“President Trump’s budget team raided three different financial accounts to make sure U.S. troops are paid Friday as the government shutdown continues,” Axios reports.
“As long as military personnel are paid, Trump isn’t planning to budge on the nearly month-old shutdown, even with as many as 42 million people set to lose food stamp benefits Saturday.”
“President Trump’s advisers are considering Las Vegas as the location for the GOP’s midterm political convention next year, as Republicans seek to preserve their narrow majority in Congress,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Trump has told aides that the convention will be a forum to highlight Republican congressional candidates and incumbents, as well as his own record as president, the people said. He first pitched the idea for a midterm political convention earlier this year, and his advisers are drawing up plans for the event.”
The FBI informed Congress that it “strongly” opposed a proposal to make the Office of the Director of National Intelligence the lead counterintelligence agency for the federal government, bringing into public view a rift among top national security officials, the New York Times reports.
The disclosure, made in a pointed and unusual letter, underscored the broader concern at other agencies, including the FBI, over a House bill that would empower Tulsi Gabbard to play a more prominent role in counterintelligence issues.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said another rate cut in December is not guaranteed, Bloomberg reports.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told ABC News that former President Joe Biden will go down as “one of the most successful presidents in the last century.”
Said Newsom: “I will defend that to my grave.”
“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is on the warpath against her own party’s handling of the government shutdown. And her fellow Republicans are increasingly calling her out,” Politico reports.
“The firebrand three-term lawmaker, long an ally of President Donald Trump, has distanced herself from Republican leadership in recent months. And as the shutdown drags on, Greene’s loud — and usually lonely — dissent risks fracturing Republicans’ efforts to present a united front and pressure Democrats into caving on funding the government.”
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday he expects to meet soon with a group of rank-and-file Senate Democrats about ending the 29-day-and-counting government shutdown,” Politico reports.
“If the meeting happens, it would be a rare bipartisan gathering involving a top party leader.”
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is planning to unveil a consequential overhaul of U.S. arms sales that could reshape how the Pentagon sends weapons to allies and help replenish dwindling stockpiles,” Politico reports.
“Hegseth is expected to announce the changes on Nov. 7 at an unusual gathering of defense industry executives.”
Just published: Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy by Joyce Vance.
A political manifesto for our present moment.
Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh (D) is among a half dozen people the Justice Department has charged for allegedly impeding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, Axios reports.
“President Donald Trump heads into a historic meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping facing a delicate test: projecting strength against America’s top adversary without triggering another economic shock at home,” Politico reports.
“The high-stakes encounter, the first between the two men in more than six years, comes after months of tariff feints and escalating rhetoric that have rattled markets and strained global supply chains — and at a moment when Trump is eager to prove that his economic nationalism can still deliver concrete wins.”
Virginia Giuffre’s memoir omitted name of a “well known” former prime minister who raped her because “she feared he’d kill her,” the Daily Mail reports.
Said ghostwriter Amy Wallace: “Well, people who read the book will see that the man was a sadist, not just a rapist.”
Miles Taylor — who wrote anonymously of “quiet resistance” to Donald Trump during his first term — is leading a group of dozens of former officials to create a website “designed to help Americans push back peacefully, lawfully, and defiantly against presidential abuses of power,” CBS News reports.
“Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) threw last-minute support behind Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday ahead of New York City’s contentious mayoral election next week, backing a campaign that has seen few endorsements from top Democratic Party leaders,” Politico reports.
“Senators in both parties — below the leadership level — are starting to see an unmistakable shift that they hope leads to a bipartisan agreement to end the shutdown, perhaps as early as next week, according to more than a dozen sources,” Semafor reports.
“That agreement almost certainly won’t happen this week. Still, Republican and Democratic senators are quietly discussing how to rebuild Congress’ broken spending process, including several bills that would fund the government into next year once it reopens.”
President Trump called for former special counsel Jack Smith and others to be “investigated and put in prison,” NBC News reports.
Said Trump: “These thugs should all be investigated and put in prison. A disgrace to humanity. Deranged Jack Smith is a criminal!!!”
Just published: How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA).
A senator’s tongue-in-cheek guidebook through Washington, punctuated by humorous stories about life from Louisiana politics and inside the Senate.
A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Zohran Mamdani leading the mayoral race with 43% support among likely voters, followed by Andrew Cuomo at 33% and Curtis Sliwa at 14%.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
