Thursday, October 29 | By Cate Martel |
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Itâs Wednesday. Who else has the Olympics streaming while they work? đââïž | Authorities question man in Nancy Guthrie case Bondi on Capitol Hill Schumer says Dems will block DHS funding FAA abruptly lifts airspace closure at Texas airport 2025 jobs gains drastically lowered
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Democratsâ game plan for the Friday deadline:
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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) says Senate Democrats will block Republicansâ short-term funding resolution to keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) operating past Friday, reports The Hillâs Alexander Bolton.
Why?: Schumer says Republicans havenât done enough to reform the Trump administrationâs immigration enforcement tactics. Why this is newsy: Just yesterday, Schumer said he didnât think there was any reason to think a deal wouldnât be reached by the Friday deadline. Now, this means the chance of a DHS shutdown is much higher.
đŹ Follow todayâs live blog |
The name's Bondi, Pam Bondi: |
Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying on Capitol Hill today, taking heat over her departmentâs investigation into files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Here are the highlights:
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) accused Bondi of âjaded crueltyâ for failing to redact some Epstein victimsâ names: âYou shockingly failed to redact many of the victimsâ names, which is what you were ordered to do by Congress. Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not. Many had kept their torment private, even from family and friends, but you published their names, their identities, their images on thousands of pages for the world to see. So you ignored the law,â Raskin said.
đž Epstein victims attended the hearing
Bondi got into a shouting match with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.): Jayapal asked the Epstein victims in the room to stand. She then asked Bondi to apologize to them. Instead, Bondi fired back and it turned into a shouting match.
đč Epstein victims stood up in unison
Bondi wants to hear from additional Epstein victims: âI am deeply sorry for what any victim â any victim â has been through, especially as a result of that monster,â she said. âIf you have any information to share with law enforcement about anyone who has hurt you or abused you, the FBI is waiting to hear from you.â |
The Atlanticâs Anne Applebaum and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez published reporting about Arizona politician Kari Lake.
Lake was reportedly spotted waiting at the White House, hoping to meet with Trump to get his endorsement to run for Congress. They reported she was there for hours and âeventually shared her pitch with a low-level aide who conveyed no enthusiasm for a third Lake candidacy.â
âWhen asked for comment on the episode, Lake responded in a statement that âevery shred of this question is incorrectâ and added, âThe President has always been very gracious and generous when I have requested time with him.'â Read: âWhat Is Kari Lake Trying to Achieve?â |
†FIRST GOP SENATOR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST TRUMP VOTING BILL: |
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) spoke out against a Republican-crafted bill to require people to show proof of citizenship before registering to vote, as well as requiring ID to cast a ballot.
Murkowski argued: âWhen Democrats attempted to advance sweeping election reform legislation in 2021, Republicans were unanimous in opposition because it would have federalized elections, something we have long opposed. Now, Iâm seeing proposals such as the SAVE Act and MEGA that would effectively do just that.â |
đ THE SEARCH FOR NANCY GUTHRIE |
A lot has happened in the past day: |
A person was detained then released: Police detained a man for questioning on Tuesday as part of the Nancy Guthrie investigation but released him this morning. He has not been identified as a suspect, but a search warrant was executed at a location roughly an hour south of Tucson, Ariz.
The FBIâs hostage team arrived in Tucson: NewsNationâs Brian Entin reports that this is a very elite unit within the FBI and itâs a big deal they are now in Tucson.
Photos, video released: The FBI released surveillance footage and photos showing a masked, armed person covering the camera and entering the home of the 84-year-old mother of âTodayâ anchor Savannah Guthrie. đž See the doorbell camera footage
I thought there was no surveillance footage?: Doorbell camera footage hadnât been saved because Nancy Guthrie reportedly didnât pay for the subscription. However, investigators were eventually able to retrieve the data on the back end. |
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Do you want the good news or the bad news?: | The good news is the U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in January, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The bad news is that the U.S. added far fewer jobs in 2025 than was initially reported. The BLS recalculated its annual estimate for last year, shaving off more than 400,000 jobs. That means the U.S. economy added just 181,000 new jobs in 2025, compared to an initially reported 584,000. Read more |
†WHOâS AT THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY?:
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President Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Having beef with such a famously neutral country is so ironic: |
Trump says he raised tariffs on Switzerland after speaking with the countryâs former president, saying he did not approve of âthe way she talked.â
What he told Fox Businessâs Larry Kudlow: Trump says âshe was very aggressive. Nice, but very aggressive.â He recalled that she repeatedly said, âWe are a small country.â
âAgain and again and again. I couldnât get her off the phone,â the president continued. âSo [the tariffs were] at 30 percent, and I didnât really like the way she talked to us, and so instead of giving her a reduction, I raised it to 39 percent, and then I got inundated by people from Switzerland and I figured, âDo you know what? Weâll do something thatâs a little bit more palatable.'â |
When 10 days ended up being fewer than 10 hours: |
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shut down all flights to and from El Paso International Airport for 10 days. However, a few hours later, the FAA abruptly lifted the temporary airport closure.
Why was there a ground stop?: A Trump administration official said cartel drones breached U.S. airspace, causing the temporary closure. Why was the airport closure lifted?: The official said the Defense Department âtook action to disable the dronesâ and has determined, along with the FAA, that âthere is no threat to commercial travel.â
Some context from CNNâs Natasha Bertrand: âA source with knowledge notes that cartel drones regularly breach US airspace, typically using them for criminal enterprise like delivering supplies, etc. Mostly on the Mexico side of the border, but sometimes they come over to the U.S. side. Needless to say, these incidents donât prompt 10-day airspace closures.â đ Bertrandâs full post
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A grand jury said, ânoooopeâ: |
A grand jury on Tuesday refused to indict a group of Democratic lawmakers over their participation in a controversial video last fall when they urged military servicemembers to refuse any illegal orders from their superiors.
Who participated in the video?: Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) and Reps. Jason Crow (Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.) and Maggie Goodlander (N.H.).
Trump was furious about the video: He called the video âSEDITIOUS BEHAVIORâ and called for the lawmakers to be removed from office and put on trial for behavior that he said could be âpunishable by death.â |
The Washington Post: IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax data to DHS
The New York Times: Thousands of Amateur Gamblers Are Beating Wall Street Ph.D.s
The Atlantic: The Democrats Arenât Built for This: They say they want to save democracy. First theyâll need to get out of their own way. |
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The House and Senate are in. President Trump is at the White House. (All times EST) |
12:15 p.m. First House votes. đ Todayâs agenda
2 p.m. First lady Melania Trump speaks at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md.
2 p.m. The Senate meets. đ Todayâs agenda
4 p.m. Trump hosts the Washington Coal club in the East Room. đ» Livestream
5:15 p.m. Last House votes. 5:30 p.m. Trump meets with the special envoy to the United Kingdom in the Oval Office.
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â Celebrate: Today is National Latte Day and National Peppermint Patty Day!
đ I bet Amazon Ringâs Super Bowl ad didnât go the way the company hoped: Amazonâs smart doorbell, Ring, aired an ad for its âSearch Party feature.â It uses AI and usersâ doorbell footage to locate lost dogs. However, it triggered a lot of negative comments about the surveillance implications.
^ Omg, check out this satirical take on the ad. I laughed out loud at âcustomers are loving Search Partyâ with the customer reviews being the CIA, the FBI, NSA, ICE and the IRS. |
đș Miss the previous issue of this newsletter? Catch up with a 1-minute video. |
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