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Senate fails again to advance funding bill, shutdown likely to extend into next week

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The government shutdown is in its third day on Friday with senators set to vote for the fourth time on bills to fund the government. But with negotiations appearing stalled, it’s looking like the shutdown could extend through the weekend.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune stood firm Friday on the Senate floor — just hours before the chamber is set to take yet another vote on Republican’s clean seven-week government funding bill — and signaled his party’s unwillingness to negotiate with Democrats over their demands in order to open the government back up.

“This shutdown needs to end sooner rather than later, and there’s only one way out of it. Democrats need to vote for the clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution sitting right there,” Thune said. “All it takes is one roll call, vote, the government’s back open.”

In addition to the GOP-backed seven-week stopgap funding measure, the Senate will also vote on the Democrat’s funding bill that includes health care provisions.

Thune criticized the Democrats’ bill, suggesting that any health care negotiations could begin after they pass the continuing resolution. But with both Republican and Democratic leaders at a stalemate, it seems as if neither bill will pass.

Both bills have failed during the three previous votes since the government shut down on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.

Thune said he does not expect to hold votes over the weekend and the next chance to try again would be Monday. This shutdown could go on at least six days if that ends up being the case.

Thune, meanwhile, is continuing his effort to recruit more Democrats to join the GOP-backed funding bill. And Democrats met Friday afternoon to discuss their next moves.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Republicans are to blame for the shutdown.

“The Republicans can reopen the government and make peoples’ healthcare more affordable at the same time,” Schumer wrote in a post on X. “Republicans are choosing to let healthcare costs go up for Americans across this country.”

Asked Friday afternoon if President Donald Trump is talking with Democrats to work to get them onboard, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Senate Republicans are speaking to moderate Democrats and that those conversations have “become very serious.”

Thune put pressure on Democrats during a press conference Friday morning.

“We have an opportunity to pick up a House-passed bill that if it passes the Senate, will be sent to the White House, the president will sign it and the government will reopen. It’s that simple and that straightforward. And that’s what we’re talking about. All we need is a handful more Democrats,” Thune said.

The majority leader said he hoped that Democrats “have a chance to think about” their stance over the weekend.

“I don’t know how many times you give them a chance to vote no, and hopefully over the weekend, they’ll have a chance to think about it. Maybe some of these conversations start to result in something to where we can start moving some votes and actually get this thing passed,” Thune said Friday. “But there’s nothing to be gained at this point by negotiating something that there’s nothing to negotiate.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson also would not commit to negotiating with Democrats on their $400 billion demand to extend the expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

“Some of the issues that they’re bringing to the table and they’re demanding immediate easy answers for, are not easy answers and they take a long time to deliberate. That is the process. This is a deliberative body, and a very large one,” Johnson said. “We can’t snap our fingers, and he and I and two other leaders in a room go, ‘Oh, well, this is the resolution.’ That’s not how it works.”

As the Senate works to chart a path forward, President Donald Trump is once again teasing to looming federal firings, which the White House said are “very real” and could result in “thousands” of federal workers losing their jobs during the shutdown.

ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

Trump uses shutdown to troll Democrats with deepfake memes about layoffs

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Friday defended President Donald Trump continuing use of social media to troll Democrats during the government shutdown, threatening targeted cuts and posting two deepfake videos featuring Project 2025’s co-author as the “Grim Reaper” and another mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In one post late Thursday, the president posted an AI-generated video depicting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the “Grim Reaper” while the administration threatens mass layoffs of federal workers and cuts to what Trump calls “Democratic Agencies.”

Trump met earlier Thursday with Vought, who co-authored and heralded Project 2025 the conservative policy playbook that has advocated for firing federal workers and the elimination of federal agencies.

“Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds, and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” a voice sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol dressed as the character depicting impending doom.

Hours after the post, Vought posted on X that he was going to withhold federal funding for transit infrastructure projects in Chicago, a Democratic run city that has been the source of complaints from Trump.

Vought earlier in the week withheld funding for transit infrastructure projects for New York and New Jersey, also Democratic-run states.

In another post, Trump highlighted another AI-generated video of himself trolling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a “TRUMP 2028” hat while they appeared to negotiate in the White House on Monday.

It was on Monday that Trump also posted an AI-generated video that depicted Jeffries with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero in a Mexican stereotype.

Jeffries, who called Monday’s video “racist” and “bigoted,” was asked about the latest deep fake on Friday morning in an interview on MSNBC.

“It’s further confirmation that Republicans are the ones who were clearly determined to shut the government down because everything that President Trump has done subsequent to Monday has been unhinged and unserious. In fact, Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program,” the minority leader said.

“No one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it. And the behavior, the erratic behavior that we’ve seen, is further confirmation of that unfortunate fact,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Jeffries’ comments during a briefing Friday, calling them “ridiculous fodder.”

ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked, “The president has described this as an unprecedented opportunity to lay off additional workers. He’s posted a video likening it to the Grim Reaper. Which is it? Is this an opportunity to fire more workers or an ‘unfortunate consequence'” (as Leavitt has called it).

“He likes to have a little fun and both can be true at the same time,” Leavitt responded. “We don’t like laying people off. Nobody takes joy and if you think that, that’s very sad you view the White House and our staff as wanting to put people out of work. Nobody wants to do that but sometimes in government, you have to make the tough decisions.

Leavitt, however, dodged questions if the federal layoffs could happen after the shutdown ends.

Vice President JD Vance has defended Trump’s memes, contending on Wednesday that they were simply jokes to make fun of Democrats. He said he didn’t understand how Jeffries could consider the video Trump posted on Monday as racist.

Republicans on the Hill have argued that the federal workers are suffering the most during the government shutdown and have pushed Democrats to reopen the government to protect their jobs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has echoed that message and claimed that Vought does not want to get anyone fired if he can avoid it.

However, he also defended the president’s memes when asked about them on Friday.

“Are they taking great pleasure or not? No. Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. Because that is what President Trump does and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day, the decisions are tough,” Johnson said.

“The effects are really serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all of these different areas, but what they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, was to point out the absurdity that is the Democrats position,” he said.

“And they are using the memes and the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but the decisions are hard ones and they are not taking any pleasure in that,” Johnson added.

Legal experts argued the Constitution and federal law allow only Congress to declare cuts to federal agencies or remove them entirely.

The White House has not provided more details on the legality of Trump’s threats, nor has it responded to questions as to how firing people who are not getting paid would cut down on waste.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

Bodycam video shows police shoot suspect after deadly Michigan church attack that killed 4

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(GRAND BLANC, Mich.) — Body camera footage released Friday shows the chaotic moment when local police confronted the man accused of driving his truck into a Michigan chapel before firing on hundreds of worshipers and burning the church to the ground.

The video, released at a Friday press conference, shows two officers running toward the suspect in the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, telling him to drop his weapon, yelling “shoot him” and “get back” before firing at least eight shots.

The suspect’s body can be seen on the ground at the end of the short video.

The press conference comes almost a week after Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, allegedly killed four people and injured eight others during his rampage before being shot dead by the two local officials who responded to the scene.

While officials did not take questions at the press conference, they did reveal a new timeline for the police response.

The first call to Genesee County 911 came from someone who got shot in the stomach at 10:25 a.m., with that patched to officers 16 seconds later, police said during the press conference. A Michigan Conservation officer arrived just short of 2 minutes later and then the Grambling Township officer arrived one minute later, which is when the body camera footage picked up.

The names of the officers, who have been placed on desk duty, are not being released and the investigation is being conducted by the Michigan State Police.

“We will never forget this incident, but I promise you we will not let this define Grand Blanc. We will strive, and we will be better together,” Grand Blanc Township Police Chief William Renye said. “Our condolences go out to everyone in this nation who has been affected by this particular incident.”

“We’re not going to allow this incident to define our community, but our response it is what we we’re going to be defined by,” Grand Blanc Township Supervisor Scott Bennett, said at the press conference Friday.

Investigators said that Sanford is from Burton, Michigan, which is about 8 miles north of Grand Blanc, and he is Marine veteran who served in the Iraq War.

People who knew Sanford told ABC News that he held contempt for the religion from his experiences dating a Mormon woman in Utah a few years prior to the shooting and said he had even considered converting to the religion himself.

Hegseth announces another US attack on alleged drug boat off Venezuelan coast

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the U.S. ordered a strike on another alleged drug boat that left Venezuela.

“Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation. The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people,” Hegseth said in an X post, which included footage of the attack.

The defense secretary didn’t give more details about the attack, and only claimed that intelligence “confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.

This is now the fourth strike off the coast of Venezuela in what the Trump administration insists are international waters.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration told Congress that it believes it’s engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and that it believes anyone smuggling illegal drugs should be considered “unlawful combatants.” The term is a legal one used during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by the government to justify lethal force by military troops as well as indefinite detention.

Putting drug runners in the same camp as al-Qaida fighters on the battlefield has prompted skepticism among legal experts who say the legal rationale is a stretch. It’s also unclear which groups are being targeted. President Trump has insisted the first boat strike included members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but the administration hasn’t said who was killed in subsequent boat strikes, including the one on Friday.

One official on Capitol Hill told ABC News this week that lawmakers were interpreting the latest notice on the strikes as the administration “essentially waging a secret war against secret enemies, without the consent of Congress.”

U.S. officials have long claimed that Venezuelan cocaine shipments contribute to overdose deaths in the U.S. — and they accuse the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, of facilitating drug trafficking, which he denies. The Trump administration has placed a $50 million bounty on his head for his arrest.

Earlier this year, the administration designated all drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” which officials say gives them the legal authority to go after them without due process.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Trump uses shutdown to troll Democrats with deepfake memes, threatening targeted cuts

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has continued to use social media to troll Democrats and threaten targeted cuts with two deepfake videos featuring Project 2025’s co-author and another mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Vought earlier in the week withheld funding for transit infrastructure projects for New York and New Jersey, also Democratic run states.

In another post, Trump highlighted another AI-generated video of him trolling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a “TRUMP 2028” hat while they appeared to negotiate in the White House on Monday.

It was on Monday that Trump also posted an AI-generated video that depicted Jeffries with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero in a Mexican stereotype.

Jeffries, who called Monday’s video “racist” and “bigoted,” was asked about the latest deep fake on Friday morning in an interview on MSNBC.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance have defended Trump’s memes, arguing they were jokes to make fun of Democrats. Vance said he didn’t understand how Jeffries could consider Monday’s video racist.

Republicans on the Hill have argued that the federal workers are suffering the most during the government shutdown and have pushed Democrats to reopen the government to protect their jobs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has echoed that message and claimed that Vought does not want to get anyone fired if he can avoid it.

However, he defended the president’s memes when asked about them on Friday.

Legal experts argued the Constitution and federal law allow only Congress to declare cuts to federal agencies or remove them entirely.

The White House has not provided more details on the legality of Trump’s threats, nor has it responded to questions as to how firing people who are not getting paid would cut down on waste.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

Des Moines school district says it will pursue legal action against consulting firm after superintendent detained by ICE

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(DES MOINES, Iowa) — The Des Moines Public Schools board announced Friday it intends to pursue legal action against a consulting firm it hired in 2023 to conduct a search for a new superintendent, claiming the firm failed to “properly vet candidates” after the district’s now-former superintendent was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week.

Federal authorities said the superintendent, Ian Roberts, is not in the U.S. legally and has not had any work authorization in the U.S. since 2020. He had served as the superintendent of the Des Moines district since July 2023 until his resignation this week following his detainment.

“Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a finalist, and if we knew what we know now, he would never have been hired,” Des Moines Public Schools board chair Jackie Norris said after the board emerged from a closed session Friday morning.

Norris claimed it has become clear that the consulting firm failed to turn up information “of a negative nature” about Roberts that it should have flagged to the school board.

“It’s clear that people are identifying and finding information in a matter of hours,” Norris said, in reference to public reporting on Roberts since his arrest by ICE last week. “And so it’s probably something that they should have caught, and that was our expectation.”

Norris said the search firm, in its contract with the school board, was responsible for advertising, recruitment, application and resume review, public domain search, complete reference checks and presentation of qualified candidates. It also said it would conduct comprehensive reference calls on each applicant to include the verification of all related employment experiences, and would sub-contract with another company for a comprehensive criminal, credit and background check, she said.

“We are pursuing legal action as allowed by law. This is about accountability, taxpayer dollars, and we are seeking accountability,” Norris said. “As the facts revealed themselves over the past several days, it was crystal clear that the search firm did not do its job,” Norris said.

ABC News has reached out to the consulting firm for comment.

Roberts, 54, entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa that has since expired, and a judge issued a final order of removal against him in May 2024, according to federal authorities.

He resigned as superintendent on Tuesday, a day after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts’ administrator license and the Des Moines School Board voted unanimously to put him on unpaid administrative leave and to provide proof he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination. He did not provide the board with that information, according to Norris.

Norris had previously said the Des Moines School Board was not aware of Roberts’ immigration issues at the time of his hiring and that the board is “also a victim of deception by Dr. Roberts, one on a growing list that includes our students and teachers, our parents and community, our elected officials, and Iowa’s Board of Educational Examiners, and others.”

Robert now also faces a federal firearms charge. After he was detained by ICE agents on Sept. 26, a loaded handgun was found in his vehicle, and three additional firearms were located in his residence, according to a federal criminal complaint charging him with being an “illegal alien in possession of firearms.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Suspect arrested months after 2 teens found murdered in remote Arizona hiking area

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz.) — A suspect has been arrested after two teenagers were found fatally shot in May on an isolated hiking trail in Arizona, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office said Thomas Brown, 31, has been arrested in connection to the murder investigation at Mount Ord, a remote hiking and camping area.

Law enforcement officials said they would provide more details at a Friday press conference.

On May 27, deputies responded to Mount Ord, between the cities of Mesa and Payson, to find “two deceased individuals,” according to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office at the time said the deaths were being treated as “suspicious.”

The victims were identified as 18-year-old Pandora Kjolsrud and 17-year-old Evan Clark, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The two teens were students at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, according to a letter the principal wrote to parents at the time.

“This last week Evan was taken from me, and my level of grief feels insurmountable. I find myself at a complete loss to imagine a life without him,” Sandra Malibu Sweeney, Clark’s mother, said in a statement. “It is a small comfort to share some things about this boy who was on his way to becoming a wonderful man.”

She continued, “Evan wasn’t a typical teenager. He was funny, bright, kind and entrepreneurial. He was an old soul who was sensitive and loving. Evan wrote me letters, the last of which he gave me on Mother’s Day that was so touching it made me both laugh and cry. He was special. He deserved a long life.”

In May, the sheriff’s office said they were conducting a “comprehensive and meticulous investigation to ensure justice for the victims and their loved ones.”

“We are coordinating closely with our law enforcement partners and ask for patience and respect for the investigative process as we work through the facts,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Senate to vote again on government funding bills as shutdown reaches 3rd day

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

On Friday afternoon, the Senate will vote on a GOP-backed seven-week stopgap funding measure and a Democrat funding bill that includes health care provisions. But with both Republican and Democratic leaders at a stalemate, it seems as if neither bill will pass.

Both bills have failed during the three previous votes since the government shut down on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he does not expect to hold votes over the weekend and the next chance to try again would be Monday. This shutdown could go on at least six days if that ends up being the case.

Thune, meanwhile, is continuing his effort to recruit more Democrats to join the GOP-backed funding bill. And Democrats are expected to meet Friday afternoon to discuss their next moves.

“Until they have eight or hopefully more, 10 or more people, who want to decide they want to end the government shutdown, I’m not sure this goes anywhere,” Thune said of Democrats on Thursday.

The president posted an AI-generated video on his social media platform Friday morning showing Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper as the administration threatens mass layoffs for federal workers.

“Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” someone sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol as the character.

On Friday morning, Vought announced $2.1 billion in funding for a Chicago’s Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project are being put on hold “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”

It is the latest instance of the Trump Administration targeting projects in Democratic strongholds after the Trump administration put on hold $18 billion in infrastructure funding for New York City and cancelled $8 billion for energy projects in 16 states that voted with Democrats in the last presidential election.

Because of the shutdown, there was no jobs report released Friday, delaying an update to key economic data and snapshot of the labor market. More than 2,000 Bureau of Labor Statistics employees are currently furloughed.

2 Manchester synagogue attack victims, including 1 who died, hit by police gunfire, police say

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Two of the Manchester synagogue attack victims appeared to been shot by police officers who were trying to stop the assailant, the Greater Manchester Police said Friday.

One of the victims with apparent gunshot wounds died during the attack and the other remains hospitalized, police said.

“The Home Office Pathologist has advised that he has provisionally determined, that one of the deceased victims would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury,” Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said in a statement.

Police said they determined the victims who were shot were likely hit by police because the suspect — who was fatally shot by police — was not in possession of any firearms, according to their initial investigation.

Police alleged that Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent, drove a vehicle into a crowd outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue early on Thursday. He then allegedly exited the vehicle and began attacking people with a blade — actions that police said were a terrorist incident.

As the attack unfolded, congregants blockaded themselves inside the synagogue, keeping Al-Shamie outside. He was then struck and killed by police gunfire, officials said.

Both of those who appeared to have been struck by law enforcement were believed to have been sheltering inside the synagogue, where they were “close together” behind a door as “worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry,” police said.

Police earlier on Friday said in a statement that they had identified the two victims killed during the attack as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both of whom were from Crumpsall.

Law enforcement did not immediately say which of the victims appeared to have been hit by gunfire. The victim who was shot and injured was one of three who were receiving treatment for injuries in local hospitals, police said on Friday.

Three additional suspects — two men and a woman — were also taken into custody and arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, police said on Thursday.

Furloughed federal workers pushed to make partisan out-of-office replies: Sources

October 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) encouraged federal employees across the government — including at the Departments of Labor, Justice and Education — to create out-of-office email messages denouncing “Democrat Senators” for causing the government shutdown, multiple sources confirmed to ABC News.

In addition to the public statements on federal websites blaming the “radical left” for the shutdown, out-of-office automatic replies from the Department of Labor said the following:

“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text of an email template provided to furloughed Department of Labor employees said.

Department of Labor email text

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided the following template language to establish employees’ out-of-office notifications.

“Furloughed Employees: Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text read.

A template for essential federal employees, which the government refers to as “expected” employees, used similar language. Federal employees within the Departments of Justice and Education told ABC News they also received messages with similar language.

Excepted Employees: Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. I am only permitted to perform work that, by law, may continue to be performed during a lapse in appropriations. Therefore, I may not be able to respond to your message at this time. As soon as funding is restored, I will return your message.

The approach appears to differ with each agency. Some federal departments did not send out any out-of-office email guidance.

However, multiple furloughed employees at the Department of Education report their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to mimic the language above – without their permission.

“They changed our out-of-office message… [They] did it after everyone left,” one department of education staffer told ABC News. “[I’m] so pissed,” they said.

The employee added, “We as career government employees need to be neutral when carrying out our jobs. This is such bull—-.”

Several federal workers, including the education department staffer, expressed concern to ABC News that adding the messages to their email accounts would violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities during their official duties.

The education department employee, furious about the message, stressed that federal workers are supposed to “serve all people of this country.”

The employee continued, “That [automatic reply] message is what anyone seeking assistance from a government worker is going to see.”

Similarly, when emailing the White House press office recently, ABC News received an automatic response that read, “Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays… as you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.”

The education department’s press office is also using the nearly identical automatic reply that OMB had provided to the Department of Labor. However, some automatic replies from individual press officers within the agency said that due to a “lapse in appropriations,” they would attempt to reply if it is allowable as an “excepted activity.”

Department of Education press office email text

“Thank you for contacting the press team. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations, we are currently in furlough status. We will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text read.

In addition, when submitting a request for comment at the State Department, an automated message was sent to ABC News that stated, “Thank you for your inquiry. Please note that responses may be delayed due to the government shutdown caused by congressional Democrats.”

A State Department official told ABC News that some staffers who had been furloughed had similar messaging in their automated “out of office” replies, blaming the furlough on democrats.

And on its website, under a bright red banner, the State Department notes that website updates will be limited due to the “Democrat-led” shutdown, seemingly in line with messaging seen on websites across agencies in Washington.

The political messaging is exceedingly rare coming from the State Department, which for decades has conducted itself as a largely apolitical entity with career-based staff who typically remain nonpartisan. Meanwhile, scores of federal employees are expected to be fired as a result of the shutdown by the end of the week, administration officials said.

ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report

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