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SNAP benefits to halt in some states amid government shutdown

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — One of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown is about to hit tens of millions of the poorest Americans hard: the halting of a critical food assistance program.

Several states are now warning they will be forced to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.

SNAP, often referred to as “food stamps,” serves roughly 42 million low-income Americans. The program, run by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, issues electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food.

Texas is now warning its millions of recipients that all November SNAP benefits will be halted if the shutdown continues past Oct. 27.

Pennsylvania officials say they will also not be able to distribute SNAP benefits if the shutdown — now in its 21st day — continues.

“Because Republicans in Washington DC failed to pass a federal budget, causing the federal government shutdown, November 2025 SNAP benefits cannot be paid,” an alert on the state’s Department of Human Services website reads.

Other states such as Minnesota and New York, are issuing similar warnings — saying benefits are “at risk” or “may be delayed” if the shutdown continues.

SNAP has traditionally been entirely federally funded, but is administered by states. That means the shutdown’s impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to dry up will vary state by state.

Earlier this month, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — commonly known as WIC — received $300 million from the White House to help support the program through Oct. 31 amid the shutdown, but now states are projected to run out of funds as early as next month.

WIC — which which help more than 7 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents get nutritious foods — is on the verge of running out of money as early as Nov. 1 unless the government reopens or receives additional emergency funding. Previously, the White House said it would use tariff revenue to pay for WIC benefits.

“Without additional funding, State WIC Agencies may be forced to take drastic measures that prevent families from accessing the services they need, such as halting food benefits. This would directly jeopardize the health and nutrition of millions of mothers, babies, and young children,” National WIC Association CEO Georgia Machell said in a statement on Tuesday.

In a letter to state health officials earlier this month, Ronald Ward — the acting head of SNAP — warned that “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”

This has already been a tumultuous few months for SNAP. President Donald Trump’s megabill already cut the program by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Trump administration seeks to dissolve remaining order blocking National Guard deployment to Portland

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has filed a motion seeking to dissolve the remaining order preventing them from deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

The filing on Monday came after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned, earlier that day, another temporary restraining order that prevented the Trump administration from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland. A panel of judges found that the Trump administration was likely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the TRO.

A broader order that prohibits any state’s National Guard from deploying into Portland remains in effect.

The government referenced the appeals court’s decision in its filing on Monday, stating, “Given the Ninth Circuit’s clear statements on the second TRO’s validity, the Court should address this motion in part today and without awaiting plaintiffs’ response due tomorrow evening.”

The Ninth Circuit’s decision “plainly warrants dissolution of this Court’s second TRO,” the government’s motion stated.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield decried Monday’s ruling, saying the panel of Ninth Circuit judges “has chosen to not hold the president accountable” and urged the “full Ninth Circuit to vacate today’s decision before the illegal deployments can occur.”

“Portland is peaceful. The military has no place in our streets,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to hold the line and fight for Oregon’s sovereignty.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, celebrated the ruling, saying the appeals court found that the president “has the right to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, where local leaders have failed to keep their citizens safe.”

In late September, President Donald Trump issued an order federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect federal property amid ongoing protests at a Portland ICE facility, despite objections from local officials.

After the city of Portland and state of Oregon sued, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut earlier this month prohibited the deployment of the Oregon National Guard into the Portland area, finding that conditions in Portland were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard, and that the president’s claims about the city were “simply untethered to the facts.”

The Ninth Circuit’s ruling on Monday, which lifted Immergut’s TRO, found that the Trump administration was likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal of Immergut’s ruling.

“After considering the record at this preliminary stage, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority” to federalize the National Guard, the court stated in the majority opinion.

Immergut issued a second TRO following the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy members of the California National Guard to Portland.

The government is seeking to dissolve that TRO or “at a minimum” to stay, or suspend, the order until it expires on Nov. 2, according to the motion filed Monday.

The city of Portland and state of Oregon have not yet filed a response to the government’s motion, according to the online docket.

A trial in the matter is scheduled to start on Oct. 29.

Attorneys for former special counsel Jack Smith dispute ‘inaccurate’ claims he tapped senators’ phones

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley Tuesday seeking to correct what they call “inaccurate” claims that Smith wiretapped or spied on Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation into President Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

“Although you have not reached out to us to discuss this matter, we are compelled to correct inaccurate assertions made by you and others concerning the issuance of a grand jury subpoena for the toll records of eight Senators and one Member of the House of Representatives,” attorneys Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski wrote. “Mr. Smith’s actions as Special Counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences.”

The outreach from Smith’s team is the latest in a series of efforts by the former special counsel to correct the record on his parallel investigations into Trump that resulted in two indictments for Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records after leaving the White House in his first term and his attempt to subvert the 2020 election result.

Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases before both were dropped following Trump’s reelection, due to a long-standing Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.

Both cases have since been cast by senior leadership of Trump’s Justice Department — many of whom previously served as Trump’s personal attorneys — as prime examples of political weaponization of law enforcement.

In the letter from his attorneys, as well as two public appearances on university panels, Smith has disputed that he or his team were ever motivated by politics in their prosecutions of the president.

In their letter Tuesday, Smith’s attorneys sought to refute a narrative stemming from a document released by the FBI on the eve of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month.

The record showed that during Smith’s investigation, his office sought limited phone toll data from eight senators and a member of the House in the days surrounding the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

While such records would not involve the content of any phone calls or messages, multiple Republicans on the committee incorrectly claimed at the hearing the next day that Smith had “tapped” their phones or “spied” on them.

“What was going on here? Who ordered this? Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States Senators?” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley asked Bondi during the hearing.

“We will be looking at all aspects of this, and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this,” Bondi responded, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel.

Smith’s attorneys, in their letter, stood firmly behind the move to seek the toll records as “entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy,” and further confirmed that Smith received approval to do so from career officials in the Department’s Public Integrity Section.

“The subpoena’s limited temporal range is consistent with a focused effort to confirm or refute reports by multiple news outlets that during and after the January 6 riots at the Capitol, President Trump and his surrogates attempted to call Senators to urge them to delay certification of the 2020 election results,” Breuer and Koski wrote. “In fact, by the time Mr. Smith’s team conducted the toll records analysis, it had been reported that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani tried calling Senators for such a purpose, with one Senator releasing a voicemail from Mr. Giuliani.”

Smith’s attorneys also noted that, during Trump’s first term, the Justice Department “purportedly obtained communications records from two Democratic Members of Congress” as part of an investigation into media leaks.

The letter also criticizes Patel for suggesting in a statement that Smith sought to cover up his office’s use of the toll records, claiming he put them “in a “lockbox in a vault, and then put that vault in a cyber place where no one can see or search these files.”

“It is not clear what cyber place in a vault in a lockbox Director Patel is describing, but Mr. Smith’s use of these records is inconsistent with someone who was trying to conceal them,” the letter said.

Smith’s attorneys point to Smith’s final report on his probe, released in January of this year, which specifically describes some of the calls made to Republican senators during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and contains as a footnote that refers to the use of toll records in Smith’s investigation.

“Moreover, the precise records at issue were produced in discovery to President Trump’s personal lawyers, some of whom now serve in senior positions within the Department of Justice,” Smith’s attorneys added in their letter.

Biden rings the bell after completing course of radiation therapy for cancer

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden has completed his current course of radiation therapy, a spokesperson told ABC News on Monday.

It’s unclear at this time if any additional radiation therapy will be needed, the spokesperson added.

A short video of the former president ringing a bell to signify the completion of his course of radiation was posted on Ashley Biden’s Instagram story, with the caption: “Rung the bell! Thank you to the incredible doctors, nurses, and staff at Penn Medicine. We are so grateful!”

It was reported on Oct. 11 that Biden had been undergoing radiation therapy in addition to hormone treatment. A source familiar with his treatment said Biden had begun radiation therapy a few weeks before it was reported.

The former president’s office in May announced his prostate cancer diagnosis, which has spread to his bones, noting that while it was an aggressive form, “the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”

Later in May, the former president told reporters his treatment was underway.

“It’s all a matter of taking a pill, one particular pill, for the next six weeks and then another one,” Biden said in May.

Thune indicates Paul Ingrassia’s nomination in serious trouble: ‘He’s not going to pass’

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The nomination of Paul Ingrassia, a former far-right podcast host and President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the lead of the Office of Special Counsel, appears to be in jeopardy with Senate Majority Leader John Thune casting doubt that the embattled nominee will be confirmed.

Ingrassia, whom Trump nominated in May to lead the independent watchdog agency empowered to investigate federal employees and oversee complaints from whistleblowers, has his scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday. It comes just days after a Politico report alleges Ingrassia sent racist text messages — including reports that he said that the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak.”

A lawyer for Ingrassia, Edward Paltzik, would not confirm to ABC News that the messages were authentic. He added that even if the texts were authentic, they were “clearly” meant as “self-deprecating and satirical humor” aimed at liberals.

ABC News has not independently verified the messages.

Asked if the White House should pull Ingrassia’s nomination, Thune said, “I hope so.”

“He’s not going to pass,” Thune said Monday.

The White House has not responded to a request for comment on Thune’s comments.

ABC News exclusively reported in February about how Ingrassia, in his role as White House liaison to the Department of Justice, was pushing to hire candidates at the Justice Department who exhibited what he called “exceptional loyalty” to Trump.

His efforts at Justice Department sparked clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top aide, Chad Mizelle, leading Ingrassia to complain directly to Trump, sources told ABC News.

Ingrassia was pushed out of the Justice Department and reassigned as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, where he was serving prior to Trump announcing his new role, according to a White House official familiar with the matter.

Ingrassia, if he cleared a vote by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, would need 50 votes to be confirmed by the Senate. There’s already a number of senators signaling they won’t support his nomination.

It’s still unclear if Ingrassia would even have the support he needed to pass out of committee to get a vote of the full Senate.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told reporters Monday that he doesn’t support Ingrassia’s nomination.

Asked point blank if he supports him, Scott gave a curt, “No, I do not.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, another Republican member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also told ABC News he won’t support Ingassia’s nomination.

“I wouldn’t vote for him. His nomination should not have gotten this far. Hopefully it is pulled,” Johnson said.

Johnson declined to provide details on why he wouldn’t vote for Ingrassia.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the committee, side-stepped directly answering questions about whether Ingrassia would still appear before the panel for confirmation on Thursday.

“You know, we are going to wait and see how things turn out, and we will find out more on Thursday,” Paul said when asked if Ingrassia’s hearing would go forward.

Paul has declined to say whether or not he would support Ingrassia.

Asked Tuesday if he thought the White House should pull Ingrassia’s nomination from consideration, Paul said that was up to the administration to determine.

“That’s going to be their decision,” he said. “We are waiting to find out what their decision will be.”

Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter arrested for threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: Police

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — An upstate New York man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 allegedly threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York State Police said.

Christopher Moynihan, 34, of Clinton, was arrested Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat, police said. He is the first pardoned Capitol rioter to be arrested over alleged political violence.

He appeared in the Town of Clinton Court where he was remanded to the Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center in lieu of $10,000 cash bail, police said.

He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Dutchess County State Supreme Court on Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether he had hired a lawyer.

Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement Tuesday that he is “grateful to state and federal law enforcement for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”

Moynihan was convicted of obstructing an official proceeding in 2022 after he broke through a security perimeter and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Prosecutors said he entered the Senate Gallery and paged through a notebook on top of a senator’s desk and took photos with his cellphone. During the riot he said, “There’s got to be something in here we can f—ing use against these —-bags,” according to prosecutors. Court filings from when he was charged included screenshots from a video showing Moynihan in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Moynihan was sentenced to nearly two years in prison in February 2023 before he and more than 1,500 others who had been convicted or otherwise charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot received a pardon hours after Trump took office.

No plans for Trump and Putin to meet in ‘immediate future,’ White House says

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — There are no plans for President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet “in the immediate future,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday — calling off a summit that was expected in Budapest in the coming weeks.

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

‘That punk’ is ‘going to want a security guarantee’: How Steve Bannon influenced Trump’s combative meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Steve Bannon hasn’t worked in the White House for years, but he played a pivotal, and previously unreported, role in the explosive meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this year that changed the course of U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

The story is first reported in an excerpt in The Atlantic magazine from ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book, “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America.”

Karl reports on a meeting of Trump’s national security team shortly before Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington in February where Trump stopped the meeting and asked then-national security adviser Michael Waltz to “get Steve Bannon” on the phone.

“Hey, Steve, I’ve got the boys here,” Trump said. “I’m going to put you on speaker.”

Trump, keeping Bannon on speakerphone for half an hour, had the MAGA firebrand make his case to the national security team against the deal, and Zelenskyy, who he referred to as “that punk.”

“I f—— hate it,” Bannon said, arguing that the deal “ties us to Ukraine.”

“If that punk comes here, he’s going to want a security guarantee,” Bannon said of Zelenskyy to Trump and his top advisers. He told the group they “can’t trust Zelenskyy” or “any of the Europeans.”

The previously unreported conversation set the tone for Trump’s combative meeting in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy, which devolved into a tense shouting match in front of reporters and television cameras.

“You’re not acting at all thankful,” Trump said to the Ukrainian leader. “You’re gambling with World War III.”

Zelenskyy left the meeting early that afternoon, and the relationship between the United States and Ukraine was at an all-time low since the start of the conflict with Russia.

While their relationship recovered — Zelenskyy visited the White House this past week seeking more American military assistance — the moment underscored the volatile dynamic between the two leaders, and the abiding influence of Bannon over Trump’s thinking.

In “Retribution,” Karl also reports that Bannon managed to keep in touch with Trump and his camp discreetly from federal prison, while he served four months after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress.

Bannon developed a “coded” system that allowed his daughter and top aide to pass along messages to Trump via the limited email communications he was allowed in prison, which were subject to review by the Bureau of Prisons, according to the excerpt of Karl’s book in The Atlantic.

“Bannon claims that an investigative officer at Danbury — an official he described as ‘pure MAGA’ — had warned him that his communications were being reviewed by ‘Main Justice,’ otherwise known as the Biden administration,” Karl writes.

“So he developed a coded system to let ‘the girls’ know which messages were to be passed on to Trump or to those around him, in particular the aide Boris Epshteyn: “I had just a system to get to Boris, kind of in quasi-code, through [daughter Maureen] into [aide Grace Chong],’ he said. Was there literally a code word? ‘Well, we had — ‘ he began, before catching himself. I don’t — the Bureau of Prisons could go back through it. We had a way that they could get to him,'” Karl writes.

According to Karl, Bannon used the system to tell Trump campaign officials he thought they were making a “huge mistake” by trying to “reduce tensions” across the country after the July 2024 assassination attempt against then-candidate Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Editor’s note: Profanity included in the book has been altered for this account and some text has been edited for style. “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America,” by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, is being published Oct. 28 and is available for preorder at Penguin Random House.

Some states to start halting SNAP benefits amid shutdown

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — One of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown is about to hit tens of millions of the poorest Americans hard: the halting of a critical food assistance program.

Several states are now warning they will be forced to suspend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come Nov. 1 if the shutdown continues.

Texas is now warning its millions of recipients that all November SNAP benefits will be halted if the shutdown continues past Oct. 27.

Pennsylvania officials say they will also not be able to distribute SNAP benefits if the shutdown — now in its 21st day — continues.

Other states such as Minnesota and New York, are issuing similar warnings — saying benefits are “at risk” or “may be delayed” if the shutdown continues.

SNAP has traditionally been entirely federally funded, but is administered by states. That means the shutdown’s impact on SNAP and when benefits will start to dry up will vary state by state.

Earlier this month, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — commonly known as WIC — received $300 million to help support the program amid the shutdown. The White House said it would use tariff revenue to pay for WIC benefits, which help more than 6 million low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents get nutritious foods.

“We welcome efforts to keep WIC afloat during the shutdown, but families need long-term stability, not short-term uncertainty. We still don’t know how much funding this measure provides, how quickly states will receive it, or how long it will sustain operations. There is no substitute for Congress doing its job,” National WIC Association CEO Georgia Machell said in a statement.

This has already been a tumultuous few months for SNAP. President Donald Trump’s megabill already cut the program by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years.

Prosecutors not ruling out state charges for commuted ex-Rep. George Santos

October 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was freed from prison last week thanks to his federal fraud sentence being commuted by President Donald Trump — but he may not be free from criminal prosecution on the local level.

Prosecutors on Long Island are not ruling out the possibility of bringing local charges, however, the district attorney’s office in Nassau County, which is home to part of the district Santos represented, declined to say what, if anything, prosecutors might be investigating that could warrant state charges.

“Since first learning of George Santos’ actions, I have been at the forefront of bringing him to justice,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “I am proud of the work my office has done, and the conviction achieved in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office. While the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations, suffice it to say that I remain focused on prosecuting political corruption wherever it exists regardless of political affiliation.”

A spokeswoman for Donnelly’s office declined to elaborate.

Santos was three months into a seven-year prison sentence for deception, fraud and lying to Congress when Trump intervened, noting Santos had the “courage, conviction and intelligence to always vote Republican.”

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

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