Live updates: Trump says Israel, Hamas have a deal on ceasefire, hostage release

President Trump on Wednesday announced a ceasefire has been reached between Israel and Hamas, paving the way for the release of 20 living hostages and relief for nearly two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 

Trump said the two sides signed off on “the first Phase” of a peace plan he announced late last month, a major reprieve to halt more than two years of war, since Hamas brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. 

The president touted the first phase “as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!” in a post on his social media site TruthSocial. 

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Senators are growing increasingly concerned that the mounting flight delays and air traffic controller absences could balloon to the level experienced during the 2019 government shutdown, with some believing it could again be key to breaking the stalemate.

Air traffic control staffing issues caused significant delays on Monday and Tuesday as the shutdown extended into a second week, with roughly 10,000 flights being affected. Those troubles weren’t as pronounced on Wednesday, though more than 3,000 flights experienced delays, albeit some of those stemming from weather in the Northeast.

But worry is starting to escalate for lawmakers, who remember the air travel tumult that ultimately forced President Trump to cave on his demand for border wall funding nearly seven years ago.

“It becomes a pressure point,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). “You talk about disruptive — if air travel shuts down and all the air traffic controllers are sick, you basically have shut down the economy.”

“I hope we don’t get to that point,” he added. 

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A poll released Wednesday found most Americans say that President Trump is attempting to exert more power than his predecessors. 

The study conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center shows 69 percent of American respondents said Trump is trying to exercise more power than previous presidents, and almost half (49 percent) said this is “bad” for the country. Twenty-one percent said the president is attempting to exert about the same amount of power, and 7 percent were unsure.

President Trump will undergo a medical exam on Friday during a visit to Walter Reed Medical Center, the White House said.

“On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly check up. He will then return to the White House.”

Leavitt said Trump was “considering going to the Middle East shortly thereafter.” The president had told reporters he was contemplating traveling to Egypt on Saturday or Sunday as he sought to close the deal on a peace agreement in Gaza.

While the White House said Friday’s visit was a “routine yearly check up,” it will be the second time Trump has had an exam at Walter Reed so far this year. He last underwent a routine exam in April, after which his physician said he was in “excellent health.”

Asked by The Hill if he is completely ruling out some kind of measure to pay the troops in a shutdown, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said:

“We want to pay the troops. We have voted to pay the troops they voted not to pay the troops, plain and simple. There’s no further vote that’s needed other than the clean [continuing resolution].”

If the shutdown continues, military service members will miss their paychecks on Oct. 15 — which has never happened in other modern shutdowns.

Photographers captured a handwritten note Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed to Trump, which asked the president to approve a social media post about a Middle East peace deal.

“You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first,” the note, which was written on White House stationery, read.

President Trump said on Wednesday that a stand-alone bill to pay military servicemembers during a government shutdown “probably will happen.”

“Yeah, that probably will happen,” the president told a reporter when asked if would encourage Congress to pass a stand-alone to pay troops.

“We have to worry about it yet. That’s a long time. You know what one week is for me, an eternity? One week for me is a long time we’ll take care of it,” Trump told journalists at the White House. “Our military is always going to be taken care of.”

Earlier on Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ruled out the bill despite initially signaling his support.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the roundtable at the White House late and walked over to Trump to whisper something in his ear.

“I was just given a note by the secretary of State saying that we’re very close to a deal in the Middle East,” Trump said. “And they’re going to need me pretty quickly.”

Trump on Wednesday said he might travel to the Gaza Strip as part of a potential Middle East trip amid intense efforts to neogitate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Trump said he is most likely to go to Egypt, where negotiators are meeting, but did not rule out going to Gaza when asked by a reporter.

“I may do that [go to Gaza], I’ll be going to Egypt most likely,” he said.

Some of Trump’s top officials have made brief trips into Gaza, largely to the U.S.-backed food distribution of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund alongside Israeli troops.

Six former surgeons general criticized Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a Tuesday op-ed in the Washington Post.

“The actions of [Kennedy] are endangering the health of the nation,” the group said. “Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

The group included Vivek Murthy, Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, David Satcher, Joycelyn Elders and Antonia Novello. Murthy, Elders and Satcher were appointed by Democratic presidents, while Adams, Carmona and Novello were appointed by Republican presidents.

In their op-ed, the former surgeons general said that under Kennedy, the “foundations of our nation’s public health system have been undermined.” They specifically criticized the HHS secretary’s longstanding claims that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, his handling of measles outbreaks throughout the country, his recommendation against pregnant women taking Tylenol and his upheaval of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory panel. 

The White House invited multiple conservative influencers who have echoed the administration’s rhetoric about left-wing groups causing chaos.

Speakers were sharply critical of the “mainstream media,” accusing them of failing to adequately cover antifa activity.

Among the attendees was Nick Sortor, who was arrested outside an ICE facility in Portland last week and later released on his own recognizance.

Other attendees included conservative journalist Andy Ngo, right-wing commentator Jack Posobiec and Brandi Kruse, a former reporter who has focused on covering antifa in Portland.

Media organizations are calling out the Pentagon’s “unprecedented restrictions” for credentialed reporters, saying Wednesday that the newly updated rules “appear designed to stifle a free press,” asking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to reconsider his stance.

The draft policy, released Monday, notes that journalists given permission to work in the building will not need approval from Defense Department (DOD) officials before publishing articles with information not officially released. The clarification comes after an earlier draft of the rules last month appeared to require that even unclassified department information be approved by Pentagon officials before it was published, otherwise reporters risked losing their credentials.

But the latest policy — which comes after several weeks of negotiations between reporters and defense officials — “leaves open the threat of the Department of Defense revoking credentials for reporters who exercise their First Amendment rights by seeking information that hasn’t been pre-approved for formal release, even when the information is entirely unclassified,” the Pentagon Press Association (PPA) said in a statement.

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The federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1, has started to impact air travel, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted, as air traffic controllers – who are working without pay – call out sick. Several major airports were experiencing delays on Wednesday, and smaller airports were at risk of losing service altogether by the end of the week.

The Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes airline service to small communities across the country, is set to run out of money soon.

“That money runs out this Sunday. So there’s many small communities across the country that will now no longer have the resources to make sure they have air service in their community,” Duffy said.

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Trump said he may travel this weekend to the Middle East as his administration aims to close the deal on a peace agreement that would stop the fighting in Gaza.

“Our final negotiation as you know is with Hamas. And it seems to be going well,” Trump said. “So we’ll let you know. If that’ the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday. Maybe Saturday. Maybe a little later than Saturday evening. But that seems to be our schedule.”

Yelling erupted on the House floor during a pro forma session on Wednesday as Republicans again ignored Democratic attempts to get a commitment to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), who was with a few other Democrats on the House floor, attempted to be recognized by the chair, yelling about swearing in Grijalva.

Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), who was presiding as Speaker pro temore during the brief session, gaveled out as Stanton yelled without recognizing him.

It marked the fourth pro forma session since Grijalva’s special election.

Johnson canceled previously scheduled House votes this week as he aims to pressure Senate Democrats into passing a House-passed, GOP-crafted stopgap to fund the government. Though he has previously sworn in members during pro forma House sessions on House voting days, he has said he will not swear in Grijalva until the House is back voting.

President Trump could be heard praising Attorney General Pam Bondi for her combative testimony in the Senate a day earlier as he prepared to start a roundtable on the left-wing group Antifa.

“You were so good yesterday,” Trump said to Bondi, who was seated next to him.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Wednesday that peace negotiations with Ukraine have been stalled since the August Alaska summit, where President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin made commitments to cooling the conflict in Eastern Europe. 

“We have to acknowledge that the strong momentum created in Anchorage toward reaching agreements has been largely exhausted due to the efforts of opponents… primarily Europeans,” the senior Russian diplomat said while addressing the State Duma, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) is publicly pushing back on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaling that he will keep the House out of session next week if the government shutdown continues, showing some bubbling intra-party tensions.

Kiley on social media responded to Punchbowl News reporting that Johnson said the House has already done its job.

“No, what the House has done is pass a 7-week Continuing Resolution. The entire reason a CR is necessary is that Congress has not done its job in passing a timely budget. The Speaker shouldn’t even think about cancelling session for a third straight week,” Kiley said.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in a press conference Wednesday that further negotiations on regular government funding are not happening during the shutdown, arguing that “Democrats are not likely to move bills while they’ve got the government shut down.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the government shutdown has benefitted Democrats so far, while Congressional Republicans have “skedaddled” as the government stays closed.

Speaking with “Morning Joe” co-host Jonathan Lemire on MSNBC, Whitehouse was asked about his faith in Democratic leadership and the pay risks to federal workers as the shutdown entered its eighth day.

“You know, I think [for] Democrats, it’s so far, so good,” Whitehouse told Lemire.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’s (R) gubernatorial campaign rolled out a new ad Wednesday tying her Democratic opponent, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), to a string of violent text messages sent by Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones.

“Jay Jones says he wants to put two bullets in a political opponent,” says a narrator opening the 30-second spot.

“Jones says he hopes an opponent’s children die,” the narrator continues. “Now Spanberger continues to support Jones.”

Throughout the ad, footage of Spanberger saying “let your rage fuel you” is played. The ad wraps with a clip of Jones, Spanberger and Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial nominee Ghazala Hashmi campaigning, with the camera zooming in on Jones.

More here.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) expressed concern Tuesday over President Trump’s apparent use of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute political rivals, something he and his colleagues have “real questions” about.

Booker’s remarks came after Attorney General Pam Bondi testified earlier Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats later described the hearing as “aggressive” and “combative.”

“We have real questions about using the Department of Justice as an arm of the president, as his personal attorneys, to prosecute his personal political vendettas, to pull people away from the kind of crimes that we want solved and instead focus on people like [former FBI Director James] Comey and other political targets of his,” Booker told MSNBC’s Ali Vitali.

“He’s not hiding it,” the senator continued. “He’s being very open. He’s literally tweeting at the attorney general of the United States of America, telling her to ‘take out my enemies’ in a prosecutorial manner.”

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Virginia Giuffre’s brother on Tuesday said it’s “hurtful” that President Trump declined to rule out issuing a pardon to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate and girlfriend.

“It’s hurtful for a lot of survivors out there. It’s hurtful for me, as a family member, to even hear the potential for a pardon — that he is considering it, or possibly not considering it, as he said. He didn’t waver one way or the other,” Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, when asked about Trump’s comments Monday about possible clemency for Maxwell.

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Music artist Zach Bryan is responding to backlash after a clip from one of his songs was interpreted as critical of immigration raids, saying it was taken out of context and the tune is actually about his “love” of the U.S.

“I wrote this song months ago. I posted this song three months ago as a snippet,” the country music singer wrote in a statement posted on his Instagram Stories on Tuesday.

“This shows you how divisive a narrative can be when shoved down our throats through social media,” he added. “This song is about how much I love this country and everyone in it more than anything.”

The 29-year-old musician had originally posted part of his song, called “Bad News,” on social media last Friday.

Full story here.

Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) got in a confrontation with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday after they staged a surprise press gaggle outside his office to highlight their health care demands and his delay in swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

“The guy who works in this office right here is keeping all of his Republican colleagues and his caucus on an extended summer vacation. He will not come back to negotiate with us. We are ready,” Kelly told reporters outside Johnson’s office, referring to Democrats wanting commitments on health care measures as a condition of voting to reopen the government.

Gallego dug in on Johnson not swearing in Grijalva, who would be the final signature needed on a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to release files relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, accusing the Speaker of wanting to “cover up for pedophiles on the Epstein list.” 

Several minutes into the Arizona Democrats answering reporter questions about the shutdown, Johnson came out of his office — surprising the senators and joining the gaggle.

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Former White House aide Steve Bannon bemoaned that former FBI director James Comey did not walk through the front door of the Virginia courthouse where he was arraigned Wednesday on charges linked to his 2020 congressional testimony about the investigation into Russian ties to President Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“They slipped Comey in through another entrance, so he didn’t have to come through here,” Bannon said on his daily “War Room” show, as the conservative host showed viewers a live feed of the courthouse in Alexandria, Va.

“This is bulls—,” he continued in comments highlighted by Mediaite, referring to the lack of a perp walk. “I don’t know who at [the Justice Department] and who at the FBI, and I hope the White House understands this.”

Bannon compared Comey’s arraignment to his own court proceedings relating to his refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena, a decision that earned him several months in jail.

More here.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he would “strongly discourage” President Trump from pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after Trump declined to rule out the possibility.

In an interview on CNN’s “The Lead,” Comer pointed to the dearth of evidence he’s reviewed as part of his committee’s investigation into the disgraced financier and Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for crimes related to the sexual abuse of minors.

“I do not think he should,” the Kentucky Republican told host Jake Tapper about whether Trump should consider granting Maxwell clemency. “I’ve been very vocal about that.”

“I’ve seen enough information thus far from the thousands of pages of documents that the Department of Justice has turned over, in addition to the documents that we subpoenaed from the estate, in addition to conversations that I’ve had with some of the victims of Epstein and Maxwell, that I can say with confidence — I would strongly discourage any type of pardon or commutation of Maxwell,” he continued.

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Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill to end the government shutdown for a sixth time, as the funding lapse enters its second week with little headway made toward a resolution.

Senators voted 54-45 on the GOP’s “clean” stopgap spending package that would fund the government through late November. It needed 60 votes to advance.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted with Republicans, but for a fifth time no other members of the Democratic caucus joined them.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), responding to President Trump’s remarks that he and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker should be arrested, called Trump “unstable” and “unhinged.”

“First of all, this president is unstable, unhinged, a double-minded individual that, quite frankly, is a threat to our democracy,” Johnson said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room.” 

Amid the shutdown, a new survey is finding Americans pessimistic about the economy.

Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey found that 67 percent of respondents think the economy is going in the wrong direction, with just 32 percent believing it is going in the right direction.

Americans are feeling even worse about the housing market, a key part of economic life.

Just 27 percent of respondents believe it is a good time to buy a home, while 73 percent believe it’s a bad time to do so.

The Democratic proposal to end the government shutdown has failed in the Senate for the sixth time on a party-line vote of 47-52.

The continuing resolution (CR) would fund the government through the end of October, extend expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies and roll back the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”

The Senate is not voting on whether to advance the GOP’s continuing resolution. It is also expected to fail for a sixth time.