Trump admin live updates: Government shutdown in 6th day as GOP, Democratic leaders remain in standoff

Trump joined a telephone rally tonight for Matt Van Epps, a candidate in tomorrow’s GOP primary to determine the Republican nominee for a December special election for a House seat in a deep-red Tennessee district.

Trump reaffirmed his endorsement for Van Epps on the call, boasting the candidate's résumé as a former Army helicopter pilot who's now a lieutenant colonel in the Tennessee National Guard.

He also said Van Epps supported his “campaign to restore law and order to our cities and towns.” Trump recently established a task force to mobilize the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee.

“Right now, we’re in Memphis. We’re going to Chicago, where you have rampant crime, even though you have a governor that says, ‘everything is wonderful,’” Trump said of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whose state sued the administration today to prevent the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Chicago.

A second vote tonight, to consider the House-passed Republican funding bill, failed in the Senate. That means the shutdown will extend into tomorrow.

The procedural motion failed 52-42. It needed 60 votes to advance. Three Democrats voted for it, and one Republican voted against it. Five senators missed the vote.

When the Senate last voted on the measure, on Friday, three senators in the Democratic caucus — Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King — joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against it. Those senators voted the same way tonight.

It's the fifth time the Senate has rejected the measure. The so-called clean bill would fund the government through Nov. 21.

The Senate voted down a procedural motion to move forward with a Democratic alternative to the House-passed GOP stopgap funding bill.

The measure failed along party lines, 45-50. It needed 60 votes to pass. 

This is the fifth time the Senate has rejected the measure.

The vote, had it succeeded, would have started consideration of a bill to fund the government through Oct. 31, including an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, money to offset Medicaid cuts from Trump's Big Beautiful Bill and funding for lawmaker security.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters that neither he nor Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had “heard a word” from the White House since their Oval Office meeting last week.

He said he doesn't know of any Democrat who has spoken to Trump about reopening the government.

“Both House and Senate Democrats are clear, we’ll sit down anytime, anyplace, with anyone from your administration, including the president, to get a resolution here with respect to the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which need to be extended right now, as well as dealing with and addressing the Republican health care crisis that is devastating everyday Americans all across the country,” Jeffries said.

Utah lawmakers passed new congressional district lines today that seek to protect the state’s all-Republican delegation after a court ordered them to draw a new map ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Under the proposed map, Salt Lake County — the most Democratic part of Utah — would be split into two districts, rather than divided among the current four. Those two districts are expected to still lean Republican, but they could be more competitive for Democrats, while the two others in the state would remain solidly GOP.

The map, which a redistricting committee advanced this morning before the full Legislature passed it as part of special session later in the day, will still need to be signed by GOP Gov. Spence Cox and approved by the district court that demanded new lines.

The court ruled in August that the state must follow a 2018 ballot measure passed by voters, which prohibited gerrymandering; required lawmakers to keep counties, cities and communities of interest together whenever possible; and draw compact districts.

Read the full story here.

Trump suggested this afternoon that he would be open to making a deal with Democrats on a funding bill to reopen the government, without specifying under what terms or with what concessions such an agreement could be made.

“We are speaking with the Democrats, and some very good things could happen with respect to health care,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Asked whether he would be willing to make a deal with Democrats on Affordable Care Act subsidies, Trump responded: "If we made the right deal, I’d make a deal."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded by discussing health care funding that Democrats have been pushing for, saying, "Trump’s claim isn’t true — but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table."

Trump said this afternoon that he plans to speak with the Justice Department about the Supreme Court's decision to reject an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted on child sex-trafficking charges in 2022.

Asked in the Oval Office whether he would consider a pardon for Maxwell, Trump told reporters: "I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look."

Asked to confirm whether he was considering such an action, Trump responded: "I wouldn’t consider it or not consider. I don’t know anything about it."

He also was asked why Maxwell would be considered at all as a candidate for clemency. “I don’t know,” Trump said. “I mean, I’d have to speak to the DOJ. I’ll look at it.”

Epstein survivors last month urged Trump to rule out a pardon for Maxwell and release documents related to Epstein’s case.

Illinois officials and the lawsuit they filed to block the Trump administration's deployment of the National Guard are pointing to Trump's remarks to the military last week to push back against his claim that he's only concerned about crime in the city.

"The federal government has been extremely clear that they’re taking this action not to assist Illinois and local officials but to use Chicago as a training ground for the military to fight what they dub the war from within," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at a news conference with Gov. JB Pritzker and other elected officials.

The suit brought by Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office refers to the remarks, as well, saying Trump told the military leaders "they must prioritize 'defending the homeland' against the 'invasion from within' in American cities run by 'radical-left Democrats,' specifically including Chicago. He stated his intention to use our neighborhoods 'as training grounds for our military.'"

In his unusual address to the nation's military leaders last week, Trump said he'd told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That's a big city with an incompetent governor, stupid governor.”

Israel and Hamas are set to hammer out a peace plan that would require Hamas to free all 48 of its remaining hostages, 20 of them presumed to be still alive, and to leave power, while Israel would stop the war and over time withdraw from most of Gaza. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports for "TODAY."

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said today he doesn't want the National Guard in his state because the Trump administration's safety efforts to date have made Chicago less safe.

"Our people have been subjected to violence, intimidation and harassment" since Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection surged federal law enforcement into the city last month, Pritzker told reporters, accusing the government of zip-tying children and targeting people because of the color of their skin, including U.S. citizens.

"They have struck fear in our communities, including notably, fear in the hearts of U.S. citizens. Trump and the thuggery his agents have brought have actively made us less safe," Pritzker said.

Former FBI Director James Comey is no longer scheduled for a deposition with the House Oversight Committee as part of its Jeffrey Epstein investigation after Comey submitted a letter saying he has no relevant “knowledge and information” about the matter. 

In his letter to committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., Comey writes: “At no time during my service at the Department of Justice or the FBI do I recall any information or conversations that related to Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.” 

The letter, provided to NBC News by a spokesperson for the committee, is subject to 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which fines and/or imprisons a person who “knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up” false statements.

The committee withdrew its subpoena and canceled the deposition with Comey, which was originally planned for tomorrow. The committee did the same last week with former Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on ABC’s "The View" this morning that electing his Democratic primary opponent for New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, would be a "gift" to Trump.

"It's good for Donald Trump because it's the excuse he needs to take over New York, which he has said he will do," Cuomo said.

"Going into the midterms, [Trump] will take a picture of Mamdani around the country and say: 'Here’s what happened to the Democrats. They are now communists. They hate the police, they legalized prostitution, legalized drugs,'" Cuomo warned.

The Mamdani campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cuomo framed himself instead as the "last person" Trump wants as mayor, saying he and Trump "fought on a daily basis" during the pandemic.

Trump said on Truth Social that medium- and heavy-duty trucks imported into the United States will be subject to a 25% tariff starting Nov. 1.

Trump had said the tariff would take effect last Wednesday, but that date came and went without the White House's releasing any executive orders to institute the levy.

Mexico, a top-three U.S. trading partner, is the largest exporter of such trucks to the United States.

Trump also planned a 100% tariff on pharmaceutical imports starting last Wednesday, but the White House said later that it would "begin preparing" the tariff on that date, rather than imposing it.

During her news briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Trump wants to take over Democratic-led cities with the military or National Guard, saying that Democratic mayors shouldn't be concerned about a long-term military or National Guard presence in their cities.

"You guys are framing this like the president wants to take over the American cities with the military," Leavitt said. "The president wants to help these local leaders who have been completely ineffective in securing their own cities, and we have already seen there’s a positive formula for that."

Leavitt pointed to the National Guard deployment in Washington as a key example of the crime-fighting effort.

"The murder rate has declined significantly," Leavitt said. "Our streets are safer. People who live here feel safer — all of you in this room, I know you do, you just won’t admit it," Leavitt said. "It’s a proven system that works, and the president wants to make America city safe again. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the briefing that the investigation into the far-left, decentralized antifa movement and the financial backing of it and associated groups is taking place across the administration.

"The FBI is working on it, alongside the White House's Homeland Security Task Force," she said. "We have our intelligence community looking into this as well, and even the secretary of treasury is involved with these matters, since they are financial in nature, and we will continue to get to the bottom of who is funding these organizations in this organized anarchy against our country and our government."

At the beginning of the briefing, Leavitt warned that if the Senate fails to reopen the government tonight, key federal food assistance programs for low-income households and pregnant women will run out of money.

"The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children will run out of federal money very soon," Leavitt said. "It can be easily fully funded if Democrats simply vote tonight to reopen the government."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump has spoken to GOP leaders in Congress amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Asked what the president has been doing today to resolve the shutdown, she said Trump "was on the phone with Speaker Johnson. He's also spoken with the Senate majority leader, who are in touch with, of course, moderate Democrats and Democrats across the board, who we understand, hopefully, want to do the right thing by their constituents to reopen the government.

"So the president is being kept very well apprised of the ongoing shutdown on Capitol Hill," Leavitt said.

Trump will host Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House tomorrow and Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a news briefing this afternoon.

Trump will also host his eighth Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday.

Trump held a phone call with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this morning and discussed the economy, tariffs and trade.

Lula said in a post on X that he asked Trump to lower the steep 40% tariffs on his country and said that Trump appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to negotiate further. He also expressed a willingness to travel to the United States for further talks, Brazil's government said in a statement.

Trump commented on the call in a Truth Social post, writing that "we will be having further discussions, and will get together in the not too distant future."

Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Brazil in part because of the legal case surrounding his political ally, and former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of an attempted coup last month and sentenced to more than 27 years in prison.

The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Fund Inc. appears to have been administratively dissolved as a Florida state nonprofit corporation last month because it failed to file an annual report with state officials.

According to records on the Florida Department of State website, the dissolution took effect Sept. 26. The fund was first established in Trump’s home state in December.

A lawyer listed as representing the library fund declined to comment. Annual reports are due by the third Friday in September in Florida.

At the federal level, Trump’s presidential library is managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, which does the same for all presidents.

Dissolved business entities are technically “prohibited by statute from engaging in any activities other than those necessary to liquidate its assets and wind up its affairs,” according to the business services firm Wolters Kluwer.

“But despite this prohibition, it is not unusual to see an administratively dissolved business entity continuing to operate as a going concern, because the people who are acting on its behalf are unaware that it has been dissolved,” the firm notes on its website.

The state of Illinois filed a lawsuit today in an attempt to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the Illinois attorney general’s office wrote in the filing, which names Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as defendants.

Read the full story here.

Supreme Court justices are beginning a new term with a docket that’s already packed with high-profile issues, including several key challenges to Trump’s powers. NBC’s Laura Jarret reports for "TODAY" to break down cases to watch in the high court including tariffs, birthright citizenship and more.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' call for a prime-time debate on the House floor about the government shutdown.

"My friend Hakeem had his shot," Johnson said at a news conference this morning. "We debated all this on the House floor." Johnson added that Jeffries, D-N.Y., had previously spoken on the House floor for seven or eight minutes.

"He had all of his colleagues lined up. They gave it their best shot, and they argued, and they stomped their feet and screamed at us and all that," he continued. "And still, we passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate. The House has done its job."

Jeffries proposed the idea in a letter to Johnson this morning. "I write to challenge you to a debate on the Floor of the House of Representatives any day this week in primetime, broadcast live to the American people," it said.

Johnson said he spoke to the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patty Murray, D-Wash., two days ago and told her he would agree to moving a package of spending bills on the floor once the shutdown impasse ends.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., joined "Today" to speak out on the political stalemate as the government shutdown enters a sixth day and why Democrats are choosing now to address increasing health care costs for tens of millions of Americans.

The Supreme Court rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s challenge to her criminal conviction for recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.

Today's decision means that Maxwell’s conviction on three counts and her 20-year criminal sentence remain in place.

Read the full story here.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said today that he would remain as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and was naming Frank Bisignano as the agency's chief executive officer

Bessent has been acting IRS commissioner since early August, while Bisignano has been the head of the Social Security Administration.

Multiple roles have become the norm in the Trump administration, with Budget Office Director Russell Vought also serving as the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also serving as national security adviser. Stephen Miran, the chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers, is currently working as a Federal Reserve governor while on temporary unpaid leave from the White House.

The administration briefly discussed the idea of Bessent serving as Fed chair and Treasury Department chief at the same time, but he is now interviewing other candidates for Fed chair.

Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, is jumping into the Senate race in Texas, joining a competitive primary battle between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Hunt told The Associated Press in an interview that he believes that polling indicates “people want an alternative, and I’m going to give it to them.”

The congressman highlighted his support for Trump on his campaign website, saying he was “fighting alongside President Trump to codify DOGE cuts, secure our border, and fight for economic prosperity for all Texans.”

Read the full story here.

New York City’s mayoral contest has fully surfaced a tension bubbling in city politics for years: the divide between lifelong New Yorkers and young professionals who have recently moved in.

In his 7-point Democratic primary win over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June, state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani cleaned up with younger voters who live in some of New York’s most gentrified neighborhoods — including Bushwick, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cuomo, meanwhile, edged out Mamdani in majority-Black, outer-borough neighborhoods that have experienced less gentrification, as well as other places like the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, also home to many longtime New Yorkers.

Trump told reporters yesterday that federal employee layoffs were "taking place right now, and it’s all because of the Democrats."

The president did not elaborate on the extent of the layoffs. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said last week that the number of firings would likely be in the thousands.

Leavitt later clarified during an afternoon press briefing today that "the president was referring to the hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have been furloughed as a result of this federal government shutdown."

As the special House election for a deep-red congressional district in Tennessee approaches, one issue has shaped the race above all else: Donald Trump.

A crowded field in Tuesday’s GOP primary to fill former Rep. Mark Green’s seat spent months fighting over who’s the most pro-Trump before Trump stepped in with an endorsement for Matt Van Epps at the end of last week. Other issues have fallen to the background, blurring the lines between candidates, while the increasing drumbeat of campaign ads largely revolved around support for Trump and his policies.

Israel and Hamas were poised to conduct indirect peace talks today, with hopes it could represent the best chance yet to end the two-year war and free the remaining hostages from Gaza.

On the anniversary eve of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, and subsequent military operation by Israel, representatives from all sides were due in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss a 20-point peace plan tabled by President Donald Trump to halt the conflict.

Read the full story here.

The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day today with no end in sight after another round of blame games and sniping between leaders of the two parties on the Sunday talk shows.

Democratic and Republican leaders are locked in a standoff about the way forward as it takes 60 votes in the Senate to pass a bill, and the GOP needs five more Democrats to advance its bill to reopen the government temporarily.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called it a partisan bill written without Democratic input, demanding a negotiation to win the necessary votes from his party. But Republican leaders insist there will be no negotiation over their short-term bill.

Read the full story here.

The NAACP will invest $750,000 to mobilize Black voters to cast ballots and monitor the polls ahead of key elections in three states this fall, the group exclusively told NBC News.

The group will spend a quarter-million dollars in California, where a new congressional map that would further boost Democrats is on the ballot, as well as in New Jersey and Virginia, which are hosting governors' races. The nonpartisan NAACP is not endorsing a candidate in New Jersey or Virginia.