The Latest: OMB tells agencies to draft mass firing plans ahead of potential shutdown

The White House is telling agencies to prepare large-scale firings of federal workers if the government shuts down next week.

In a memo released Wednesday night, the Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse next week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” That would be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns, when federal workers not deemed essential were furloughed but returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending.

A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions, which would trigger yet another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in President Donald Trump’s administration.

Here’s the latest:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has summoned the military’s top officers – hundreds of generals and admirals – to a military base in northern Virginia for a sudden meeting next week, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The directive did not offer a reason for the gathering Tuesday of senior commanders of the one-star rank or higher and their top advisers at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

The people, who described the move as unusual, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans.

The Pentagon’s top spokesman, Sean Parnell, confirmed that Hegseth “will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.” The Washington Post was first to report the news of the meeting.

Across the military, there are 800 generals and admirals of all ranks and many of them command thousands of service members. Many of these officers also are stationed across the world in more than a dozen countries and time zones.

Four Washington, D.C. residents and CASA, a national immigration organization, filed the lawsuit against members of the Trump administration Thursday challenging the law enforcement roundups that have ensnared the immigrant community.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, maintains that the authorities, some masked, have swept up residents without warrants or probable cause.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

“The government’s policy and practice of arresting people without probable cause are illegal and have disrupted everyday life in the district,” said Aditi Shah, with the ACLU of the District of Columbia.

In August, Trump issued an order proclaiming an emergency in the city, citing crime. That led to a surge of federal law enforcement authorities and the deployment of National Guard troops. An AP examination of arrests during the period found that more than 40% were immigration related.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler the federal employees – “hardworking people across the country who keep our essential government services running -have already suffered immensely from the chaos and destruction inflicted by this administration’s Project 2025/DOGE agenda.”

As the Trump administration tells agency heads to prepare for mass firings, she said, “They are not pawns for the president’s political games.”

Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno said if the federal government is shutdown, “then we’re going to have to make changes to the way the federal budget is structured.”

The Ohio senator spoke to reporters at the U.S. Capitol while Congress is on recess with just days remaining before the Oct. 1 deadline to fund the government.

The Trump administration has instructed federal agencies to prepare not just for worker furloughs, which are standard during federal closures, but widespread firings of the federal workforce.

Moreno said Democrats are being “completely crazy” in their demands to save health care programs as part of any government funding deal.

The president gave another status update on the negotiations on the hostilities in Gaza, saying “I think we’re close to getting some kind of a deal done.”

“We want to get the hostages back,” said Trump during the Oval Office spray with Erdogan, the Turkish leader. Trump said there were 20 living hostages and “probably 38 or so” hostages who are deceased.

Trump met with several key Middle East leaders while at the United Nations this week. He said Thursday that it was a “great meeting.”

The president said he’s going to take some of the money raised from his import taxes and give it to farmers “for a little while.” Trump was speaking from the Oval Office during a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

American farmers growing soybeans have been hurt financially by the loss of China as a buyer of their crops, putting a strain on their finances as the world’s two largest economies have increased tariffs on each other as they negotiate trade terms.

This is not the first time that farmers have been collateral damage from Trump’s pursuit of tariffs. During his first term, American farmers also endured a drop in demand and the Trump administration helped to rescue them financially.

Trump approved $11 billion in aid to farmers in 2018 and $16 billion in 2019.

Asked about a possible federal indictment of the former FBI director, Trump said he doesn’t know what will happen and that department lawyers will decide.

He named Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, and Lindsey Halligan, whom Trump recently named to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Trump, who dislikes Comey because of his investigation into Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, disparaged Comey as a “sick” and “bad” person.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen,” he said.

It was the last question in his Oval Office media availability with Erdogan.

The leaders are now meeting privately.

Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and other former top economic officials appointed by presidents of both parties urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to preserve the Federal Reserve’s political independence and allow Fed governor Lisa Cook to remain in her job for now.

The filing came as the justices are weighing an emergency appeal from the Trump administration to remove Cook from her job while her lawsuit challenging her firing by President Donald Trump proceeds through the courts.

Lawyers for the former officials wrote that immediately ousting Cook “would expose the Federal Reserve to political influences, thereby eroding public confidence in the Fed’s independence and jeopardizing the credibility and efficacy of U.S. monetary policy.”

The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency’s 112-year history.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told a group of American business executives that the U.S. and his country need “to work in the same direction” to further what he called “the most important bilateral relationship in the world.

Li told the roughly 20 executives and others interested in U.S.-China relations that their insights were valuable, and “the actions that you take are crucial.”

Journalists were escorted from the room after Li’s brief opening remarks at the event, hosted by two nonprofit groups, the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Li was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly’ s annual meeting of world leaders, where he’s leading China’s delegation on behalf of President Xi Jinping.

The meeting comes at a delicate but dynamic time for relations between the world’s two biggest economies. Trade, tariffs, TikTok’s ownership, computer chips, minerals and more are in the mix of contentious points, not to mention a myriad of geopolitical, strategic and other issues.

Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump had a lengthy phone call last week. Trump later said that they plan to meet in person at an Asian regional summit next month in South Korea and that he plans to visit China next year.

The presidents are answering questions from reporters.

Trump said he and Erdogan will discuss the Patriot missile system and F-16 and F-35 military jets.

“I know he wants the F-35 and he’s wanted that, and the F-16, we’re in great shape,” Trump said, seated alongside Erdogan in the Oval Office.

“I think he’ll be successful in buying the things he wants to buy,” Trump said.

“He needs certain things and we need certain things and we’re going to come to a conclusion,” Trump told the scrum of White House and Turkish journalists. “You’ll know by the end of the day.”

The U.S. president, welcoming the Turkish leader to the Oval Office, noted the two men’s longtime relationship, even through Trump’s own political troubles after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

“Even for four years, when I was in exile – unfairly as it turns out, rigged election, you know, he knows about rigged elections better than anybody – but when I was in exile, we were still friends,” Trump remarked.

He added: “That’s always a good way to find out, test a friendship.”

Trump continues to call his 2020 loss “rigged” even though there’s no evidence of the level of election tampering that would have changed the results.

Turkey’s opposition party has complained about the fairness of the vote in the country, as have international election observers.

Kash Patel posted on X that that investigators found a handwritten note by the shooter that read “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'”

Patel’s post said investigators have been probing the shooters’ devices and found writings on his person and in his home. It did not say where the note about a sniper was found.

Patel said the shooter had conducted multiple searches of ballistics and video of the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah university campus. In August, he had searched apps that tracked the presence of ICE agents.

Patel said investigators found the shooter had downloaded a document titled “Dallas County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management” containing a list of Department of Homeland Security facilities.

The technicians were spotted by an AP journalist around the U.N. campus hours after the White House called for an inquiry into an inoperable escalator and defective teleprompter during Trump’s visit to the world body.

The controversy began as Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived at the U.N. ahead of his speech Tuesday and an escalator they were on came to an abrupt halt.

When Trump took the rostrum at the General Assembly moments later, he immediately broke from his prepared remarks to note the teleprompter wasn’t working. The back-to-back incidents were initially treated with levity by Trump but shortly after, he and his team began to frame them as “sabotage.”

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said both issues came as a result of the Trump camp. He said a videographer from the U.S. delegation who ran ahead of the president triggered the stop mechanism at the top of the escalator. A U.N. official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue contributed the teleprompter breakdown to Trump’s side as well, saying the White House was operating the teleprompter for the president.

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Trump greeted each other outside the West Wing entrance, Trump was asked about allowing F-35 aircraft sales to Turkey.

“You’ll find out,” the U.S. president responded.

As Wisconsin Planned Parenthood pauses abortions amid federal Medicaid funding cuts, Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, called the cuts a “back door abortion ban” in Wisconsin and said she hopes Illinois will be a “beacon of access” for patients traveling from her home state of Wisconsin, where she herself had an abortion many years ago.

“Illinois is ready,” she said. “We will not abandon people when they need us.”

Dr. Allison Cowett, medical director for Family Planning Associates, said they “anticipate a large influx of patients from Wisconsin.”

Illinois has long been described by advocates as an oasis for abortion access for swaths of the Midwest and South that have abortion bans. Nearly a quarter of all out-of-state abortions took place in Illinois in 2024, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion access. About 35,000 out-of-state patients traveled to Illinois for an abortion last year, accounting for 39% of all abortions provided in the state, according to the report.

Rep. Haley Stevens is drafting articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Michigan Democrat announced in a social media post Thursday.

Stevens, who’s also running for U.S. Senate, wrote that “enough is enough.”

Kennedy has come under increasing scrutiny in Congress in recent weeks. He was recently called to testify before the Senate Finance Committee following a string of high-profile departures at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as controversial shifts in federal COVID-19 vaccine guidance.

Despite Stevens’ efforts, the impeachment push is unlikely to advance in the Republican-controlled House.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will stop scheduling patients for abortions starting next week as it works to find a way to provide the service in the face of Medicaid funding cuts in President Trump’s tax and spending bill, the nonprofit said Thursday.

Abortion funding across the U.S. has been under siege, particularly Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are the biggest provider.

The organization warned earlier this year that about half its clinics that provide abortion could be closed as a result of a ban on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood for services other than abortion.

The measure was part of the tax and spending law Trump signed in July. Initially, a judge said reimbursements must continue, but a federal appeals court this month said the government could halt the payments while a court challenge to the provision moves ahead.

National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said lawmakers are using the federal budget “as a game of chicken with federal employees as the collateral damage” referring to the Trump Administration’s latest threat of mass layoffs if the government shuts down.

“This needs to stop,” she said. “We must expect more from the government and stand with federal employees so they can continue to provide the services we rely on and are not used as political pawns.”

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said Thursday she plans to run for the post of U.N. secretary general.

“I just want to say something: I’m going to run for secretary general of the U.N.,” Bachelet said, as she left the stage at the Clinton Global Initiative, following her appearance on a panel about the importance of investing in women and girls.

Bachelet became Chile’s first women president in 2006 after serving as Latin America’s first woman defense minister during the government of President Ricardo Lagos.

She served as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, appointed by current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. His second term expires at the end of 2026.

That’s despite a highly anticipated meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Three U.S. companies have been added to China’s “unreliable entity list,” effectively banning them from trade with China, according to a statement by the Commerce Ministry.

The ministry said the companies have “engaged in so-called military-technical cooperation with Taiwan, severely undermining China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests.”

The companies are unmanned vehicle maker Saronic Technologies, satellite technology company Aerkomm and subsea engineering firm Oceaneering International.

Separately, three other U.S. companies were added to China’s export control list, preventing them from receiving Chinese shipments of “dual use” items, with both military and civilian applications.

The companies are military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries, engineering and facilities manager Planate Management Group and intelligence firm Global Dimensions.

The president took to social media to make the case for Jack Ciattarelli, the former state Assembly member, while ripping Democratic nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

“Jack is tough on crime and cutting taxes, two things that people really demand today,” Trump said, adding that Ciattarelli “will be a GREAT Governor.”

Trump and his administration’s policies loomed large when Ciattarelli and Sherrill on Sunday participated in their first debate ahead of the November election. The New Jersey race is one of the most closely watched races in this off-year election cycle.

Four years ago, President Trump was persona non grata in the professional golf world, ostracized from the sport he loves in the wake of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The PGA of America pulled his chance to host its major championship and officials in his hometown, New York City, tried ousting his company from the golf course it had hired him to run.

On Friday, Trump will be front and center at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black – welcomed to the first day of competition by the very powers that once shunned him. The Ryder Cup is run by the PGA of America, the organization that yanked its 2022 PGA Championship from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course.

U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said he’s “deeply honored” that Trump will be there to cheer on his squad. European captain Luke Donald said the president’s attendance “just shows how big the Ryder Cup is,” calling it a “mark of respect,” even if he’s rooting for the other side.

U.S. gross domestic product – the nation’s output of goods and services – rebounded in the spring from a 0.6% first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Trump’s trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3%.

The first-quarter GDP drop, the first retreat of the U.S. economy in three years, was mainly caused by a surge in imports – which are subtracted from GDP – as businesses hurried to bring in foreign goods before Trump could impose sweeping taxes on them. That trend reversed as expected in the second quarter: Imports fell at a 29.3% pace, boosting April-June growth by more than 5 percentage points.

At 11:15 a.m. ET, Trump will greet the President of Turkey. They’ll have a meeting in the Oval Office, followed by a lunch.

At 3:30 p.m., Trump will sign executive orders.

At 4:30 p.m., Trump will have a meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

U.S. fighter jets were scrambled Wednesday to identify and intercept four Russian warplanes flying near Alaska, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

NORAD, in a statement issued early Thursday, said it detected and tracked two Tu-95s and two Su-35s operating in the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

NORAD scrambled nine U.S. aircraft, including an E-3 Sentry command and control aircraft, four F-16s, and four KC-135 tankers, to positively identify and intercept the Russian jets.

The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. Such Russian activity near Alaska occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, NORAD said. This was ninth time this year that the command has publicly announced such an incursion.

The incident comes after President Trump said Tuesday that he believed Ukraine could win back all territory lost to Russia, a dramatic shift from the U.S. leader’s repeated calls for Kyiv to make concessions to end the war.

Trump will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday as the Republican leader has indicated that the U.S. government’s hold on sales of advanced fighter jets to Ankara may soon be lifted.

During Trump’s first term, the United States kicked out Turkey, a NATO ally, from its flagship F-35 fighter jet program after it purchased an air defense system from Russia. U.S. officials worried that Turkey’s use of Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system could be used to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could end up in Russian hands.

But Trump last week gave Turkey hope that a resolution to the matter is near as he announced plans for Erdogan’s visit.

The visit will be Erdogan’s first trip to the White House since 2019. The two leaders forged what Trump has described as a “very good relationship” during his first White House go-around despite the U.S.-Turkey relationship often being complicated.