12:30 Report is The Hill’s midday newsletter. Subscribe here.
It’s Monday. Welcome back to another week of the federal government with the lights off. 😅
In today’s issue:
• Major website, app outage
• Australian leader visits White House
• FBI probes hunting stand near Air Force One zone
• Trump lays into ‘No Kings’
• Aerial protest footage
• FAA shortages trigger flight delays
G’day!:
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is at the White House today to meet with President Trump. The two just signed an agreement on critical minerals and rare earth materials.
💡 Why this matters: The Hill’s Julia Shapero and Sylvan Lane point out the White House is struggling to obtain these materials because many of them are controlled by China.
Trump then took wide-ranging questions from reporters and made some news. Here are the highlights:
Trump agreed to meet with China’s Xi: Trump says he will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month during a summit in South Korea. This is particularly newsy because Trump suggested last week that this meeting may not be necessary.
Trump predicted an outcome to the Ukraine war: A reporter asked Trump whether he thinks Ukraine could win the war against Russia. “They could still win it, I don’t think they will, but they could win it,” Trump responded.
Oh, and this was an awkward moment: At one point Trump paused to complain that a camera hit a mirror in the White House. “You’re not allowed to break that. That mirror is 400 years old,” Trump mused.
HAPPENING LATER TODAY:
The Louisiana State University baseball team visits the White House to celebrate its 2025 national championship win.
The Secret Service found something concerning:
The Secret Service found what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand in Palm Beach, Fla., positioned within sight of the Air Force One exit area. It was discovered shortly before President Trump landed at Palm Beach International Airport.
FBI Director Kash Patel described it as “suspicious.”
Patel told NewsNation: “No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cellphone analytics capabilities.”
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who are the most stubborn of them all?:
^ TBH, I’d argue everyone involved!
“Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is showing his anger as he becomes perhaps the most prominent Republican figure in the GOP’s stubborn, uncompromising government shutdown fight,” reports the Hill’s Emily Brooks.
“It’s a demeanor that marks a notable shift for the famously even-tempered Speaker, reflecting how the party is digging in on its refusals to negotiate with Democrats to re–open the government.”
How so?: “In near-daily press conferences and dozens of media appearances in the 2 1/2 weeks since the shutdown started, Johnson has reiterated the Republican position: No negotiations with Democrats on their health care demands until they stop holding the government ‘hostage’ and vote to re–open. On Thursday, the 16th day of the government shutdown, Johnson raised his voice at the end of one of those press conferences before stopping himself.”
Read Brooks’s reporting: ‘Speaker ‘Mad Mike’ Johnson becomes voice of GOP shutdown strategy’
Meanwhile, Democrats are feeling their own pressure: The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports that Democrats are under increasing pressure from their liberal base not to vote for the Republican funding bill.
Why pressure is increasing: “Grassroots Democrats frustrated with the Trump administration have been demanding a fight, and on Saturday millions showed up at ‘No Kings’ demonstrations across the country to protest the president’s government. In that context, Democrats know they will get hit hard by a number of voices on the left if they do not get something for opening the government.”
Read Bolton’s reporting: ‘Democratic senators fear getting ‘hammered’ after ‘No Kings’ for ending shutdown’
^ This is our most-read article today on TheHill.com today.
WHAT’S THE PLAN TODAY?
The Senate is heading towards its 11th vote to fund the government today, with the same outcome expected.
KEY DATES TO WATCH:
Today: Senate staffers miss a paycheck.
Friday: The next paycheck date for federal employees
Oct. 31: The next paycheck for the military and monthly paycheck dates for House staffers
Nov. 1: Open enrollment for ObamaCare begins
Nov. 5: Senate staffers miss their next paycheck
Nov. 21: The week of Thanksgiving
Read Al Weaver’s explainer on why each of these dates is a pressure point.
RELATED READS:
The Washington Post: Here’s who pays when undocumented immigrants get health care in America
USA Today: For this senator, Trump’s special ed layoffs are personal amid shutdown showdown
The Hill: FAA says air traffic controller staffing issues cause delays amid shutdown
Politico: Lawmakers bemoan Trump’s latest power grab: Troop pay
OTHER NEWS
Trump on ‘No Kings’: ‘I work my ass off’:
Millions of Americans participated in “No Kings” demonstrations around the country on Saturday, protesting the Trump administration’s policies.
The numbers: Roughly 2,600 protests happened in all 50 states. Massive gatherings happened in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Did it get under Trump’s skin?: A reporter asked Trump about the widespread demonstrations, to which he responded, “I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is. I’m not a king at all.”
The president called the demonstrations “small,” “ineffective” and “whacked out.” 📹 Watch Trump’s full reaction[BW1]
He also posted an AI-generated video of himself wearing a crown, piloting a fighter jet emblazoned “King Trump” and dumping brown liquid over protesters. 📹 Watch the video
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) criticized Trump for portraying himself “airdropping feces on American cities,” while Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) slammed the president as “disgusting and a disgrace.”
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS FROM ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS:
📹 Aerial footage over the NYC protest
Tidbit from CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere: “there are multiple snipers with scopes and rifles on the roof the National Gallery above the DC No Kings rally. DC police say they are part of necessary security, but the crowd doesn’t know that and it’s freaking many out that they’re about to get shot.” 📸 See for yourself
📸 Actor Pedro Pascal at the L.A. protest
📸 Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff in Santa Monica, Calif.
📸 The massive demonstration in Boston
ON THE AGENDA
The House is out. The Senate is in. President Trump is at the White House.
4 p.m.: Trump meets with the LSU and LSU Shreveport baseball champions. 💻 Livestream
5:30 p.m.: A Senate vote. 📆 Today’s agenda
QUICK HITS:
— Shrapnel from a nearby Marine Corps live-fire training demonstration hit a California Highway Patrol (CHP) vehicle on a California highway over the weekend. Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were at the base when it happened. The CHP said no injuries were reported. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has some thoughts on the incident.
— The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether it is constitutional to ban drug users from possessing a gun. A decision is expected next summer.
— Amazon Web Services (AWS) had a major outage this morning, temporarily bringing down many large websites and apps. Most of the services have since been restored.
— Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) has been freed from prison after President Trump commuted his sentence. Well, Santos says he learned of this news from watching TV in prison.
MORE READS:
The Atlantic: Resistance Is Cringe—But It’s Also Effective
The New York Times: To Fight ICE, Portland’s Leaders Turn to What They Know Best: Zoning
The New Yorker: The Real Housewives of Moscow
The New York Times’s editorial board: The Partisans Are Wrong: Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win
INTERNET BUZZ
🍗 Celebrate: Today is National Chicken and Waffles Day.
⏲️ The clocks are changing early this year: Daylight saving time ends on Nov. 2 this year. If that feels earlier than normal, that’s because it is.
To leave you on a lighter note, I found it so satisfying to watch this elephant smash pumpkins.
