Politics

(NEW YORK) — The knives came out during Wednesday night’s second and final New York City mayoral debate.

While answering questions on policy issues such as housing and education, the candidates onstage — Democratic candidate and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, Republican candidate and “Guardian Angels” founder Curtis Sliwa, and independent candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — relentlessly attacked each other over what they said were each others’ shortcomings.

Some of the most acrimonious moments came during what were ostensibly meant to be discussions on policy.

Cuomo said that the number of homeless people in New York City had “more than doubled” since he stepped down as governor, criticizing what he claimed was Mamdani’s lack of action on the issue as an assemblyman.

Cuomo, who resigned the governorship in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment that he has long denied, used the phrase “since I left,” to refer to the end of his tenure — which Sliwa quickly jumped on.

“Andrew, you didn’t leave. You fled! From being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature — you fled!” Sliwa cried out.

A question to Mamdani about his position on schools turned into a free-for-all between him and Cuomo.

“I did things — you have never had a job,” Cuomo said to Mamdani at one point. “You’ve never accomplished anything. There’s no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for 8 and 1/2 million lives … Shame on you. Shame on you.”

Mamdani countered, “Always a pleasure to hear Andrew Cuomo create his own facts at every debate stage. We just had a former governor say in his own words that this city has been getting screwed by the state. Who was leading the state? It was you!”

“Governor Hochul, Governor Hochul,” Cuomo countered, referring to current Gov. Kathy Hochul. “You were the legislator–“

They both continued to talk over each other until a moderator intervened.

Sliwa seized on the fighting to get in a shot.

“I heard the both of them again, fighting like kids in the schoolyard,” Sliwa said. “Zohran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin, and Andrew, your failures could fill a public school library in New York City.” 

Overall, on the issue of dealing with President Donad Trump, the candidates were asked what combination of “defiance, diplomacy and cooperation” they’d use if the Trump administration attempts to interfere in the running of the city or threatens to cut funding.  

Sliwa, who has a frosty relationship with Trump — and has not courted his endorsement — criticized the other two candidates as too confrontational.

“My adversaries have decided to bump chests with President Trump to prove who’s more macho,” Sliwa said. “You can’t beat Trump. He holds most of the cards … So if you’re all of a sudden going to get adversarial, you’re going to lose and who gets hurt? The people of New York City. With Trump, it’s always the art of the deal.”

Cuomo, meanwhile, said the mayor has to both confront and work with the president — and then painted a mayoral victory by Mamdani as an invitation for Trump to wreak havoc.

“He has said he’ll take over New York if Mamdani wins, and he will, because he has no respect for him,” Cuomo said. “He thinks he’s a kid, and he’s going to knock him on his tuchus” — using the Yiddish slang term for someone’s rear end. He added that the mayor both has to combat and work with the president at different points

“We first just heard from the Republican candidate for mayor, and then we heard from Donald Trump’s puppet himself, Andrew Cuomo,” Mamdani retorted. “You could turn on TV any day of the week, and you will hear Donald Trump share that his pick for mayor is Andrew Cuomo, and he wants Andrew Cuomo to be the mayor, not because it will be good for New Yorkers, but because it will be good for him.”

In terms of the running of the city, the debate moderators asked Mamdani about recent reports that he would ask New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to remain in her position if elected, which he said he would. 

“Commissioner Tisch broke the status quo, started to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs. I have said time and again that my litmus test for that position will be excellence, and the alignment will be of that position,” he said.

Cuomo said he would ask Tisch to stay on and said he didn’t believe Mamdani’s pledge. 

Sliwa said he, too, also would ask Tisch to stay on the job “for stability” but said he didn’t think she would serve in a Cuomo or Mamdani administration.

As for the support of incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams — both Mamdani and Sliwa said they would not accept an endorsement from Adams, who suspended his reelection campaign late last month.

Cuomo said he would and posted a photo of himself online sitting courtside with Adams at a New York Knicks game after the debate.

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(CHICAGO) — For 23 hours a day, Larry Hoover, the founder of notorious street gang Gangster Disciples, had been sitting in a 7-by-12-foot concrete cell at the ADX Florence federal supermax facility in Colorado, where he spent 27 years in almost complete isolation, according to his attorneys.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump commuted his federal life sentence, ending nearly three decades of federal confinement.

Hoover, 74, remains imprisoned under a separate Illinois state sentence, an up-to-200-year term stemming from a 1973 murder conviction.

Since that transfer to the Colorado State Penitentiary earlier this year, his attorneys say, Hoover has suffered three heart attacks while performing prison labor, the most recent in September. They describe, in a newly filed legal petition with the prison board, his condition as fragile and his treatment as “a slow, state-sanctioned death sentence.”

Hoover’s lawyers are asking Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to do what the federal government has already done, recognize his transformation and grant Hoover a chance to live out his remaining years in freedom.

Hoover founded the Gangster Disciples on Chicago’s South Side in the late 1960s. In 1973, he was convicted on state charges of ordering the murder of William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old drug dealer accused of stealing from the gang. Hoover was sentenced to 200 years in prison under Illinois’ former indeterminate sentencing system.

In 1997, following a 17-year federal investigation, Hoover was convicted on 40 counts including drug conspiracy and racketeering for allegedly directing gang activity from prison. He was sentenced to six life terms, sentences that President Donald Trump commuted earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Hoover’s attorney, Justin Moore of the Stafford Moore Law Firm, filed a 39-page petition for clemency, obtained exclusively by ABC News. His plea now rests with the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and Pritzker.

Ron Safer, who served as the former lead federal prosecutor in Hoover’s 1997 conviction, told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS that he was disappointed Hoover was granted federal clemency.

“I believe in redemption. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in mercy. There are some crimes that are so heinous, so notorious, that they’re not deserving of mercy,” Safer said. “If Larry Hoover said there was going to be a killing, there was a killing.”

Wednesday’s filing argues that Hoover’s continued imprisonment, given his age, health and decades of rehabilitation, no longer serves justice or public safety.

At the heart of the filing are Hoover’s words, breaking his silence for the first time in 25 years in two deeply personal letters to an as-yet-assigned judge and to the public, offering a window into his remorse, aging and reckoning.

“People, when writing about me in the papers, always use photos of me depicting the way I appeared 40 years ago, as if I’m still a young, strong and rebellious gang leader. That man no longer exists,” Hoover wrote in a typed letter to the judge. The letter is undated.

“I am no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government,” he wrote. “That man has over these many years transformed into the man I am today. It is true that some men never learn, or that prison makes some into monsters; I’ve seen it, but for me, over time, prison — this prison in particular — became a place of reflection.”

In a separate and also undated letter addressed to the public, Hoover wrote, “I have come to realize that with my silence over these years I have done myself a grave disservice.”

“I have been involved, and in fact, had initiated, I cannot avoid taking responsibility. With this responsibility, now being able to honestly assess and appreciate the magnitude and scope of the harms my actions had wrought, I cannot help but to have immense remorse,” Hoover wrote.

In his letter, Hoover expressed deep remorse for the harm his past actions caused, saying he had wasted his talents on choices that hurt his Chicago, his community and society. He emphasized that he has long renounced all ties to the Gangster Disciples and any form of criminal activity, declaring that he wants nothing to do with that life “now and forever.”

After more than five decades in prison, including over 25 years in isolation, Hoover said, there is no chance he would reoffend, noting that most men his age devote their final years to steering others away from crime. He said he hopes to spend his remaining time honoring a promise he made to his late mother not to waste his final years.

His letters center on a petition written by his lawyers and filed on his behalf that portrays a man shaped by decades of confinement, failing health and personal reckoning. His attorneys argue that half a century behind bars has already fulfilled the purpose of punishment and that his rehabilitation stands as proof of transformation.

Hoover’s lawyers note that he has not committed a serious infraction during his decades in prison and has completed more than 100 educational and rehabilitation programs.

“My father has suffered multiple heart attacks from being forced to perform hard labor despite his age and medical condition,” said his son, Larry Hoover Jr., in a statement to ABC News “All he wants now is to come home, spend what time he has left with his family, and use his experience to help bring peace to the same communities he once came from.”

The filing also details what Hoover’s attorneys said were the stark conditions of his confinement and his deteriorating health. ABC News has contacted prison officials for comment.

Hoover is one of just 35 people still incarcerated under Illinois’ pre-1978 indeterminate sentencing system, which left prisoners with open-ended “C-numbers” and no release date except at the discretion of the review board, according to the filing. His lawyers note that Hoover’s co-defendant in the 1973 case, Andrew Howard, was paroled more than 30 years ago, a disparity his lawyers cite as evidence of continued punishment without purpose. Both were accused of murder and Howard was convicted of carrying out the killing.

The Illinois Parole Board, in it’s decision to deny Hoover’s release in 2022, stated, “The Board feels that parole release at this time would not be in the interest of public safety, as there is a substantial risk that Mr. Hoover would not conform to reasonable conditions of parole release, and that parole release at this time would deprecate the serious nature of the offenses and promote a lack of respect for the law.”

The new petition for his release revisits Hoover’s early life in Chicago’s South Side, describing a boy shaped by poverty, segregation, and systemic neglect.

“From his bedroom window as a child,” the filing states, “he saw drug deals, prostitution, fights, stabbings, and shootings. His daily reality was the theater of urban abandonment.”

One of his attorneys, Justin Moore, wrote in the petition, “Hoover did not create the fire. He grew up in it.”

Hoover’s story has drawn attention far beyond Chicago. In 2021, rappers Kanye West and Drake set aside their long-running feud to headline the “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles, calling attention to criminal justice reform and urging compassion for aging inmates like Hoover. West, a Chicago native, had previously advocated for Hoover’s release during a 2018 meeting with Trump in the Oval Office.

That public support has continued to grow. Among those backing Hoover’s clemency bid are civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson Sr. and the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Jonathan Jackson, Chance the Rapper, Judge Greg Mathis, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Yohance Lacour and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Also lending support is Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s current White House pardon czar, who also serves as CEO of Taking Action for Good. Johnson wrote in a letter in the filing to the Illinois review board that Hoover is repentant and has the potential and the desire to live the rest of his life as a force for good in his community. She added that if he were released, she would personally help support his reintegration into society.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson expanded on that theme in a statement released by his office supporting clemency, questioning “whether continued imprisonment serves the public interest — or whether compassion is now the more just response.”

Hoover’s petition now rests with Pritzker and the Illinois board, which reviews clemency cases and can make recommendations to the governor.

Pritzker did not offer a comment following Trump’s commutation order, but has met with family and supporters of Hoover. A spokesperson for Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The filing lands at a time of renewed friction between Trump and Pritzker, whose relationship has long been strained over the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration and public safety policy in Illinois. In recent months, the two have clashed over ICE enforcement in Chicago, with Trump accusing Pritzker of “failing to protect” federal officers, while Pritzker has described Trump’s tactics as “acts of aggression against our people.”

Detractors, including some former prosecutors, law enforcement officials and community anti-violence advocates, argue that Hoover’s release could reopen wounds in Chicago neighborhoods still scarred by gang violence.

They maintain that, despite his renunciations, Hoover’s name still holds symbolic power among some Gangster Disciples factions.

Chicago FBI Special Agent in Charge Doug DePodesta said in a statement to WLS in Chicago in May that “Larry Hoover caused a lot of damage in Chicago. He was also convicted on state charges and is likely to continue serving time in state prison where he belongs.”

His supporters counter that his transformation and the decades he has already served show a man committed to peace, not power.

In his own words, Hoover wrote, “I want my legacy to be peace. I want my name to mean growth, not destruction. I want to be remembered not as who I was, but as who I fought to become.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats are again making a run at a Senate floor marathon, this time led by Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. 

Merkley has been speaking on the Senate floor about the President Donald Trump’s “growing authoritarianism” since 6:24 p.m. Tuesday with no indication that he’ll end any time soon. He’s been standing in front of a lectern at his desk for the entirety of the time.

He began the night standing next to a poster board that said, “Ring the alarm bells: Authoritarianism is here now.”

Merkley is still short of eclipsing the 25 hour, 5 minute record set earlier this year by Sen. Cory Booker. In similar fashion to Booker’s record-breaking speech, Merkley is occasionally yielding for questions from his fellow Democratic colleagues, allowing them to give small mini speeches while Merkley still technically holds the floor.

The shutdown entered its 22nd day on Wednesday with no movement toward a deal that would fund the government.

The Senate could vote for the 12^th time on the short-term, clean funding bill that was passed by the House, but no votes can be called as long as Merkley holds the floor.

All 11 previous votes on the continuing resolution have failed.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Trump shouldn’t leave on his Asia trip on Friday without first negotiating with Democrats on funding, but Trump said he won’t meet with Democratic leadership until the government is reopened.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(RALEIGH, N.C.) — The North Carolina House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass a new congressional map into law, two days after the state Senate approved it, giving the Republican Party the chance to net a new seat in the 2026 midterms. 

Republican legislators said they want to adopt the new map to bolster President Donald Trump and the effort comes as the White House continues encouraging Republicans to redraw their state maps ahead of the midterm elections in order to help Republicans flip more seats. 

In a striking moment just ahead of a committee vote on Tuesday, protesters in the hearing room chanted “Berger’s maps are racist maps!” — referring to state Sen. Phil Berger, who introduced the redistricting proposal, and “Fascists!” as they were led out by law enforcement. 

Democrats argue the new map could impact Black voters and could cause U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat and one of three Black members of the state’s congressional delegation, to lose his seat in the midterms. 

At a rally outside the Capitol ahead of Tuesday’s vote, U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, another member of the state’s Democratic delegation, said, “We know they’re lying when they say, ‘Well, it’s not racial.’ It is racial. They’re going to take out, trying to take out, the only Black male that we have.”

Republicans argue the map was not drawn with racial considerations and is meant to combat Democratic-aligned congressional map-drawing in other states, such as California.

Berger, who announced the mid-decade redistricting push last week, wrote on X on Tuesday morning ahead of the vote, “Across the country, Democrat-run states have spent decades ensuring that Republicans would be drawn out of Congress. North Carolina Republicans will not sit quietly and watch Democrats continue to ignore the will of the people in an attempt to force their liberal agenda on our citizens.”

North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Josh Stein, has slammed the redistricting effort but has no power to veto any district maps, according to an analysis of state law by the Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics

Currently, North Carolina’s congressional delegation is made up of 10 Republicans and four Democrats.

Trump himself has been openly supportive of the effort. In a post on his social media platform on Friday, he called on legislators to adopt the map: “this new Map would give the fantastic people of North Carolina the opportunity to elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections, which would be A HUGE VICTORY for our America First Agenda, not just in North Carolina, but across our Nation.”

Davis, the Democratic member whose seat is put at risk by the new map, told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday that he has never heard any requests from constituents for a new map.

“In the 2024 election with record voter turnout, NC’s First Congressional District elected both President Trump and me,” Davis wrote. “Since the start of this new term, my office has received 46,616 messages from constituents of different political parties, including those unaffiliated, expressing a range of opinions, views, and requests. 

“Not a single one of them included a request for a new congressional map redrawing eastern North Carolina. Clearly, this new congressional map is beyond the pale.”

One of the speakers who joined a rally with North Carolina Democrats on Tuesday, Texas state Rep. Nicole Collier, has her own experience with fighting mid-decade redistricting — as one of the Texas House Democrats who left the state to deny a quorum when Republican legislators tried to push through a new congressional map. Collier also was temporarily confined to the Texas House after she refused a law enforcement escort for having previously broken quorum.

She told ABC station WTVD’s Michael Perchick that she has been telling legislators to continue to fight, and to “Never quit. Keep fighting. That means take it to the streets and into the courts. We’ve got to fight this in the court system.”

ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Demolition continued Wednesday at the White House to make way for President Donald Trump’s $250 million ballroom, but the renovation is far more extensive than he has let on.

While Trump had said back in July that the ballroom would not “interfere” with the existing building — would be “near it but not touching it” — a White House official confirmed to ABC News that the “entirety of the East Wing will be modernized.”

The extent of the demolition was first reported by The Washington Post, which published new photographs on Tuesday showing bulldozers razing most of the East Wing — what had been home to the first lady’s office, the White House military office and more.

A higher, seven-foot fence was visible Wednesday around the East Wing site, helping to block the demolition from public view.

A White House official said the East Wing was being “modernized” from its 1902 and 1942 constructions to support the ballroom project and the future home of the East Wing. The scope and size of the project, the official said, has always been subject to change as the process developed.

The Office of the First Lady and other East Wing components have been relocated on the White House complex within the White House and Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to a White House official.

Trump has long wanted to build a ballroom at the White House akin to that at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Mock-ups for the 90,000-square foot ballroom were unveiled this summer, and Trump said the build would be paid for by him and unidentified donors. The administration has said little since about who exactly is funding the project, sparking ethical and legal questions.

Trump indicated earlier this week that once the project is done, people would be able to walk directly from the White House East Room into the ballroom, suggesting the construction will touch the actual White House — something Trump himself had previously said would not happen.

The construction this week kicked off a torrent of criticism.

Former first lady Hillary Clinton weighed in on Tuesday, writing on X that Trump is “destroying” the White House.

“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” Clinton wrote.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sent a letter to White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, whom Trump also appointed to head the National Capital Planning Commission, an executive branch agency that provides planning guidance and reviews development proposals, voicing concerns about the demolition and ballroom plan, calling for a pause.

“While the National Trust acknowledges the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House, we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself — it is 55,000 square feet — and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings,” wrote Dr. Carol Quillen, the trust’s president.

The nonprofit organization urged the administration “to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, and to invite comment from the public.”

Plans for the ballroom have not yet been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, despite demolition being already underway. White House official confirmed to ABC News that the White House still intends to submit plans for the build to the commission.

The White House on Tuesday defended the renovations and the construction of the new ballroom in a lengthy press release stating the project is “a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions from commanders-in-chief to keep the executive residence as a beacon of American excellence.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appearing on Fox News “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Tuesday, called the backlash “fake outrage” and said presidents past have also made changes to the White House.

“He is the builder-in-chief, in large part he was elected back to this People’s House because he is good at building things. He has done it his entire life, his entire career,” Leavitt said. “And construction is a process. At the end, the East Wing which is an entirely separate structure from the Executive Mansion you see behind me, will be more modern and beautiful than ever. And then on top of that, the White House is going to have a big, beautiful ballroom for generations of Americans to come.”

But according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department (located next to the renovation site) has instructed employees not to share photos of the demolition.

Trump, hosting Senate Republicans for lunch on Tuesday at his newly-renovated Rose Garden Club, celebrated the ballroom build.

“You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction in the back. You hear that? Oh, that’s music to my ears,” Trump said. “I love that sound. Other people don’t like it, I love it.”

ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

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

Trump announced on Thursday that he and Putin planned to meet again, and predicted it would occur “within two weeks or so.”

First, he said, discussions would take place among senior advisers on both sides.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, held a phone call on Monday. It’s not expected the two will meet in person at this point. 

“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call. Therefore, an additional in person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” the White House official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin downplayed a potential in person meeting between Trump and Putin. The Kremlin said there was never a date set for a summit. 

“You can’t postpone what was not scheduled,” a Putin spokesman said.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will be in Washington on Wednesday for a meeting with Trump, according to a NATO news release. A White House official confirmed the meeting. 

The two will discuss the war in Ukraine ahead of a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in London on Friday, a NATO spokesperson said.

Trump, on the heels of a diplomatic achievement in the Middle East, renewed his efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end as Moscow’s invasion drags on 3 1/2 years later.

But it appears little has changed since his phone call with Putin last Thursday and his face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.

Zelenskyy was in Washington to make his case for coveted U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles and other military assets. Zelenskyy said on Monday that the Trump administration decided not to provide Ukraine with the long-range Tomahawks that would give Kyiv the ability to strike deeper inside Russia, but said the “issue is not off the table.”

Still, Zelenskyy described the White House meeting as positive and said he was waiting to see whether he would be invited to join the now-called off sitdown between Trump and Putin in Budapest.

Trump has called for the Russia-Ukraine war to end along its current battle lines, and denied a report from the Financial Times that he insisted Zelenskyy surrender the entire Donbas region to Russia.

On Monday, Trump softened his previous comments when he said he believed Ukraine could win back all its territory currently occupied by Russia.

“Well they could,” Trump said. “They could still win it. I don’t think they will but they could still win it. I never said they would win it. I said they — anything can happen. You know war is a very strange thing. A lot of bad things happen. A lot of good things happen.”

Tuesday’s announcement that a second Trump-Putin summit is side-tabled for now comes just hours after Russia’s top diplomat signaled that the U.S. and Russia are still very far apart with regards to how to end the war with Ukraine.

“Now, Washington is saying that we need to stop immediately and not discuss anything further. We need to stop and let history decide. You see, if we just stop, we will forget about the root causes of this conflict, which the American administration clearly understood when Donald Trump came to power,” Lavrov said.  

ABC News’ Chris Boccia, Michelle Stoddart and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.

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(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.

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(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.

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(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.”

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(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.

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