lobby, says it has sued the Trump administration over a $100,000 fee it imposed on new applications for a popular kind of foreign worker visa, called the H-1B.

Neil Brady, the chamber's chief policy officer, said the new fee would "make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses" to use the program.

He added that Congress created the visa "to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent."

The lawsuit says the administration "overrides provisions" of federal immigration laws.

Trump warned Hamas on Truth Social this afternoon not to continue killing people in Gaza, threatening its militants that they will be targeted if they don't stop.

"If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump wrote.

It was unclear whether he meant he would pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deploy Israel Defense Forces to kill members of Hamas or whether the United States would send troops into Gaza. Hamas has reportedly killed members of a Palestinian clan in Gaza over the last few days.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor today that he plans to participate in the No Kings protests Saturday.

"This weekend’s No Kings rallies will be an affirmation about what America is all about," he said. "We are Democracy in America, we have no kings, despite the fact that Trump has even said he wants to become one and is acting in ways that are a threat to our democracy."

He added: "I will join the marchers to celebrate what makes this country so great, and I say to my fellow citizens, do not let Donald Trump or Republicans intimidate you into silence. That’s what they want to do. They’re afraid of the truth."

Schumer's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about which rally he plans to attend.

Multiple Senate Democrats rejected one of the potential off-ramps from a shutdown: side-by-side votes to reopen the government and temporarily extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies, with a commitment to address a longer-term solution by a specified date.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, of Michigan, one of the few Senate Democrats who represent a Trump-won state, poured cold water on the idea, saying she doesn’t trust Republicans to make good on their assurances.

“If we trusted some future unknown date, I got a bridge I gotta sell people,” she told reporters.

Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Thursday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary, for a second round of in-person talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump’s comments came after a phone call with the Russian leader and a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to visit the White House.

Trump said he and Putin “agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week,” though the location has not been determined. The U.S. delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after which Trump and Putin will meet, he said.

“President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary, to see if we can bring this ‘inglorious’ War, between Russia and Ukraine, to an end,” Trump wrote.

Read the full story here.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters today that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has not offered a proposal to him that would end the government shutdown.

“Leader Thune has not come to me with any proposal at this point," Schumer said while speaking to the press with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Thune had said in an interview on MSNBC this morning that he had offered Democrats a “guarantee” on holding a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies, which they have demanded must be attached to the government spending bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview on MSNBC this morning that he has offered Democrats a "guarantee" on holding a vote on expiring Obamacare subsidies — key sticking point in the government shutdown talks.

"I've said, 'If you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain,'" Thune said when asked what assurances he could offer Democrats that they would get a negotiation on the subsidies. "At some point Democrats have to take 'yes' for an answer."

Pressed again on whether he was guaranteeing Democrats that they would have chance to negotiate the subsidies, Thune said, "There is a path forward I believe, but it has to include reforms."

"Can I guarantee an outcome? No," he added. "And that's what people want to see, 'guarantee us that this is going to pass.' I can't guarantee it's going to pass; I can guarantee you that there will be a process, and you will get a vote."

Thune has emphasized that Republicans need five Senate Democrats to join Republicans to advance the House-passed continuing resolution, which the chamber has failed to do numerous votes since the shutdown began.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fell to the ground on the way to votes this morning while volunteers for the Sunrise Movement asked him questions about deportations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The volunteers did not appear to touch McConnell, who seemed to have tripped over himself. After he got back up, McConnell smiled and waved to the protesters before walking off, holding onto his detail's arm.

McConnell has fallen before, one time resulting in him using a wheelchair. 

NBC is out to McConnell’s office for comment. 

The Senate voted for a 10th time to reject the House-passed short-term government spending bill, which is backed by Republicans.

The Senate vote was 51-45, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the measure.

The Senate does not have plans to vote on the bill again this week, meaning the shutdown is likely to extend into next week. The House, meanwhile, is not in session this week for votes.

Lawmakers have not indicated they are any closer to an agreement to end the shutdown, which is now in its 16th day.

A federal grand jury is expected to meet this afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland, where federal prosecutors are anticipated to present evidence against former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, two sources familiar with the investigation said.

The grand jury has traditionally met in the Maryland’s federal district court on Thursdays, an NBC News review of court records shows.

Two federal officials with knowledge of the investigation told NBC News last week that Bolton was expected to be charged with federal crimes soon.

The FBI searched Bolton’s home and office in August as part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records,” a source familiar with the matter said at the time.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was speaking "now" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion," Trump said in the post. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

The call comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Trump at the White House tomorrow.

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., yesterday told NBC10 in Philadelphia that he is "not supportive" of the Trump administration's move to lay off thousands of federal government workers during the ongoing federal government shutdown.

"It's not something I'm supportive of," Mackenzie said while visiting air traffic controllers who are working without pay at Lehigh Valley International Airport.

"I think it’s much more important to have a long-term plan and vision for the government where you are appropriately staffing each of these different departments and agencies with people who are necessary to carry out your long-term operations," Mackenzie said, referring to the Trump administration's decision to begin mass layoffs of federal workers last week.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a billionaire, took home $1.4 million in winnings after playing blackjack at a casino in Las Vegas last year, according to a copy of his new tax filing.

Pritzker, who is seeking a third term in office and is on the 2028 shortlist, reported the earnings in his latest tax filing after he played the card game while on a vacation with his wife and some friends, a Pritzker spokesperson said Tuesday.

Read the full story here.

Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin today ahead of the planned White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tomorrow, two White House officials confirmed.

It's unclear what time the call with Putin, first reported by Axios, will take place. The White House schedule has the president attending an intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. and an Oval Office event at 3 p.m.

Trump told reporters Sunday that he “might have to speak to Russia” first before giving Ukraine access to Tomahawk missile systems, suggesting he would use the threat of deploying the long-range missiles as a bargaining chip in his bid to end Russia's invasion.

The president has expressed frustration with his inability to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and has repeatedly said that he's disappointed in Putin.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over a Louisiana redistricting case that focuses on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. NBC News’ Ellison Barber talks to NAACP President Derrick Johnson about the potential impact of the case. 

Hamas will need more time to recover hostages’ remains still in Gaza, two senior U.S. advisers have said, as Israel’s military began to prepare for the possibility of renewed fighting amid anguish and anger about delays in the return of abductees.

Hamas handed over 20 living hostages Monday, as stipulated in President Donald Trump’s plan. Nine of 28 bodies of slain hostages have so far been recovered.

Read the full story here.

Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally assured him that India would stop buying Russian oil, which has become a contentious issue in U.S.-India relations.

The president — who doubled U.S. tariffs on India to 50% in August over the oil purchases, which he said were fueling Russia’s war on Ukraine — reiterated his “great relationship” with Modi.

“I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia,” Trump told reporters yesterday. He did not specify when the purchases would stop, saying it was “a little bit of a process.”

India, a major importer of oil and gas, has not confirmed the agreement, saying that discussions about deepening energy cooperation with the U.S. were “ongoing.”

“It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. “Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.”

Former President Barack Obama is endorsing Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger in the Virginia governor’s race and starring in two new digital ads for her campaign.

“Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year,” Obama says in both ads, shared first with NBC News, which focus on the economy and abortion rights. He also says in both ads, “Every vote counts.”

Virginia is one of two states, along with New Jersey, holding governor’s races this year. One year after the 2024 election, both races will be closely watched as indicators of how voters are responding to Trump and where the political winds are blowing ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Read the full story here.

One thing is certain in New York City’s race for mayor: There’s no love lost between the top candidates, Democratic nominee and state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani and former Democratic governor-turned-independent Andrew Cuomo.

And as the two prepare to face off in their first general election debate tonight, along with Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, a review of the tapes from Mamdani and Cuomo’s two Democratic primary debates shows how they have positioned themselves in diametric opposition to each other — and as the answer for voters seeking to address the other’s shortcomings.

Read the full story here.

The Senate will vote today for a 10th time to advance the House Republicans' short-term government funding bill, which will need 60 votes and is expected to fail again.

But the Senate will also vote this afternoon on a procedural motion related to the Defense Department appropriations bill, which could start the chamber down the process of fully funding the military. That motion, which will also need 60 votes to pass, will be a key test of whether Democrats want to block even normal appropriations bills as a part of their protest to get negotiations on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies started.

If the procedural motion is approved, the Senate could pass the bill in the coming weeks, and if the House were also to pass the same version and Trump to sign it into law, the lapse in military pay during the government shutdown would cease to be an issue in negotiations to restart the government.

The Senate is expected to leave town for the weekend after the votes, meaning the government shutdown will likely last until Monday.