Live updates: Trump attends UK state dinner after Fed cuts rates

House Republicans on Wednesday advanced a funding stopgap to avert an end-of-month government shutdown, teeing up a final vote on the continuing resolution (CR) later this week and setting up a showdown with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democrats.

The rule advancing the funding stopgap was approved in a party-line 216-210 vote, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voting present.

The spending measure revealed Tuesday would fund the government at current levels through Nov. 21, the Friday before a one-week recess for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that the House plans to vote “by Friday” on the “clean CR” measure, saying it “will keep the government funded and operating at current levels while we continue all this work” on regular appropriations bills.

Read more here.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Apple CEO Tim Cook are among the business leaders invited to the United Kingdom state dinner for President Trump.

The dinner at St. George’s Hall will include 160 total guests, and Trump is expected to sit between King Charles and Kate, princess of Wales, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the other side of the king.

Across the table will sit, from left to right, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Queen Camilla, first lady Melania Trump and Prince William.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will sit next to Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and Jeanette Rubio, the wife of the secretary of State.

Read here for menu details and more.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted down four different efforts from Democrats to subpoena records related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats began their effort with a motion to subpoena the financial transactions of Epstein, flagged as “suspicious activity reports” and later similar such records from the Treasury.

They also sought testimony from FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on the Epstein files as well as files related to the transfer of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower security prison.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a lead sponsor of a resolution seeking to force the release of all the Epstein files, was the only Republican to break with his party to support the subpoena effort.

Read more here.

The State Dinner with Trump and King Charles in the UK on Wednesday night will include several top business leaders among the 160 total guests.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will sit next to Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman and Jeanette Rubio, the wife of the Secretary of State.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is seated next to Tiffany Trump, the daughter of the president. Additionally, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Open AI’s Sam Altman, Rupert Murdoch and US Masters-winning golfer Nick Faldo will also attend.

The menu for the State Dinner was released, when Trump will join King Charles and other officials at St. George’s Hall on Wednesday night.

Guests have cards with the menu in French, with several large cards with the English version placed on easels around the room, according to journalists who received a preview of the dinner.

The starter is a Hampshire Watercress Panna Cotta with parmesan shortbread and quail egg salad, the main is an Organic Norfolk Chicken Ballotine wrapped in courgettes, with a thyme and savoury infused jus and the dessert is a vanilla ice cream bombe with Kentish Raspberry Sorbet interior with lightly poached victoria plums.

Since Trump doesn’t drink alcohol, royal officials said the presidential team would tell them what soft drinks he would be drinking. The wine list for other guests includes a California red, English sparkling wine and Pol Roger champagne, which was Winston Churchill’s favorite.

After dinner guests will be served Warre’s 1945 Vintage Port in recognition of Trump as the 45th, as well as the 47th, president. And, a special cocktail called Transatlantic Whisky Sour, was created as “a UK/US twist on the classic Whisky Sour.”

Trump is expected to sit between King Charles and Princess Catherine, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the other side of the King. Across the table will sit, from left to right, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Queen Camilla, first lady Melania Trump and Prince William.

FBI Director Kash Patel said he would launch an investigation into the birthday note President Trump wrote Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th.

The White House has claimed the image of the note released by the Epstein estate includes a fake signature by Trump.

Under questioning from Rep. Jared Moskowitz (R-Fla.) Patel agreed to an investigation, a push by Democrats for the White House to back its claim the note is a fake.

“You’ve seen the picture of the woman’s body with the president’s signature—he says it’s not his. Will you open up an investigation into Epstein estate for putting out a fake document?” Moskowitz asked.

Patel asked what the basis of such an investigation would be.

“They literally put out a fake document – according to the president – with a fake signature to forgery of the president of the United States’ signature. That’s the basis,” Moskowitz said.

The note shows the outline of a woman’s figure with a message in the middle referencing that the two “have certain things in common.”

Powell blamed a sharp slowdown in the U.S. labor market partially on the impact of Trump administration immigration policies.

Without naming the president specifically, Powell blamed a sharp decline in both the supply of workers and the demand for help on changes in immigration policy.

“There’s very little growth, if any, in the supply of workers. And at the same time, demand for workers has also come down quite sharply, to the point where we see what I’ve called a curious balance,” Powell said.

“Typically, when we say things are in balance, that sounds good, but in this case, the balance is because both supply and demand have come down quite sharply. Now, demand is coming down a little more sharply, because we now see the unemployment rate edging up,” he continued.

All Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday asked the panel’s chairman to hold a public hearing “at the earliest opportunity” with Pentagon officials to address the Trump administration’s increasing deployments of military service members to American cities.

In a letter to Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the 13 Democratic senators say they’re concerned with the administration’s growing efforts to dedicate military forces, assets, resources and personnel to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“The American people deserve clarity on the chosen priorities and missions of the Department of Defense and the short- and long-term implications for national security and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars of this new focus on a mission usually reserved for law enforcement professionals,” they write. 

Read the full story here.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is slated to deliver remarks Wednesday afternoon after the nation’s central bank cut interest rates for the first time this year, following months of pressure from President Trump.

The decision comes as the Fed attempts to ease pressure on the weakening U.S. job market. The move, floated by Powell last month, follows two dismal job reports showing months of alarming employment data and as the Trump administration is seeking to oust members of the board.

The committee responsible for setting borrowing costs cut the baseline interest rate to a range of 4 to 4.25 percent, a reduction of 0.25 percentage points.

Powell’s remarks are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Watch live here.

Senate Republicans cleared a key hurdle on Wednesday toward confirming four dozen of President Trump’s lower-level nominees, teeing up a final vote after they changed the chamber’s rules last week. 

The Senate last week invoked the so-called nuclear option to allow the chamber to confirm large numbers of nominees in a single bloc and on Wednesday held a series of votes that put the first of those blocs on the precipice of confirmation. The final vote is slated for Thursday. 

“Democrat obstruction ends today,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said on Wednesday. “Democrats failed to defeat President Trump in November at the ballot box, so instead they’re trying to sabotage his team right here on the Senate floor.”

All 48 of the nominees included in the tranche advanced from the committee level with bipartisan support. Many of them are slated for under or assistant secretary positions at various departments and agencies. 

Read more here.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said she was unimpressed by the FBI’s role in catching the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“To the extent that you posted not only once erroneously, you posted twice erroneously, as it relates to catching somebody. And then you want to go and say, let me take a victory lap. Because honestly, if it wasn’t for parents deciding that they were going to turn in their child, it seems like y’all wouldn’t have got there. Even though he literally confessed online. So I’m confused about what it is that the FBI is doing, except for trying to put on a show for the apprentice,” Crockett said.

Crockett was referencing both posts from Patel announcing they had arrested a subject in the case, only to release that man two hours later, as well as the tip that ultimately led to the arrest of alleged shooter Tyler Robinson.

Those posts also earned Patel pushback from the right, though he has also said he did not regret the disclosure, saying it was an effort at transparency.

On Wednesday, he dismissed Crockett’s comments.

“Here’s what I learned in my government service. I don’t give a damn what they say about me, as long as I’m succeeding in the mission,” he said.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday for the first time this year as the central bank attempts to ease pressure on the weakening U.S. job market.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) — the panel of Fed officials responsible for setting borrowing costs — cut its baseline interest rate to a range of 4 to 4.25 percent, a reduction of 0.25 percentage points.

Analysts and traders widely expected the Fed to cut interest rates Wednesday after several months of alarming employment data and unprecedented pressure from President Trump, who has sought to remove members of the Fed’s board.

Read the latest here.

Republican senators Wednesday attempted to undermine the testimony of former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez by attacking the attorneys she retained after being ousted.

GOP Sens. Jim Banks (Ind.) and Ashley Moody (Fla.) questioned why Monarez is being represented by lawyers who have vocally criticized President Trump.

Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell have represented clients who have spoken out against the Trump administration in the past, and those who have been personally targeted by Trump for political retribution like Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

“Of the thousands of lawyers that you could hire to help you through this process, why Mark Zaid?” Banks asked. “You don’t seem naïve at all. You have to know that Mark Zaid is a leading opponent of President Trump, notorious for his online activity that is very anti Trump … why did you hire a guy like that of all the thousands of attorneys?”

Read the latest here.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is addressing Senate Republicans on Wednesday, with members expecting him to deliver an “economic overview” during the meeting.

The discussion is coming during the weekly luncheon hosted by the Senate GOP Steering Committee, which is run by conservatives.

“I think kind of a general economic overview,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters about what he expected to hear from Dimon. “What he’s seeing out there. Macroeconomic trends and that sort of thing.”

President Trump’s trip to the United Kingdom has plenty of pomp and circumstance.

Trump was treated to a ride in a horse-drawn gilded carriage while “The Star-Spangled Banner” was performed live, he exchanged gifts with the royals and is set to attend a state dinner with the first lady.

Read about more sights and sounds in today’s 12:30 Report newsletter.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) erroneously claimed during the hearing that Monarez’s conversations with Kennedy had been recorded, using that claim to accuse the former CDC director of lying about what was said.

Monarez reiterated her claim that Kennedy said he could not trust her due to her refusal to preapprove vaccine guidance without evidence.

“No,” Mullins said. “It was a recorded meeting. So, you can testify one way, or you can prove that you’re lying or human, be honest with this committee. And I’m giving you the opportunity to be honest here.”

“That isn’t how that conversation went,” he added.

Following his questioning, both Cassidy and Sanders, leaders of the Senate HELP Committee, requested that recording if it exists. Sanders questioned why only one senator would be provided with the supposed audio.

A few minutes later Cassidy shared that Mullins had admitted that his claim was wrong.

“It’s just been reported that Sen. Mullin told reporters that he was mistaken in saying that the RFK-Monarez meeting was recorded,” Cassidy told the committee. “But in case he’s mistaken that he was mistaken. If there is a … recording, it should be released. And it would beg the question of what other conversations were recorded.”

Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said she was told not to speak directly to senators by leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) before being fired last month.

Monarez made the claim while appearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Wednesday — the first time she has spoken before the Senate since she was fired late last month, less than a month after she was confirmed.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who offered Monarez an apology for doubting her integrity during her confirmation hearing, asked whether she was told not to speak with senators by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I was instructed to not speak directly with senators,” Monarez said.

Read the full story here.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson on Wednesday condemned Monarez’s testimony, arguing she “acted maliciously to undermine” President Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

“Susan Monarez’s prepared remarks to the Senate HELP committee have factual inaccuracies and leave out important details,” the spokesperson told NewsNation’s Hannah Brandt.

The spokesperson said Monarez “was tasked with returning the CDC to its core mission after decades of bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep corroded its purpose and squandered public trust.”

“Instead, she acted maliciously to undermine the President’s agenda and was fired as a result,” they continued, adding that Trump fired her for insubordination.

House Judiciary Democrats have moved to subpoena suspicious activity reports from four banks used by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I think the discussion we’d like to have today is why you aren’t following the money with respect to the broader conspiracy,” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.).

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) then moved to subpoena four banks: JP Morgan, BNY, Bank of American and Deutsche Bank.

“These four banks have flagged to the government $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions related to the sex trafficking crimes and conspiracy of Epstein, [his associate Ghislaine] Maxwell and all of their collaborators,” Raskin said.

Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they would vote on the matter at the end of the hearing.

On other Epstein-related materials, some Republicans have joined Democrats in seeking certain files.

The House Oversight Committee has also subpoenaed the suspicious activity reports from the Treasury Department and has said it plans to comply.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy thanks Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for his confrontational questioning of Monarez.

“Thank you, @SenRandPaul,” Kennedy wrote on his government account, commening on an X post from the HHS account that said “@SenRandPaul questions Susan Monarez on the efficacy of childhood COVID vaccines — and he brings the receipts.”

Paul grilled Monarez about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and the need for newborns to get a hepatitis B shot.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board excoriated Attorney General Pam Bondi in an editorial for suggesting hate speech is not protected under the law in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.

In a scathing editorial published online Tuesday evening, the Journal suggested Bondi lacks a “basic understanding of the First Amendment” and said, “Kirk would want a word” with Bondi, noting the numerous times he defended hate speech as a legitimate form of free speech.

“Is a basic understanding of the First Amendment too much to expect from the nation’s Attorney General?” the editorial read. “Progressives have spent years trying to create and define a category called ‘hate speech.’”

“This misunderstanding of the First Amendment seems to have infiltrated the D.C. water supply because AG Pam Bondi repeated it Monday in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” the board continued.

Read the latest here.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was concerned about career officials being sidelined within the CDC, asking Monarez and Houry “who does then provide the scientific expertise, this institutional memory that is needed to guide the agencies?”

Houry said there were no longer any career scientists in the director’s office, the agency’s top level, which is now entirely comprised of political appointees.

Murkowski asked if any career scientists were involved in high-level decisions.

“We do have center directors, although 80 percent are now acting because they’ve been fired, resigned or retired,” Houry said.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) offered an apology to Monarez for doubting her during her confirmation hearing earlier this year.

“When you were here for your confirmation hearing, I questioned you very significantly, not on your qualifications. You got over the qualifications bar easily, but my worries about the direction of HHS made me question you very significantly on your backbone, a trait that is not in long supply in this town,” Kaine said.

“You did,” Monarez said.

“I had concern about your backbone, and I was wrong, and I apologize to you for being wrong,” Kaine added.

FBI Director Kash Patel said he has never spoken to President Trump about the Epstein files, nor has he reviewed the totality of the documents.

“I have never spoken to President Trump about the Epstein files,” Patel said.

He also said he was unaware how many times Trump’s name appeared in the files, saying trying to quantify the number a “total misleading factor.”

“We have not, we have not released anyone’s name in the file that has not been credible,” Patel said.

Media outlets reported earlier this year that Attorney General Pam Bondi had informed Trump that his names appeared within the Epstein documents.

Patel later said while he has not read the totality of the files – a large volume of records – “I have looked at all the information that the investigators who investigated this case have provided to run out credible leads.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) asked Houry what keeps her up at night.

“The next outbreak, and I don’t believe that we’ll be prepared,” responded the former CDC Chief Medical Officer. “I’m concerned about the future of CDC and public health in our country.”

“Given what I have seen, if we continue down this path, we are not prepared, not just for pandemics, but for preventing chronic health disease, and we’re going to see kids dying of vaccine preventable diseases,” she added.

FBI Director Kash Patel said he would not recuse himself from any potential investigations into those he previously listed in his book as “government gangsters.”

Democrats has cast the appendix to his book as something of an enemies list, as Patel had previously said those listed should be investigated.

“You identified 60 individuals in that book. You put me on that list at the top of the list,” Rep Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said.

“Thank you. My children find it flattering,” he continued. “Twenty of those individuals have been investigated or have had adverse actions. Director, considering that you’ve identified these people as, quote, government gangsters, will you recuse yourself from making any investigation decisions about these individuals?”

Patel said “no” he would not, but the lashed out at Swalwell.

“I’m gonna borrow your terminology and call bull—- on your entire career in Congress,” Patel said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Wednesday fired back at Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) suggestion that “maybe Somalia can take you back,” calling the South Carolina congresswoman not “well or smart.”

The back-and-forth came as Mace promoted her resolution to censure Omar and remove her from her committee assignments after Mace charged the Minnesota Democrat “smeared Charlie Kirk and implied he was to blame for his own murder” in an interview with Mehdi Hasan and by reposting a video blaming Kirk’s rhetoric for contributing to his own assassination.

Mace, alongside a screenshot of a 2022 tweet from Omar expressing that the First Amendment does not protect people from consequences like being shamed or shunned for speech.

“If you celebrate murder, maybe Somalia can take you back,” Mace said in a post on X from her campaign account.

Omar, who came to the U.S. as a child after her family fled Somalia’s civil war as refugees, fired back in another post.

“I know you aren’t well or smart but I hope someone can explain to you that there isn’t a correlation between my committee assignments and deportation,” Omar said. “Regardless of what you do with these committees, my office will continue to be next to you and I will continue to be in Congress.”

Read more here.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) asked Monarez to describe the conversation she had with Kennedy in which she claims he asked her to provide blanket approval for any recommendations coming from a vaccine advisory panel he remade, not waiting for evidence to support those recommendations.

“The secretary in that morning meeting was very upset, very animated,” Monarez said. “And he said, with regard to that particular topic, ‘I have heard that you may not sign off on the forthcoming ACIP recommendations.’ And I said, ‘I cannot sign off on something before I see the data and the evidence.'”

Kennedy has denied making the request.

Read the full story here.

FBI Director Kash Patel fumed at House Judiciary Committee Democrats who faulted him for not releasing more of the Epstein files.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the panel, played a clip of a past appearance of Patel on a podcast in which he said it would be under the direct control of the FBI to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“You’re not keeping your word. You said that you would release all of the materials,” Patel said.

The Justice Department has gone to court to unseal grand jury testimony in the case, a move that has been rejected by the courts as such materials are seldom unsealed. Some of Epstein’s victims didn’t object to unsealing the documents but urged caution about releasing information that could identify victims and raised concerns about the government’s motivations.

“I’m not gonna break the law to satisfy your curiosity,” Patel said.

When Patel said he deserved credit for releasing more information about the case than prior administrations, Raskin fought back, noting that what has been released so far has only come after the parties banded together in Congress to issue subpoenas.

Raskin called what has been released so far a fraction of all records.

In further questioning Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) asked why FBI has not released witness interviews that are not subject to a court order.

“Those are not subject to the court order. Those are not subject to any fictional, sealed order for a search warrant. Why aren’t you releasing those with the redacted names of the victims?….Why are you not going to the court like you did for the grand jury testimony to unseal those records?” Goldman said.

“Any allegations that I’m a part of a cover up to protect child sexual trafficking and victims of human trafficking and sexual crimes is patently and categorically false,” Patel said.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) got into a heated exchange about vaccines with former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Susan Monarez. 

During a Wednesday hearing about Monarez’s ouster from the agency, Paul grilled her about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and the need for newborns to get a hepatitis B shot. 

When Paul argued that evidence did not support CDC recommendations, Monarez disagreed. 

“Does the COVID vaccine reduce hospitalization for children under 18?” Paul asked.  

“It can,” Monarez replied.  

Read more here.