Trump’s war room plots savage bloodbath as countdown enters final hours: Live updates

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC the president is prepared to take ‘sharp measures’ if the government shutdown does not end.

‘Today, the Senate opens its gavel, I think around three o’clock, I expect there will be a team of people in the oval with the president hoping that we’re going to get the government to stop being shut down, but if not, then I would guess that that team in the oval is going to start taking sharp measures,’ he said.

‘This is the third time since President Trump is in office that they’ve decided to shut the government down. So, they’ve got Trump derangement syndrome. They don’t really know how to govern when he’s in the White House, and they’re just flailing about.’

He also estimated that the shutdown will cost the US GDP a whopping $15 billion per week.

‘So, if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there’s going to be a lot of things that don’t happen, and it will show up at the GDP number,’ he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that the House will not return until the government shutdown is over.

‘I want to bring the House back into session and get back to work. But we can’t do it till they turn the lights back on,’ he said.

‘We need Chuck Schumer to reopen the government and as soon as he does that, we’ll bring everybody back here.’

Donald Trump posted his first TikTok since taking office for the second time on Monday.

‘To all of those young people of TikTok, I saved TikTok, so you owe me big, and now you’re looking at me in the Oval Office,’ he said.

‘Some day, one of you are going to be sitting right at this desk and you’re going to be doing a great job also.’

House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have blamed each other and their respective parties for the debate over healthcare that has caused the government shutdown.

‘We’re working to bring the cost down. We did that, we demonstrated it in the working families tax cut, the One Big Beautiful Bill, where we didn’t cut Medicaid, we shored it up, we supported it,’ Johnson told MSNBC on Sunday.

‘We need the time to [negotiate], and we have the time, but you have to have the government open.’

On Monday, Jeffries told the Today Show that ‘the time is now’ to address healthcare.

‘The enrollment period opens on November 1. Notices have already started to go out indicating that premiums, copays and deductibles for millions of Americans all across the country are going to dramatically increase,’ Jeffries said.

Two unions representing federal workers have asked a California federal court to halt the Trump administration’s mass layoffs during the government shutdown, according to CNN.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed temporary restraining orders on Saturday, saying it was needed to prevent ‘significant harm.’

AFGE National President Everett Kelley said the Trump administration’s threats to potentially fire tens of thousands of federal employees are not only illegal — it’s just plain wrong.’

‘Mass illegal firings will not only harm federal workers and their families, but will devastate vital services that the American people depend on,’ he said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced today that Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano will serve as the CEO of the Internal Revenue Service.

Bessent will continue to serve as the acting commissioner of the IRS, while Bisignano assumes the new role.

‘In this newly created position, Mr. Bisignano will report directly to Acting Commissioner Bessent, managing the organization and overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations,’ the Treasury Department said.

While the federal government is shut down, the Supreme Court kicked off a new term on Monday.

One of their first decisions was to reject Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal after she claimed she was wrongly prosecuted for sex trafficking.

Maxwell claims that a deal Epstein struck with federal prosecutors in Florida should have stopped her from being charged in New York.

The decision by the high court avoids a highly sensitive political case amid claims that Donald Trump has failed to release the so-called ‘Epstein files’ because he will be incriminated.

House Speaker Mike Johnson brushed off Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries debate challenge.

‘When the poll says that about 13 percent of the people approve of your messaging, then you make desperate pleas for attention, and that’s what Hakeem Jeffries has done,’ Johnson said.

‘My friend Hakeem had his shot. We debated all this on the House floor, as you know, before we passed our bill. He spoke for seven or eight minutes. He had all of his colleagues lined up, they gave it their best shot. They argued and they stomped their feet and screamed at us and all that, and still we passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate. The House has done its job.

‘I’m not going to let Hakeem try to pretend for these theatrics… We all know what he’s trying to do there.’

The shutdown began on October 1, the start of the 2026 federal fiscal year, after the Senate failed to pass a stopgap funding bill that would have kept the government open until November 21.

Democrats thus far have refused the Republican-approved spending bill because they are demanding a permanent extension of tax credits that are set to expire and currently help Americans purchase private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats also want assurances that the White House will not try to cancel spending agreed to in any deal unilaterally.

Republicans say they need to open the government before making decisions on healthcare policy.

They also said that the conversation should take place in December, the month when the tax credits will expire, not during a government shutdown.

The White House continued to troll Democrats online Monday as the government shutdown entered its sixth day.

The official White House X account posted another AI-generated video of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, wearing a sombrero and mustache, standing next to Sen. Chuck Schumer.

‘Starting another week of the DEMOCRAT SHUTDOWN,’ the post said.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is scheduled to host a briefing at 1pm ET on Monday.

Donald Trump has no public events scheduled during the sixth day of the government shutdown.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the government shutdown will cost the US GDP approximately $15 billion per week.

‘You know, my friends over at the Council of Economic Advisors gave me a report at the end of the week that said that it costs the U.S. GDP about $15 billion a week for a shutdown, or about a 10th of a percent of GDP. And so, if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there’s going to be a lot of things that don’t happen, and it will show up at the GDP number,’ he said.

The Senate will reconvene today and is expected to vote around 5.30pm on legislation to reopen the government.

The Senate last voted Friday on a government funding bill before adjourning for the weekend.

Two Democrats and an independent voted for a GOP measure to end the shutdown, but the 54-44 vote left Republicans short of the 60 votes needed. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky also voted against it.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dared Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to debate him.

‘Any day this week in primetime, broadcast live to the American people,’ Jeffries said in letter to Johnson.

‘Given the urgency of the moment and the Republican refusal to negotiate a bipartisan agreement, a debate on the House Floor will provide the American people with the transparency they deserve.’

Speaking from the USS Harry S. Truman stationed in Norfolk, Virginia President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would call for pay raises for sailors after blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

‘Do not worry about it,’ Trump said as he promised to get sailors their money back when the government reopens. Sailors in attendance cheered and clapped.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the Today Show on Monday that the White House and Republican leaders have not communicated with him since their oval office meeting last week.

‘Unfortunately the White House and Republican leaders have gone radio silent ever since then,’ he said.

‘We’ve said from the very beginning, we’ll sit down with anyone, anytime, any place in order to reopen the government, find a bipartisan agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people.’

The 74 million Social Security recipients across the US will continue to receive their funds during the shutdown on their usual schedule.

Benefits for retirees and disabled Americans are covered by mandatory spending, which means Congress approves the program, and it remains in effect without an expiration date.

However, experts are warning that customer service at the Social Security Administration (SSA) may be disrupted due to furloughs, making it more difficult for beneficiaries to contact the agency about specific queries.

CNN’s Jake Tapper is receiving flak online for touting an interview with Donald Trump as ‘exclusive’.

The Sunday Q&A was noticeably curt, contained virtually no detail, and was administered entirely via text, which Tapper still showed off on-screen.

Several State of the Union viewers looking to hear the latest on the status of the president’s stalled ceasefire deal surrounding Hamas and the ongoing government shutdown were left frustrated.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNN: ‘President Trump and Russ Vought are lining things up and getting ready to act if they have to, but hoping that they don’t.’

‘If the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs. But I think that everybody is still hopeful that when we get a fresh start at the beginning of the week, that we can get the Democrats to see that it’s just common sense to avoid layoffs like that.’

If Democrats back down as Hassett and the president hope, it would avoid an expensive shutdown and the federal layoffs that have been threatened by White House budget director Russell Vought.

Trump described the potential job cuts as ‘Democrat layoffs,’ saying: ‘Anybody laid off that’s because of the Democrats.’

Donald Trump touted making America an ‘economic power again’ as the government shutdown entered its sixth day on Monday.

‘Good news for the Holiday Season. Early prices are down, while tariffs are making our country an economic power again,’ he said on Truth Social.

‘Also, virtually no inflation as stock markets continually hit record highs. The best of all worlds for the USA.’

On Sunday, he warned that federal staff will be laid off if government shutdown talks are ‘absolutely going nowhere.’