Highlights from Oct. 3, 2025
- SENATE VOTES: The Senate this afternoon rejected short-term Republican and Democratic spending bills for a third time before adjourning for the weekend.
- HOUSE CANCELS VOTES: House Speaker Mike Johnson designated next week as a district work period, meaning no votes are scheduled. He said this morning that the House will be back in session when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer "allows us to reopen the government."
- HAMAS AGREES TO RELEASE HOSTAGES: Hamas said it has agreed to free all Israeli hostages as long as "the field conditions for the exchange are met." The group also expressed a willingness to negotiate on President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan.
- LOCAL FUNDING: The Trump administration announced that it is putting $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure projects on hold, the latest move to target Democratic-run cities during the government shutdown. Trump also announced that his administration was reversing cuts to law enforcement funding that would have affected counterrorism operations in New York, following backlash from the New York City Police Department and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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‘It’s a big day’: Trump moves closer to Middle East peace — and maybe a prize
Trump likes to enumerate the peace deals he says he forged — seven at last count.
But two that have eluded him potentially mean the most to his legacy and his dogged pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The first is the Russia-Ukraine war, which is no closer to ending now than when Trump took office in January. The other is Israel’s conflict with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Here, he may have just achieved a breakthrough.
Judge orders hearing on whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia was the target of a ‘vindictive prosecution’
Today, a federal judge ordered a hearing into whether the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was the result of a “vindictive” prosecution, finding there’s “some evidence” that it was.
In his 16-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee noted that the investigation into Abrego was reopened shortly after he successfully challenged to the U.S. Supreme Court what the Trump administration acknowledged was his mistaken deportation to a prison in El Salvador.
The investigation also came after numerous administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, repeatedly accused Abrego of being guilty of numerous crimes, and being a “gang member” and a “terrorist.” His lawyers and family members have repeatedly denied the claims.
Hamas agrees to release all Israeli hostages, pending conditions
Hamas said it has agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, as long as “the field conditions for the exchange are met” and expressed willingness to negotiate through mediators on Trump’s plan for peace in the Middle East.
In its statement today, Hamas said that the group “affirms its readiness to immediately enter into negotiations through the mediators to discuss the details of this agreement.”
“The movement also renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support,” Hamas said.
Hamas was responding to a 20-point peace plan Trump outlined on Monday at the White House alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump administration activates 200 National Guard troops to Portland
The Trump administration activated 200 National Guard troops in Portland today as Oregon officials waited for a court ruling on their request to prevent the deployment.
Lawyers for the city and state had asked a federal judge to grant a temporary restraining order blocking the mobilization.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, a Trump appointee, said after a two-hour hearing today that she would make a decision at the end of the day or Saturday.
But U.S. Northern Command announced hours later that the troops had been activated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with the mission to “support the protection of federal personnel who are conducting federal functions and federal property.”
Lawsuit filed over the Education Department’s manipulation of employees’ email messages
A federal workers union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for altering U.S. Department of Education employees’ out-of-office email messages to include partisan language about a government shutdown without their consent.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which is represented by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group in the matter, accused the administration of going to “unprecedented lengths” to use government infrastructure to “shift the public debate in its favor.”
“This whole-of-government approach to partisan messaging is unprecedented, and it makes a mockery of statutory prohibitions like the Hatch Act,” the complaint states. “Especially pernicious, however, are the Administration’s efforts to co-opt the voices of rank-and-file employees in the nonpartisan civil service to take part in political messaging.”
The lawsuit comes after furloughed employees discovered their out-of-office replies had been manipulated to include language blaming a government shutdown on Democrats.
Woman sentenced to 8 years for attempting to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh
A woman who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh three years ago was sentenced today to more than eight years in prison.
Sophie Roske, now 29, was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in June 2022 and told officials at the time that she intended to kill the associate justice, then herself.
She appeared in court today for her sentencing in a yellow jail jumpsuit. Members of Kavanaugh’s family as well as Roske’s were present in the courtroom.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced Roske to 97 months in prison — eight years and one month — saying that she felt Roske has shown remorse for her actions. She also ordered Roske, whom she referred to as a transgender woman, to a lifetime of supervised release.
Trump 2020 election interference case to be dismissed if it can’t be reassigned to new prosecutor
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee today tasked an independent council to find another prosecutor to handle Trump’s 2020 election interference case in Georgia, warning that failure to find an alternative attorney would result in the case's dismissal.
In an order today, McAfee wrote that if an appointed prosecuting attorney or representative from the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council doesn't assign a new attorney or request an extension within 14 days, "the Court will issue a dismissal without prejudice for want of prosecution."
Pete Skandalakis, the head of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council, did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.
The Georgia Supreme Court last month declined to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal of a December ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeal. That ruling disqualified her office from prosecuting the case, citing the “appearance of impropriety” tied to an alleged romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Justice Samuel Alito says he is not calling for same-sex marriage ruling to be overturned
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito said today that he is not seeking to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage even as a case is pending asking the justices to do just that.
Alito made his remarks on the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, in which he dissented, as an aside in a speech at an academic conference in Washington in which he outlined his judicial philosophy.
“In commenting on Obergefell, I am not suggesting that the decision in that case should be overruled,” he said before repeating his criticisms of the decision.
Schumer, Democratic senators react to House canceling votes next week
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reacted to the news that the House will not return next week, slamming House Republicans for caring “more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people.”
Schumer made the remarks while at a press conference alongside Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
“There is not a clearer illustration of their lack of seriousness in terms of reopening the government and solving the health care crisis,” Schatz said.
Schumer concluded that if Republicans keep “running the same play,” they’ll get the same result.
“The votes aren’t there” for the House-passed stopgap bill, Schumer said.
Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected immigration status for thousands of Venezuelans
The Supreme Court paved the way today for the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status for up to 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants, meaning some could ultimately be deported.
The court granted an emergency request filed by the Trump administration seeking to block a judge’s ruling that said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem failed to follow the correct process in revoking temporary protected status for Venezuelans.
The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, in May granted an earlier emergency request filed by the Trump administration in the same case.
The latest filing came after California-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen on Sept. 5 again ruled against the administration, this time in the form of a final decision rather than a preliminary one.
