Republicans acknowledge Trump’s limited engagement in shutdown talks. The president is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the federal government. And, Elon Musk’s tirade against NASA as the agency tries to get to the moon before China.
Here’s what to know today.
Democrats call on Trump to get involved to end shutdown
As the government shutdown crosses the three-week mark, Democrats are increasingly calling on President Donald Trump to get more involved in finding a solution. Even some Republicans acknowledged that Trump has been disengaged and said it wouldn’t hurt if he got more involved.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters that he and his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, have communicated to the president that they would “set up an appointment with him any time” to discuss health care and a possible end to the shutdown.
Trump has met only once with Schumer and Jeffries, on Sept. 29 — two days before the shutdown began — and it didn’t go well. He reacted hours later by taunting the pair with an artificial intelligence-generated post that put words in Schumer’s mouth and a sombrero on Jeffries’ head.
Trump met with Republican senators for a private lunch yesterday where several of them said afterward that there was little discussion of the shutdown. Sen. Adam Schiff said Trump’s involvement is “essential” to ending the shutdown because GOP leaders on Capitol Hill won’t cut a deal without his blessing.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said Trump has been disengaged only because “he’s had his hands full with Israel and international matters,” and that Democrats should deal with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., instead of the president.
But Thune — along with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — have both made it clear that they won’t negotiate directly with Democrats and that those discussions can happen only at the Appropriations Committee level. Thune told NBC News that Trump will get involved in how to handle the Obamacare subsidies that expire at the end of this year, which would raise premiums on millions of enrollees.
More politics news:
- Paul Ingrassia, Trump’s pick for a top watchdog position, announced he was withdrawing from consideration because he did not have enough Republican support to be confirmed.
- Food banks saw an uptick in visits from federal workers who were furloughed. Now, they are preparing for an additional influx from Americans who rely on federal food benefit programs.
- A White House official pushed back on a report that Trump is considering commuting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ prison sentence as soon as this week.
- Some of Trump’s critics fear they could be the president’s next target for prosecution.
- The Arizona Attorney General filed a lawsuit to force the House Speaker to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, the Arizona Democrat who won her late father’s seat in a special election.
The president seeks ‘a lot of money’ in damages from DOJ
Trump acknowledged that he’s seeking up to hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from the federal government for its investigations and prosecutions of him.
When asked about a New York Times report that he’s filed administrative claims seeking $230 million in damages from the Justice Department, Trump said, “It could be.”
He also said he’d ultimately be the person approving the payout and that, if he granted it, he’d “do something nice” with the money.
NASA eyes other options for moon landing as Musk’s SpaceX falls behind
NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy announced this week that in its quest to return astronauts to the moon — and to do so before China puts its own bootprints there — the agency is open to using moon landers from competitors to SpaceX. The announcement provoked the ire of Elon Musk.
Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, took aim at Duffy in a flurry of social media posts, attacking his intelligence and recent efforts at the helm of the space agency. “Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” Musk wrote on X, which he also owns.
NASA’s plan had been to use SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket system, which is in development, to land on the lunar surface. But Musk’s rocket company has fallen behind schedule with its testing and development of Starship, and the vehicle suffered a string of explosive failures earlier this year.
Read All About It
- Federal officers attempting to arrest an undocumented immigrant in downtown Los Angeles fired shots that injured the man and a U.S. marshal.
- Trump’s proposed summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest is “on hold,” a senior White House official said, adding both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict were not ready to seriously talk peace.
- Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of HBO, CNN and other streaming and studio businesses, said it is putting itself up for sale.
- Prince Andrew may have given up his titles, but the questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein remain, heaping pressure on Britain’s embattled royal family.
- A Jan. 6 defendant who was among the hundreds Trump pardoned was charged with making a “credible death threat” against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
- The NBA is back, with the 2025-26 season opening with a doubleheader on NBC and Peacock. Here’s everything that happened on the opening night — and some predictions for what’s to come.
Staff Pick: Money math
Is it too early to think about the 2026 tax season? Well, the IRS has made its annual inflation adjustments and increased the standard deduction, or the amount a household can write off if they choose not to itemize their deductions.
Business reporter Rob Wile breaks down what the adjustments mean for taxpayers’ households and provides an interactive tool that calculates what your tax rate for 2026 will be.
– Christian Orozco, newsletter and platforms editor
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
The NBC Select team rounded up the best small-space hacks for renters — including peel-and-stick tiles and lighting tricks that won’t break the bank. Plus, car windshield scrapers to prep for winter and azelaic acid picks for brighter, calmer skin.
Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.
Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Christian Orozco. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.
