James Comey pleads ‘not guilty’ at arraignment
Former FBI director James Comey has pleaded ‘not guilty’ during his arraignment at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. His attorneys have also requested a trial by jury.
Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff read Comey the charges he’s facing: one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding. Both are in relation to his testimony before the Senate judiciary committee in 2020.
Key events
Outside the courthouse today, a small group of demonstrators gathered ahead of Comey’s appearance in court to protest against the criminal charges brought against the former FBI director.
Judge Nachmanoff has set a trial date for 5 January 2026, according to reporters in the courtroom.
James Comey pleads ‘not guilty’ at arraignment
Former FBI director James Comey has pleaded ‘not guilty’ during his arraignment at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. His attorneys have also requested a trial by jury.
Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff read Comey the charges he’s facing: one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding. Both are in relation to his testimony before the Senate judiciary committee in 2020.
Senate to hold sixth vote on stopap funding bills amid government shutdown
The US Senate will hold its sixth vote on the dueling short-terms spending bills to reopen the government at 12pm EST today.
Both bills are set to fail, yet again, as lawmakers continue to dig their heels in and trade barbs, blaming the other party for the shutdown, which has now lasted a full week.
A reminder that on Monday, only three senators broke ranks with the Democratic party, and voted “yes” on the House-passed continuing resolution to maintain government funding until 21 November. This still leaves Republicans nowhere near the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill.
GOP leaders in congress have continued to say that the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, is being pressured by the progressive arm of his party into rejecting the funding extension, which mirrors the bill that he signed back in March.
Democrats, meanwhile, say that their colleagues across the aisle have avoided any negotiations about their proposal, which includes several healthcare provisions – including an extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year and could increase insurance premiums for millions of Americans.
As we prepare to you bring you the latest from James Comey’s arraignment in less than an hour, it’s worth noting the last time that a former FBI director was criminally charged was in 1978. When L. Patrick Gray, who actually served as the acting head of the bureau during the Watergate scandal, was indicted for conspiring to violate Americans’ constitutional protections by allowing unauthorized federal raids – as agents searched for members of Weather Underground, the left-wing militant group. The charges against Gray were dropped.
Trump says Chicago mayor ‘should be in jail’ for not protecting Ice officers
The president is already posting on Truth Social. As Texas national guard troops descend on Chicago today, Trump wrote that the mayor – Brandon Johnson – “should be in jail” for “failing” to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents.
Johnson signed an executive order this week, that stops federal immigration agents from using city property.
In his post, the president added that Illinois governor JB Pritzker should also be in jail.
A federal judge has set a hearing for Thursday, regarding the lawsuit that city and state officials in Illinois filed against the administration, to block the deployment of the military.
Donald Trump has few public engagements on his schedule today. But we’ll hear from him at around 3pm EST, when he attends a round table on Antifa at the White House. We’ll bring you the latest lines as we get them.
A reminder that the president designated the left-wing activist group a “domestic terrorist organization” last month, following the murder of his ally and conservative activist, Charlie Kirk.
Notably, officials haven’t established a link between Tyler Robinson, the man charged with killing Kirk, and Antifa.
Rubio to attend Paris meeting on Gaza transition – report
US secretary of state Marco Rubio is expected to attend a ministerial meeting to be held on Thursday in Paris with European, Arab and other states to discuss the post-Gaza transition, three diplomatic sources told Reuters.
The meeting, which will happen in parallel to negotiations between Israel, Hamas and mediators in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, aims to discuss how to implement a plan proposed by Donald Trump and assess collective commitments from countries.
The US embassy in Paris was not immediately available for comment.
National guard troops are outside Chicago and could be in Memphis soon
National guard troops are positioned outside Chicago and they could be in Memphis by Friday, the Associated Press reports, as the Trump administration pushes ahead with an aggressive policy toward big-city crime whether local leaders support it or not.
National guard members from Texas had settled in at an Army Reserve center in Illinois by early Wednesday, despite a lawsuit and vigorous opposition from Democratic elected leaders. Their exact mission was not clear, though the Trump administration has an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city, and protesters have frequently rallied at an immigration building outside Chicago in Broadview.
The president has called Chicago a “hell hole” of crime, although police statistics show significant drops in most crimes, including homicides.
In Memphis, Tennessee, police Chief Cerelyn Davis said a small group of commanders were already in the city, planning for the arrival of guard troops.
Republican governor Bill Lee has said troops will be deputized by the US Marshals Service to “play a critical support role” for local law enforcement, though that role hasn’t been precisely defined yet.
Democrats introduce bill to help federal workers cover childcare costs during shutdown
Michael Sainato
Congressional Democrats are introducing a bill that would provide childcare relief to federal workers affected by the shutdown of the federal government, as it drags on through a second week.
Parents would be reimbursed for fees paid to childcare facilities during the shutdown under plans initiated by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Any federal employee who has been furloughed, or remains working through the shutdown without pay, would be entitled to support under the Federal Worker Childcare Protection Act of 2025.
The bill authorizes the General Services Administration to receive official documentation for childcare expenses from federal workers to apply for reimbursement.
“When you talk to federal workers right now, a lot of them are exhausted. They’re proud of what they do, but they’re tired of being treated like their lives are expendable,” Omar said in a statement on the bill.
“This administration has made it clear it’s not interested in standing up for workers – but I am,” she added. “As a working parent, I know the importance of having reliable childcare. This bill is a small but necessary way to show that their work and their families matter.”
About 100 childcare centers previously operated in GSA-managed federal spaces, providing childcare for thousands of children daily, but the so-called “department of government efficiency” eliminated the GSA office that managed these facilities earlier this year.
Co-sponsors of the bill include the congressional Democratic representatives Pramila Jayapal, Summer Lee, Gregory Meeks, Jerry Nadler, and Rashida Tlaib.
Edward Helmore
Six former US surgeons general – the top medical posting in Washington – warned in an opinion column published on Tuesday that policy changes enacted by the health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are “endangering the health of the nation”.
The surgeons general – Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Vivek Murthy, Antonia Novello and David Satcher – who served under both Republican and Democrat administrations, identified changes in vaccine policy, medical research funding, a shift in priorities from rationality to ideology, plunging morale, and changes to staffing as areas of concern.
Referring to their oaths of office, both Hippocratic as physicians and as public servants, the former officials wrote in the Washington Post that they felt “compelled to speak with one voice to say that the actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation”.
“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored,” they said, adding that they could not ignore the “profound, immediate and unprecedented threat” of his policies.
Under a “Make America Healthy Again” (Maha) agenda, Kennedy has accelerated vaccine policy changes despite opposition from scientists, including narrowing eligibility for Covid-19 vaccine shots and dismissing members of a vaccine advisory panel.
He has cut federal funding for mRNA vaccine research for respiratory illnesses and instituted a review of vaccine recommendations. Kennedy also sought the dismissal of Dr Susan Monarez, former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Monarez testified before Congress last month that her firing by Donald Trump came after refusing a request from Kennedy to dismiss CDC vaccine experts “without cause”.
