Attorney General Pam Bondi is sparring with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday as federal agents surge into American cities. Senators are questioning her about political influence over a Justice Department that has already criminally charged one of President Donald Trump’s longtime foes and is facing intense White House pressure to prosecute others.
It’s now Day 7 of the shutdown, with Democrats and Republicans at an impasse. Democrats are conditioning their support for a short-term funding patch on extending the subsidies that millions of Americans count on to make health care affordable. Trump says he’ll talk about a health care deal only after the government reopens and the Democrats lose their leverage.
Peace talks continue in Egypt on the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that triggered the bloody conflict that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza. The negotiations center on Trump’s proposed plan to end the war in Gaza.
And Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with Trump in the Oval Office again. One of the world’s most durable and amicable alliances has been fractured by Trump’s trade war and annexation threats, and the free trade agreement critical to Canada’s economy is up for review next year.
The Latest:
Canadian prime minister arrives at the White House
Mark Carney came to Washington for his meeting with Trump, arriving shortly before noon on Tuesday.
The two leaders shook hands after Carney stepped out of his vehicle. They ignored shouted questions about the war in Gaza and trade before going inside.
Read more about what’s at stake with Carney’s White House visit
Government workers union president criticizes OMB back pay memo
“The frivolous argument that federal employees are not guaranteed backpay under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act is an obvious misinterpretation of the law,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, representing more than 820,000 workers.
“It is also inconsistent with the Trump administration’s own guidance from mere days ago, which clearly and correctly states that furloughed employees will receive retroactive pay for the time they were out of work as quickly as possible once the shutdown is over,” he said.
“The livelihoods of the patriotic Americans serving their country in the federal government are not bargaining chips in a political game,” Kelley added. “It’s long past time for these attacks on federal employees to stop and for Congress to come together, resolve their differences, and end this shutdown.”
Illinois braces for National Guard deployments amid legal challenge
Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has said that some 300 of Illinois’ guard troops were to be federalized over his objections and sent to Chicago, along with 400 from Texas.
“He wants to justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command,” Pritzker said, accusing the president of using troops as “political props” and “pawns.”
A federal judge in Chicago scheduled a hearing for Thursday on a legal challenge that describes Trump’s military mobilization plan for Illinois as unlawful and dangerous. A federal judge in Oregon blocked the Guard’s deployment to Portland.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted a picture on social media Monday showing Texas National Guard members boarding a plane, without saying their destination.
Read more about National Guard deployments in American cities
Republicans call for thorough investigation into Jan. 6 probe of senators’ phone records
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling for a thorough probe at the Department of Justice, as well as congressional hearings, on how the FBI analyzed the phone records of more than half a dozen GOP lawmakers as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
During Bondi’s oversight hearing, both GOP senators and the attorney general pointed to the episode as proof that the department had become politicized under the Biden administration.
“We need a special prosecutor to be appointed whose sole responsibility will be to get to the bottom of what has happened,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, referring to the incident as well as others that he argued showed political bias.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has said he is still deciding whether to hold hearings on this question.
The president and Congress keep getting paid as federal workers are threatened
A White House draft memo is threatening no backpay for furloughed workers. But that would have no effect on the president and members of Congress.
The Constitution forbids a reduction in salary for the sitting president, thus guaranteeing the president of compensation regardless of any shutdown action, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Similarly, members of Congress are not subject to furlough and the Constitution states that members of Congress “shall receive” compensation for their services. It says no law varying their compensation can take effect until after the next congressional election.
Still, many lawmakers have sent letters to the Treasury asking that their pay be withheld during the shutdown.
Bondi refuses to discuss legal justification for strikes on Venezuelan boats
The attorney general is refusing to discuss any legal analysis that the Justice Department may have provided to the White House for a series of military strikes on Venezuelan boats that the president alleges were carrying drugs.
“I’m not going to discuss any legal advice that my department may or may not have given or issued at the direction of the president,” Bondi said.
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said he wanted to understand the government take on drug trafficking, and said this use of deadly military force is alarming.
“Due process is the cornerstone of our Constitution,” Coons said. “I’m deeply concerned about the authority our president seems to be asserting to summarily kill people suspected of criminal activity outside the law.”
Senate leaders dig in on day 7 of shutdown
Party leaders showed no signs of budging from their positions on Tuesday on the seventh day of the government shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said as he opened the Senate floor that “there’s only one viable path out of the mess that the Democrats have created,” and that is to pass the GOP bill to extend funding to Nov. 21.
“We’re not asking Democrats to support any Republican policies,” Thune said. “We’re just asking them to reopen the government. It’s that simple.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson for keeping the House in recess while Democrats demand negotiations on health care.
“Democrats stand ready and willing to negotiate,” Schumer said. “We urge Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to do the same.”
Bondi insists she’s upheld her pledge not to play politics with Justice Department
The attorney general says she believes she’s carried out her promise from her January confirmation hearing, that she would not politicize the Justice Department.
Klobuchar reminded Bondi of that commitment at an oversight hearing on Tuesday.
Bondi replied that she believes she absolutely has upheld her pledge, and noted that she also pledged to end what she calls the weaponization of the Justice Department.
The indictment last week of former FBI Director James Comey has stirred concerns from Democrats that the department is being used as a political weapon.
Bondi refuses to discuss firings of Justice Department officials
The attorney general says she won’t answer any questions from Democratic senators on the dismissals of Department of Justice officials.
“I am not going to discuss personnel discussions,” Bondi replied to questions that Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota had on the dismissal of one career prosecutor.
“The personnel issue that I’m having right now is that all of my agents, all of my lawyers are working, my agents are on the street working without a paycheck because your party voted to shut down the federal government,” Bondi shot back.
US has given at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel during Gaza war
The military assistance provided under the Biden and Trump administrations totals at least $21.7 billion since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a new academic study published Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel that provoked the conflict.
Another study, also published by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs, says the U.S. has spent roughly $10 billion more on security aid and operations in the broader Middle East in the past two years.
The reports rely on open source material for most of their findings and offer some of the most comprehensive accountings of U.S. military aid to its close ally Israel as well as estimated costs of direct American military involvement in the Middle East.
Read more about Israeli dependence on US funding
Gift of Miami real estate for Trump’s presidential library challenged
Miami-Dade County officials are being accused of violating Florida’s open government law when they gifted a sizable plot of prime downtown real estate to the state, which then transferred it to the foundation for Trump’s future presidential library.
The property next to the historic Freedom Tower on Biscayne Boulevard was appraised this year at more than $67 million. One real estate expert wagered it could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars more.
The lawsuit filed by local activist Marvin Dunn accuses the trustees of Miami Dade College of violating the state’s Sunshine Law by not providing sufficient notice before voting to give up its property. College representatives college didn’t immediately respond to a Tuesday request seeking comment.
A pre-meeting agenda didn’t say what property was being considered or why, and the meeting wasn’t livestreamed. “No one not already in on the deal would have had any idea” what the board was planning, the lawsuit says.
GOP House speaker says furlough memo is another reason Dems should end shutdown
Rep. Mike Johnson says he doesn’t know the details about a Trump administration memo that provides the rationale for not retroactively paying furloughed federal workers. Nevertheless, he’s citing the memo as a reason for Democrats to pass a measure to fund the government.
Johnson said some legal analysts believe that retroactive pay is not something the government should do.
“If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here. Even more pain, more than I just listed, for more people,” Johnson said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., says on X that the letter of the law is as plain as can be: “Federal workers , including furloughed workers, are entitled to their backpay following a shutdown.”
About Trump’s plans for no backpay for federal workers
According to the memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, the 2019 bill Trump signed into law that guaranteed backpay to federal workers is not self-executing.
Instead, the memo says, repaying the federal workers would have to be included in any legislation to reopen the government.
The memo refers to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 as part of the legislation to reopen the government after what, at that time, was a 35 day shutdown — the longest in history.
It’s widely seen as a negotiating tactic to force lawmakers to the table as the shutdown drags on. In the past, federal workers who often went without paychecks were most always reimbursed for back pay during shutdowns.
Bondi won’t discuss whether Justice flagged Epstein records mentioning Trump
Durbin asked Bondi whether the DOJ reviewed the investigative records into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein for any mention of Trump. Bondi says she is not going into that.
“I’m not going to discuss anything with you about that, senator,” Bondi said.
Chicago suburb sues DHS over ‘illegal’ fence around ICE facility, site of ongoing protests
The Village of Broadview, the site of intense protests in recent weeks outside a Chicago-area ICE processing facility, is suing the federal government, demanding the removal of large fence that’s been constructed around the building.
The lawsuit also calls ICE’s presence in the Southwest suburb a “reign of terror” and claims ICE has “needlessly deployed tear gas, pepper spray, mace, and rubber bullets at individuals and reporters located on the north side of the fence,” injuring residents, police and firefighters and damaging village property.
The lawsuit getting its first hearing in federal court Tuesday accuses ICE and DHS of erecting the 8-foot-tall fence illegally, blocking the public street and hindering access by emergency services. It says Broadview leaders have been repeatedly ignored by DHS and ICE.
Bondi verbally spars with top Democrat on Senate Judiciary Committee
The attorney general is emphatically refusing to discuss whether she provided a legal rationale to the White House for the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago.
Sen. Durbin of Illinois asked her several times whether she had provided Trump with a legal analysis of the deployment, but she refused to discuss “internal conversations.”
With a raised voice, she shot back at Durbin, accusing him of voting to shut down the government and not caring about violent crime in Chicago.
“Madam attorney general, it’s my job to grill you,” Durbin said.
Bondi opens her Senate testimony by pointing to work advancing Trump’s agenda
Bondi listed off the Department of Justice’s work to address violent crime and drug trafficking as she began her Senate Judiciary testimony.
Her voice raised, Bondi emphasized that her top priorities have been ending the “weaponization of justice” and “fighting violent crime.” Democrats have criticized her for bringing a new level of political loyalty to the Justice Department, but Bondi insisted that the institution that she inherited had been politicized.
She pointed to revelations this week that the FBI had analyzed phone records of several Republican lawmakers as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to undo the results of his election loss in 2020.
“My attorneys have done incredible work advancing President Trump’s agenda and protecting the executive branch from judicial overreach,” Bondi said.
Top Democrat: Justice Department has become a ‘shield’ for Trump and his allies
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois has told Bondi that she holds responsibility for a purge of hundreds of career officials with a combined thousands of years of law enforcement experience.
He says it’s part of a worrisome trend in which enemies of the president are pursued and allies of the administration get favorable treatment.
Durbin says that what’s happened to the rule of law during Trump’s second term would make even President Richard Nixon “recoil,” leaving “an enormous stain” that will take decades to erase.
Health care remains an intractable issue in Congress
Democrats believe health care is an issue that will resonate with a majority of Americans as they demand an extension of subsidies in exchange for their votes to reopen the shuttered U.S. government.
But it is also one of the most intractable issues in Congress, and a real compromise to end the shutdown will not likely be easy.
There are some Republicans in Congress who want to extend the higher subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. But many GOP lawmakers are firmly opposed to any extension.
Read more on why health care policymaking is so difficult
White House plans no back-pay for federal workers in shutdown
It’s unclear how that would work, since Trump signed legislation into law in 2019 that ensures backpay for federal workers during any government funding lapse.
But a White House memo with the rationale for no backpay is under consideration, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss it. It was first reported by Axios.
Most federal employees and service members have missed paychecks during past shutdowns, but are reimbursed once government reopens.
— By Lisa Mascaro
Grassley praises Bondi for ‘getting tough on criminals’
Sen. Chuck Grassley is praising Attorney General Pam Bondi for “getting tough on criminals” and reversing Biden administration priorities that he says “politicized” law enforcement.
The Republican senator from Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is delivering opening remarks at the Justice Department oversight hearing.
He decried what he says was weaponization of the Justice Department during the Biden administration, including new revelations that the FBI analyzed phone records of several Republican lawmakers as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Justices examine bans ‘conversion therapy’
The Supreme Court is about to hear arguments over the constitutionality of bans on “conversion therapy” for kids who identify as LGBTQ+.
Nearly half of U.S. states have passed laws against the practice, which has been scientifically discredited.
But a Christian counselor challenging Colorado’s law says it chills her freedom of speech by barring her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy.
The state says the measure simply regulates licensed therapists by barring a practice that’s been linked to serious harm.
The arguments come after the court’s conservative majority found states can ban transition-related health care for transgender youths.
UN refugee agency leader says Trump’s deportations violate international law
The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, lamented the administration’s deportation practices, part of a wider backlash against migrants and refugees around the world.
But he praised the Trump administration-led peace efforts for providing “a glimmer of hope” in the eastern Congo, where millions have been displaced by conflict between Rwanda-backed forces and Congo’s armed forces. And he cited how more than 1 million refugees from Syria have now returned home.
“Thanks to peace efforts spearheaded by the United States, instead of speaking only of more bloodshed, or more refugees, we can start to think – cautiously, but a little bit more optimistically — of stability and returns,” Grandi said in a speech Monday.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott defended U.S. immigration and migration policies and said Trump’s speech at the United Nations was “a call to action against the destructive policies promoting mass and illegal migration that globalist bureaucrats have pushed for years.”
A White House stake and a Trump order send a Canadian company’s stock price soaring
Shares of Trilogy Metals more than tripled overnight after the White House announced late Monday that it’s taking a 10% equity stake in the Canadian company while allowing the Ambler Road mining project in Alaska to go forward.
Trump late Monday ordered the approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals used in production of cars, electronics and other technologies.
Trilogy is seeking to develop the Ambler site along with an Australian partner.
Trump to meet with American hostage freed from Gaza
The president is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon at the White House with Edan Alexander, who was taken hostage by Hamas in the attack two years ago that led to the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump met in July with Alexander, who was the last living American hostage in Gaza and was released from captivity in May. The meeting, which is scheduled to occur behind closed doors, comes as indirect peace talks are being held in Egypt over Trump’s plan to end the fighting.
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