Early Edition: October 1, 2025

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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS — DEFENSE POLICY

President Trump yesterday told hundreds of top U.S. generals and admirals that U.S. cities should be used as “training grounds” for the military and that “quell[ling] civil disturbances” is going to be “a major part for some people in this room” because “it’s a war from within.” In a largely partisan speech, Trump also praised his own policies and criticized former President Biden. Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt, and Shawn McCreesh report for the New York Times; Melissa Quinn reports for CBS News.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who spoke before Trump, told the military leaders that he would overhaul the Pentagon channels that allow troops and defense personnel to file whistleblower complaints and report toxic leadership. Hegseth also said he is rolling out ten new directives involving physical fitness, new grooming requirements, and a return to “the highest male standard.” Hegseth also told the leaders to resign if “the words [he’s] speaking are making [their] hearts sink.” Tara Copp and Noah Robertson report for the Washington Post; Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali report for Reuters.

Trump and Hegseth’s addresses to the military leaders were “more like a press conference than briefing the generals,” according to a defense official who spoke with POLITICO. “Could have been an email,” the official said. A second official said the summit was “on the spectrum of loyalty to ideology” and a “total waste of money.” Jack Detsch and Leo Shane III report.

OTHER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of E.J. Antoni, the former chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sources say. Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) reportedly refused to meet with Antoni, prompting concerns about the strength of his nomination. CNN earlier this month reported that Antoni operated a Twitter account that contained “sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories, and crude insults” aimed at perceived critics of Trump. A White House official indicated Trump would soon nominate a new candidate. Kristen Holmes, Adam Cancryn, and Andrew Kaczynski report for CNN; Paul Kiernan, Alex Leary, and Brian Schwartz report for the Wall Street Journal.

The Office of Management and Budget last week informed the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, a federal office that supports the government’s 72 inspectors general, that it would block the congressionally-approved money that would fund its operations through the next fiscal year. On Monday, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Chuck Grassley (IA), who chair the Appropriations and Judiciary committees, wrote to the OMB calling for explanation and a “prompt” reversal of the move. Meryl Kornfield reports for the Washington Post.

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday announced that it is planning to relax a Biden-era rule that requires grocery stores, air-conditioning companies, semiconductor plants, and others to reduce the use of “super pollutant” hydrofluorocarbons in cooling equipment. Lisa Friedman reports for the New York Times.

The Education Department and Health and Human Services Department’s civil rights offices yesterday accused the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League of violating Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports. The offices said the state has 10 days to voluntarily accept a list of conditions to reverse its sports policies or risk imminent enforcement action. Steve Karnowski reports for AP News.

The Trump administration is close to striking a deal with Harvard University, Trump said yesterday. The deal would include Harvard making a $500 million payment and “operating trade schools,” Trump said, without offering further details. Nandita Bose, Nate Raymond and Kanishka Singh report for Reuters.

Trump administration lawyers are trying to quash fired federal workers’ ability to appeal their firings to the Merit Systems Protection Board by arguing that the quasi-judicial agency must follow DOJ guidance in adjudicating the workers’ complaints, the Washington Post reports. The administration made its arguments in the case of two immigration judges who successfully argued that they were not given due process in their dismissals. Meryl Kornfield reports.

The acting Inspector General for the National Archives and Records Administration, Will Brown, yesterday announced that he has “initiated an investigation” into the release of Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-NJ) military records to an ally of Jack Ciattarelli, Sherrill’s Republican opponent in the New Jersey gubernatorial race. Ry Rivard and Madison Fernandez report for POLITICO.

U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

The first federal government shutdown since 2019 began at 12:01AM today, after Senate Democrats late yesterday voted to block Republicans’ plan to extend funding through Nov. 21. The Democrats said they would not approve new funding unless Trump agrees to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts. Trump administration officials said they plan to use the shutdown to carry out personnel cuts across agencies. Catie Edmondson reports for the New York Times; Natalie Andrews and Lindsay Ellis report for the Wall Street Journal.

A D.C. magistrate judge yesterday pre-emptively refused to accept an indictment presented by prosecutors who, after failing to secure an indictment from a federal grand jury, took the federal charges to a local grand jury that returned an indictment. The magistrate described the tactic as “unseemly” and “more than likely … unlawful,” stating that it appeared to be an example of grand jury forum shopping and further “deepen[ed] the growing mistrust of the actions of prosecutors.” U.S. Attorney for the D.C., Jeanine Pirro, accused the judge of being “activist.” Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.

U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Pentagon yesterday recommitted itself to scaling back its military mission in Iraq, reducing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq to fewer than 2,000. The United States will focus instead on combating Islamic State remnants in Syria by moving most of the troops to Iraq’s Kurdistan region, a U.S. official told Reuters. Phil Stewart reports.

U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS

The Trump administration said yesterday that it uncovered over 270 cases of suspected immigration fraud during an unprecedented enforcement operation in and around St Paul, Minneapolis. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow said yesterday that “any city should be prepared to be the next site of an operation of this magnitude” as he declared “war on immigration fraud.” Madeleine Ngo reports for the New York Times.

The Trump administration and South Korea reached an agreement yesterday to allow South Korean workers travelling on B-1 visas or ESTA to “install, service or repair” equipment bought from abroad to build South Korean plants in the United States, Seoul’s foreign ministry announced yesterday. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times.

TECH DEVELOPMENTS

Chinese AI models from developer DeepSeek lag behind U.S. models in performance, cost, security and adoption, the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology said today. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the Center for AI Standards and Innovation report “is clear that American AI dominates” and shows “why relying on foreign AI is dangerous and shortsighted.”

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Afghanistan enters its third day of a nationwide internet outage, according to several internet watchdogs. The watchdogs report that banking services are down, planes have been grounded, and all telecommunications have been affected. U.N. agencies have said that most aid deliveries have been stopped as a result, and called on the Taliban to restore the internet immediately. Francesca Regalado and Elian Peltier report for the New York Times.

A spokesperson for the Taliban today rejected reports of a nationwide internet ban, saying the disruptions were the result of “decaying fiber optic infrastructure” that is being replaced. The spokesperson did not say when services would be restored. AP News reports.

The U.N. Security Council yesterday approved the deployment of a larger gang-suppression force to Haiti, with the power to engage in combat with criminal groups. The U.S.-Panama plan envisions the deployment of up to 5,500 soldiers and police officers to Haiti. It is unclear which countries will contribute personnel and financial backing. Frances Robles reports for the New York Times.

Jian Guo, a former aide to a member of the EU parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, was convicted yesterday for engaging in espionage for China. Guo was accused of passing information about EU negotiations to Chinese intelligence services. Kate Brady reports for the Washington Post.

A military court in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, has sentenced former DRC President Joseph Kabila to death, having found him guilty last Friday of colluding with rebels and complicity in war crimes. Kabila did not appear at trial and has not been seen in public for months. William Wallis reports for the Financial Times.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Israeli fire yesterday killed at least 36 Palestinians in Gaza, local hospitals said. 17 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access humanitarian aid in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital officials. Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza killed 19 others. Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.

Trump said yesterday that he would give Hamas “three or four days” to respond to White House proposal to end the war in Gaza. Qatari and Egyptian officials presented Hamas with Trump’s plan on Monday but there is no timeline for a Hamas response, according to a diplomat. The diplomat said the Hamas negotiators need to communicate with people in Gaza, which could take hours or days. Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey are urging Hamas to respond positively to the proposal while noting that some points will need clarification and negotiation, according to another source. The source said that Hamas leaders told Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani that they would study the proposal in good faith. Irie Sentner reports for POLITICO; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

A senior Hamas figure told BBC News that Hamas is likely to reject Trump’s plan as it “serves Israel’s interests” and “ignores those of the Palestinian people.” The figure said that Hamas was unlikely to disarm and hand over their weapons, which is a key condition of the White House proposal. Hamas has not yet given an official response. Rushdi Abualouf reports.

The Global Sumud Flotilla said this morning that one of its vessels was “aggressively circled” by an Israeli warship for several minutes as it approached Israel’s naval blockade zone. At the time of writing, activists in the flotilla have confirmed they are back on course following this confrontation. Nathan Williams reports for BBC News.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

EU leaders will discuss plans for four flagship defense projects, including a “drone wall” to protect Europe, at a summit in Copenhagen today. EU leaders will also debate a proposal from the European Commission to use €140 billion (approximately $164 billion) of frozen Russian assets to fund a “Reparation Loan” for Ukraine. Andrew Gray and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen report for Reuters.

A populist opposition party in the Czech Republic has pledged to disband an ammunition programme, which gathers artillery for Kyiv from around the world, if it wins the parliamentary elections in Prague this week. According to polling, the party is expected to win the elections. The populist party has criticized the programme as both overpriced and opaque. Lara Jakes reports for the New York Times.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Russia yesterday launched a rare daytime drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing one person and injuring 20 others. Regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the attack targeted the centre of the industrial city. Yuliia Dysa and Olena Harmash report for Reuters.

HOUTHI DEVELOPMENTS

Iran-backed Houthi rebels today claimed responsibility for an attack on a Dutch cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week. Hatem Maher and Mohammed Ghobari report for Reuters.

Yemen’s Humanitarian Operations Coordinator Center, a body affiliated with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, announced yesterday that it will sanction 13 U.S. oil firms, nine executives and two vessels. The HOCC said that the sanctions are in retaliation for U.S. sanctions imposed on the Houthis earlier this year. Lisa Baertlein reports for Reuters.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

A federal judge yesterday ruled that the Trump administration had used the threat of deportation to systematically silence academics and students who protested in support of Palestinians, violating the first amendment. The judge wrote that the case presented the issue of “whether noncitizens lawfully present here in the United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us” and “the court answers this constitutional question unequivocally, ‘Yes they do.’” Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.

A federal judge yesterday ruled that the top federal prosecutor in Nevada, Sigal Chattah, is disqualified from handling cases. The judge wrote that Chattah “is not validly serving as Acting U.S. Attorney” and so her involvement in prosecutions “would be unlawful.” Erica Orden reports for POLITICO.

A federal appeals court yesterday agreed to reconsider a ruling that blocked Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants Trump accused of belonging to Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. The court has kept in place a hold issued by the Supreme Court that serves as a nationwide ban on using the Act to remove immigrants accused of belonging to TdA. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.

A federal judge yesterday issued an order temporarily restraining the Trump administration from freezing hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness funds to Democrat states that opposed Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.

Two labor unions representing federal workers yesterday filed a lawsuit alleging that the Office of Management and Budget could not lawfully direct federal agencies to prepare plans to carry out mass reductions in force during the government shutdown. Faith Wardwell reports for POLITICO.

The Justice Department yesterday filed a lawsuit alleging that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has violated Californians’ Second Amendment rights because LASD only approved two concealed carry weapons permits out of more than 8,000 requests over 15 months. Jacob Wendler reports for POLITICO.

Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions