Donald Trump live updates: Pete Hegseth summons hundreds of generals to Quantico, Virginia for huge military meeting

You can watch a live feed from Quantico via The Independent’s YouTube channel below:

Here’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine arriving for this morning’s speech at Quantico, Virginia.

Here’s Kelly Rissman with a reminder of the Trump administration’s dire warning of the consequences for federal workers if their representatives on Capitol Hill fail to come to an agreement before the end of play today.

For the 21st time in the past 50 years, all federal agencies will run out of money at midnight on Tuesday – unless Congress acts to stop them.

The reason is that, while Republicans control both houses of Congress and the presidency, they still need 60 votes in the Senate to ram funding bills past a potential Democratic filibuster.

That means that as long as Democrats refuse to budge, Republicans must either offer them a compromise or abolish the filibuster. So far, neither has happened.

So what would a government shutdown actually mean for you and for the nation?

Here’s Io Dodds to answer that question.

Given the delicate state of the negotiations between Republicans and Democrats, the president has hardly helped matters by posting an AI meme mocking opposition leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer on Truth Social last night, risking ratcheting up the tensions still further after their fruitless meeting at the White House on Monday.

Back in Washington, the leaders of the House and Senate are scrambling to agree on a new spending bill before midnight to prevent the federal government entering shutdown mode.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and the GOP leaders on Capitol Hill had a simple message for the public yesterday: It’s all the opposition’s fault.

Here’s more from Eric Garcia.

The decision to call the Quantico meeting has been questioned, however, with Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, for one, expressing concern over the likely cost of the exercise.

President Donald Trump will be in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday morning to hear Secretary of War Pete Hegseth deliver a motivational speech on “warrior ethos” to the U.S. military’s top generals and admirals.

As many as 1,000 officials have been ordered to fly in for the meeting at the Marine Corps’ base, a complicated and costly endeavour at which budget cuts might also be discussed, according to some reporting.

“It’s really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things. It’s just a good message,” Trump has told NBC News.

“We have some great people coming in, and it’s just an ‘esprit de corps.’ You know the expression ‘esprit de corps’? That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.”

Here’s more from John Bowden.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Donald Trump’s short trip to Virginia to hear Secretary of War Pete Hegseth address the U.S. military’s top commanders on “warrior ethos.”

Meanwhile, back in Washington, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate are scrambling to agree a new spending package before the federal government enters shutdown mode at midnight.