The Latest: New York Attorney General Letitia James is charged with fraud, AP source says

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A grand jury has indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on a fraud charge, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. It is the latest indication of President Donald Trump and his administration’s determination to use the Justice Department to pursue the president’s political foes.

James last year won a staggering judgment against Trump and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he lied to banks and others about the value of his assets.

James was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on one count after a mortgage fraud investigation, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. James has denied wrongdoing. She has said that she made an error while filling out a form related to the home purchase but quickly rectified it and didn’t deceive the lender.

The Latest:

U.S. District Judge April Perry found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois.

It’s a victory for Democratic officials who lead the state and city and have traded insults with Trump about his drive to put troops on the ground in major urban areas.

Perry didn’t lay out details of any order.

▶ Read more about the judge’s block

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke to New York Attorney General Letitia James Thursday afternoon after her indictment for fraud in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Trump has turned the Justice Department into “personal attack dogs against their political enemies and it’s just outrageous,” Schumer said.

Sen. Adam Schiff is also on a list of Trump’s perceived political enemies. The California Democratic senator says it is “exceedingly dangerous” to have a Justice Department that responds to the president’s orders to target his political enemies.

“But I can tell you this,” he added. “Those of us on the president’s enemies list — and it is a long and growing list — will not be intimidated. We will not be deterred. We will do our jobs. We will stand up to this president.”

The United States is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza. They will be part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organizations and private sector players, U.S. officials say.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not authorized for release, say U.S. Central Command is going to establish a “civil-military coordination center” in Israel. The officials said the center will help facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid as well as logistical and security assistance into the territory wracked by two years of war.

▶ Read more about the United States’ plan to send troops to Israel

The Rev. Al Sharpton, an ally of James, called out the indictment as part of a tactic “that the right wing has constantly sought to use” against “Black women in power.”

“This isn’t the delivery of justice. It is the latest stop on Donald Trump’s political retribution tour,” Sharpton said Thursday in a statement. “If he can indict the former FBI Director or the Attorney General of New York, what stops him from going further?”

James infuriated Trump by suing him and his company for fraud in a case that played out as he was running for office.

She was indicted by a prosecutor who was hastily appointed last month amid Trump administration pressure to deliver criminal cases against his adversaries, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

James’ office had no immediate comment Thursday. Her lawyers have vigorously denied any allegations and characterized the investigation as an act of political revenge.

The indictment comes two weeks after a separate criminal case charging former FBI Director James Comey with lying to Congress. It’s the latest indication of the Trump administration’s determination to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to pursue the president’s political foes.

With a series of Senate floor speeches, Democrats are decrying how Trump has sent National Guard troops to U.S. cities as part of his campaign against crime.

The Democratic senators say that the president’s decision to send troops onto city streets presents a constitutional crisis that could threaten Americans’ civil rights and liberties. The Senate is voting later on an annual defense authorization bill, and Democrats are pressing for a Senate hearing on Trump’s domestic use of National Guard troops.

“The president has no legal basis for deploying federal troops to Illinois against the wishes of the Illinois governor. There is no rebellion or insurrection happening in our state. Americans have the right under the First Amendment to protest this administration’s cruel and misguided immigration policy,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, in one of the floor speeches.

The nation’s third shutdown in 12 years is once again raising anxiety levels among service members and their families because those in uniform are working without pay.

While they would receive back pay once the impasse ends, many military families live paycheck to paycheck. During previous shutdowns, Congress passed legislation to ensure that troops kept earning their salaries, but time is running out.

Heather Campbell said her family of five will have to survive on credit cards if her husband isn’t paid on Wednesday. He’s an officer in the Air Force.

“You’re asking us to put our lives on the line or the people we love to put their lives on the line,” said Campbell, 39, who lives outside Montgomery, Alabama, near Maxwell Air Force Base. “And you’re not even going to give us our paycheck. What?”

More flight delays were reported Thursday at airports across the country because a number of air traffic controllers who are expected to work without pay during the shutdown have been calling in sick.

The major hub of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey was reporting average delays of almost an hour and a half Thursday afternoon because of staff shortages. Earlier in the day, the Dallas-Fort Worth airport was reporting delays but those resolved by the afternoon.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is urging controllers to show up for work, but he understands that they are frustrated with the shutdown and worried about how they will pay their bills without a paycheck.

Problems have been reported at various airports all week. There’s no way to predict where there might be problems. And even a small number of absences can cause problems because the FAA is already critically short on controllers.

A grand jury has indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James on a fraud charge, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.

James was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on one count after a mortgage fraud investigation, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

▶ Read more about Letitia James

The president was asked about an element of his peace proposal that says there may eventually be a path for Palestinian statehood if “conditions” are in place, and Trump said, “We’re going to see how it all goes.”

“There’s a point at which we may do something that would be a little bit different and may be very positive for everybody. But we’ll be looking at that at the time,” Trump said.

The president added that he was hopeful things would progress that far, adding: I think we’ll get to that period, too.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has accused Trump of overstepping his authority by sending troops into his city, sowing chaos and terror.

Johnson spoke to reporters outside a courthouse in Chicago during a break in proceedings Thursday at which the state of Illinois urged a judge to order the National Guard to stand down in the Chicago area.

The mayor said he would use every legal tool available to resist, whether that means turning to the courts or issuing executive orders. He said the city has won every lawsuit it has filed against the Trump administration — and defeated every lawsuit brought against the city.

“I just want the people of this city to know, that we’re not alone as we continue to band together and show our collective strength. That’s how we defeat tyranny. That’s how we defeat authoritarianism.”

The president, who is headed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, says he’s going there for a “semi-annual physical.”

The White House caused some confusion this week when they announced the visit because it characterized it as a “routine yearly checkup.” Trump got his annual physical in April.

“I’m meeting with the troops and I’m also going to do a, sort of, semi-annual physical, which I do,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office on Thursday. “I think I’m in great shape, but I’ll let you know.”

The president, while sitting with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb in the White House, said, “I don’t know” about his chances of getting the prize, which will be awarded Friday morning.

But he ticked off a list of conflicts where he said he has brokered peace and said, “I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives.”

“They’ll have to do what they do,” Trump said of the Nobel Committee. “Whatever they do is fine.”

The president criticized Spain for not meeting the military alliance’s defense spending target of 5% of GDP, calling the country “laggard.”

“Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly,” Trump said.

Trump and Stubb said the two countries have reached an agreement to build 11 new icebreakers - ships that could help bolster U.S. defenses in the Arctic region.

Four will be constructed in Finland and seven in the U.S., under the deal.

Trump noted to Stubb that Finland will be teaching the U.S. about the icebreaker business.

“I think this is a huge strategic decision by the president,” Stubb said, noting that the Arctic is a key strategic region for U.S. interests.

Trump noted at the NATO summit in June that he was working on a potential icebreaker deal with Finland.

Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has denounced Trump’s decision to send troops to states over local opposition as “un-American.”

Beshear said Thursday that every governor, regardless of party affiliation, should stand up against such National Guard deployments. He said one of this country’s founding principles is that “we don’t militarize our communities.”

Beshear said the president doesn’t get to deploy the National Guard to places where he thinks crime is too high, or to pick a fight with a Democratic governor or mayor.

Beshear criticized Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s support for sending Texas guardsmen to Illinois. If the situation were reversed, and Illinois guardsmen were sent to Texas over Abbott’s opposition, Beshear said Abbott would want Texas to secede from the Union.

Shortly after 3 p.m., the president greeted Finnish president Alexander Stubb to the White House.

As Trump welcomes Stubb, he did not respond to shouted questions about Ukraine and Gaza.

At a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterated the unproven link between Tylenol and autism. He said children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, which is because they’re given Tylenol afterward.

This unfounded claim seems to refer to a study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2015, which looked at ritual circumcision and the risk of autism spectrum disorder in boys under 10 in Denmark. It found that those who had undergone the procedure, which involves removal of the foreskin from the penis, were more likely to develop autism than other boys in the study.

Researchers suggested a potential link might be due to the pain of the procedure. They point out that they had no data on painkillers or anesthetics used so couldn’t address the whether Tylenol was linked to autism.

Other researchers pointed out that the Denmark study looked at correlation, not causation. They also point to other studies that found no evidence to support a link between circumcision and autism.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday blamed the government shutdown for a delay in announcing an aid package for U.S. farmers, who have seen one of their biggest markets almost disappear because of Trump’s tariff war with China.

“We’ve got to get the government reopened so that we can move forward on that,” Rollins said at a cabinet meeting, where both she and Trump sought to blame the Biden administration for the woes faced by U.S. farmers.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a significant aid package could come as soon as Tuesday. China has urged the U.S. to remove “unreasonable tariffs” to resume soybean trade.

Trump and Chinese President Xi are scheduled to meet in about three weeks in South Korea.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops.

The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been mostly small nightly protests outside an ICE building.

During arguments Thursday, Justice Department attorney Eric McArthur told the court the Department of Homeland Security had been unable to protect federal property with regular forces.

Arguing for Oregon, attorney Stacy Chaffin said Portland’s protests had seen only isolated incidents of crime or violence that were handled by civilian law enforcement.

Judge Ryan Nelson told the parties he understands that the Founders were clearly concerned about domestic use of the military. But he questioned whether the courts have a role in second-guessing the president’s determination about whether troops are needed.

The judges said they would rule as soon as possible.

Another day in the Senate, another failed vote.

Senators declined for the seventh time to advance to a final vote on a stopgap funding bill. The 54-45 vote tally fell along the same lines it has since the start of the shutdown, with three members of the Democratic Caucus voting in favor and one Republican voting against.

Frustration is running high at the Capitol without signs of significant progress toward ending their impasse. Democrats are demanding that Congress take up an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies before they vote to end the shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggested on Thursday that the promise of a vote on expiring health care subsidies “might be an off ramp” as Democrats say they won’t vote to reopen government until the tax credits are extended.

“If there are eight or 10 Democrats that would vote to open up, that might be an off-ramp,” Thune told Semafor.

It is unclear if Democrats would accept an offer for a vote without more robust negotiations or a predetermined outcome. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that “we need to solve the problem” as the expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year.

In a moment of levity at a Thursday hearing for a lawsuit over National Guard deployment in Chicago, Judge April Perry expressed surprise over prosecutors’ claims that a federal agent had his beard “ripped off” during protests.

“Ok so you have some facial hair,” she said quizzically, gesturing emphatically at the attorney’s beard as audience members laughed. “How does that happen? Was, was it a real beard?”

A judge’s questioning of an attorney representing the federal government at a Thursday hearing offered clues and added to confusion over the potential breadth of the National Guard’s presence in the Chicago area.

Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton repeatedly dodged a judge’s questions about what National Guard members were being trained to do in Illinois and where they would be sent.

“This is a dynamic situation that could change,” Hamilton said.

When Judge April Perry pressed prosecutors on if National Guard troops would only be stationed around federal buildings or also in neighborhoods, schools and hospitals, Hamilton responded that they are “not limited to just protecting federal buildings” and can be used to “protect ICE agents” on the field during immigration enforcements.”

He said this is “consistent to how the National Guard was used in California.”

A lawyer with the Illinois attorney general’s office called on a judge Thursday to block National Guard deployment in the Chicago area, calling it a constitutional crisis.

Christopher Wells, an attorney representing the state of Illinois, also chastised the federal government for ignoring the legal challenge when it sent troops overnight to a Chicago-area immigration enforcement building, despite the judge urging them to “hold off until Thursday.”

The city and state are suing Trump, arguing he exceeded his authority in deploying the National Guard.

“The defendants plowed ahead anyway,” Wells said at a Thursday hearing. “Now, troops are here. Tomorrow, they’re being sent to this courthouse.”

The days ahead could be politically tricky for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He has been shadowed by an ongoing corruption trial as he navigated the Gaza war. His grip on power has been largely contingent on the support of hard-line, far-right coalition partners who had been urging him to continue to prosecute operations on Hamas until the group was eliminated.

But Trump suggested Netanyahu’s political standing has been bolstered by the ceasefire and hostage deal.

“I think he’s very popular right now. He’s much more popular today than he was five days ago,” Trump said of Netanyahu. “I can tell you right now people shouldn’t run against him. Five days ago, might not have been a bad idea.”

Trump said he had “just heard” that China had put new export controls on rare earths ahead of his scheduled meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, adding that he had yet to be briefed on the matter.

Trump said that the U.S. might have to stop importing so much from China, adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would address any restrictions on the difficult-to-mine metals that are needed from China for an array of industrial products.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to handle it,” Trump said.

The president has also said that he expects “more and more opening up” of American soybeans being sold to China as part of his talks with Xi. Sales of U.S. soybeans to China have dropped as both countries are jockeying for an advantage in trade talks that Trump’s import taxes caused.

The U.S. president says he has been invited to speak before the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, when he travels to the Middle East in the coming days.

“If they would like me to, I will do it,” Trump said, noting that he had been invited to speak.

He said he would be the first U.S. president to address the Knesset, but that’s not accurate. Former President George W. Bush spoke before the parliamentary body in May 2008.

Trump last month gathered with the leaders of eight Arab or predominantly Muslim countries on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss strategy on ending the Israel-Hamas conflict and a plan for postwar Gaza.

Days after that meeting, Trump met at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the plan and the two leaders agreed to Trump’s 20-point proposal to end the war.

Rubio noted that Trump’s negotiators then stepped up their efforts through intermediaries in Qatar and Egypt to get Hamas on board. Trump, meanwhile, held “extraordinary” phone calls and meetings with world leaders “that required a high degree of intensity and commitment” to get the deal to the finish line.

“I think what’s important to understand is that yesterday what happened was really a human story,” Rubio said. He added, “Perhaps the entire story will be told about the events of yesterday. But, suffice it to say, it’s not an exaggeration, none of it would have been possible without the president of the United States being involved.”

As New York fights in court to restore $34 million in counterterrorism grants recently cut by the Department of Homeland Security, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned Thursday that “our safety has already been compromised.

”The federal money, Hochul said, had long been used to pay for surveillance cameras on the subways, added police patrols and cyber security measures.“

They are defunding the police, full stop,” added Hochul, a Democrat, describing the move as a “punitive gesture to punish blue states like New York.”

The Trump administration previously announced $187 million in funding cuts for New York’s law enforcement and counterterrorism — but reversed course and restored the funding following bipartisan outcry.

A spokesperson for DHS didn’t return a request for comment.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says the Trump administration’s deployment of troops in the state is a “huge mistake.”

The two-term Democrat spoke to reporters Thursday as a court hearing challenging the National Guard’s recent arrival in Illinois was underway. Illinois and Chicago have sued saying the military is unnecessary.

Trump has portrayed Chicago as lawless and crime-ridden, even as crime has steadily dropped in line with national trends.

“He wants everybody to think that he is bringing down crime,” Pritzker said. “(He’s) doing nothing of the sort.”

It’s not enough to award Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for his administration’s effort to bring about an end to the war in Gaza, according to the nation’s leading Jewish Republican advocacy group.

“President Trump shouldn’t just win the Nobel Prize. It should be renamed after him,” the Republican Jewish Coalition said in a statement. “After 734 days, this comprehensive agreement ushers in a new dawn for the Middle East, reaffirms the unbreakable alliance between the United States and Israel, and advances trailblazing opportunities for expanding the circle of peace throughout the region.”

The Homeland Security secretary said her department is looking to purchase buildings in the Chicago to operate out of despite resistance form local officials.

“We’re gonna not back off. In fact, we’re doubling down,” Noem said.

The mayor of Chicago has signed an order banning federal immigration agents from using city owned property.

Noem said department was also looking at purchasing buildings in Portland.

“If we have to do it the hard way in Portland and Chicago, we will,” she said.

The president opened a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House on Thursday by speaking about the ceasefire deal and his plans to travel to the Middle East.

Trump said he will be going to Egypt for a signing ceremony. It was not clear if he would be traveling elsewhere on the trip.

He said it is a complicated process for the hostages to be released from Gaza, but it will be happening Monday or Tuesday. He said there will also be the remains of about 28 hostages to be brought back, but he didn’t offer details or timing on that.

One person who was not present at the president’s Cabinet meeting on Thursday was Mike Waltz, the newly-confirmed U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

That’s because the White House has decided that the position will not be Cabinet-rank, according to two congressional officials familiar with the matter.

Whether the ambassador role is in the Cabinet is something that fluctuates between administrations. For former President Joe Biden, he included the position in his Cabinet. Trump, in his first term, downgraded the position to non-Cabinet level in 2018.

When Trump announced his slate of Cabinet picks in January, he had included Elise Stefanik, who eventually withdrew from consideration, on the list.

Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger will likely blame the other’s party for the chaos in Washington at their gubernatorial debate Thursday night. Virginia is one of two states choosing governors this November, a bellwether for the party in power across the Potomac River ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Washington politics are especially relevant this year in Virginia, as Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce and Congress’ shutdown impasse have an outsize impact in a state filled with federal employees and military personnel.

▶ Read more about what Virginia politics may foretell

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo Thursday.

Witkoff and Kushner arrived from Sharm el Sheikh, where the ceasefire deal was brokered between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement after the meeting, the president’s office welcomed the ceasefire agreement and called for “to be signed as soon as possible.”

All countries want to end the war, the statement said, and Egypt will continue to work with the United States to implement the plan.

El-Sissi also reiterated his invitation for Trump to visit Egypt to “witness the signing of this historic agreement in a ceremony befitting the occasion.”

All 24 other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor have signed on to a court filing supporting California and Oregon’s legal challenge to the Portland deployment.

“By calling forth troops when there is no invasion to repel, no rebellion to suppress, and when state and local law enforcement are fully able to execute the law,” the filing with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says, “the President flouts the vision of our Founders, undermines the rule of law, and sets a chilling precedent that puts the constitutional rights of all Americans at risk.”

Republican leader Mike Johnson is taking some tough questions from Americans on C-SPAN, none tougher than from a Virginia woman who pleaded for the House to pass legislation enabling military pay during the shutdown.

The woman, identified as Samantha, said her husband is serving and that if the military doesn’t get paid on Oct. 15, “my children do not get the medication that’s needed for them to live their life because we live paycheck to paycheck.”

“My kids could die,” she said. “You could stop this.”

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Illinois faces legal scrutiny at a pivotal court hearing with a small number of troops already protecting federal property in the Chicago area.

U.S. District Judge April Perry will hear arguments Thursday over the state’s request to block the deployment. An “element” of the 200 Texas Guard troops sent to Illinois started working in the Chicago area on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss operational details not made public.

The troops, along with about 300 from Illinois, arrived this week at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 troops are under the Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days.

▶ Read more about the federal court challenge of deployments in Illinois

— By Sudhin Thanawala and Konstantin Toropin

A president looking to seize power beyond the executive branch. A Congress controlled by Republicans unwilling to directly defy him. A minority party looking for any way to fight back.

The dynamic has left Washington in a stalemate on Thursday's the ninth day of the government shutdown, and some lawmakers are venting their frustration as they seek traction without the trust that's typically the foundation of any bipartisan deal.

Groups of lawmakers — huddled over dinners, on phone calls, and in private meetings — have tried to brainstorm ways out of the standoff that has shuttered government offices and threatened to leave hundreds of thousands of federal employees without a scheduled payday. But relations between the parties are badly broken.

“We’re in an environment where we need more than a handshake,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat

▶ Read more about lawmakers’ frustrations over the shutdown

Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.

Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.

Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.

Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month, “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”

A person cannot nominate themselves.

▶ Read more about this year’s prize