October 14, 2025

Good Tuesday evening. In this edition: Trump warns Hamas to disarm, ramps up pressure on Putin; and Senate rejects funding bill as shutdown enters third week.

• Plus, Kirk, Milei, James and Mills.

Gaza & Ukraine

President Trump said he expects Hamas to disarm in accordance with his 20-point peace plan but warned the U.S. would take action if the group did not do so itself.

• "They're going to disarm because they said they're going to disarm, and if they don't disarm, we will disarm them," he told reporters during a meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei.
  
  
• "They know I'm not playing games."

The president said he would give Hamas a "reasonable period of time" to decommission its weapons, something the group has not publicly agreed to do.

• "If they don't disarm, we will disarm them and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently," he said. "But they will disarm."

President Trump returned Monday from a trip to the Middle East to mark the successful ceasefire-hostage release deal that his administration was instrumental in brokering.

• He received a standing ovation during his address to Israel's parliament, the Knesset, where he declared "the historic dawn of a new Middle East."
  
  
• He also participated in a signing ceremony in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he called on more Arab nations to normalize ties with Israel through the Abraham Accords.

While much work remains in Gaza, particularly its post-war governance, the president appears to already be setting his sights on ending another major conflict: the war in Ukraine, which is approaching the four-year mark.

• The president initially sought to apply pressure to Ukraine after taking office but has since shifted his focus to Russia, trying to bring the country to the negotiating table.

President Trump this afternoon expressed his frustration with President Vladimir Putin's continued war, which he said has embarrassed the Russian autocrat.

• "I'm very disappointed because Vladimir and I had a very good relationship, probably still do. I don't know why he continues with this war. This war has been so bad for him," the president said.
  
  
• "He just doesn't want to end that war, and I think it's making him look very bad. He could end it quickly."

President Trump is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, when they are expected to discuss the U.S. potentially supplying Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles.

• "He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks," the president said of the Ukrainian leader. "We have a lot of Tomahawks."

The Kremlin has warned the U.S. against providing Kyiv with the long-range weapons, saying the Tomahawks were of "extreme concern" and that they risked escalating the war.

• "Now is really a very dramatic moment in terms of the fact that tensions are escalating from all sides," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

Watch the president's remarks.

Government Shutdown

The government shutdown is on the verge of entering a third week with no end in sight as both parties hold firm in their positions.

• Meanwhile, the House is continuing its extended recess, now out of the capital for a fourth straight week.

The Senate voted 49–45 this evening to reject the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) for an eighth time, with no new crossovers.

• Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Angus King (I-ME) voted in favor while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against, as they had done on previous tallies.
  
  
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) switched his vote to the "no" column so that he can call another vote later, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who has voted in favor on past votes, was absent.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) doubled down on his position that Senate Democrats must approve the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government.

• "I don't have any strategy," he said when asked whether he would change his approach to the government shutdown.
  
  
• "I'm doing the right thing, the clearly obvious thing, the traditional thing that's exactly what Chuck Schumer voted for in March of this year."

The speaker said he didn't "have anything" to negotiate with Democrats, noting his conference approved a "clean" CR and accusing Democrats of making unreasonable demands on health care.

• "I don't have anything that I can take off of that document to make it more palatable for them," he said.
  
  
• "We're not playing games. They're playing a game," he added of the Democrats. "The strategy is to do the right and obvious thing and keep the government moving for the people."

The Trump administration sent layoff notices to more than 4,000 federal workers on Friday, with the IRS and CDC being among the hardest hit.

• The strategy, designed to increase pressure on Democrats, is a sharp break from past shutdowns when federal workers were simply furloughed.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) indicated this morning it was preparing another wave of layoffs.

• "OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats' intransigence," the agency posted on social media. "Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) rejected the notion that Democrats' shutdown strategy had opened the door to the administration's layoffs.

• "Donald Trump and his administration have been engaging in mass firings since day one of his presidency," he told reporters, claiming "cruelty is the point."
  
  
• "The fact that they are celebrating firing hardworking federal employees doesn't strengthen their position with the American people. It weakens it."

While most federal workers are going without pay, President Trump directed the Pentagon over the weekend to find the money to make sure troops continue to get their paychecks on Wednesday.

• "We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS," he wrote on Truth Social.
  
  
• "I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown."

Watch the Senate vote and remarks from Speaker Johnson and Rep. Jeffries.

In other news…

• President Trump posthumously awarded Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Mr. Kirk, a popular conservative activist, was assassinated last month while speaking on a college campus in Utah. Erika Kirk, the widow of Mr. Kirk who now leads his Turning Point USA organization, accepted the award on his behalf.
  
  

• President Trump hosted Argentinian President Javier Milei at the White House on the heels of his administration agreeing to give the South American country a $20 billion lifeline ahead of its elections later this month. President Trump warned he could cut the financial aid if his ally's party is defeated. "If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina," he said.
  
  

• New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) projected defiance in her first public appearance since being indicted by the Justice Department last Thursday. "I will not bow. I will not break. I will not bend. I will not capitulate," she said at a rally for mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Ms. James, who successfully prosecuted President Trump last year, was charged with bank fraud after the president publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to act against her.
  
  

• Janet Mills, the two-term Democratic governor of Maine, announced she will run for the U.S. Senate in 2026, challenging longtime incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in what's expected to be one of the most closely watched races of the cycle. If successful, the 77-year-old would become the oldest freshman senator in history.

For your radar…

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a press conference Wednesday on trade policy. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 at 9:15am ET.

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