Judge rules Trump can’t require citizenship proof on federal voting form – US politics live

9.54pm GMT The day so far The White House announced a new rule restricting the ability of credentialed journalists to freely access the offices of press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top communications officials in the West Wing, near the Oval Office. A memorandum issued late today bans journalists from accessing Room 140, also known as “Upper Press”, without a prior appointment, citing the need to protect potentially sensitive material. It said the change would take effect immediately. Donald Trump announced that he has renovated the bathroom inside the Lincoln bedroom at the White House, and shared an image of the lavish white-and-black-marbled remodel. Trump has renovated other parts of the White House, including his heavily criticized demolition of the East Wing to build a $300m ballroom, paving over the Rose Garden and decorating the Oval Office with gold. Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled. US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington DC uled that the proof-of-citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers, dealing a blow to the administration and its allies. Trump is set to sit down with Norah O’Donnell, a CBS anchor, this afternoon in what would be the president’s first interview with the network since its parent company Paramount settled a $16m lawsuit with him. It comes as CBS is in the midst of a deliberate reposturing aimed, at least in part, to the center and the right. Trump said that the US and Canada will not restart trade talks, but that Canadian PM Mark Carney had apologized to him for an Ontario political ad that featured Ronald Reagan saying tariffs spell disaster. New York’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul called on the Trump administration to “release emergency nutrition assistance for the 3 million New Yorkers set to lose their Snap benefits tomorrow”. Hochul said that her administration “remains prepared for the worst” and is “fast-tracking over $100 million for food banks and pantries” and has declared a state of emergency. It comes as two federal judges ruled almost simultaneously this afternoon that the Trump administration must continue to fund Snap, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown. The rulings came a day before the US Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the program, which serves about one in eight (or 42 million) Americans. The US will not send any high-level officials to the upcoming Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, a White House official told Reuters, alleviating some concern among world leaders that Washington would send a team to scupper the talks. Public tours in the White House will resume in December, according to a statement from the office of the first lady. They had been suspended indefinitely in August amid construction for Trump’s controversial $300m ballroom project. Trump denied that he is considering strikes inside Venezuela, even amid reports that his administration may expand its counter-drug campaign in the Caribbean. It comes as the UN high commissioner for human rights said today that US military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop. The president reaffirmed that the US would resume nuclear testing, and did not answer directly when asked whether that would include the traditional underground nuclear tests common during the cold war. “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he flew to Palm Beach, Florida, when asked about underground nuclear tests. “Other countries do it. If they’re doing to do it, we’re going to do it, okay?” A Republican-dominated Ohio panel adopted new US House districts that could boost the GOP’s chances of winning two additional seats in next year’s elections and aid Trump’s efforts to hold on to a slim congressional majority. You can view the map here. Trump called on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats and reopen the federal government. The filibuster is a way for a relatively small group of senators to block action by the majority. The filibuster rule allows a minority of 41 senators to prevent a vote on most kinds of legislation. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, a Republican known for defending Senate traditions, has repeatedly rejected proposals to weaken or remove the 60-vote rule. 9.39pm GMT Donald Trump arriving at Palm Beach international airport earlier, in West Palm Beach, Florida. He’s spending the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Updated at 9.43pm GMT 9.39pm GMT White House issues new rule restricting access for journalists The White House has announced a new rule restricting the ability of credentialed journalists to freely access the offices of press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other top communications officials in the West Wing, near the Oval Office. A memorandum issued late today bans journalists from accessing Room 140, also known as “Upper Press”, without a prior appointment, citing the need to protect potentially sensitive material. It said the change would take effect immediately. It follows restrictions put in place earlier this month for credentialed reporters at the Department of Defense, who were asked to sign a pledge not to gather any information – including unclassified documents – that had not been authorized for release. It prompted dozens of journalists to vacate their office in the Pentagon and returned their credentials. The department promptly announced a “next generation of the Pentagon press corps” featuring 60 journalists from far-right outlets. 9.31pm GMT Trump unveils renovated Lincoln bathroom amid furore over East Wing demolition Earlier today, Donald Trump announced that he has renovated the bathroom inside the Lincoln bedroom at the White House, and shared an image of the lavish white-and-black-marbled remodel. “I renovated the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House. It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, attaching a photo showing that version. “I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble. This was very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!” It comes as Trump has renovated other parts of the White House, including his heavily criticized demolition of the East Wing to build a $300m ballroom, paving over the Rose Garden and decorating the Oval Office with gold. The Lincoln bedroom was originally used by Abraham Lincoln as his office and cabinet room. 9.22pm GMT Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican congressperson, caused a fracas when she cursed at and berated law enforcement at the Charleston international airport yesterday, Wired reports. According to an incident report, Mace cursed loudly at police officers and made repeated derogatory comments towards them. “She repeatedly stated we were ‘fucking incompetent’, and ‘this is no way to treat a fucking US representative’,” the report states. The report also says that a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) supervisor told officers that Mace had treated their staff similarly and they would be reporting her to their superiors. “Any other person in the airport acting and talking the way she did, our department would have been dispatch (sic) and we would have addressed the behavior,” the incident report concludes. Updated at 9.34pm GMT 8.59pm GMT Federal judge rules Trump can’t require citizenship proof on the federal voting form Donald Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced, a federal judge ruled today. US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington DC sided with Democratic and civil rights groups that sued the Trump administration over his executive order to overhaul US elections. She ruled that the proof-of-citizenship directive is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers, dealing a blow to the administration and its allies. “Because our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and to Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her opinion. The ruling grants the plaintiffs a partial summary judgment that prohibits the proof-of-citizenship requirement from going into effect. It says the US Election Assistance Commission, which has been considering adding the requirement to the federal voter form, is permanently barred from taking action to do so. 8.45pm GMT Trump to sit with CBS News in first interview after lawsuit – report Donald Trump is set to sit down with Norah O’Donnell, a CBS anchor, this afternoon, Semafor is reporting, in what would be the president’s first interview with the network since its parent company Paramount settled a $16m lawsuit with him. Trump sued CBS News and Paramount over the editing of an interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. Despite serious doubts about whether Trump’s legal argument would stand up in court, Paramount decided to settle the lawsuit for $16m in July. According to Semafor’s report: CBS is in the midst of a deliberate repositioning aimed, at least in part, at gesturing to the center and the right. The network decided against renewing the contract of Stephen Colbert, the late night host who has regularly needled Trump and expressed support for mainstream Democrats (critics, internally and externally, said Colbert was increasingly too expensive to maintain). Following new owner David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount, he quickly bought the Free Press and installed its founder Bari Weiss atop CBS News; Weiss had made a name for herself as an opinion writer who critiqued what she believed was the illiberal and censorious online left in academia, progressive politics and the news media. CBS also appointed a new ombudsman who had previously run the Hudson Institute, a conservative thinktank. In recent months, the Trump administration’s pressure has altered editorial policies at the network. CBS agreed earlier this year to release full transcripts of future 60 Minutes presidential interviews. And following criticism from homeland security secretary Kristi Noem’s team over an interview on the network’s Sunday show, Face The Nation, CBS News announced that in the future it would only air unedited interviews on the program. Trump has returned the favor by publicly nodding in the network’s direction. On Air Force One earlier this month, he speculated with the press corps about who would be the next anchor of CBS Evening News, and praised the Ellisons. “Larry Ellison is great, and his son, David, is great. They’re friends of mine. They’re big supporters of mine. And they’ll do the right thing,” Trump said. “And it’s got great potential. CBS has great potential.” In addition to praise from the president and some one-on-one access, Trump’s decision, for the moment, to bless Paramount could help it improve its business in other ways. The New York Post reported that people close to Trump believed Paramount had the inside track with federal regulators in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery; its most likely rival potential bidder, Comcast, faces a more steep regulatory hurdle if Trump’s statements about the company are considered. Updated at 9.28pm GMT 8.07pm GMT Trump says US and Canada will not restart trade talks Donald Trump said earlier today that the United States and Canada will not restart trade talks, but that Canadian PM Mark Carney had apologized to him for an Ontario political ad that featured Ronald Reagan saying tariffs spell disaster. “I like [Carney] a lot but what they did was wrong,” Trump said. “He apologized for what they did with the commercial because it was a false commercial.” Trump last week called off negotiations over the ad aired by the Canadian province, adding that he was raising tariffs on Canadian goods by an additional 10%. The ad by the Ontario government featured former president Reagan, who was known for his support of free marks and free trade, saying that tariffs on foreign goods lead to trade wars and job losses. Updated at 8.09pm GMT 7.32pm GMT A ground stop had been in effect at New York’s JFK airport until 7.30pm ET due to staffing shortages in the air traffic system, according to the New York City emergency management department, but according to Reuters, it was lifted around 3.30pm ET. In a statement earlier on Friday, the New York City department had said that flights headed to JFK were being held at their departure airports. The department also said that JFK, as well as nearby airports LaGuardia and Newark are all “under FAA traffic restrictions” this evening and are under ground delay programs due to staffing shortages and wind in the region. As of 3.30pm ET, it seems as though the ground delays are still in place. Updated at 9.23pm GMT 7.18pm GMT New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has called on the Trump administration to “release emergency nutrition assistance for the 3 million New Yorkers set to lose their SNAP benefits tomorrow”. “No state should have to sue the federal government to ensure families can put food on the table,” she said. “But when Washington Republicans refused to act, New York took them to court to mitigate this crisis.” Hochul said that her administration “remains prepared for the worst” and is “fast-tracking over $100 million for food banks and pantries” and has declared a state of emergency. Updated at 7.23pm GMT 7.14pm GMT Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, the ranking member of the Senate agriculture committee, which oversees the food aid program, has released a statement following the court’s decision decision, saying that Trump officials “now have no excuse to withhold food assistance from Americans”. “The court’s decision confirms what we have said all week: The administration is choosing not to feed Americans in need, despite knowing that it is legally required to do so,” said Klobuchar. “The court was clear: the administration is ‘required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program.’” If the administration decides not to issue Snap, Klobuchar said that it “is purely a cruel political decision, not a legal one.” “They should immediately act – as the court has required – to ensure food assistance continues to go to families in need” she added. Updated at 7.22pm GMT 6.55pm GMT The day so far Two federal judges ruled almost simultaneously this afternoon that the Trump administration must continue to fund Snap, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown. The rulings came a day before the US Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the program, which serves about one in eight (or 42 million) Americans. The US will not send any high-level officials to the upcoming Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, a White House official told Reuters, alleviating some concern among world leaders that Washington would send a team to scupper the talks. Public tours in the White House will resume in December, according to a statement from the office of the first lady. They had been suspended indefinitely in August amid construction for Trump’s controversial $300m ballroom project. Donald Trump denied that he is considering strikes inside Venezuela, even amid reports that his administration may expand its counter-drug campaign in the Caribbean. It comes as the UN high commissioner for human rights said today that US military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop. The president reaffirmed that the US would resume nuclear testing, and did not answer directly when asked whether that would include the traditional underground nuclear tests common during the cold war. “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he flew to Palm Beach, Florida, when asked about underground nuclear tests. “Other countries do it. If they’re doing to do it, we’re going to do it, okay?” A Republican-dominated Ohio panel adopted new US House districts that could boost the GOP’s chances of winning two additional seats in next year’s elections and aid Donald Trump’s efforts to hold on to a slim congressional majority. You can view the map here. Donald Trump has called on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats and reopen the federal government. The filibuster is a way for a relatively small group of senators to block action by the majority. The filibuster rule allows a minority of 41 senators to prevent a vote on most kinds of legislation. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, a Republican known for defending Senate traditions, has repeatedly rejected proposals to weaken or remove the 60-vote rule. Updated at 7.08pm GMT 5.57pm GMT US judge blocks Trump administration from suspending Snap food aid benefits A federal judge in Rhode Island has blocked the Trump administration’s plan to suspend all Snap food aid benefits for millions of Americans amid the ongoing government shutdown, Reuters reports. US district judge John McConnell in Providence issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of cities, nonprofits and a union who argued the US Department of Agriculture’s suspension of Snap starting from Saturday was unlawful, and told the administration it “must distribute” aid using a set of emergency funds - and potentially other sources - and pay the benefits as soon as possible. He ruled minutes after another judge in Boston ruled that the suspension was likely unlawful in a related case pursued by a coalition of Democratic-led states that also sought to avert the suspension. That judge has ordered the Trump administration to indicate by Monday if it would provide either full or partial SNAP benefits in November. “There is no doubt and it is beyond argument that irreparable harm will begin to occur if it hasn’t already occurred in the terror it has caused some people about the availability of funding for food, for their family,” McConnell said during a virtual hearing. Updated at 6.38pm GMT 5.55pm GMT US will not send officials to Cop30 climate talks, White House says The US will not send any high-level officials to the upcoming Cop30 climate summit in Brazil, a White House official has told Reuters, alleviating some concern among world leaders that Washington would send a team to scupper the talks. Brazil will host a high-level leaders’ summit next week before the two-week UN climate negotiations begin in the Amazonian city of Belem. Earlier this month, the US threatened to use visa restrictions and sanctions to retaliate against nations that would vote in favor of a plan put forward by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping. Those tactics led a majority of countries at the IMO to vote to postpone by a year a decision on a global carbon price on international shipping. The White House official said Donald Trump has already made his administration’s views on multilateral climate action clear in his astonishing speech at last month’s United Nations general assembly, where he called climate change the world’s “greatest con job” and chided countries for setting climate policies that he said “have cost their countries fortunes”. “The president is directly engaging with leaders around the world on energy issues, which you can see from the historic trade deals and peace deals that all have a significant focus on energy partnerships,” the White House official told Reuters. The Trump administration has pursued bilateral energy deals in its trade negotiations to boost US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports with countries like South Korea and also the European Union. On Friday, the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said there is “room for great energy trade between China and the United States” given China’s need for natural gas as the two economic giants negotiate over tariffs. Trump announced on his first day in office that the US would exit the 10-year-old Paris climate agreement, taking effect in January 2026, and the state department has been reviewing the US’s engagement in multilateral environmental agreements. Earlier this year, the US also put pressure on countries negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution not to back an agreement that would set plastic production caps. The White House official told Reuters that “the tide is turning” on prioritizing climate change, pointing to a memo circulated this week by billionaire and longtime climate philanthropist and investor Bill Gates, who said it is time to pivot away from focusing on meeting global temperature goals and claimed that climate change will “not lead to humanity’s demise”. Updated at 6.00pm GMT 5.30pm GMT White House to resume public tours in December Public tours in the White House will resume in December, according to a statement from the office of the first lady. “The White House will reopen its doors for public tours on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, with an updated route offering guests the opportunity to experience the history and beauty of the People’s House. In celebration of the holiday season, all December tours will feature the White House Christmas decorations on the State Floor,” it said. Public tours were suspended indefinitely in August amid construction for Trump’s controversial $300m ballroom project. Updated at 5.36pm GMT 5.05pm GMT China “made a real mistake” by threatening to shut off exports of its rare earths, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told the Financial Times (paywall) in an interview published today. US and Chinese leaders had reached an “equilibrium” but warned that China would not be able to keep using its critical minerals as a coercive tool, Bessent told the paper, adding that China “made a real mistake” by “firing shots” on rare earths. 4.10pm GMT Trump denies that he is considering strikes within Venezuela Donald Trump has denied that he is considering strikes inside Venezuela, even amid reports that his administration may expand its counter-drug campaign in the Caribbean. The US has built up a large military presence in the Caribbean in recent months, with fighter jets, warships and thousands of troops. That presence will significantly expand in the coming weeks with the arrival of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group. In recent weeks, Trump has publicly said that his administration will carry out strikes against drug-related targets inside Venezuela. But when asked today by reporters on Air Force One if media reports that he was considering strikes within Venezuela were true, Trump said: “No.” Updated at 4.47pm GMT 4.07pm GMT Trump declines to rule out underground nuclear tests Donald Trump reaffirmed today that the US would resume nuclear testing, and he did not answer directly when asked whether that would include the traditional underground nuclear tests common during the cold war. “You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he flew to Palm Beach, Florida, when asked about underground nuclear tests. “Other countries do it. If they’re doing to do it, we’re going to do it, okay?” Yesterday the president said he had ordered the US military to immediately restart the process for testing nuclear weapons after a halt of 33 years, a move that appeared to be a message to rival nuclear powers China and Russia. He made that surprise announcement on Truth Social while aboard his Marine One helicopter flying to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping for a trade-negotiating session in Busan, South Korea. It was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to nuclear-explosive testing, which would be carried out by the National Nuclear Security Administration, or flight testing of nuclear-capable missiles. No nuclear power – other than North Korea most recently in 2017 – has carried out explosive nuclear testing in over 25 years. Updated at 4.47pm GMT 3.27pm GMT Judges could rule on the fate of Snap food aid as deadline nears for shutdown to end payments Two judges could rule as soon as today on whether the Trump administration must replenish Snap food aid benefits for November despite the government shutdown, the Associated Press reports. The grocery-buying ability for about one in eight Americans could hinge on the outcomes. Even if a judge rules the benefits cannot be suspended for the first time in Snap’s 61-year history, many beneficiaries are likely to face delays in getting the debit cards they use to buy groceries reloaded. That process can take one to two weeks, so it’s probably too late to get funds on cards in the first days of November. In a hearing in Boston yesterday on a legal challenge filed by Democratic officials from 25 states, one federal judge seemed skeptical of the administration’s argument that Snap benefits could be halted. US district judge Indira Talwani told lawyers that if the government can’t afford to cover the cost, there’s a process to follow rather than simply suspending all benefits. “The steps involve finding an equitable way of reducing benefits,” said Talwani. Talwani seemed to be leaning toward requiring the government to put billions of dollars in emergency funds toward Snap. That, she said, is her interpretation of what Congress intended when an agency’s funding runs out. “If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.” Government lawyers say a contingency fund containing some $5bn cannot legally be used to maintain Snap, a program that costs about $8bn a month. The states say it must be used for that purpose and point to more money available in a second federal account with around $23bn. Talwani said her ruling would apply nationwide, not just in the states that are part of the challenge. That could defy the intentions of the US supreme court, which has limited the use of nationwide injunctions, though it hasn’t prohibited them. A hearing on a second, similar challenge filed by a coalition of cities and non-profit organizations is scheduled before a Rhode Island-based federal judge for today. Any ruling in either case is likely to face an appeal. Updated at 3.32pm GMT 3.23pm GMT Ohio panel adopts new US House districts that could help Republicans in next year’s election A Republican-dominated Ohio panel has adopted new US House districts that could boost the GOP’s chances of winning two additional seats in next year’s elections and aid Donald Trump’s efforts to hold on to a slim congressional majority. You can view the map here. The action by the Ohio Redistricting Commission comes as Trump has been urging Republican-led states to reshape their US House districts in an attempt to win more seats. But unlike in other states, Ohio’s redistricting was required by the state constitution because the current districts were adopted after the 2020 census without bipartisan support. Ohio joins Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, where Republican lawmakers already have revised their congressional districts. Democrats have been pushing back. California voters are deciding Tuesday on a redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-led legislature. And Democratic lawmakers in Virginia were voting Friday on a proposed constitutional amendment that, if adopted by voters, could allow lawmakers to redraw congressional districts in response to the actions elsewhere. The political parties are in an intense battle, because Democrats need to gain just three seats in next year’s election to win control of the House and gain the power to impede Trump’s agenda. Republicans already hold 10 of the 15 congressional seats in Ohio. The new map could boost Republican chances in districts currently held by Democratic representatives Greg Landsman in Cincinnati and Marcy Kaptur near Toledo. Updated at 3.34pm GMT 2.52pm GMT What is the filibuster and why does Trump want to get rid of it? Donald Trump on Thursday suggested ending the filibuster to bring an end to the government shutdown, which has now passed one month with no signs of compromise on the horizon. Both parties have previously defended or sought to dismantle the US Senate rule, depending on the moment and the contours of the debate. “….BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD ‘CRAZY,’ THE CHOICE IS CLEAR — INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER AND, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the US president wrote on Truth Social. Need a refresher on the filibuster and why it matters? My colleague Rachel Leingang has this explainer on what you need to know: Related: What is the filibuster and why does Trump want to get rid of it? 2.51pm GMT More than 40 million Americans will stop receiving food stamps on 1 November, as the US government shutdown enters its fifth week. The Department of Agriculture says the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) will be suspended until Congress reopens the government. While the Trump administration argues the department does not have the legal authority to use a $5bn contingency fund to continue the aid, Democrats disagree, and two dozen states have sued the government to force the program to continue. Meanwhile, Democrats are also refusing to vote to end the shutdown because health insurance costs are set to go up dramatically as insurers prepare for a lapse in subsidies. Senate Democrats are demanding that any short-term government funding deal include an extension of the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans, while Trump and the Republicans have said they will not negotiate until the government is back up and running. Extending the subsidies would require $350bn in federal spending over the coming decade. We’d like to hear from Americans who are about to lose Snap food assistance due to the shutdown, as well as from people whose healthcare may become unaffordable due to rising premiums. Have you received any notices or paperwork that your insurance will change soon? Tell us using the link below: Related: Share how the ongoing US government shutdown could affect your access to food or health insurance 2.41pm GMT Neither agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins nor House speaker Mike Johnson commented on the issue Democrats have been holding the government closed in order to address: health insurance premiums that will double, triple or more for people using healthcare insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.Instead, Johnson attributed the shutdown to a call for a “leftwing, radical agenda”. Updated at 2.48pm GMT 2.22pm GMT Agriculture secretary rejects calls to use alternative funding for food stamps program Name-checking New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his “socialist rhetoric,” US secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins decried Senate Democrats who are holding out on opening the government. Rollins described the shutdown as “disguising dereliction of duty, all to favor illegal aliens and other far left policies”. The irony of attacking Democrats for supporting “socialist policies” while arguing in support of a public benefit for nutrition support went unremarked upon. She described the call for the agriculture department to use alternative funding to cover Snap – as Donald Trump has drawn on to cover salaries for soldiers and other employees – as “a lie” and legally impossible. Updated at 3.31pm GMT 2.09pm GMT Mike Johnson seeks to blame Democrats for Americans losing food benefits US House speaker Mike Johnson spoke about millions of families suffering “because of Snap benefits drying up” during the government shutdown, while offering “a word of sincere gratitude” to millions of federal workers who have showed up without pay, “not knowing when or if their next paycheck will be delivered”. “We just want to say thank you for your diligence … even though Democrats are withholding your paycheck. They are shameless in doing so.” Johnson laid blame for the shutdown on Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats choosing not to approve a continuing resolution on funding the government. “The pain of the people is their political lever,” he said. “Republicans have done their part.” Updated at 2.14pm GMT 1.51pm GMT US House speaker Mike Johnson will hold a press conference at 10am ET to discuss the ongoing federal government shutdown. You can watch the briefing here. Updated at 1.57pm GMT 1.18pm GMT Mike Johnson doubles down on refusing to bring back House until shutdown ends US House Speaker Mike Johnson reiterated this morning that he will not bring the chamber back into session until the government shutdown ends. Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Johnson said: “We are anxious to get the house back to regular legislative session, but we have to get the lights turned back on. Chuck Schumer and the Democrats in the Senate have got to reopen the government. Again, it’s the most fundamental responsibility of congress is to have the government operate and work for the people. That’s the number one priority right now and we cannot deviate from that.” The government is on day 31 of shutdown today. The senate adjourned on Thursday without resolving demands by Democrats to negotiate on healthcare subsidies for insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The senate won’t meet again until Monday, extending the shutdown into at least its 34th day, equaling the longest in US history. Meanwhile, health insurance exchanges enter an open enrollment period tomorrow. An early peek at prices without subsidies suggests that the cost of many plans will double or more. Paychecks for most government employees will not go out tomorrow. And the government will not pay Snap food benefits that would normally land on prepaid cards tomorrow, leaving about 42 million beneficiaries – mostly children and disabled elderly recipients – searching for ways to pay for food. Updated at 1.37pm GMT 1.01pm GMT The president of the Heritage Foundation has denied the suggestion that the conservative thinktank should distance itself from former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, after interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who made antisemitic statements during the two-and-a-half hour video. “Christians can critique the State of Israel without being anti-Semitic, and of course, anti-Semitism should be condemned,” said Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, in a video on X yesterday. “[C]onservatives should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington.” Roberts said: “The Heritage Foundation didn’t become the intellectual backbone of the conservative movement by canceling our own people or policing the consciences of Christians, and we won’t start doing that now. We don’t take direction from comments on X, though we are grateful for the robust free speech debate.” Updated at 1.03pm GMT 12.22pm GMT House Republicans increasingly frustrated with Johnson over shutdown tactics House Republicans are increasingly expressing frustration with the chamber’s moribund activity and the legislative backlog piling up as speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana keeps Congress out of session during the government shutdown. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia confronted speaker the speaker during a House GOP conference call to criticize his tactics to negotiate the shutdown, according to a piece in the Hill today. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas has also been critical of the shutdown’s effect on the legislative agenda, Axios reported. Updated at 1.37pm GMT 12.13pm GMT FBI thwarts potential terrorist attack, says Kash Patel The FBI has made multiple arrests to avert a potential terrorist attack in Michigan, FBI director Kash Patel announced on X this morning, promising additional details. Those arrested “were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend”, he wrote. No other details have yet been presented. Updated at 1.18pm GMT 12.10pm GMT Kennedy Center ticket sales for orchestra, dance and theatre performances are at the worst they have been since the pandemic, analysis by the Washington Post has found. Back in September, the Guardian reported that ticket sales at the Kennedy Center had continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue. Since then typical ticket sales are down from 93 per cent in late 2024 to about 57% this year, according to the Post. Audiences are “voting with their feet to skip out” on shows that would once have been packed, in protest at the US president inserting himself into the center’s management and operations as its new chair. Updated at 12.55pm GMT 11.46am GMT A federal judge has indicated that she would order the Trump administration to use reserves to partially fund food assistance for about 42 million Americans in November, reports the Washington Post. If the order goes ahead, it could delay a cutoff in benefits during the government shutdown. US grocers and food companies ranging from Walmart to Smithfield Foods are bracing for a dip in November sales if federal food aid benefits lapse for the first time due to the ongoing government shutdown. The shutdown has imperiled next month’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), also known as food stamps, which serves nearly 42 million people. Neither Congress nor the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has acted to fund the benefits beyond Saturday. The gap could mean an $8bn revenue drop for grocers, declining sales for their suppliers and reduced hours for workers as it drives Snap recipients to reduce spending, trade groups, companies and a union said this week, reports Reuters. Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of health, nutrition and food studies at New York University said: It’s not only poor people who are on Snap who are going to be affected. It means the places where they spend the money aren’t going to get that money. The National Grocers Association said on Wednesday that Congress should reopen the government and fund Snap to avoid instability for customers and retailers, warning of “serious consequences for local grocers, their employees, and the food supply chain.” “Retailers are going to be in a terrible situation here trying to manage costs and inventory,” said Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, adding stores could see unsold perishable goods go to waste. A USDA spokesperson called the benefit lapse “an inflection point for Senate Democrats”. The agency has repeatedly blamed Democrats for the shutdown, most of whom have withheld votes on a spending bill in an attempt to keep healthcare costs from increasing for many Americans. Updated at 11.47am GMT 11.24am GMT A US Republican senator is asking President Donald Trump’s administration to help the Malaysian government prevent US artificial intelligence chips from being smuggled through the country to China, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Reuters has previously reported that US officials believe Malaysia is among a handful of countries where organized smuggling operations have worked to get US chips into China that would otherwise be banned from export to China. Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, wrote a letter to US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick saying Malaysian officials had begun cracking down on such activity and the Trump administration should aid Malaysian officials in the effort by helping the country develop screening programs to ensure chips are not being diverted to China. Cotton, who along with the Trump administration has supported the idea of requiring US chips to contain technology that would verify their location to prevent smuggling, said chips with such technology should be given a green light for export to Malaysia, reports Reuters. Cotton wrote in an 30 October letter: As is often the case, US companies are at the forefront of developing creative and innovative technical solutions, which will help add layers of assurance against illegal diversion. Cotton said: To support the semiconductor industry in their efforts, it may be beneficial for US and Malaysian officials to develop priority customs clearance procedures for shipments of advanced U.S. chips with anti-diversion mechanisms. Malaysia, China’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, announced in July it was requiring permits for all exports, trans-shipments and transits of US-made high-performance chips, such as those made by Nvidia. 11.10am GMT UN human rights official says US strikes on alleged drug boats are 'unacceptable' The UN high commissioner for human rights said on Friday that US military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop. Volker Türk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization, reports the Associated Press (AP). Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for Türk’s office, relayed his message on Friday at a regular UN briefing: These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats. She said Türk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law”.President Donald Trump has Justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the US, but the campaign against drug cartels has been divisive among countries in the region. US defense secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced the latest US military strike in the campaign, against a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. All four people aboard were killed. It was the 14th strike since the campaign began in early September, while the death toll has grown to at least 61, reports the AP.Shamdasani noted the US explanations of the efforts as an anti-drug and counter-terrorism campaign, but said countries have long agreed that the fight against illicit drug trafficking is a law-enforcement matter governed by “careful limits” placed on the use of lethal force.Intentional use of lethal force is allowed only as a last resort against someone representing “an imminent threat to life,” she said. Shamdasani added: Otherwise, it would amount to a violation of the right of life and constitute extrajudicial killings. The strikes are taking place “outside the context” of armed conflict or active hostilities, Shamdasani said. 10.54am GMT US Senate votes to reject Trump’s global tariffs on more than 100 countries The US Senate took a stand against Donald Trump’s global tariffs affecting more than 100 countries on Thursday, voting to nullify the so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Four Republicans joined with all Democrats to vote 51-47 on a resolution to end the base-level tariffs that the president put into place via executive order. It was the third time the Republicans have voted alongside Democrats on a tariff resolution this week, previously rallying to end tariffs targeting Brazil and Canada. Going against Trump is rare for Republicans in his second term. But Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined the opposition party. The vote came as Trump is wrapping up a week in Asia, where he struck a deal with China to lower tariffs on Chinese goods into the country and get China to buy up US soya beans, a pain point of the trade wars that had farmers on edge, among other concessions. Despite the opposition in the Senate, the House is unlikely to take any similar action. House Republicans created a rule earlier this year that will block resolutions on the tariffs from getting a floor vote. The tariff resolutions are a rebuke to the tariffs themselves and to Trump overstepping his authority and bypassing Congress. Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, told reporters that the symbolic opposition should catch the president’s attention. Kaine said: I did learn in the first Trump term that the president is responsive to things like this. When he sees Republicans starting to vote against his policies, even in small numbers, that makes an impression on him and can often cause him to alter his behavior. Related: US Senate votes to reject Trump’s global tariffs on more than 100 countries Updated at 10.55am GMT 10.44am GMT Trump says Senate should scrap the filibuster to end the government shutdown President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster, so that the Republican majority can bypass Democrats and reopen the federal government.Trump posted Thursday night on his social media site, Truth Social: THE CHOICE IS CLEAR – INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER. The filibuster is a longstanding tactic in the Senate to delay or block votes on legislation by keeping the debate running. It requires 60 votes in a full Senate to overcome a filibuster, giving Democrats a check on the 53-seat Republican majority that led to the start of the 1 October shutdown when the new fiscal year began.Trump’s call to terminate the filibuster could alter the ways the Senate and congressional deal-making operate, with the president saying in his post that he gave a “great deal” of thought to the choice on his flight back from Asia on Thursday. Trump spent the past week with foreign leaders in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, finishing his tour by meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump wrote about his meetings and said it “was a great honor” to “see that America is respected again”. He also claimed that “money is pouring into our Country because of Tariffs and, frankly, the Landslide Results of the 2024 Presidential Election”. Switching back to the filibuster issue, Trump wrote: It is now time for the Republicans to play their “TRUMP CARD,” and go for what is called the Nuclear Option – Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW! More on this in a moment. First here are some other key developments: A (small) handful of US Senate Republicans issued a legislative rebuke to president Donald Trump’s world-rattling trade tariffs in a rare alignment with their Democratic counterparts. Four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – joined the opposition party, voting 51-47 on a resolution to end the base-level tariffs on more than 100 nations that the president put into place via executive order. The Trump administration is going to restrict the number of refugees it admits into the United States next year to the token level of just 7,500 – and those spots will mostly be filled by white South Africans. The low number represents a dramatic drop after the US previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, on Thursday declared a state of emergency to free up funds so that she could issue $65m in assistance to food banks because federal funding for the national food stamp program is set to lapse on 1 November. Oregon and Virginia have also issued emergency declarations to release state cash to go towards emergency food assistance as the federal government shutdown imperils Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits for nearly 42 million Americans. More than half of Americans disapprove of Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing and the construction of a new ballroom, according to a new poll from the Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos. The survey was conducted between 24 and 28 October and indicates 56% of the respondents disagree with Trump’s recent move while 28% are in favor of it. Most of the survey’s respondents were white, one-third of them voted for Donald Trump and another third for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, has urged the Trump administration to suspend its immigration crackdown in his state from Friday to Sunday, to allow children to “spend Halloween weekend without fear”.