Today’s notice: The shutdown is gonna go another week. Democrats chase a shiny new object. Sean Duffy’s NASA gig may not last long. Plus: The congressional candidate who has apparently put all his money in one stock.
The Latest
Trump is outta here. The president is going ahead with a trip to Asia, which means he won’t be around for a week to sign any bill reopening the government.
About that trip: Donald Trump’s second term has been very foreign-policy focused, surprising some who see the growing engagement as contrary to MAGA. They were not paying attention, the White House says: “It’s ‘America First.’ People falsely and very stupidly think that’s isolationism; it’s not. It’s more nuanced,” a senior official told Jasmine and the team.
Trump is busy thinking about that kinda stuff. But senators from both parties say he’ll need to start thinking about the shutdown if it’s ever going to end, NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz reports. Either Trump cuts a deal with Democrats and pressures Republicans to take it, or he reboots the whole thing by telling House Republicans to vote for a new continuing resolution.
The new pressure point is Nov. 1. That’s the day ACA open enrollment begins.
Reminder: Trump’s trip ends on Oct. 30, just two days before then. Happy Halloween, Hill watchers.
So, Democrats must only be talking about the ACA, right? Wrong. They are loving an out-of-context Karoline Leavitt quote about the White House ballroom and are blasting it around. One Democratic talking head we spotted in a cable green room yesterday shook their head at the distraction this political shiny object has caused — talk about the ACA! they complained aloud.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren made the best attempt at connecting the construction project to the shutdown: “We asked Donald Trump to cut health care costs. Instead, he cut off a wing of the White House.”
But White House officials are more than happy to talk about the ballroom. It’s Trump as they want to showcase him: doing what he wants, and making Democrats mad.
Open tabs: Trump Says Tech Leaders Convinced Him to Call Off San Francisco ‘Surge’ (NOTUS); Platner reshuffles campaign and sends out NDAs (Politico); N.B.A. Coach and Players Charged in Massive Gambling Scheme (NYT); Trump pardons Binance crypto founder (FT)
From the White House
A bad day for Sean Duffy. “Everyone, and I mean everyone in the West Wing, is furious at him,” a knowledgeable source told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman. The problem? Duffy wants to keep his second hat as NASA administrator, even though Jared Isaacman’s star(ship) is rising once again.
You will recall Isaacman as the Elon Musk ally who was previously withdrawn as Trump’s nominee to run NASA. There’s a fragile peace between Musk and Trump now, and Isaacman may be headed for NASA after all. Reese reports that Duffy has found himself on the wrong side of that dynamic.
“Sean Duffy is a trusted, valued, and loyal member of the President’s team,” White House spox Liz Huston told NOTUS. “As for the NASA Administrator nomination, it’s solely up to President Trump to make a decision and it will be announced by him directly when it’s made.”
From the Hill
Some senators (Thom Tillis) are feeling the House’s absence. Emphasis on some…
“There’s a wonderful Scripture, ‘Let the day’s own troubles be sufficient for the day,’” Sen. Bill Cassidy told NOTUS. “We’ve got enough troubles for us in the Senate. I’ll focus on my day’s troubles. I won’t worry about those guys.”
“I think even if they don’t come back to Washington the rest of the fall, we won’t catch up to them yet. So I’ve not lost one second of sleep,” Sen. Roger Marshall said.
From the campaign trail
Winsome Earle-Sears’ calendar: Documents obtained by Dave Levinthal for NOTUS via FOIA show the lieutenant governor of Virginia’s schedule was essentially blank starting in early 2023 — on paper, at least. Her official schedule shows no engagements at all from February through July 2023. The latter months of that year had fewer than 20 events in total.
That’s a stark contrast from 2022, when she disclosed 241 official events in a year that also had some long quiet stretches. There is no law that says the lieutenant governor has to keep a schedule. Earle-Sears did not respond to several requests for comment.
New on NOTUS
The Tribal Warrant Fairness Act is a new bipartisan bill by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Markwayne Mullin to allow the U.S. Marshals Service to assist tribal law enforcement in finding missing children. Mullin, a Cherokee Nation member, told NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer that the bill was a “commonsense solution to fill in the jurisdictional gaps.”
Surprising new front in the redistricting battle: Virginia Democrats are planning to call a special session next week to redraw the state’s congressional maps, NOTUS’ Amelia Benavides-Colón reports. “We are coming back to address actions by the Trump administration,” state Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said.
An unusual investment strategy: Robin Ficker, who is running to represent Maryland’s 6th District, reported that nearly all of his net worth — between $5 million and $25 million — is invested in the stock of one company: computer technology and chip giant Nvidia.
More: Letitia James’ Lawyers Hit Lindsey Halligan for ‘Unusual’ Texts to a Reporter, by Jose Pagliery
NOTUS Perspectives
“What is one thing you would fix about American higher education?”
A NOTUS forum featuring Sara Goldrick-Rab, DeNeen Brown, Randall Kennedy, Linda Darling-Hammond, Sen. Bill Cassidy, Julie Patel Liss and Margaret Spellings.
Not Us
- Islamophobia Takes Center Stage in Final Days of New York’s Mayoral Race, by Yoav Gonen and Claudia Irizarry Aponte for The City
- Can you pass the new U.S. citizenship test? By Daniel Wu for The Washington Post
- Trump admin favors Paramount Skydance in race to buy Warner Bros. Discovery: sources, by Charles Gasparino for the New York Post
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