Trump confirms that ‘drug-carrying submarine’ was the target of latest strike in the Caribbean
Donald Trump just said added that a submarine was the target of the administration’s latest strike.
“That was a drug carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs. Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people,” the president said of the operation.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio didn’t respond directly to questions from reporters, but said the White House may issue more information on the strike “later today”.
“These are terrorists, let’s be clear,” Rubio added.
Key events
Per my last post, it’s worth noting that of all the cities that Vought mentioned in his announcement on social media, they are all Democratic-run cities, in states with Democratic governors.
White House budget office says $11bn in public engineering projects to be paused
The office of management and budget director Russell Vought said that $11bn worth of army corps of engineers’ projects will be paused immediately due to the ongoing government shutdown. For context, this is the branch of the army which manages constructs public projects like waterways, bridges and military bases.
“The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore,” Vought wrote on X.
Senate Republican political committee shares deepfake video of Schumer
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which helps to elect GOP candidates to the Senate, has shared a video on social media that includes a deepfake of the minority leader, Chuck Schumer.
In the video, posted on the NRSC’s X account, Schumer is seen saying that every day that the shutdown continues “it gets better for us”. This was a quote that Schumer told to Punchbowl News, but “not in this setting or on camera”, per the outlet’s founder Jake Sherman.
The New York Times’ political correspondent, Shane Goldmacher, first noted that the video was not real. However, the NRSC communications director, Joanna Rodriguez, has said “AI is here and not going anywhere. Adapt & win or pearl clutch & lose.”
Trump repeats misleading claim that government shutdown is to fund healthcare for undocumented immigrants
While hosting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president has, once again, repeated the misleading claim that Democrats have refused to advance a House-passed funding bill to reopen the government because they want increased spending to fund healthcare for undocumented immigrants.
“They came into our country illegally, from prisons, from mental institutions, gang members. They want to give them healthcare and take it away from our citizens,” Trump said.
A reminder that undocumented immigrants remain ineligible to access federally funded healthcare insurance. The only exception is emergency Medicaid – which is required under federal law.
Democrats have pushed a funding extension that would reverse many of the cuts to Medicaid that were enacted when Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – his sweeping domestic policy agenda.
This includes allowing lawfully present noncitizens – which includes several groups, such as refugees and asylum seekers, those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and survivors of domestic abuse and human trafficking who are awaiting visas or documentation – to still enroll in certain federal health care programs. All of these immigrants have entered the country legally and are accounted for by the federal government.
Trump confirms that ‘drug-carrying submarine’ was the target of latest strike in the Caribbean
Donald Trump just said added that a submarine was the target of the administration’s latest strike.
“That was a drug carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs. Just so you understand, this was not an innocent group of people,” the president said of the operation.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio didn’t respond directly to questions from reporters, but said the White House may issue more information on the strike “later today”.
“These are terrorists, let’s be clear,” Rubio added.
A reminder of the context surrounding the ongoing hostility over trade.
In recent weeks, China announced that it will tighten exports of rare earth minerals – needed for several every day products like batteries, smartphones and hospital equipment. It’s a move that the White House called “hostile” and “unprovoked”. Trump has since announced a tariff hike of 100% in response, scheduled for 1 November.
This could mean the levies against Beijing total 157%.
Trump says ‘we’re getting along with China’ amid escalating trade war
The president said that the US is “getting along with China” as he confirms his meeting with Xi Jinping in two weeks.
“For years, we were taken advantage of by China very badly,” Trump said. “If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be in a very weak position. We would be in a weakened state. But with tariffs, we’ve made hundreds of billions of dollars, not only from China, but from others. And China wants to talk, and we like talking to China, so we have a very good relationship.”
Zelenskyy sidesteps question about difference between Trump and Biden’s diplomacy styles
Volodymyr Zelenskyy treaded carefully when asked a question about the “biggest difference in diplomacy” between Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden.
“President Biden now is not the president, so he doesn’t have a chance to finish this war. And President Trump really showed for the world that he can manage the ceasefire in Middle East. And that’s why I hope that he will do this,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump quickly chimed in to say that, in his view, “the biggest difference” is that “one is extremely competent and the other one is grossly incompetent”.
Trump says he thinks Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine
“I think he wants to end the war. I spoke to him yesterday for two and a half hours,” Trump said of the Kremlin leader. “We went through a lot of details. He wants to get it ended.”
He went on to say that both leaders were “doing a great job” negotiating the end of the war.
When addressing questions about the upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, the president said that “these two leaders do not like each other”, adding that “we want to make it comfortable” for everybody. He noted that “one way or the other will be involved in threes, but it may be separated”.
Trump and Zelenskyy address reporters
Volodymyr Zelenskyy just congratulated the president for brokering a ceasefire deal in Gaza, before pivoting to the business of the day.
“I think that I’m confident that with your help, we can stop this war,” the Ukrainian leader said. “They [Russia] have a lot of losses: economy and people. And I think this is a very important moment.”
Trump welcomes Zelenskyy, saying he thinks he can convince Putin to end the war
Donald Trump just welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House.
The Ukrainian leader and the president posed for pictures, before being ushered to their bilateral lunch meeting.
New York state GOP suspends Young Republican chapter
Olivia Empson
The New York Republican state committee has suspended the authorization of their Young Republicans chapter after members were implicated in highly offensive and racist messages that were obtained and published by Politico.
“The Young Republicans was already grossly mismanaged, and vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations,” the New York Republican chair, Ed Cox, said in a statement announcing a unanimous vote to suspend the chapter by the executive board of the New York Republican state committee.
Backlash from the Politico article has been significant since its publication on Tuesday revealed 2,900 pages of leaked chats from a Telegram group. Some messages were sent by people actively working with elected officials and others by individuals hoping to take leading roles within the national Young Republican organization.
The Young Republican National Federation is made up of members aged 18 to 40 and has an active chapter in every state. Their website calls them the oldest youth political organization in the US, with the aim being to recruit young voices to the GOP before equipping and encouraging them to run for office.
Trump to host Zelenskyy at the White House
Donald Trump is set to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House shortly. This is the Ukrainian leader’s third visit to Washington since Trump to office in January.
The press pool covering Zelenskyy’s arrival say that there haven’t been any changes to the schedule, and that the bilateral lunch is still set to be closed to the media. We’ll bring you the latest as we learn more.
