NationalWatch

Lawyers for President Donald Trump and the state of Oregon clashed Thursday before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over Trump’s push to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, a high-stakes showdown marked by sharp accusations that the president’s actions were unlawful and unnecessary.

A three-judge panel, composed of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee, seemed deeply skeptical of the case made by Oregon Assistant Attorney General Stacy Chaffin, including her assertion that Trump’s descriptions of the violence in Portland were hyperbolic and “untethered from reality.”

Judges sharply questioned Chaffin about the specifics of the protests in Portland. Many of them focused on specifics, including dates of protests and number of arrests, in asking why — in the state’s view — these conditions failed to meet the standard needed to justify Trump’s deployment of the National Guard.

“I’m not sure even President Lincoln would have been able to authorize the use of force right now” if his actions were to be scrutinized under the “much more stringent reviewability standard” implied by Oregon here, Judge Ryan Nelson, a Trump appointee, interjected loudly, one of several times he cut off Chaffin as she attempted to answer the court’s questions.

TRUMP IS THREATENING TO ‘FEDERALIZE’ DC WITH NATIONAL GUARD AND MORE. HERE’S HOW THAT COULD PLAY OUT

Chaffin argued that the protests in Portland are a far cry from a definition of a “rebellion,” one of two conditions Trump needs to satisfy to meet the legal pretext for National Guard deployment. 

The 9th Circuit Court agreed to take up the Trump administration’s request to hear the case just days after a federal judge in Oregon issued a temporary restraining order halting the president from immediately sending Oregon National Guard troops to the city of Portland, describing the action as one that risks “blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.”

Rebellions “are unusual and extreme emergencies,” Chaffin said, noting that the bulk of agents’ complaints on record are focused instead on them being short-staffed. Administrative difficulties “are not a reason to bring the military into the streets of Portland or any other U.S. city,” Chaffin added.

Still, the court’s two Trump appointees took a much more critical view of the state’s case during oral arguments, which lasted roughly 90 minutes.

BONDI CLASHES WITH DURBIN ON NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT: ‘LOVE CHICAGO AS MUCH AS YOU HATE PRESIDENT TRUMP’

Justice Department attorney Eric D. McArthur, meanwhile, spent the bulk of time reiterating the two tenets of the Trump administration’s core arguments in deploying National Guard troops. The first is that there is a threat of “rebellion” underway, and the second is that the federal government cannot carry out the law without the help of the National Guard.

McArthur argued that Portland meets the criteria of an “active threat,” regardless of the weeks that passed between Trump’s June memo authorizing the federalization of National Guard troops and his September attempt to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland.

Asked by the Clinton-appointed Judge Susan Graber whether Trump could hypothetically rely on any violent event that “post-dates” the administration’s National Guard mobilization to justify its deployment, McArthur said yes.

“I think we can rely on later evidence to show there was a colorable factual basis for the president’s determination,” he told judges for the 9th Circuit.

“It demonstrates the very kind of risk that can materialize at any time with this sort of violent crowd.”

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The court did not specify when it planned to issue a ruling. In the meantime, dozens of National Guard troops — roughly 200, as lawyers testified Thursday — remain just outside the city’s limits, pending possible deployment.

The case is just one of several challenging Trump’s authority to federalize the National Guard over the objections of state and local leaders.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics coverage. Here’s what’s happening…

-Could Trump win the Nobel Peace Prize after the Israel-Hamas deal?

-NJ Showdown: Following a bitter debate, Ciattarelli spotlights the disastrous Sherrill interview

-Federal judge limits ICE arrests without an arrest warrant or probable cause

Shutdown continues as fighting between parties drags on 

The White House slammed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for making a “disgusting and revealing” comment about the ongoing shutdown.

Schumer spoke with Punchbowl News, an outlet based in Washington, D.C., and said that as the shutdown continues, things keep getting “better” for the Democrats.

“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. “It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.” … Read more

White House

FOLLOW THE MONEY: ‘Riot Inc.’: Trump launches ‘whole-of-government’ push to expose Antifa funding networks, dark money sources

DEAL OR NO DEAL: Trump teases trip to the Middle East as Gaza peace deal talks continue

Capitol Hill

EXIT STAGE LEFT: Trump predicts Schumer will retire before losing primary to AOC amid shutdown showdown

TROOPS HELD HOSTAGE: Senate Democrats block GOP plan again to reopen government as military pay deadline looms

PRAYER VS. POLITICS: Hakeem Jeffries leads prayer event over the shutdown after passing on Charlie Kirk vigil

‘FAR-LEFT’ FEARS: GOP blames Schumer for shutdown to appease ‘Marxist flank’ amid AOC primary challenge buzz

WAR ON DRUGS: Two Republicans vote with Dems as Senate GOP spikes bid to block Trump’s strikes on drug-smuggling boats

NO NUKES: Senate GOP resists ‘nuclear option’ as Dem shutdown standoff deepens

‘IRONCLAD’: Ardently pro-Israel Dem Sen. John Fetterman congratulates Trump for ‘historic peace plan’

‘FAR-LEFT’ FEARS: GOP blames Schumer for shutdown to appease ‘Marxist flank’ amid AOC primary challenge buzz

Across America 

GROUND ZERO CHAOS: ‘Operation Midway Blitz’: Inside DOJ’s push to tackle crime, illegal immigration in Chicago

FEDS DOUBLE DOWN: Noem: Trump administration doubling down with new federal facilities in Chicago, Portland

POWER REVERSAL: Democrats flip the script on ‘states’ rights’ in fight against Trump’s National Guard plan

TRAVEL TURMOIL: Noem airs clip blasting Democrats for government shutdown in every airport in America

GLOVES OFF: ‘Getting desperate’: Governor debate gets personal after Democrat is mocked for cheating scandal

NO TROOPS ALLOWED: U.S. soldiers in city streets “makes people less safe,” says Democratic candidate

CAPITOL CHAOS: Screaming match erupts between Mike Lawler, Hakeem Jeffries as government shutdown chaos continues

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott mocked Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, calling him a “joke” for opposing his deployment of Texas National Guard troops to provide security over immigration enforcement operations in Chicago.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Abbott said, “Gov. Pritzker is a joke” and is in “violation of his oath of office” by attempting to interfere with federal law enforcement efforts to improve safety in Chicago and other Illinois communities.

Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday, tasked with protecting federal personnel and property amid anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon confirmed. A Pentagon official said 200 guardsmen were mobilized for an initial 60-day period.

Pritzker, a rumored 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and fierce critic of President Donald Trump, has condemned the National Guard deployment, calling it “Trump’s invasion,” and calling on Abbott to withdraw his support. He has also threatened to pull out from the National Governors’ Association if the bipartisan group does not condemn the deployment.

ABBOTT DEPLOYS ‘ELITE TEXAS NATIONAL GUARD’ AFTER TRUMP CALLS FOR REINFORCEMENTS: ‘EVER READY’

The state of Illinois, joined by the city of Chicago, also filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to stop the deployment.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, Abbott said that Pritzker’s actions are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“You may recall it wasn’t too long ago that he put his left hand on a bible and raised his right hand and swore to God that he would support the Constitution of the United States. As opposed to supporting it and allowing federal officials to enforce federal law, he’s violating the Constitution, violating the oath that he took by interfering with the ability of federal officials to conduct the executive branch of the federal government,” said Abbott.

PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS

He said that it is “only natural” Trump would call on his “elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country,” because of Texas soldiers’ extensive experience providing security at the southern border.

“Texas has the most proven, the largest, the best-trained National Guard in the United States of America,” he said. “Americans will remember we had thousands of our National Guard securing the American border, the largest border state in the entire country, more than 1,200 miles, and it was Texas, as opposed to the federal government under the Biden administration, that had to step up and secure the border.”

“Now, because we have a president who is finally enforcing the laws of the United States … it’s only natural by extension that if there’s a need for that elite National Guard to provide assistance anywhere in the entire country, that it would be the National Guard called upon,” he added.

Though Pritzker has denounced the deployment as an “invasion,” Abbott clarified that his soldiers’ presence in the state is strictly to provide backup for federal officials who have recently faced intense opposition from agitators in Illinois.

“They provide a very important backup role to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Right now, they are playing a very important backup roll to ensure the safety of federal officials while federal officials enforce federal law in places like Illinois, Oregon, and elsewhere,” he explained. “There’s unrest in areas where ICE is trying to operate and where ICE is trying to enforce the law. And what ICE or other federal officials need, they need safety and security as they go about the process of carrying out their function.”

WHITE HOUSE MOCKS ‘SLOB’ PRITZKER AFTER HE REJECTS TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD PLAN

He went on to say, “It is very important that the public understand that these federal officials, they have a requirement to enforce federal law. Anybody who interferes with that is interfering with the ability for federal officials to do their job.”

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“What the National Guard is trained and skilled at doing is dealing with civil unrest like that,” said Abbott. “Whenever the country is in times of need, Texans will step up and help out any way we possibly can.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.

When President Donald Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb sealed their latest trade agreement on Thursday, it wasn’t just a handshake for 11 rugged ships. 

It was another sign of a friendship that’s quickly turning into strategy.

Where other European leaders have tried to win Trump’s respect through policy and persuasion, Stubb chose the fairway. In March, the Finnish president — once a national golf team player — turned up at Mar-a-Lago not with briefing notes, but with clubs, challenging Trump to a round and earning something rarer than a trade deal: rapport.

Presentation matters to Trump, and Stubb — 6-foot-3, fit and sharply dressed in a double-breasted coat — seemed to meet the moment. When the two last met at the White House in August, Trump told him he “looked better than ever” and introduced him as “a young, powerful man.”

RUSSIA, CHINA ARE TRYING TO SEIZE CONTROL OF THE ARCTIC. WE CAN’T LET THEM SUCCEED

That personal chemistry, maintained through frequent text exchanges, has quietly opened doors for the Finnish president, a longtime marathoner and triathlete with a competitive streak. What’s more, it’s translating into real policy — from defense contracts to Arctic cooperation — elevating the once-quiet Nordic nation to new prominence in Washington.

It’s an unlikely rise for a country better known for saunas and serenity than for summits. Stubb hails from a nation of 5.6 million that routinely tops the world’s happiness index, where forests blanket nearly 75% of the land and lakes glint by the hundreds of thousands.

Finland — slightly smaller than the state of Montana and wedged between Sweden and Russia — has long had its security outlook shaped by geography, a position that now places it on the front line of NATO and Arctic strategy.

TRUMP SAYS HE’S RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE WITH PUTIN ‘FAST’ OVER UKRAINE CONFLICT NEGOTIATIONS

The trade deal signed Thursday, for 11 ships valued at roughly $6.1 billion, is the latest sign of how that alignment is taking shape. Under the deal Trump approved, three of the ships will be built by Davie in Galveston, Texas, and four by Bollinger Shipyards in Houma, Louisiana, a setup that aligns with his “Made in America” credo and emphasis on creating U.S. jobs, injecting billions of dollars into the maritime industrial base.

And when it comes to icebreakers, Helsinki is firmly in its element: Finnish companies design roughly 80% of the world’s fleet.

Finland’s expertise has made it more than just a supplier. It’s turned Helsinki into a trusted player in Trump’s Arctic strategy, a region increasingly defined by military competition with Russia and China, melting sea routes and access to critical minerals.

COULD TRUMP WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AFTER ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL?

That partnership cuts both ways. For Finland, the agreement deepens defense cooperation with the U.S. and elevates it from NATO newcomer to strategic partner, a bridge linking Washington to the fast-changing Arctic frontier.

“We are very pleased with the fact that we have so much training going on with American soldiers right now. They are getting experience from our Arctic conditions, and we are integrating our militaries together,” Stubb said during a meeting in the Oval Office Thursday. 

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For now, Stubb’s rapport with Trump has turned the fairway into a diplomatic fast track. Whether that personal chemistry endures amid shifting politics remains to be seen, but, for Finland, the gains are already tangible. 

Stubb has learned what some other global counterparts haven’t. With Trump, a well-timed drive can travel farther than any policy memo. And, so far, that lesson is paying off for both men.

President Donald Trump’s strikes taking out alleged narco-terrorists from Venezuela are expected to force criminal drug networks to restructure the cartel landscape as it copes with the Trump administration’s “armed conflict” against them. 

The White House issued a memo sent to lawmakers Sept. 30 alerting them that the U.S. is now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug smugglers, amid four strikes against alleged drug vessels from Venezuela since September in the Caribbean. 

These strikes ultimately will sow discord among these groups, disrupt key logistics for these cartel networks and put them on notice, according to experts. 

“Every trafficker who boards one of these boats should wonder if this is a one-way ticket, and this is his last trip. You know, think twice,” Brian Townsend, a retired supervisory special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “So I think that helps. It’s going to make finding crews more difficult, because there’s that lingering doubt in their head that this literally might be a one way ticket to my death.”

WAR ON CARTELS? WHITE HOUSE SAYS IT HAS AN IRON-CLAD CASE TO STRIKE NARCO-TERRORIST GROUPS

The strikes come as the Trump administration takes on drug cartels and the influx of illicit drugs into the U.S., and after the administration in February designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and others as foreign terrorist organizations. 

Despite the strikes, Townsend said that cartels are incredibly agile. But the additional pressure stemming from the Trump administration’s heightened crackdown on drug flow provides an opportunity for the U.S. to deter them as the cartels navigate new protocols. 

“The more we force them to adapt, it’s going to provide the potential for more mistakes, more openings that we can exploit … it degrades their infrastructure, it frustrates them,” Townsend said. 

The strikes also could intensify tension between cartels, who will now be competing for resources, according to Townsend. Specifically, cartels likely will struggle with recruitment as they seek pilots and captains, and will now be competing more directly with other groups who may offer greater pay or safer routes, he said. 

Additionally, brokers and buyers could turn to a rival group if they can provide a more steady supply, Townsend said. 

TRUMP ADMIN TELLS CONGRESS IT DETERMINED US ENGAGED IN FORMAL ‘ARMED CONFLICT’ WITH ‘TERRORIST’ DRUG CARTELS

“This continued pressure exposes weaknesses and opportunities for rival groups to exploit. Cartels operate in a brutal, competitive environment,” Townsend said. “Anything that destabilizes their illicit business model can lead to conflicts internal and external.” 

“We are not just stopping boats and destroying drugs meant to poison our communities, we are making them change their operations and that will heighten animosity,” Townsend said. 

Additionally, the strikes could hamper business for groups like Tren de Aragua because the stakes might be too high, according to Nathan Jones, a nonresident scholar in drug policy and Mexico studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. 

“One possibility is that there could be a chilling effect from other cartels doing business with Tren de Aragua or Cartel de Los Soles in the Caribbean,” Jones said. “It might be viewed as too high risk and the groups as potentially unstable partners.” 

Still, Jones said that these strikes are unlikely to impact the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. since fentanyl precursors originate in China and then are produced in labs in Mexico, where they are then trafficked north, without entry into the Caribbean. 

“I wouldn’t expect your drug flow to be affected because of these strikes,” Jones said. “This could, though, leave transnational criminal organizations running a little scared in terms of what the administration is going to do.” 

Still, Jones said that he predicted drug flow routes would adapt and that land or aerial drug routes would become preferable to sea routes transiting the Caribbean. 

TRUMP UNLEASHES US MILITARY POWER ON CARTELS. IS A WIDER WAR LOOMING?

The strikes have attracted scrutiny from members of Congress, who have called into question the legality of the strikes. For example, senators Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution in September that would block U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations. 

“There has been no authorization to use force by Congress in this way,” Schiff told reporters Wednesday. “I feel it is plainly unconstitutional. The fact that the administration claims to have a list and has put organizations on a list does not somehow empower the administration to usurp Congress’s power of declaring war or refusing to declare war or refusing to authorize the use of force.” 

The measure failed in the Senate on Wednesday by a 48-51 margin. 

Even so, Trump has indicated that the strikes will continue, and told military leaders in September that the “military is now the knife’s edge in combating this sinister enemy.” 

“We have to put the traffickers and cartels on notice…if you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence, because that’s the only language they really understand,” Trump told military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, Sept. 30. “That’s why you don’t see any more boats in the ocean. You don’t see any boats around Venezuela. There’s nothing.”

“Trump derangement syndrome” has spiraled to pathological levels, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during the White House’s monthly Cabinet meeting Thursday, pointing to a recent trend of pregnant moms protesting President Donald Trump by taking Tylenol — despite warnings the medicine could be tied to autism. 

“The level of Trump derangement syndrome has now left political landscapes, and it is now a pathology,” Kennedy said. “That a mother could overwhelm millions of years of maternal instinct to put her baby at risk.” 

Kennedy explained to his colleagues and the media that he watched a video of a pregnant Columbia medical professor ingesting Tylenol on TikTok to protest Trump ahead of the meeting, and was startled that any mom would willingly ingest the over-the-counter pain medication following reports it’s allegedly tied to skyrocketing autism trends. 

“Any mother who is taking this up during pregnancy just to get back into Donald Trump is doing something that is, it is pathological,” he said. “And we’re seeing that across the board.” 

AUTISM BY THE NUMBERS: EXPERTS SHARE REASONS FOR THE DRAMATIC SURGE IN DIAGNOSES

Trump announced in September while flanked by U.S. health leaders that Tylenol taken during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.” 

Kennedy said during the same event that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are “turning over every stone to identify the ideology of the autism epidemic and how patients and parents can prevent and reverse this alarming trend.”

“We have broken down the traditional silos that have long separated these agencies, and we have fast-tracked research and guidance,” said Kennedy. “Historically, NIH has focused on almost solely on politically safe and entirely fruitless research about the genetic drivers of autism. And that would be like studying the genetic drivers of lung cancer without looking at cigarettes, and that’s what NIH has been doing for 20 years.”

Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue said it strongly disagreed with the administration’s assessment in comment to Fox Digital in September. 

“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” a company spokesperson said at the time. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Kenvue Thursday afternoon for additional comment on Kennedy’s and Trump’s most recent Tylenol remarks but did not immediately receive a reply.

TRUMP TIES AUTISM TO WIDELY USED OVER-THE-COUNTER DRUG

Following the September announcement, liberal pregnant moms began filming themselves taking Tylenol and posting the videos to X and TikTok as a way to protest Trump. Critics have balked at the claims that the common over-the-counter pain medicine is tied to autism. 

“It is so suggestive that anybody who takes this stuff during pregnancy, unless they have to, is irresponsible,” Kennedy continued Thursday.

RFK JR AND TOP DEM CLASH DURING HEATED SENATE HEARING: ‘THIS IS ABOUT KIDS’

Kennedy told Trump that, back in 1970, researchers in Wisconsin determined that roughly one in 20,000 eight-year-olds in the state had autism before skyrocketing in the following decades. Kennedy called the increasing autism rates a “national security issue.” 

“Now, it’s 1 in 12 for boys, 1 in 18, 19 for girls. So obviously there’s something, there’s something that’s artificially, I think, (inducing) something,” Trump added. 

Kennedy continued that there are a handful of studies pointing to Tylenol’s alleged links to autism, including among male babies who are circumcised. 

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“There’s two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” he said. “It’s highly likely it’s because they’re given Tylenol.” 

Trump added that “there’s a tremendous amount of proof” surrounding the claims linking Tylenol to autism, and remarked that he has discussed the increasing autism rate with Kennedy going back 20 years. 

“I’ve studied this a long time ago,” Trump said, noting he himself is not a doctor. “You know, I met Bobby in my office 20 years ago. We were talking about the same thing 20 years ago. And, I was a real estate developer, it bothered me that it seemed to be getting worse. But it’s so bad now when you hear these numbers, it’s not even really sustainable.”

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump said that he expects Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will retire because he doesn’t believe the senator can win in a primary. 

Trump’s comments come as he’s sparred with Schumer and other Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., over a partial government shutdown that has continued into its ninth day Thursday. 

As a result, Trump said that Schumer and Jeffries are “holding the entire federal government hostage.” However, Trump noted other Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said just before the shutdown that Republicans can come to her office and negotiate anytime. 

“She’s taking Hakeem Jeffries’ place, and Schumer’s afraid that she’s gonna run against him. And right now, I don’t know, it can change, life is crazy, right?” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday. “But, right now, I don’t think he can beat anybody. So he’ll lose in a primary. I would say he’ll retire before he loses in a primary. I think Schumer is going to retire, because he can’t beat anybody, his polls are so bad.” 

Trump’s comments also come just after Axios reported in September that Ocasio-Cortez is laying the groundwork for a Senate or presidential run in 2028. 

This is a breaking story and will be updated. 

The White House slammed Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for making a “disgusting and revealing” comment about the ongoing shutdown.

Schumer spoke with Punchbowl News, an outlet based in Washington, D.C., and said that as the shutdown continues, things keep getting “better” for the Democrats.

“Every day gets better for us,” Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. “It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.”

GOP BLAMES SCHUMER FOR SHUTDOWN TO APPEASE ‘MARXIST FLANK’ AMID AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE BUZZ

Republicans have blamed Schumer for the shutdown, saying it was meant to appease the Democrat Party’s progressive wing, particularly in his home state as Zohran Mamdani maintains the lead in New York City’s mayoral race and buzz swirls regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., potentially challenging Schumer in the next primary. She has not formally declared a Senate bid.

“Chuck Schumer just said the quiet part out loud: Democrats are gleefully inflicting pain on the American people over their push to give illegal aliens free health care,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital. 

“Workers are missing paychecks; travelers are missing flights; businesses are struggling; military families are forced to rely on food pantries; but to Chuck Schumer that means ‘every day gets better.’ No matter what Chuck Schumer thinks, Americans struggling is not good and the Democrats must stop inflicting this pain on them and reopen the government now,” Jackson added.

In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Schumer’s office sent an excerpt from his remarks on the Senate floor.

“Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans — and the clearer it becomes who’s fighting for them. Each day our case to fix healthcare and end this shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger because families are opening their letters showing how high their premiums will climb if Republicans get their way. They’re seeing why this fight matters — it’s about protecting their healthcare, their bank accounts and their futures,” Schumer said.

BLAME GAME: REPUBLICANS CLAIM SCHUMER FORCED SHUTDOWN ‘BECAUSE HE’S TERRIFIED’ OF AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also took issue with Schumer saying that the shutdown was good for the Democrats.

“While federal workers stress over missed paychecks, military families turn to food pantries, and airports around the country face delays — Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are bragging that ‘every day gets better’ for them,” Leavitt wrote on X. “What a disgusting and revealing statement. Democrats are gleeful about inflicting pain on the American people.”

On Wednesday, the White House said it would be ramping up consequences for the shutdown.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) floated plans that would not guarantee that federal workers currently furloughed from the shutdown would receive backpay — upending a 2019 law from President Donald Trump’s first administration in the aftermath of a 35-day shutdown, Fox News Digital learned.

The threat of furloughed workers failing to receive backpay increases the stakes every day that Congress fails to pass a funding measure — and puts greater pressure on Democrats as Trump continues to accuse them of creating the crisis.

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Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy, Deirdre Heavey and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has spent weeks criticizing President Donald Trump‘s threats to deploy National Guard troops to the city — a stance that some Republicans call a sharp reversal from the Democratic Party’s long-held opposition to “states’ rights” arguments.

While the legality of Trump’s actions remains to be seen — his federalization efforts are being reviewed by several federal and appeals courts this week — the move has sparked a fierce debate across party lines. Democrats, for their part, have denounced the move as unlawful and beyond the scope of Trump’s authority.

“The president has declared war on poor people,” Johnson said during a press conference, responding to Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops to Chicago. His comments followed a series of warnings from Democratic governors and mayors who argue that federalizing Guard units is both unnecessary and an unlawful intrusion into local authority.

Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators argue that Democrats are contradicting their past stance on state sovereignty. “Democrats were out of touch with reality the moment they said they don’t need President Trump’s help; everything is fine in Chicago,” Gianno Caldwell, a Chicago native and founder of the Caldwell Institute of Public Safety, told Fox News Digital.

 PRITZKER SUES TRUMP TO BLOCK NATIONAL GUARD ACTION IN ILLINOIS

“When you look at the numbers, you look at the crime, 75% of the murders that are committed in Chicago are going unsolved. Seventy-five percent — that is a serious issue, a systemic issue that Chicagoans are dealing with on a daily basis,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell also pointed to a 2012 clash over the Obama administration’s Secure Communities program, which required local police to share fingerprint data with federal immigration agents. Republicans at the time accused Obama of hypocrisy for suing Arizona over strict immigration enforcement while taking no action against Democratic-led Chicago and Cook County, which sought to limit cooperation with federal authorities.

But others disagree, especially on claims of hypocrisy. “However you want to characterize it,” the accusations of hypocrisy “are a symptom of the poverty of our current political debate,” George Derek Musgrove, a history professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“A lot of liberal Democrats, not conservative Democrats, in the 1960s, 1950s, and before that, were critics of states’ rights because segregationists were using the principle of federalism or states’ rights as a sort of ‘watchword’ to protect segregation,” Musgrove said. 

“Today, the president is walking away from the idea of states’ rights because he wants to punish Democratic cities,” Musgrove said. 

Trump, for his part, has characterized the actions as necessary to crack down on violent crime and to help carry out his administration’s policy priorities, including immigration enforcement.

But Democratic mayors, including Johnson, have rejected the notion that their cities are in the throes of violence necessary to warrant a military response. Johnson has emphasized the progress Chicago has made in reducing violent crime. (Homicides in Chicago have fallen 28% so far in 2025 compared to the same point last year, according to data from the city’s police department, and down by roughly 50% compared to 2020, when violent crime in many major U.S. cities peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic.) 

Ultimately, Musgrove told Fox News Digital, the question of “hypocrisy” is too simplistic and fails to capture the broader context, principles and policies at stake in a given political moment.

TRUMP IS THREATENING TO ‘FEDERALIZE’ DC WITH NATIONAL GUARD AND MORE. HERE’S HOW THAT COULD PLAY OUT

“It obscures what we’re really talking about. It walks away from the question of whether or not what the president is doing is legal,” he said.

“And it sort of shifts to this issue of hypocrisy, rather than dealing first with the fact [of whether] this is a legal question that can be decided in a court of law, based on legal principles.”

To that end, more clarity is expected soon. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to review Trump’s ability to deploy troops to Oregon on Thursday — and regardless of how they rule, the matter is widely expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court. 

BONDI CLASHES WITH DURBIN ON NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT: ‘LOVE CHICAGO AS MUCH AS YOU HATE PRESIDENT TRUMP’

Trump also has the ability to invoke the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that gives the president additional powers in a national emergency.

Invoking that law would bring to the fore a whole host of new legal considerations, and Trump has suggested he would invoke the law if needed as recently as this week.

“If I had to enact it, I’d do it,” Trump told reporters Monday. “If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”

Democratic leaders have also vowed to take action of their own to combat what they describe as unlawful overreach by Trump. Both California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker threatened Monday to withdraw their states from the National Governors’ Association if the group fails to condemn Trump’s deployment of other states’ National Guard troops to their jurisdictions.

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Asked by reporters Tuesday about the troop deployment, Trump defended his decision, saying only: “If you look at Chicago, Chicago’s a great city where there’s a lot of crime.”

“And if the governor can’t do the job, we will do the job,” he added. 

The White House issued a blistering response to former Vice President Kamala Harris after she suggested the administration is filled with “crazy” “mother—ers.”

“Kamala Harris should listen to an audio recording of her cackle of a laugh before calling anyone crazy,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital in a Tuesday statement.  

Desai was responding to clips spreading like wildfire on social media of Harris speaking at an invite-only event in Los Angeles Monday where she took an apparent jab at the Trump administration while addressing 

“There’s so much about this moment that is making people feel like they’ve lost their minds. When, in fact, these mother—ers are crazy,” Harris said Monday during an event in Los Angeles called “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation.” 

KAMALA HARRIS PLAYS UP COZY RELATIONSHIP WITH HILLARY CLINTON AS WEDGE WITH BIDEN WIDENS

“I call this, ‘The Freedom Tour,'” she added, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 

Harris did not identify the Trump administration by name during her remarks. Her comments followed her discussing why she wrote her latest memoir, “107 Days,” which walks readers through the unprecedented 2024 election, when then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and passed the mantle to Harris as the Democrat Party attempted to thwart a second Trump administration. 

“One of the other reasons I wrote it is history is going to write about this,” Harris told attendees. “And it was important to me that that be told with my voice being present. And I would say that that everyone, we are living history right now. And you all as storytellers are living this. You’re not passive observers. You know that. You’re living it.” 

“And I’m gonna ask you that all the emotions that we are feeling, give those emotions, give that experience to those people that you are writing about and writing for. It gets back to my point about helping people just put a label on it, even if it doesn’t change the circumstance,” she continued. 

KAMALA HARRIS’ BOOK, MEDIA TOUR SLAMMED BY LIBERAL CRITICS AS ‘EMBARRASSING’ AND ‘UNHELPFUL’

Harris is in the midst of a book tour to promote the memoir, making stops in New York City, Houston, San Francisco and other cities before also taking the tour to Canada and the U.K. later in October and November. 

The event in Los Angeles was not included on her official book tour agenda. “A Day of Unreasonable Conversation” is an annual event in Los Angeles that brings together “creators of culture – television writers, artists, producers, executives, and digital storytellers” to cultivate a “meaningful connection between those shaping pop culture and those driving social change,” according to the event’s website. 

KAMALA HARRIS COMPLAINS ABOUT ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BIDEN’S COMMS TEAM, INNER CIRCLE

Harris’ laugh and public remarks that were dubbed “word salads” by critics have long been mocked by Trump’s orbit, including President Donald Trump calling Harris “laughing Kamala” from the 2024 campaign trail, as well as the campaign running ads spotlighting Harris’ laugh and instances of her past rambling remarks at the time. 

“She’s worse than Bernie Sanders,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News in July 2024, just days after Biden dropped out of the race. “Now, she’s trying to come back. She got rid of the laugh, I noticed. I haven’t seen the crazy laugh. She’s crazy. That laugh? That’s a laugh of a crazy person. But I noticed she’s not using that laugh anymore. Somebody convinced her, ‘Don’t, just don’t laugh. Don’t laugh under any circumstances.'”

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Fox News Digital reached out to Harris’ office for additional comment related to her “crazy” comment in Los Angeles and the White House’s response but did not receive replies. 

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from forcing recipients of federal teen pregnancy prevention grants to follow new rules targeting “radical indoctrination” and “gender ideology.”

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said President Donald Trump’s order was “motivated solely by political concerns, devoid of any considered process or analysis, and ignorant of the statutory emphasis on evidence-based programming.”

The ruling marked a victory for Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, Iowa and New York, who sued to try to block enforcement of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy change. The ruling will apply to all organizations that receive grants. 

HHS, which oversees the program, declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WINS SUPREME COURT FIGHT TO SLASH NIH MEDICAL RESEARCH GRANTS TIED TO DEI, LGBTQ STUDIES

HHS had previously said in a policy document issued in July that the guidance for the program “ensures that taxpayer dollars no longer support content that undermines parental rights, promotes radical gender ideology, or exposes children to sexually explicit material under the banner of public health.”

Planned Parenthood affiliates argued the new directives conflicted with the program’s requirements and were so vague that it was unclear how to comply.

KENNEDY’S HHS TERMINATES CALIFORNIA SEX ED GRANT AFTER IT REFUSES TO DROP ‘RADICAL’ GENDER LESSONS

Howell agreed, writing in her ruling that the HHS policy provided “incomprehensibly vague” requirements and “seemingly relied on irrelevant ideological factors, and did not justify its change in position.”

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The changes to the pregnancy prevention program were part of a series of executive orders Trump signed on his first day back in the White House.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill bashed President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployments to major American cities, saying that troops in the streets “makes people less safe.”

Speaking during a gubernatorial debate against GOP candidate Jack Ciattarelli on Wednesday night, Sherrill said that “military members should not be on our streets.”

“It makes people less safe, it makes people feel less safe,” she said.

Asked how she would respond to Trump sending the National Guard to a New Jersey city and whether there were any circumstances in which she would support such a move, Sherrill answered, “Unless there is an insurrection or some sort of crisis where the National Guard could come in and the president invokes the insurrection Act, he’s moving these National Guard troops across the country illegally against the Insurrection Act, against posse comitatus.”

NEW JERSEY DEM HOPEFUL VOWS TO SUE TRUMP OVER TROOP DEPLOYMENTS, SAYS STATES WOULD PAY THE PRICE

Sherrill went on to say categorically that “military members should not be on our streets.”

“I can tell you this, because I’ve both worked at the U.S. Attorney’s office with law enforcement to keep people safe, and I’ve also worked in the military, and those are two very different jobs,” she said. 

“So, I have to say, when you look at this across the country, and when you look at the threats, and then you see the president saying, when he was with [Secretary of War Pete] Hegseth recently, that he’s going to use our U.S. cities as training grounds for our military, that is unacceptable. I will not stand for that as governor.”

GOP ACTIVIST CLAIMS SURGE COULD FLIP DEEP-BLUE NEW JERSEY: ‘TAKE BACK YOUR STATE!’

Ciattarelli, meanwhile, drilled into Sherrill over safety, saying, “The congresswoman has been anything but strong when it comes to public safety.”

“She voted to get rid of qualified immunity. This is the bedrock of protection for local law enforcement. She has said that she’s considered reappointing the current attorney general, who’s considered to be the most anti-police attorney general we’ve ever had,” he said.

NEW JERSEY DEM HOPEFUL VOWS TO SUE TRUMP OVER TROOP DEPLOYMENTS, SAYS STATES WOULD PAY THE PRICE

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“I’ve told the president, and the people of New Jersey, that he will never have to worry about New Jersey because as governor, we’ll have safe communities,” he went on, adding, “We will be a law-and-order state again, and there will be a consequence for unruly, unlawful behavior.”

The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to trace the funding behind Antifa and other protest movements, pursuing what officials describe as a coordinated campaign to expose the nonprofit and dark money networks they believe are fueling organized unrest across the country.

President Donald Trump hosted a White House roundtable Wednesday with independent journalists who have experienced Antifa’s violence firsthand, part of his administration’s broader push to confront domestic unrest.

Among those attending was Seamus Bruner, research director at the Government Accountability Institute, who said the administration’s “whole-of-government” approach is now fully underway.

“President Trump is taking it very seriously,” Bruner said, noting the president stressed the need to follow the money to officials including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel.

TRUMP CALLS ANTIFA ‘TERRORIST GROUP,’ FUELING FIGHT OVER FREE SPEECH AND LIMITS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

He argued that unmasking Antifa requires tracing its finances.

“It’s not just Antifa, but there is a whole ecosystem of radical, professional protesting organizations,” he said, describing what he calls “Riot Inc.” as a corporate-style operation with divisions for boots on the ground, marketing, PR and legal support.

Bruner also cited bail fund networks that allegedly enable repeat offenders to return to protests. He pointed to GAI investigations showing coordination across cities such as Portland, Seattle and Chicago involving paid and transported individuals, including homeless people exploited to participate in unrest.

NOEM LIKENS ANTIFA TO ISIS, OTHER TERROR GROUPS THAT WANT TO ‘KILL’ AMERICANS

He pointed to major funding sources, including billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and foreign donors such as Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss.

To curb funding for unrest, he said federal authorities could use RICO statutes to target networks and urged the IRS and Office of Management and Budget to review or revoke tax-exempt status for nonprofits misusing charitable funds.

If those agencies find that funding supports criminal activity, Bruner said, they could force organizations to open their books and justify their grants.

TRUMP TO DESIGNATE ANTIFA A ‘MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION’

“They can absolutely cancel any future grants if they deem that the charitable purposes are less than charitable,” he said, pointing out that over $100 million in taxpayer funds have flowed through major networks linked to protest activities.

The roundtable followed Trump’s order to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, part of the administration’s broader effort to curb crime and illegal immigration — a move temporarily blocked by a federal judge Sunday.

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Antifa is a far-left militant movement that describes itself as antifascist. It has been accused of organizing or encouraging violent riots, notably during the 2020 “defund the police” protests and, more recently, in attacks targeting federal immigration facilities.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a staunch supporter of Israel, congratulated President Donald Trump on Wednesday shortly after the commander in chief announced in a Truth Social post that Hamas and Israel agreed to phase one of a peace plan.

Fetterman said that he and the president are both unflinchingly committed to the U.S. ally.

“I congratulate @POTUS on this historic peace plan that releases all the hostages. Now, enduring peace in the region is possible. Our parties are different but we have a shared ironclad commitment to Israel and its people,” the senator noted on X while including a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post.

HAMAS ACCEPTS TRUMP PEACE PLAN ENDING 2 YEARS OF WAR IN GAZA, RETURNING HOSTAGES

Israel launched a war effort in the wake of the heinous Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in which terrorists committed atrocities including murder, rape and kidnapping. 

Trump, who has been brokering a peace deal, declared in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, “I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan. This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. 

TRUMP SAYS ‘WHOLE WORLD CAME TOGETHER’ TO SECURE ISRAEL-HAMAS PEACE DEAL AFTER MONTHS OF DEADLOCK

“All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!” the president added.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and others have said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for the deal, but GOP Rep. Randy Fine argued that the award would be insufficient if lasting peace is obtained, instead suggesting that presidential term limits should be abolished.

TRUMP PRAISED DURING PHONE CALL WITH HOSTAGE FAMILIES AFTER HAMAS AGREES TO PEACE PLAN: VIDEO

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“The Nobel Peace Prize isn’t enough. If every living hostage is returned and lasting peace in the Middle East is secured, we should repeal the 22nd Amendment and thank the Lord for every day @realdonaldtrump can be our President. There will never be another one like him,” he said in a post on X.

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., is demanding information from the FBI on whether she has been subjected to additional surveillance, following revelations that former Special Counsel Jack Smith tracked her phone calls, calling the action “one of the most serious infringements on the separation of powers in American history.” 

Fox News Digital first reported Monday that Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team investigating Jan. 6 allegedly monitored the phone calls of Lummis and fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained an FBI document stating the names of the lawmakers and that an FBI special agent on Smith’s team “conducted preliminary toll analysis” on the toll records associated with them.

JACK SMITH TRACKED PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS, CALLS OF NEARLY A DOZEN GOP SENATORS DURING J6 PROBE, FBI SAYS

An FBI official told Fox News Digital that Smith and his team were able to view which phone numbers the senators called, along with the location each call originated and where it was received.

Lummis is now seeking more information on the matter, writing a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel thanking him, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi for their “transparency regarding the blatantly unconstitutional surveillance activities conducted on the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives by the Biden Administration during Operation Arctic Frost.”

“Your willingness to expose these abuses is crucial to getting the FBI and Department of Justice focused back on its core mission of delivering justice for all,” she wrote in the letter to Patel, obtained by Fox News Digital.

Lummis is now demanding all FBI and DOJ records that identify which members of the Biden administration “authorized or approved the surveillance of my phone records and communications.”

FBI FIRES AGENTS, DISMANTLES CORRUPTION SQUAD AFTER PROBE UNVEILS MONITORING OF GOP SENATORS, PATEL SAYS

Lummis is asking for the names of all DOJ officials, FBI officials, and any White House officials involved; the entire data file collected on her, including all phone records and any recordings or transcripts of her private communications; any legal statutes cited to justify the data collection; and any individuals with whom the information was shared.

She is also requesting documentation of “any other surveillance conducted by the FBI or DOJ from January 20, 2021, through January 20, 2025, on me related to my official duties as a United States senator.”

“I believe that the surveillance of sitting United States Senators by the executive branch represents one of the most serious infringements on the separation of powers in American history,” she wrote. “It seriously impinges on both my civil rights and my constitutional duties as a legislator, especially since this surveillance was directly connected to core legislative activities protected by the Speech or Debate Clause of the United States Constitution.”

Lummis added that “the American people deserve to know the truth about how the Biden administration weaponized federal law enforcement against their elected representatives.”

“Those responsible will be held accountable,” she wrote. “Thank you for your prompt attention to these requests, and for restoring integrity to the FBI.”

“Arctic Frost” was opened inside the bureau on April 13, 2022. Smith was appointed as special counsel to take over the probe in November 2022. 

An FBI official told Fox News Digital that “Arctic Frost” is a “prohibited case,” and that the review required officials to go “above and beyond in order to deliver on this promise of transparency.” The discovery is part of a broader, ongoing review.

“The American people deserve the truth, and under my leadership, they will have it,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “We promised accountability for those who weaponized law enforcement, and we will deliver it.”

HAWLEY RIPS JACK SMITH’S ‘BIDEN’S STASI’ PROBE, CALLS ALLEGED SPYING ‘ABUSE OF POWER BEYOND WATERGATE’

Patel added: “Under our watch, the FBI will never again be turned against the American people.”

“It is a disgrace that I have to stand on Capitol Hill and reveal this — that the FBI was once weaponized to track the private communications of U.S. lawmakers for political purposes,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who briefed senators on the matter, told Fox News Digital. “That era is over.”

Bongino added: “Under our leadership, the FBI will never again be used as a political weapon against the American people.”

Meanwhile, the FBI has terminated employees and disbanded the CR-15 squad. Patel announced the actions were taken in response to the revelation of the “baseless monitoring” of U.S. lawmakers.

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“We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making — identifying the rot, removing those who weaponized law enforcement for political purposes and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI. I promised reform, and I intend to deliver it,” Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Patel also posted about it on X, saying, “Transparency is important, and accountability is critical. We promised both, and this is what promises kept looks like… We terminated employees, we abolished the weaponized CR-15 squad, and we initiated an ongoing investigation with more accountability measures ahead.”

Tensions erupted on Capitol Hill Wednesday as two members of the House of Representatives got into a screaming match on the eighth day of the 2025 government shutdown.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., confronted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., outside the latter’s news conference over a bipartisan compromise on enhanced ObamaCare subsidies, a key flashpoint in the fight over federal funding.

He also taunted Jeffries about whether he would endorse democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City — which Jeffries did not answer.

“First of all, I don’t answer to you. You don’t even answer to yourself,” Jeffries responded.

SENATE STALLS ON SHUTDOWN VOTE AMID WARNING FURLOUGHED WORKERS MAY LOSE PAY

The heated exchange began with Lawler challenging Jeffries to sign onto bipartisan legislation extending COVID-19 pandemic-era enhancements to ObamaCare subsidies for one year.

Those subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2025 without congressional action, and Democrats have been demanding that the issue be addressed before they would agree on a federal funding bill to end the shutdown.

“We’ve got a one-year extension, why don’t you sign on right now?” Lawler asked.

Jeffries responded angrily, “Did you get permission from your boss? Did your boss Donald Trump give you permission?”

“He’s not my boss,” Lawler replied.

The two men spoke over each other for nearly five minutes, both accusing the other’s party of derailing the government.

“You’re an embarrassment,” Jeffries said, before confronting him for voting for President Donald Trump’s massive policy bill, the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I voted for a tax cut bill that gave the largest tax cut to Americans in history — including, by the way, the average New Yorker getting a $4,000 tax cut. Are you against that?” Lawler asked.

Jeffries responded, “You’re embarrassing yourself. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history — you voted for that.”

The House Democratic leader pointed his finger into Lawler’s chest, telling him, “You’re not going to talk to me, and talk over me, because you don’t want to hear what I have to say. So why don’t you just keep your mouth shut?”

“Oh, is that the way to talk?” Lawler retorted.

They continued debating the merits of the Republicans’ policy bill, though Lawler repeatedly tried to ask Jeffries if he would sign onto the temporary ObamaCare extension.

Jeffries then shifted the conversation to accusing House Republicans of remaining in their districts during the government shutdown — something Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., urged them to do in order to keep the focus on D.C. on Senate Democrats refusing the GOP’s funding bill.

SENATE REPUBLICANS CONFIRM MORE THAN 100 TRUMP NOMINEES AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CONTINUES

“You wanted Republicans to be here, I’m here,” Lawler said. “And by the way, you can pass an [Affordable Care Act] extension right now. Sign onto this bill.”

Jeffries asked, “Mike, is your boss Donald Trump behind it?”

He argued it would take more Republicans than those signed onto the legislation to get it passed in the House as the fight further devolved into insults.

“Are you mathematically challenged, bro?” Jeffries asked.

Lawler said, “No, I think you are. You have 215 Democrats.”

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The fight came hours after Johnson confronted a pair of Senate Democrats outside his office who were demanding the Republican leader swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz.

Senate Democrats rejected the GOP-led funding bill for the sixth time on Wednesday, all but guaranteeing the shutdown will extend into a ninth day.

The House passed a bill to extend fiscal year (FY) 2025 federal funding levels through Nov. 21 to give lawmakers more time to create a longer-term deal for FY 2026 spending.

But Democrats, furious at being sidelined in federal funding talks, have largely said they’ll reject any deal that does not include an extension of the expiring ObamaCare subsidies.

Republicans have relentlessly blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for shutting down the government to appease the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, as Zohran Mamdani maintains the lead in New York City’s mayoral race and buzz swirls regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political ambition. 

As the government shutdown drags into its second week, the political blame game continued Wednesday. Republicans continue to rail against “Schumer’s shutdown,” while Schumer blames President Donald Trump and Republicans for shutting down the government. 

“This shutdown is nothing more than political cover for Chuck Schumer and the Democrats,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday. “They are worried about the Marxist flank in the Democrat Party. The Marxists are about to elect a mayor in New York City. That’s Chuck Schumer’s state, and he’s terrified that he’s going to get a challenge from his far left.”

Axios reported last month that Ocasio-Cortez is gearing up to run for Schumer’s Senate seat or for president in 2028, prompting Republicans to accuse Schumer of maintaining a red line on continuing resolution (CR) negotiations in order to appease his party’s progressive wing. 

KENNEDY SAYS SCHUMER ‘NERVOUS AS A PREGNANT NUN’ AS SOCIALIST WING TIGHTENS GRIP AMID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

A continuing resolution (CR) is an extension of current federal funding levels aimed at giving lawmakers more time to hash out a longer-term deal on the next fiscal year’s government spending.

BLAME GAME: REPUBLICANS CLAIM SCHUMER FORCED SHUTDOWN ‘BECAUSE HE’S TERRIFIED’ OF AOC PRIMARY CHALLENGE

While the House passed a Republican-backed CR, that bill has stalled in the Senate, having failed multiple times as Democrats continue to insist on pairing any CR with an extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are poised to expire at the end of 2025.

Republicans have accused Democrats of holding Americans and the government hostage over partisan demands, while Democrats warned that the GOP would be responsible for hiking healthcare costs for millions of Americans if the enhanced COVID-era subsidies are allowed to expire.

“Real lives of real people are being disrupted so that Chuck Schumer can show the far-left Marxists in his party that he’s having some kind of tantrum and fighting Donald Trump because he’s afraid of the far-left part of his political base,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Wednesday. 

And Johnson charged that Schumer is a “very far-left politician” but that he isn’t “far enough left for the communists.”

Schumer, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has refused to endorse Mamdani, the self-described Democratic socialist who shocked the political establishment when he secured New York City’s Democratic nomination for mayor in June. 

Mamdani’s political success has exposed an ideological and generational rift within the Democratic Party following devastating losses up and down the ballot in 2024. 

Meanwhile, Republicans have pointed to Mamdani’s success as proof of the party’s far-left progression, with Trump labeling Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and, more recently, “My little communist.”

If elected next month, Mamdani, who easily secured endorsements from progressive champions, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., plans to raise taxes on corporations and the top 1% of New York City voters to pay for campaign promises like free buses, rent freezes and city-run grocery stores. 

For his part, Mamdani said Trump and Republicans shut down the government “because they’re determined to strip healthcare from millions of Americans, to enrich the billionaires they serve, to continue the assault on our rights.”

Republicans have painted Schumer as the face of the government shutdown, but it wasn’t long ago he faced opposition from those within his own party for voting to keep the government open. 

Ocasio-Cortez called Schumer’s decision to vote in favor of the GOP-backed CR to avoid a government shutdown in March a “tremendous mistake.”

Flash forward several months, Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., blamed Schumer on Tuesday for shutting down the government “because he’s scared of a primary challenge from AOC and a challenge to his position in Senate leadership.”

“Chuck Schumer has chosen to cower to the radical side of the Democratic Party instead of coming to the table with a solution,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, also told reporters Tuesday. 

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Despite Republicans blaming Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader continues to blame Trump and Republicans who he said “won’t negotiate to address the health care crisis the American people are facing.”

Schumer, Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s comment requests.

A Democrat congressional candidate’s history of violent rhetoric is coming under fire after his public vow to “kick the s—” out of senior Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller resurfaced online.

“Stephen Miller needs to be THUMPED! That guy’s a freaking worm. I would be willing to go to jail for – I mean, how much [time] would I get for just cracking him a couple of times?” North Carolina congressional candidate Richard Ojeda said while recording one of his regular “Ojeda LIVE” live streams in March 2022.

“I’d be willing to go to jail to kick the s— out of him,” he added. “I’d be more than happy to find myself in an elevator with him and I’d whoop his a– from the first floor to the fifth floor and be happy to go to jail.”

The Trump administration was quick to denounce the rhetoric.

“Unfortunately, Democrats disgustingly supporting political violence is nothing new,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News Digital. “Neither Stephen Miller nor any other member of the administration is going to back down from delivering on President Trump’s agenda to Make America Great Again. In the meantime, Richard Ojeda should seek help.”

LIBERAL MSNBC PANELIST CALLS FOR VIRGINIA AG CANDIDATE TO DROP OUT OVER VIOLENT TEXT MESSAGES

Speaking in response to the backlash his comments have garnered, Ojeda said that despite his language, he does not believe that violence is the answer. 

“The language I used in that video reflects my discontent with how political figures like Steven [sic] Miller are steering the nation I served for 24 years in the U.S. Army. I believe his conduct and the conduct of many who enable him to be a betrayal of our oath that I can not accept,” the Democrat candidate said in a statement he sent to Fox News Digital.

“That said, political violence has no place in our society. I know that better than most. When I first ran for state senate, I was beaten nearly to death on a creek bank simply for putting my name on the ballot in defense of my community. My family wasn’t sure I’d make it out of the ER that night, and I won my seat from a hospital bed. I survived my attack, but as we know many others haven’t. Political violence has spiraled toward darkness in our country and I would not use those same words today.” 

Ojeda also pointed to the fact that he grew up around coal miners, people who “talk tough and don’t mince words about how they feel.”

Criticism of Ojeda’s controversial rhetoric comes amid heightened GOP concerns surrounding inflammatory and violent political rhetoric in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination and multiple attempted assassinations on President Donald Trump. Even Democrats have warned that “violent words precede violent actions” and that “we should have a culture of condemning any rhetoric that glorifies violence.” 

Meanwhile, this week, Virginia’s Democrat candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, came under fire after text messages surfaced of him saying his Republican colleague should get “two bullets to the head.” 

Ojeda is running to represent North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. A veteran who served in the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division, he had a short stint in the West Virginia state Senate before attempting multiple failed runs for Congress at both the House and Senate level. Those runs include two failed bids for the U.S. House in 2014 and 2018, followed by a short-lived run for the presidency that preceded an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2020. 

Amid his current race, Ojeda has raised more money than any other Democratic candidate he is facing in the upcoming North Carolina Democratic primary, according to Federal Election Commission records.

DEMS FACE BACKLASH FOR VIOLENT RHETORIC AFTER DEADLY ICE SHOOTING: ‘MUST STOP’

In his comments to Fox News Digital, Ojeda noted that the remarks being referenced are four years old, and they were made “long before” he ever considered running for Congress, even though he had already run three failed bids up to that point. He also reiterated multiple times that he condemns political violence.

“I’ll admit I was angry then, and I’m still angry now. Angry at what people like Stephen Miller are doing to this nation,” Ojeda concluded in his comments to Fox News Digital. “The fact that he holds a place in our history books disgusts me, and I think it disgusts a lot of Americans. Steven Miller is a racist.”

WATCH: LAWMAKERS WRESTLE WITH HOW TO APPROACH HATEFUL POLITICAL RHETORIC IN WAKE OF KIRK ASSASSINATION

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Prior to his assassination last month, Kirk warned “assassination culture” was spreading on the left in a post on social media. At the time, months before his death, Kirk’s post cited survey data showing 55% of left-leaning respondents said killing Trump could be justified. 

Kirk called the violent momentum a “natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture,” and accused the left of tolerating “violence and mayhem,” while also slamming “the cowardice” of local prosecutors and school officials for their complicity in promoting the trend of violent attitudes.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics coverage. Here’s what’s happening…

– Behind the scenes of Trump’s anticipated Antifa roundtable with Cabinet members

– Comey pleads not guilty to indictment alleging false statements, obstruction

– Supreme Court skeptical of ‘conversion therapy’ law banning treatment of minors with gender identity issues

Liberal media darling in the hot seat after explosive interview goes viral

Conservatives on social media blasted California Democrat Katie Porter, widely seen by Democrats as a frontrunner in the state’s gubernatorial race, after she cut short a contentious interview over follow-up questions from a reporter.

The viral moment happened in a clip posted Tuesday night where Porter took issue with the line of questioning from CBS investigative journalist Julie Watts, who was pushing Porter on whether she can and needs to appeal to the millions of Trump voters in the state to become the next governor.

“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative,” Porter said, adding, “I don’t want to keep doing this, I’m going to call it.”…READ MORE.

White House

‘SUFFERING DEMENTIA’: Pritzker hurls ‘dementia’ claim at Trump amid National Guard feud despite defending Biden’s mental fitness

‘SHOULD BE IN JAIL’: Trump says Chicago mayor, Illinois governor ‘should be in jail for failing to protect’ ICE officers

‘MOST SECURE’: Trump admin announces fewest border apprehensions since 1970

HEATED REMARKS: Kamala Harris takes apparent shot at Trump admin in bizarre outburst: ‘These mother—– are crazy’

World Stage

‘SERIOUS FIREPOWER’: Kushner joins Witkoff for Gaza ceasefire talks as Trump pushes 20-point peace plan

DECOUPLING DEBATE: Think tank founder faces scrutiny over China corporate ties despite decoupling advocacy

BROKEN PEACE: Houthi rebels test US ceasefire with deadly strike on cargo ship

Capitol Hill

ILL HEALTH: Moderate Dem undercuts Jeffries on Obamacare compromise as government shutdown wears on

DEMS DIG IN: Senate Democrats defy White House warnings, again block GOP bid to restart government

SERVING THE COUNTRY: Johnson rejects push for military pay fix as shutdown fight intensifies

SPENDING STANDOFF: Reporter’s Notebook: Senate revotes today on ending government shutdown

PICKING UP THE TAB: Vulnerable Harris-district Republican brings in more than $1M as Dems scramble to flip seat

HISTORIC HOLDUP: Government shutdown 101: We’ve been here before, here’s what happens next

TAXPAYERS PAY UP: Obamacare subsidies at center of Dem shutdown fight ‘fuel’ healthcare cost inflation, conservatives say

‘WEREN’T SURVEILLED’: Dem rep defends DOJ obtaining GOP senator call records in 2023: ‘You weren’t surveilled’

UPHILL CLIMB: Democrat Aftyn Behn advances to special election in battle for vacant congressional seat in deep-red district

Across America 

COST OF IDEALS: Cuomo rips Mamdani’s freebie ‘fantasy,’ says AOC proved socialism fails after killing NYC Amazon deal

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Who is Elizabeth Simons? Meet the largest individual donor to Virginia’s disgraced Dem AG nominee

CAMPUS CHAOS: Protesters attempt to justify Hamas attack on Israel with ‘Columbia Intifada’ newspaper on Oct. 7 anniversary

FUNDING THREAT: State rep’s bill would punish colleges financially if they don’t rename roads after Charlie Kirk

END OF CAMELOT: Joan Kennedy, wife of Sen. Ted Kennedy for 22 years, dead at 89

‘I DON’T CARE’: Controversial Dem abruptly ends bonkers interview after repeatedly berating reporter: ‘I don’t care’

LEGACY LIVES ON: Turning Point Montana State event featuring Ramaswamy, Gianforte draws thousands

‘NAUSEATING’: Republican labels Mamdani as ‘little more than a Muslim terrorist,’ advocates yanking citizenship, deportation

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

It must be something about October and two-year intervals in Congress.

Congress was paralyzed for more than three weeks without a leader two years ago this October as the House unceremoniously ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

And Congress is paralyzed again this October – unable to find the votes to re-open the government.

“There’s nothing for us to negotiate,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “We did the job to keep the government open. And now it’s on the Senate Democrats.”

OMINOUS RED AND ORANGE SKIES HAD CAPITOL HILL TAKE NOTICE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMED

But Democrats say that’s the problem. There haven’t been negotiations. Save for a brief White House meeting last week between President Trump and the top four bipartisan, bicameral Congressional leaders a day before the shutdown.

“The Majority Leader in the Senate, John Thune, R-S.D., talks about, ‘we’ll have conversations.’ We need more than conversations. We need a real negotiation,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on Fox.

So there are no talks. And the sides are seemingly talking past each other.

So, they’ve turned to handicapping.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., gamed out that the shutdown would run another week.

“It won’t end until everybody in the Senate takes their ego out back and shoots it. And then it’ll end,” predicted Kennedy.

It always is, and always will be about the math.

Senate Republicans can conjure up the votes of 55 senators to break a filibuster on the House-passed bill to fund the government. But they need 60 yeas. And Republicans are determined to stick to their playbook.

“I can tell you there’s more than five Democrats in the Senate who know that (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. has led them into a box canyon with this Schumer shutdown,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Fox. “But the consequences will start to pile up.”

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SENATE REVOTES TODAY ON ENDING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t directly answer a question about what would trigger federal firings. But Leavitt made clear that jobs hung in the balance.

“We don’t want to see people laid off. But unfortunately, if this shutdown continues, layoffs are going to be an unfortunate consequence of that,” said Leavitt.

Democrats excoriated the Trump Administration for hinting it would cut programs and jobs in agencies important to Democrats.

“Americans really hate bullies. And this kind of bullying from the White House is going to backlash because they understand that an authoritarian president uses grants to New York for infrastructure, laying off workers, deliberately inflicting pain,” predicted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Don’t inflict unnecessary pain and then boast about it.”

Some Republicans practically reveled in the White House approach.

“All’s fair in love and war. I think that there’s a price to pay for the Democrats shutting this down,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. “These will be part of the consequences.”

But one Democrat argued that the Trump administration’s gambit would also undercut Republicans and voters who supported the president. Even in blue states.

“There’s a lot of folks in Vermont, there’s lot of folk in Illinois who voted for President Trump. So this sort of collective punishment,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Fox. “I think it’s a really bad idea.”

But the president is coy about when the shutdown could trigger federal layoffs.

“It could,” said the president. “At some point it will.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that his department saw “a slight uptick” in aviation safety employees who were calling out sick during the shutdown – since they weren’t being paid.

“They’re thinking about how am I going to get a paycheck? How do I make a car payment,” said Duffy.

WHITE HOUSE ESCALATES SHUTDOWN CONSEQUENCES AS DEMOCRATS SHOW NO SIGNS OF BUDGING: ‘KAMIKAZE ATTACK’

But if you squint, you can see a few signs of bipartisanship.

Johnson is discussing Obamacare subsidies with one prominent Democrat.

“I had I think a fruitful discussion, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., about two days ago, a day or so ago,” said Johnson on efforts to address looming Obamacare premium spikes. “Whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor. I’m ready to go.”

But Schumer is skeptical about the Speaker’s promises.

“Delay has always been Speaker Johnson’s MO. Speaker Johnson has survived by kicking the can down the road,” said Schumer. “When Johnson says later, they know he means never.”

Tension is building as the shutdown barrels into its second week as lawmakers spin in circles.

“I realize that my Democrat colleagues are facing pressure from members of their far left base. But they’re playing a losing game here,” said Thune.

But each side is now engaged in a game of parliamentary chicken. Republicans won’t budge from their demand that Senate Democrats approve their funding plan. And Democrats won’t relent from their insistence that the sides shore up Obamacare subsidies.

“I’m not going to vote to reopen the government until I see a way that we can do that,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

Even some Republicans worry about Obamacare price spikes.

“There are some folks in what is the new part of the Republican Party, which is blue-collar workers,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., on Fox Business. “We have to be careful how we do this. We just shouldn’t cut it. We should make sure we use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.”

SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?

But even if bipartisan senators were to forge a deal, the plan may slam into a brick wall in the House.

“Republicans have spent most of their careers being against Obamacare. Why would they expand it and add a subsidy on top of a subsidy?” asked House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.

A debate is now raging over which side will cave. Or which party faces political consequences.

Naturally, Republicans believe Democrats will pay a price.

“Their radical base just wants to see them up here fighting Donald Trump, not over any particular issues,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

But Democrats don’t see a political downside.

“Are you concerned in any way about the political ramifications that voters might blame your side down the road?” yours truly asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

“The American people are crystal clear on who shut down the government. Crystal clear,” replied Jeffries.

However, some lawmakers doubt that voters care about who “shut down the government.”

“My constituents don’t care about the finger pointing. They just want us to govern,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.

As the impasse deepens, the Senate shifted from parliamentary posturing to ecumenical intercession.

“On this third day of the government shutdown, inspire them to work for your glory in all they think, say, and sow,” prayed Senate Chaplain Barry Black during his invocation of the Senate last week.

HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN

And then there are the sideshows. The White House sent out a meme portraying Budget Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper. And the president trolled Jeffries with an AI-generated social media video, casting Jeffries in a sombrero and a mustache with mariachi music playing in the background.

At the same time, Republicans warned about grave shutdown consequences.

“Real pain is being endured by real people,” said Johnson.

But in the next breath, the Speaker defended the president making light of circumstances, describing the trolling as “entertainment.”

“That’s what President Trump does. And people are having fun with this,” said Johnson.

I didn’t let that go.

“On one hand, you say this is very serious. That people have jobs on the line. On the other hand, you say, ‘oh, this is just fun and games and they’re trolling.’ Which is it?” I inquired.

“What they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats’ position,” answered Johnson.

So we don’t know if or when Vought will drop the anvil on federal workers. But one senator who caucuses with the Democrats and voted for the GOP plan, signaled his support could wane if Republicans overplay their hand.

“If they start firing thousands of people or clawing back other kinds of programs, I think, it could hurt their chances of getting this resolved,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.’

The Senate has now blocked the House-approved spending package on six separate occasions. The sides are having casual conversations. But nothing has happened.

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It’s as though Congress is on a merry-go-round to nowhere, just going around and around. Everyone’s getting dizzy. And just wants to dismount.