SNAP funding brings urgency to government shutdown; Trump returns to U.S. after Asia trip, meeting with Xi
This version of Rcrd92090 - Politics and Government | NBC News Clone was adapted by NBC News Clone to help readers digest key facts more efficiently.
Trump announced reductions in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, while China plans to end restrictions on rare earth minerals for a year.
Highlights from Oct. 30, 2025
- SHUTDOWN PAIN INTENSIFIES: SNAP food assistance, health care costs, air travel and military pay will all face major strains in the coming days as the government funding lapse nears a full month with no resolution in sight.
- TRUMP-XI MEETING: President Donald Trump returned to Washington after having met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the last day of his weeklong trip to Asia. Trump said the United States would cut fentanyl-related tariffs in half, to 10%, and overall duties on Chinese goods to around 47%, with China dropping planned restrictions on rare earth minerals for a year.
- LAWMAKERS CRY FOUL: Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill criticized the Trump administration after it decided not to invite Democrats to a briefing on U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats.
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Trump wants Republicans to use the 'nuclear option' and get rid of the Senate filibuster to end the government shutdown
Trump tonight posted on social media that he wants Republicans to use the "nuclear option" and eliminate the legislative filibuster, a Senate rule that requires 60 votes for most bills to advance in the Senate.
"It is now time for the Republicans to play their 'TRUMP CARD,' and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Republicans hold a 53-47 edge over Democrats in the Senate. The dozen-plus votes on a House-passed Republican funding bill have all failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance.
Some congressional Republicans have called for scrapping the filibuster. NBC News recently reported that Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., advocated for the Senate to get rid of the rule. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promised after last year's election that the legislative filibuster would not be altered while he's majority leader.
Trump administration says members of the military will get paid tomorrow despite the government shutdown
The Trump administration plans to pay military members tomorrow by using a mix of legislative and Defense Department funds, according to an official with the White House Office of Management and Budget.
It would be the second time the White House has been able to avoid missing a pay period for troops during the government shutdown, now in its 30th day. Service members are considered essential federal employees and are required to work during funding lapses, but essential workers typically aren’t paid during shutdowns.
That would bring the total to about $5.3 billion, which is still less than the $6.5 billion that was drawn upon to pay for troops’ paychecks earlier this month. It’s unclear why there’s a difference in the amounts, and the OMB official didn’t respond to a request for comment on that particular point.
Axios first reported on the administration’s paycheck plan for tomorrow.
Trump administration limits refugee admissions to lowest on record
The Trump administration dramatically slashed the refugee admissions cap for the new fiscal year starting this month at 7,500, the lowest on record, according to a Federal Register memo posted today.
The memo, dated Sept. 30, said the admissions numbers “shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa,” a white ethnic minority group that controlled South Africa during apartheid, as well as “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.”
The admissions allocation focus on white Afrikaners expands on Trump’s commitment in an executive order this year to resettle what he described as “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation,” even as he paused refugee admissions.
Trump and the first lady host trick-or-treaters at the White House
Watch highlights of Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosting the annual White House Halloween celebration for trick-or-treaters.
Zohran Mamdani details how he’d combat Trump — and where they could work together
On the precipice of winning next week’s New York mayoral contest, Zohran Mamdani cast himself in an interview with NBC News as the city’s bulwark against Trump, even as Trump has threatened his hometown over the prospect of a Mamdani victory.
In the interview, Mamdani, a state assemblyman, laid out his strategy for handling Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in New York City and projected confidence about running the city at age 34.
Asked what scares him most about the job now that he is on the verge of leading the nation’s biggest city, Mamdani — who was once seen as a long-shot candidate — instead took aim at his chief rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running against him as a third-party candidate.
“I think what scares me in this moment is the prospect of Donald Trump’s puppet becoming the one who would hold it,” he said. “And that’s what we find in Andrew Cuomo, a man who knows he has a narrow path to City Hall and has taken that to mean that he should fund it and pave it with the money from Donald Trump’s billionaire donors.”
Noem rejects Illinois Gov. Pritzker’s request to pause immigration actions over Halloween weekend
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem today flatly rejected a request by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to suspend immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween.
Pritzker cited children’s safety and an incident Saturday in which Customs and Border Protection agents deployed tear gas in a neighborhood where kids were preparing for a Halloween parade.
In turning down the request, Noem also cited children’s safety.
“We’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe,” Noem said at a news conference in Gary, Indiana. “The fact that Gov. Pritzker is asking for that is shameful and, I think, unfortunate that he doesn’t recognize how important the work is that we do to make sure we’re bringing criminals to justice and getting them off our streets, especially when we’re going to send all of our kiddos out on the streets and going to events and enjoying the holiday season.”
Noem made the comments amid a firestorm of controversy in the Chicago area, as a spasm of immigration enforcement operations devolved into chaotic confrontations with residents and activists in which immigration officers deployed chemical agents. In a widely reported event over the weekend, they used tear gas in the Old Irving Park neighborhood, just as kids and families were gathering for a Halloween parade.
James Comey files new motion to dismiss case, says Ted Cruz's questions were 'fundamentally ambiguous'
Former FBI Director James Comey filed a new motion today to dismiss the case against him, claiming one of the counts seeks to punish him for responding to Sen. Ted Cruz's “fundamentally ambiguous questions with literally true answers.”
“Neither those questions nor those answers can serve as the basis for" one of the counts in the indictment, Comey’s his attorney said. "Thus, under longstanding principles of criminal law, Count One must be dismissed. If Count Two rests on the same allegedly false statements, it should be dismissed for the same reasons.”
The indictment includes two counts: making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. The charges relate to testimony Comey gave at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2020, when Cruz, R-Texas, asked him about testimony he gave in 2017 asserting that he did not authorize the leak of information to the media about an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation. Comey, who has pleaded not guilty, told Cruz that he stands by his 2017 testimony.
“Mr. Comey firmly maintains that his prior testimony was truthful," his lawyers said today. "But for purposes of the literal truth defense, the truthfulness of the prior testimony is irrelevant. Mr. Comey can truthfully 'stand by' prior testimony — even if the government were correct (and it is not) that the prior testimony was false. Accordingly, the statement that Mr. Comey 'stand[s] by' his prior testimony cannot serve as the basis for a false statement charge.”
Maryland state senator charged with extorting former consultant with video of an affair
A Maryland state senator has been indicted on federal charges including extortion related to her 2022 campaign for a state House seat, accused of conspiring to threaten the release of an explicit video of a former consultant’s affair.
State Sen. Dalya Attar, D-Baltimore, was charged in a federal indictment unsealed today that involves her brother, Joseph Attar, and Kalman Finkelstein, a Baltimore police officer who worked on her campaign. The group conspired to silence a former consultant by making public a video of her in bed with a married man, the indictment said.
More than 8,800 federal workers file fresh jobless claims
More than 8,800 federal workers filed for initial jobless claims for the week ended Saturday, according to Labor Department data reviewed by NBC News.
Since the shutdown, initial claims in the government’s Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program per week started around 3,300, rose to about 7,200, then 10,000, before they dropped slightly in the most recent batch of data.
However, some data for three states and the U.S. Virgin Islands was not included, so it could be an incomplete picture.
In addition, so-called continuing claims from federal workers were more than 20,500, but that data could also be slightly incomplete.
While the government shutdown drags on, the Labor Department has not been releasing key economic reports and data, but claims numbers are sent in from the states and released on a national basis weekly.
Zohran Mamdani’s rise shines a brighter spotlight on democratic socialists
On Sunday night in Queens, New York, the vibrations from thousands of cheering Zohran Mamdani supporters reverberated throughout Forest Hills Stadium, as the audience burst into the same chant as speaker after speaker took the stage: “DSA, DSA.”
Mamdani’s surge past former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June’s Democratic primary for New York mayor didn’t just put Mamdani, 34, a state assemblyman, on the political map. It also highlighted the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA — a spotlight that’s growing brighter as Mamdani enters next week’s general election as the front-runner.
The organization known for attacking a capitalist-oriented status quo in the name of fighting for working-class people has grown in prominence in recent years in part because of its association with figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. And its contours continue to evolve, as Mamdani — who identifies himself as both a Democrat and a democratic socialist — prepares for what could be the organization’s most important electoral result yet.
“I call myself a democratic socialist, in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. King from decades ago. ‘Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, there has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country,’” Mamdani said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” this summer.
But socialism is also unpopular throughout much of the country, used as a cudgel against Sanders in his presidential campaigns and against Democratic candidates more broadly, too.
Senators criticize Trump administration after Democrats were left out of a drug boat strike briefing
Lawmakers from both parties criticized the Trump administration after Democrats were not invited to a briefing yesterday on U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.
Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters at a news conference in the Capitol today that the partisan briefing was a “new low” for the administration.
“That is not how the system is supposed to work,” he said.
The Trump administration has launched at least 14 strikes on vessels that it claims were involved with drug trafficking since early September. Calls for transparency into the strikes from members of Congress, including allies of Trump, have grown in recent weeks.
Trump-appointed judge praises prosecutors placed on leave after they called Jan. 6 a ‘riot’
A federal judge Trump appointed to the bench heaped praise today on two federal prosecutors who were placed on administrative leave after they described those who stormed the Capitol in 2021 as a “mob of rioters.”
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols said at a sentencing hearing that the prosecutors, Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White, were among the best attorneys who have appeared before him.
“In my view, both Mr. Valdivia and Mr. White did a truly excellent job in this case,” Nichols said at the hearing for Taylor Taranto, a Jan. 6 defendant who was also convicted on gun and other charges stemming from an incident in 2023.
Valdivia and White had filed a sentencing memo Tuesday that noted Taranto’s involvement in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
How many people could a SNAP benefits lapse affect in each state?
The Agriculture Department warned people over the weekend that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or food stamps, will halt beginning Saturday because of the government shutdown. The lapse in benefits is set to affect more than 40 million people. Here are the breakdowns by state on how many people received assistance in May:
Ohio lawmakers set to reach unexpected deal on a new congressional map
Ohio Republican and Democratic lawmakers are set to agree to a deal on a new congressional map that would give a slight, but not overwhelming, boost to the GOP ahead of next year’s midterm elections, a source familiar with negotiations told NBC News.
Members of the state’s bipartisan Redistricting Commission plan to make the plan public at a meeting today. It would shift two Democratic-held districts to the right and one to the left and maintain 10 districts that favor Republicans and two that are Democratic strongholds. Punchbowl News was first to report details of the deal.
Vance mentions Russia and China while discussing renewed U.S. nuclear weapons tests
Responding to questions from NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell about Trump's order for nuclear weapons testing "to begin immediately" for the first time in decades, Vice President JD Vance said testing nuclear weapons is an "important part of American national security."
"Obviously, the Russians have a large nuclear arsenal. The Chinese have a large nuclear arsenal. Sometimes you’ve got to test it to make sure that it’s functioning and working properly," Vance said.
As SNAP funds are expected to run out, Vance says 'suffering' will 'get a lot worse'
Vance urged congressional Democrats to "stop this entire charade" and reopen the government, warning that people will "find out the hard way" when federal food assistance funds run out Saturday.
"The unfortunate reality, and we’re starting to see this with our aviation industry, we’re going to find out the hard way with SNAP benefits," Vance said. "The American people are already suffering, and the suffering is going to get a lot worse."
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP, provides benefits to more than 40 million people across the country. In a message on its website Sunday, the Agriculture Department said benefits would not be paid out Saturday.
Noem says ICE operations in Chicago to continue during Halloween
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's request to pause ICE operations in and around Chicago during the Halloween weekend, calling his request "shameful."
"No, we're absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe,” Noem said at a news conference in Gary, Indiana. “The fact that Gov. Pritzker is asking for that is shameful."
Winsome Earle-Sears says everyone is safe after her campaign bus catches fire
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ campaign bus caught on fire as she was on her way to a campaign event in Harrisonburg today after a morning rally in Fredericksburg, she said X.
Everyone on board was safe, she said in the post, thanking first responders.
Earle-Sears is the Republican candidate for governor in Tuesday's election. Her opponent, Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, said on X that she was relieved that Earle-Sears and her team are safe.
Democrats hope for a ‘shot in the arm’ in New Jersey and Virginia after 2024 losses
For Democrats like Leslie Frucht, Trump’s victory last year was downright demoralizing. But she still felt compelled to rally in Paramus, New Jersey, on a recent Saturday for her party’s nominee for governor, Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
“We have to do something, and you have to feel like you’re part of the fight,” Frucht said.
Democrats hope this year’s governor’s contests in New Jersey and Virginia fire up their supporters not just in those states, but also across the country as they look to move on from a brutal 2024 campaign cycle in which they lost the White House and the Senate and as polls show the party remains broadly unpopular.
Senate passes bipartisan resolution to block Trump’s global tariffs
The Senate voted 51-47 to block Trump’s global tariffs and restore congressional authority over trade, which Democrats forced to the floor as a “privileged” measure.
Four Republicans joined 47 Democrats in supporting the resolution, which needed only a simple majority to pass. The four were both of Kentucky's senators, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, as well as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Two Republican senators, Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, did not vote.
It is the third “privileged resolution” to block Trump’s tariffs that Democrats have forced votes on this week. Like the ones to reject tariffs on Brazil and Canada, the measure is largely symbolic because it won't advance in the Republican-controlled House.
Nancy Pelosi predicts shutdown impacts will help Democrats in upcoming elections
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the former House speaker, predicted that the fight in Washington over rising health care premiums for Affordable Care Act plans that begin open enrollment Saturday could help propel Democrats to victory in Tuesday's elections.
“Affordable care is one of the things that is at stake in this election," Pelosi told reporters today on a media call hosted by the Democratic National Committee, adding that Republicans are "losing this fight."
Pelosi spoke specifically about the upcoming election in California, where voters will decide whether to allow the state to undergo mid-decade partisan redistricting.
"I expect a big victory — not just a victory — a big victory on Tuesday,” she said, adding “we save democracy at the kitchen table" and calling Republicans "oblivious" for not recognizing how health care costs affect people's day-to-day budgets.
The federal government shutdown entered its 30th day today, with Senate Democrats refusing to join Republicans to pass a stopgap funding measure without a deal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.
On today's call, Pelosi, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and health care activist Laura Packard also spoke about the lapse in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, set to go into effect Saturday, which would cut more than 40 million people from food assistance because of the shutdown.
The health care premium increases and SNAP funding lapse "will have an effect" on Tuesday's elections, Martin told reporters.
"Make no mistake, it will have an effect on this upcoming election because Mikie and Abigail have been focused relentlessly on how people can afford their lives," he said, referring to Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominees for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively.
Republicans dump last-minute millions into Virginia races
Key Republican groups are sending millions to Virginia in the final days before Election Day, hoping to boost their candidates for governor and attorney general.
The Republican Governors Association's political group sent $4 million to Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign Tuesday, on top of another $2 million it sent earlier in the month. And the Republican Attorneys General Association Action Fund sent $6.5 million in October, new campaign finance reports show.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger has had the fundraising edge in the governor's race, and Democratic Attorney General nominee Jay Jones' campaign has been on defense since recent revelations about violent text messages he sent a few years ago.
Spanberger has maintained a consistent lead in polling over Earle-Sears, including some recent surveys showing her ahead outside of the margin of error. The Republican has had difficult drawing top level surrogate talent to the campaign trail for her, including Trump, who never formally endorsed her. The attorney general race between incumbent Republican Miyares and Democratic challenger Jones, who has faced a scandal centered on yearsold violent texts, is neck and neck, polls show.
Vance says 2028 presidential talk is ‘premature’
The president said this week that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio teaming together on a 2028 presidential ticket would be “unstoppable,” but the vice president said in a new podcast he’s not thinking that far down the line.
“It feels so premature, because we’re still so early,” Vance told the “Pod Force One” podcast, adding that he’s “joked with the secretary about it.”
Asked if there was any tension because Trump hasn’t said who should be atop the ticket, Vance said “there’s not going to be any tension. Marco is my best friend in the administration.”
Vance said his attitude is “the American people elected me to be vice president. I’m going to work as hard as I can to make the president successful over the next three years and three months.”
“[L]et’s at least get through the next couple of years and do good work for the American people before we talk about politics,” he said.
Trump, who has expressed interest off and on in seeking a third term even though it’s prohibited by the Constitution, told reporters Monday that Vance and Rubio are “great.”
“I think I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they ever formed a group (they) would be unstoppable. I really do,” he said.
Senate Democrats force another vote on legislation to block Trump’s global tariffs
Senate Democrats, joined by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are forcing a vote to repeal Trump’s global tariffs and restore congressional authority over trade.
This is the third “privileged resolution” to block Trump’s tariffs that Democrats have brought to the floor this week.
The resolution would terminate the emergency that Trump declared “in order to slap tariffs of up to 40% on products Americans buy from other countries.”
Like the earlier measures to block tariffs on Brazil and Canada, this resolution needs a simple majority to pass but will not advance in the House, making it largely symbolic.
Five Republicans voted to block Trump’s tariffs on Brazil: Sens. Paul, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
That same group, minus Tillis, voted to block tariffs on Canada as well. Tillis is expected to vote against today’s resolution.
“The government was designed to exist in a system of checks and balances. And Democrats and Republicans in the Senate must — for the good of American families, our small businesses, and the United States economy — come together to reassert Congressional authority over trade and lower costs and temperatures,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement.
Inside the South Korean company that could help refloat American shipbuilding
NBC News’ Janis Mackey Frayer got an inside look at at one Korean ship builder that could be key to the “Make American Shipping Great Again” movement.
Chuck Schumer says Trump 'bowed down to' Xi on Asia trip
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Trump on his meeting with Xi this morning and said Trump “bowed down” to China's president.
“China has called Donald Trump’s bluff, and Donald Trump has folded, leaving American families and farmers and small businesses to deal with the wreckage from his blunders, from his erratic on again, off again, tariff policies,” Schumer said. “Americans beware, Trump will spend the next few days trying to spin the so-called agreement as a win for America. But that is total bull.”
Schumer specifically called out soybeans, the fentanyl crisis and China’s access to American made tech as the issues that were “total capitulations” at the meeting.
“China is still buying fewer soybeans this year from the U.S. than before China’s trade war,” Schumer said. “How is that a win for soybean farmers? Trump’s delusion is unbelievable.”
On fentanyl, Schumer said that Trump “secured no clear actions from China to address their funneling of chemicals that fuel America’s fentanyl crisis.” He also said the potential for China to be able to access American-made computer chips is "not America first … it’s China first.”
“Trump is handing out American made technology like it’s Halloween candy, straight into the hands of our biggest rival,” Schumer said. “In the past, China has been desperate to get this technology, but now they don’t have to worry. Trump’s just giving it away. With these chips that China now doesn’t have and can’t make themselves, China will dominate AI in a few years.”
After the meeting with Xi, Trump said he would lower fentanyl-related tariffs on China to 10% from 20%, expressing confidence China's president would “work very hard” to stop the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals into other countries.
While Trump said China would talk with chip-makers such as Nvidia about purchases, those discussions would not include sales of the company's Blackwell artificial intelligence chip.
Republican leaders reject Democratic demands to advance separate spending measures, including for food aid
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called his Democratic colleagues’ attempt to bring up legislation to extend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits yesterday a “cynical political ploy” in remarks on the chamber floor this morning as the shutdown goes into its 30th day.
“Democrats are outraged — outraged that they are coming face to face with the consequences of their decision to shut down the government,” Thune said. “They’re flailing around, blaming President Trump for not stepping in to somehow save the SNAP program from running out of money to pay benefits.”
Thune said there is a limit to what Trump can do to alleviate the effects of the shutdown, and specifically the impact on food assistance programs. But Democrats have argued that the Trump administration should release $5 billion in contingency funding to allow the SNAP benefits to continue past this weekend, when funds are expected to run out.
“President Trump did step in to save Democrats from themselves on WIC," Thune said, referring to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. "He somehow managed to find money to cover the program for the time being. But there is a limit to what he can do.”
He called Democrat messaging that Republicans are responsible for the shutdown “ludicrous,” placing blame on Democrats for demanding that expiring Obamacare subsides be included in any short-term spending measure, as opposed to the GOP-favored weekslong extension of government funding at current levels.
In remarks at what has become a daily news conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., insisted this morning that there was “no such legal avenue" to access contingency funding for SNAP because the program's statutory language did not allow for such actions by Trump, unlike the WIC program, which he said was linked to a 1930s-era law related to tariff funds.
Johnson also rejected the idea of passing measures to fund parts of the government, saying the “rifle shot bills that you keep hearing about deviates from the goal.”
Congress has “one singular purpose, and that is to reopen and fund the entire government.”
“The simplest way to end the pain, and the simplest way to make this stop is for the Democrats to do the obvious and right thing and vote for the nonpartisan funding measure so that we can turn everything back on,” he added.
FBI slams House proposal to grant Gabbard a leading role on counterintelligence
The FBI says a proposal by House lawmakers to strip the bureau of its authority over counterintelligence efforts and hand it over to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard would create confusion and undermine national security.
In a sharply worded letter to Congress, the FBI expressed its “strong objection” to the proposal, exposing a power struggle between Gabbard and the FBI’s director, Kash Patel, and other intelligence agencies.
“The FBI has consistently articulated its strong objection to the proposal, and believes it would cause serious and long-lasting damage to the US national security,” said the unclassified letter. “Furthermore, the FBI is aware of many other objections submitted by other members of the IC,” it stated, referring to the intelligence community.
The New York Times first reported on the letter.
The FBI argued that it has developed decades of experience in countering foreign espionage in the U.S. with a national network of 53 field offices, and that the proposal would create unnecessary bureaucracy and shift authority to officials without relevant expertise.
“The cumulative effect would be putting decision-making with employees who aren’t actively involved in Cl (counterintelligence) operations, knowledgeable of the intricacies of Cl threats, or positioned to develop coherent and tailored mitigation strategies,” it said.
The clash over the FBI’s leading role in counterintelligence marks the latest case of tensions between Gabbard and her counterparts in government, with the intelligence chief seeking a larger profile for her office.
Gabbard has engaged in turf battles with the CIA, blindsiding the spy agency by revoking security clearances for current and former national security employees without consulting with CIA officials, NBC News has reported. Gabbard’s office has denied that the ODNI failed to properly confer with colleagues at the CIA over the security clearances.
CIA and other intelligence officials share many of the FBI’s misgivings about the House proposal, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
“The ODNI and the FBI are united in working with Congress to strengthen our nation’s counterintelligence efforts to best protect the safety, security, and freedom of the American people,” the two agencies said in an email.
The U.S. government defines counterintelligence as protecting against leaks from U.S. spy agencies, hunting down foreign spies and countering economic espionage.
In its letter, the FBI refers to a draft letter from Gabbard about the House proposal, saying it “vigorously disagrees” with the director of national intelligence’s position. NBC News has not seen the letter from Gabbard cited by the FBI.
The FBI’s letter came as lawmakers in the House and Senate are haggling over an intelligence policy bill. The Senate’s proposal does not call for shifting counterintelligence authority to Gabbard’s office, congressional aides said.
The House bill would grant the director of national intelligence the authority to approve counterintelligence activities, but it does not define precisely what that could mean, the FBI said in its letter.
“Would a counterintelligence related prosecution be considered an ‘activity’ that must receive approval from this new Director, outside of the current DOJ (Department of Justice) chain? Would that give the new Director of the Counterintelligence Center authority over the FBI/Attorney General for all counterintelligence investigations?” the letter stated.
“This entire provision will ultimately cause confusion among agencies and will not yield whatever intended benefits are sought,” it said.
Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was open to a review of how counterintelligence activities are managed but opposed dismantling the FBI’s leading role and giving the ODNI operational control.
“That’s not what ODNI was created for, and it puts it in direct tension with the agencies it’s supposed to support. This approach risks creating turf battles and undermining the effectiveness of our Intelligence Community. ODNI should be a force multiplier, not a competing agency,” Warner said in an email.
The chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, last month praised the House intelligence policy bill that would empower Gabbard as “the first major reform Congress has pursued of our nation’s counterintelligence posture in over two decades,” which he said was long overdue.
"While our adversaries in the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Iran and terrorist groups operate on a war footing against the United States, too often we have remained reactive, complacent and risk-averse,” Crawford said.
Crawford’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The director of national intelligence position was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in an attempt to improve coordination and information sharing among the country’s spy agencies.
N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul declares state of emergency ahead of SNAP shortfall
Just days before federal SNAP funding is set to lapse, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, declared a state of emergency, saying she'll direct $65 million in state funds for emergency food assistance.
“Unlike Washington Republicans, I won’t sit idly by as families struggle to put food on the table. Today, I’m declaring a state of emergency and am committing additional state funds for emergency food assistance to ensure New Yorkers don’t go hungry. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have the power to stop this crisis — millions of families depend on it," Hochul said in a statement.
JD Vance to discuss the shutdown's impact on aviation at White House roundtable
JD Vance will host a roundtable at the White House this afternoon on how the government shutdown is affecting aviation and airports around the country, a White House official said.
The vice president will be joined by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Airlines for America CEO and former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and other industry leaders, the official said.
“The aviation industry has been gravely impacted by the Democrat Shutdown,” the White House official said. “Air traffic controllers did not receive a paycheck this week. Many pilot and aviation unions have called on Senate Democrats to open the government and pass the clean CR,” referring to the House-passed short-term government spending bill backed by Republicans.
Air traffic controllers and other federal workers deemed essential employees received their first zero-dollar paycheck earlier this week, and some took to handing leaflets out at airports to bring attention to the impact the shutdown is having on aviation workers.
About 27,000 commercial flights carry 2.7 million passengers per day into and out of the U.S.
Inside a high-security Chinese factory pumping out fentanyl
Behind a large glass wall, a worker in full protective gear watches as hundreds of tiny glass bottles whizz by every minute, sterilized, filled and packaged by a ballet of robotic arms.
Inside each ampule is the substance at the heart of the geopolitical strife between the United States and China: fentanyl, the deadly opioid that was at the top of the agenda at today’s meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
NBC News got exclusive access to the headquarters of Yichang Humanwell Pharmaceutical, the largest producer of the drug in China, and indeed Asia, at its sprawling complex in the central city of Yichang.
Radio Free Asia pauses delivering the news for the first time in its history after funds dry up
Radio Free Asia announced yesterday that it was pausing delivering news "for the first time in our history" because of "uncertain funding."
Executive editor Rosa Hwang announced the move on the news outlet's website, calling it “an excruciating moment.”
“And make no mistake, authoritarian regimes are already celebrating RFA’s potential demise,” Hwang said.
The announcement, near the end of Trump's Asia trip, came after the U.S. Agency for Global Media, led by Kari Lake, moved over the summer to slash jobs at government-funded outlets, which include Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, amid the Trump administration's efforts to slash the size of the federal government.
"When the initial funding disruption earlier this year forced RFA to furlough the majority of our editorial staff, the handful of journalists who remained launched RFA Perspectives, determined to fulfill RFA’s congressionally mandated mission to provide uncensored, accurate news and information in regions across Asia hostile to a free press," Hwang said. "That program, too, will end."
Allowing China to buy Nvidia’s Blackwell chips could be a national security disaster, analysts say
Allowing China to buy Nvidia’s latest-generation chips, even a modified version, could drastically reduce the United States’ AI advantage, analysts say, as the American artificial intelligence government lobbies the U.S. government to expand its export control permits to also include the upcoming B30A chip.
“Minimizing the export of powerful AI chips to China is the best way to maximize the United States’ AI compute advantage in the short term,” said analysts at the Institute for Progress, a Washington-based think tank.
The U.S. currently allows limited exports of Nvidia’s H20 GPU chips, the semiconductors at the heart of AI infrastructure buildout across the world. That chip was already a less powerful, last-generation version that was specially designed for the Chinese market.
Nvidia has, however, lobbied the Trump administration to now allow the export of B30A, built on the latest Blackwell architecture and a cheaper and less powerful version of the B300. The company argues that it would rather be a U.S. player that is dominant in the Chinese market than allow domestic players in China to catch up.
But even at that reduced performance, analysts at IFP say, the new chip is roughly “12 to 17 times the computing power of H20.”
“In the most aggressive export scenarios involving sales of the B30A chip and comparable AI chips from all other US AI chip companies, this advantage would flip, with China gaining a 1.1x advantage over the United States,” they wrote.
Senate confirmation hearing for Trump’s surgeon general pick is postponed after she goes into labor
The Senate confirmation hearing for Trump’s pick for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, has been postponed after she went into labor, a spokesperson for the Senate committee set to consider her nomination said.
Means was supposed to appear virtually before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this morning for lawmakers to consider her nomination for the top health role.
U.S. may have won reprieve on rare earths, but analysts say more is needed
Even though Trump says “all of the rare earth has been settled,” analysts say the U.S. remains overly reliant on China for strategically crucial rare earth materials and that it will take years to address that.
“Building new mines and, especially, expanding processing capacity — which is the real bottleneck — requires years of sustained effort and substantial investment,” Patrik Andersson, an analyst at the Swedish National China Centre at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, told NBC News.
Mining the minerals and their processing is a highly specialized and environmentally toxic process — one that China has honed over decades, resulting in a near monopoly on the global supply.
There is also the matter of ensuring there is enough demand to counter China’s overcapacities, said John Seaman, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations. “We’ll need to see more coherent industrial policies and greater policy coordination across jurisdictions,” he said.
Trump rejects Schumer comments calling his Asia trip a ‘dud’
Trump has responded to criticism by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer that his Asia trip was a “total dud,” calling it “almost treasonous.”
Chuck Schumer called Trump's Asia trip a 'dud.' Brendan SmialowskiMIALOWSKI / AFP - Getty Images
“President Trump is about to congratulate himself, patting himself hard on the back, for cleaning up a mess that he created,” Schumer said on the Senate floor yesterday, referring to trade talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Rather than using his visit to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea to “make progress with America’s vital trading partners,” Schumer said, Trump’s trip “has been a total dud.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he “Worked really hard, 24/7, took in Trillions of Dollars, and Chuck Schumer said trip was ‘a total dud,’ even though he knows it was a spectacular success. Words like that are almost treasonous!!!”
Trump orders Pentagon to start testing nuclear weapons ‘on an equal basis’ with other countries
Trump said yesterday that he had instructed the Defense Department to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other nations.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump said on Truth Social shortly before his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. “That process will begin immediately.”
The last confirmed nuclear test by the United States was in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush announced a moratorium on underground nuclear testing. The United States has the ability to resume tests at a federal site in Nevada.
What Trump and Xi did and did not agree upon in their meeting
From fentanyl to rare earths, Trump’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the last leg of his three-country Asia tour saw the world’s two biggest economies ease their trade tensions, or at least some of them.
“A lot of finalization,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after departing Busan, South Korea, where he met with Xi today for about an hour and 40 minutes, saying he would rate the “amazing” meeting a “12” on a scale from zero to 10.
While the two leaders did not ink a finalized agreement, Trump said a deal could be signed “pretty soon” and that there were “not too many major stumbling blocks.”
Trump said that he would visit China in April, and that Xi would visit either Florida or Washington “some time after that.”
Trump lowers fentanyl tariffs on China, while Xi delays rare earth export controls
Trump said after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that he was lowering tariffs in exchange for a crackdown on fentanyl and that he would visit China in April.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington, Trump said he would reduce his fentanyl tariff on China to 10% from 20%, effective immediately, after Xi agreed to intensify China’s efforts to stem the illicit international flow of precursor chemicals for the deadly opioid.
He said his meeting with Xi was “amazing,” rating it a “12” on a scale of one to 10, and said that with few major obstacles remaining, a sweeping trade deal would soon be ready.
