Trump to meet with Project 2025 architect on cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ amid government shutdown – live | US federal government shutdown 2025
Trump meeting Russ Vought to discuss cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ and whether cuts will be permanent Donald Trump is up and truthing as the White House presses on with seizing the opportunity provided by the shutdown to axe federal jobs and Democratic spending priorities. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,”…
Trump meeting Russ Vought to discuss cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ and whether cuts will be permanent
Donald Trump is up and truthing as the White House presses on with seizing the opportunity provided by the shutdown to axe federal jobs and Democratic spending priorities. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump writes this morning.
He said he has a meeting today with Russell Vought, “of Project 2025 fame” who is now the head of the office for management and budget, “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent”.
Vought was central to the Project 2025 blueprint – which Trump sought to distance himself from during his campaign – and has been on a years-long quest to dismantle the federal workforce and consolidate power for the president. Since Trump took office in January, he has worked alongside the so-called “department of government efficiency” to implement many aspects of the plan including slashing through the federal government.
As we reported yesterday – day one of the shutdown – he’s already started slashing blue state infrastructure spending, cancelling $8bn in climate-related funding to 16 blue states and freezing $18bn for two huge New York City construction projects. And he told a call with House Republicans that mass firings would begin either today or tomorrow and would target agencies that don’t align with the president’s priorities.
Here’s Trump’s Truth Social post:
I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT
Key events
Trump will draw red line for any Hamas response, says White House
The Trump administration hopes and expects Hamas to approve its plan for Gaza and Donald Trump will draw a red line for any response from the group, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has said.
“It’s a red line that the president of the United States is going to have to draw, and I’m confident that he will,” Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News when asked about Hamas potentially walking away from the plan.
Trump gave Hamas “three or four days” on Tuesday to accept his peace plan for Gaza. Should they reject the plan, Trump has said Israel has his full backing to “finish the job” in Gaza, where Israel’s assault has already killed well over 66,000 Palestinian people.
AFP has reported that some Hamas officials want amendments, including on the plan’s requirement for the group to disarm, while others want to accept the deal because, as one source tells the agency, “the important thing is to have a ceasefire guaranteed by Trump”.
The US is not putting money into Argentina but only providing a credit swap line, treasury secretary Scott Bessent also told CNBC this morning.
What the US is doing, just to be clear: We are giving them a swap line. We are not putting money into Argentina, OK?
Donald Trump will meet with Argentina’s president Javier Milei in two weeks, Argentina said on Tuesday, as Milei seeks to secure the credit swap line from the US that has rankled some Republicans as Argentina offloaded billions of dollars in soy to China.
Earlier, Bessent said in an X post that he was looking forward to meeting Argentine economy minister Luis Caputo’s team in Washington to advance discussions on options for financial support.
“The @USTreasury is fully prepared to do what is necessary, and we will continue to watch developments closely,” Bessent said in his post.
The US did not maintain strategic interests in the western hemisphere in recent decades and now has a chance to support Argentina, Bessent said.
He praised Milei as having done a “fantastic job” and said he was sure the right-wing leader would do well in upcoming elections.
“Now Argentina is a beacon down there. And there’s a chance now for many other countries to come along – Bolivia, Ecuador, I think Colombia – after the elections. So what you don’t want are these failed economic models,” Bessent said.
Argentina votes on 26 October in legislative midterm elections, in which Milei’s party aims to gain seats to strengthen its minority position.
In his interview this morning with CNBC Scott Bessent also said that he could “guarantee” there wouldn’t be an agreement between Republicans and Democrats to extend Obamacare subsidies as a way to end the government shutdown. But he said there could be an agreement to talks.
Democrats are negotiating “like terrorists”, the treasury secretary claimed, adding: “They want to say, ‘This is what we have to have, and if we don’t get it, we’re going to close down the government.’”
He then called Senate Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries “weak” and “discombobulated”, and accused them of using the shutdown as an opportunity.
President Trump, in the first nine months now, has been unstoppable. They’ve tried to stop him in the courts, they tried to stop him in the press, and now they’re trying to stop him with the shutdown.
Since the US government shut down at midnight on Wednesday, tens of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed (told not to work), while others must work without pay until Congress passes a budget. The shutdown will have a wide range of effects on government services and programs as well as the US economy, from national parks to travel and housing.
My colleague Marina Dunbar explains what it means for everyday people:
Treasury secretary Bessent says GDP could take a hit from government shutdown
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has been speaking on CNBC this morning, and said that US GDP could take a hit from the government shutdown, which is one day two with no end in sight. He told CNBC Squawk Box:
This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP. We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.
Government shutdowns usually have little economic impact, but many commentators have pointed out that this one could be different due to Donald Trump’s threats to make some federal government furloughs permanent. Asked by CNBC about whether Trump was considering that, Bessent called it a “talking point” (though Trump has confirmed that himself).
Facing repeated questions about the timing and extent of the layoffs that the administration could carry out in the coming days, Bessent said only, “I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the president to use all the levers” available to him.
Trump meeting Russ Vought to discuss cutting ‘Democrat agencies’ and whether cuts will be permanent
Donald Trump is up and truthing as the White House presses on with seizing the opportunity provided by the shutdown to axe federal jobs and Democratic spending priorities. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump writes this morning.
He said he has a meeting today with Russell Vought, “of Project 2025 fame” who is now the head of the office for management and budget, “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent”.
Vought was central to the Project 2025 blueprint – which Trump sought to distance himself from during his campaign – and has been on a years-long quest to dismantle the federal workforce and consolidate power for the president. Since Trump took office in January, he has worked alongside the so-called “department of government efficiency” to implement many aspects of the plan including slashing through the federal government.
As we reported yesterday – day one of the shutdown – he’s already started slashing blue state infrastructure spending, cancelling $8bn in climate-related funding to 16 blue states and freezing $18bn for two huge New York City construction projects. And he told a call with House Republicans that mass firings would begin either today or tomorrow and would target agencies that don’t align with the president’s priorities.
Here’s Trump’s Truth Social post:
I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT
Trump tells Republicans to ‘clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud’
As congressional Democrats hold out for healthcare subsidies, the Trump administration has repeatedly stated that federal workers will face layoffs while the government is shut down.
Late last night, president Donald Trump posted on Truth Social:
Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Democrats hold firm on healthcare demands as US government remains shut
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. We will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that a vote to end the government shutdown hours after it began failed on Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund healthcare subsidies that president Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to extend.
The tally showed cracks in the Democrats’ resolve, but the outcome also left no breakthrough, AP reported. Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown.
The White House and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep programs and services open, throwing the country into a new cycle of uncertainty.
At the heart of the issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the coronavirus pandemic.
The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t extend them, which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to analysis.
Meanwhile, as the Trump administration insists it is serious about negotiating an end to the government shutdown, a pair of racist deepfake videos mocking Democratic leaders played on a loop in the White House briefing room for hours on Wednesday.
The videos, posted by Trump on his social media platform on Monday, use fabricated audio to make it seem as if the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, called Democrats “woke pieces of shit”, and showed the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, with a fake mustache and sombrero.
JD Vance, the US vice-president, made light of the tactic during a rare appearance in the briefing room. “I think it’s funny. The president’s joking and we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also making a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions, and even poking some fun at the absurdity of themselves.
“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make the solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. I’ve talked to the president of the United States about that.”
Jeffries has denounced the memes as racist. Vance retorted: “I honestly don’t even know what that means. Like, is he a Mexican American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?”
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
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JD Vance, the vice-president, used false claims to blame Democrats for the government shutdown as the White House warned that worker layoffs were imminent.
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Donald Trump quietly signed an executive order on Monday in which he promised that the United States will defend the nation of Qatar by treating “any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure” of the energy-rich Persian Gulf monarchy “as a threat to the peace and security of the United States”.
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Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, the top Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively, and both New Yorkers, accused the Trump administration of retaliating against their constituents by putting billions of dollars to revamp transportation infrastructure on hold.
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Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, said in a statement on Wednesday that “Donald Trump’s unlawful federalization of members of the Oregon National Guard could cost taxpayers up to $10m”.
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The Trump administration said that it was putting a hold on roughly $18bn to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and the city’s expanded Second Avenue subway project – because of the government shutdown.
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Donald Trump once again shared misinformation about Portland, Oregon, on social media on Wednesday, when he announced that the national guard troops he called up in response to a small protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) office in the otherwise tranquil city are “now in place”.
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Lisa Cook, the US Federal Reserve governor, will keep her job for now, despite Donald Trump’s extraordinary bid to remove her from the central bank’s board with immediate effect.