Today in one sentence: Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on a U.S. peace plan for Gaza that Hamas has not accepted; Oregon sued the Trump administration to block the deployment of 200 National Guard troops to Portland after Trump announced he was authorizing the military to use “Full Force, if necessary”; Trump celebrated the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, saying “It’s about justice, really. It’s not revenge”; Trump falsely claimed the FBI planted 274 undercover agents in the Jan. 6 crowd to incite violence; the Justice Department issued a subpoena for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s travel records around the 2024 election; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s closed-door gathering of nearly all one-star generals and above at Quantico on Tuesday is meant to “get our fighters excited” about his vision of a “warrior ethos"; and Trump and congressional leaders left the White House on Monday without a funding deal, making a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday highly likely.

1/ Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on a U.S. peace plan for Gaza that Hamas has not accepted. Trump said Hamas must take the deal or face “full backing” for Israel to “finish the job,” while Netanyahu warned, “This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done.” The 20-point deal to end the two-year war requires Hamas to disarm, release all hostages within 72 hours, and exit governance in Gaza. In return, Israel would free nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, allow humanitarian aid, and pull back troops in stages while keeping a security perimeter. Gaza would be managed by a technocratic Palestinian committee overseen by a Trump-led “Board of Peace” with international partners, while leaving only a vague path toward Palestinian statehood that Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed. Hamas, meanwhile, said they would review the plan, which Arab states and the Palestinian Authority cautiously welcomed. The war has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis since Hamas’s October 2023 attack. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Semafor / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal)

  • poll/ 35% of voters said they sympathized more with Palestinians, while 34% sided with Israelis – the first time the balance has flipped since 1998. 60% said Israel should end its campaign even if Hamas survives or hostages remain, and 55% opposed more U.S. aid to Israel. 40% said Israel was intentionally killing civilians, up from 21% in 2023, while 30% said Israel was taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties. (New York Times)

2/ Oregon sued the Trump administration to block the deployment of 200 National Guard troops to Portland after Trump announced he was authorizing the military to use “Full Force, if necessary.” Gov. Tina Kotek said she told Trump directly that “there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention,” calling his order “an abuse of power.” Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the move was “un-American” and filed for a temporary restraining order, arguing that protests at Portland’s ICE facility have been small and contained. The White House nevertheless defended the action, saying Trump’s order was “lawful” and intended to protect federal assets after “months of violent riots.” (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / Associated Press)

3/ Trump celebrated the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, saying “It’s about justice, really. It’s not revenge,” and adding, “They did it with me for four years. They went after me.” To bring charges, Trump fired a U.S. attorney who had found insufficient evidence and installed his former lawyer, who overrode career prosecutors to indict Comey on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding. Afterward, Trump complained to Attorney General Pam Bondi that “Nothing is being done” against Adam Schiff and Letitia James, and told reporters, “There’ll be others.” (New York Times / Axios / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)

  • The Justice Department, following Trump’s orders, told prosecutors in several states to prepare investigations of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. A memo listed possible charges including “racketeering” and “material support for terrorism,” echoing Trump’s call that Soros is “a bad guy” who “should be put in jail.” Open Society said the accusations were “politically motivated attacks on civil society” and warned they threatened free speech rights. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)

4/ Trump falsely claimed the FBI planted 274 undercover agents in the Jan. 6 crowd to incite violence, citing unverified reports from conservative outlets. The Justice Department inspector general previously found “no evidence” that FBI employees acted as provocateurs and said agents were deployed only after the riot began to help police restore order. Trump, meanwhile, claimed without evidence that the agents were “probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists” and demanded to know “who each and every one” of them were. Trump later accused former FBI Director Christopher Wray of lying to Congress and saying, “That’s two in a row, Comey and Wray, who got caught LYING.” (Politico / CNN / NBC News)

5/ The Justice Department issued a subpoena for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s travel records around the 2024 election. Willis, who brought the 2023 Georgia election interference case against Trump, was later disqualified from overseeing it after revelations of a personal relationship with a special prosecutor. Officials haven’t said whether Willis is a target of the inquiry and her office said “we have no knowledge of any investigation.” Trump, meanwhile, said more indictments of “corrupt radical left Democrats” are coming. (NBC News / New York Times / The Hill)

6/ Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s closed-door gathering of nearly all one-star generals and above at Quantico on Tuesday is meant to “get our fighters excited” about his vision of a “warrior ethos.” The large, in-person meeting is rare and has drawn warnings from lawmakers that concentrating so many top commanders in one place poses a serious security risk. The Pentagon, meanwhile, said Hegseth plans to set new standards for military leaders and outline guidance on fitness, grooming, and readiness. Trump said he plans to attend, calling it “a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily” and an “esprit de corps.” (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)

7/ Trump and congressional leaders left the White House on Monday without a funding deal, making a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday highly likely. J.D. Vance said, “I think we’re headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said there were “very large differences” over health care and “not one iota of Democratic input” in the Republican plan. Democrats are demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and a rollback of Medicaid cuts, which Republicans insist must be handled separately from funding. Trump, meanwhile, dismissed the Democratic demands as “very bad for our country.” If the shutdown begins, the Labor Department confirmed the Bureau of Labor Statistics will stop operations, blocking Friday’s jobs report and the Oct. 15 consumer price index – data that the Federal Reserve uses to guide interest rate decisions. Millions of federal employees, including military personnel, would miss paychecks until the government reopens. (Axios / Politico / Associated Press / CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)

⏭️ Notably Next: Congress has 1 day to pass a funding measure to prevent a government shutdown; and the 2026 midterms are in 400 days.

✏️ Notables.

  1. The Supreme Court allowed Trump to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid that Congress approved. In an unsigned emergency order, the court said the groups likely lacked a right to sue under the Impoundment Control Act. Justice Elena Kagan dissented that “the Executive must comply” with appropriations unless Congress rescinds them, calling the case “uncharted territory.” The order lets the administration pursue a late “pocket rescission” as the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline approaches, allowing the money to expire. (NBC News / Reuters / New York Times / Politico / CNN / ABC News)

  2. Trump said he’ll impose tariffs of 25% to 100% on imported drugs, trucks, cabinets, and furniture starting Oct. 1, calling it protection from “large scale ‘FLOODING.’” He also threatened a 100% tariff on all foreign-made movies and “substantial” duties on foreign-made furniture, offering only “Details to follow!!” (New York Times / Bloomberg)

  3. The Trump administration plans to revive coal by opening 13.1 million acres of federal land to mining, cutting royalties, and pledging $625 million to keep coal plants running. The EPA said it would scrap limits on carbon dioxide, mercury, and wastewater, while Interior Secretary Doug Burgum declared that “we need to mine, baby, mine.” (New York Times)

  4. Trump asked the Supreme Court to revive his order ending birthright citizenship, a policy that every lower court so far has blocked as unconstitutional. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the 14th Amendment has been “mistaken” for more than a century and claimed rulings against the order “confer […] the privilege of American citizenship on hundreds of thousands of unqualified people.” The ACLU said the “executive order is illegal, full stop, and no amount of maneuvering from the administration is going to change that.” (CNN / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)

  5. Rudy Giuliani settled Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.3 billion defamation suit accusing him of spreading false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 election. A federal filing dismissed the case “with prejudice,” but the deal’s terms remain secret as both sides declined comment. Dominion said Giuliani led a “viral disinformation campaign,” adding to his mounting legal defeats and unpaid judgments. (The Hill / Associated Press / New York Times)

  6. House Oversight Democrats released Jeffrey Epstein estate schedules naming Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Steve Bannon, and Prince Andrew, including a note reading, “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?).” The six pages also list a 2017 lunch with Thiel and a 2019 breakfast with Bannon. The mentions don’t indicate evidence of wrongdoing, and Republicans said Democrats were “cherry-pick[ing]” from more than 8,000 documents while withholding files that could implicate Democratic officials. (Axios / Politico / PBS News / HuffPost / NOTUS)

  7. Police said a Marine veteran opened fire from a boat at a crowded waterfront bar in North Carolina, killing three and injuring five. The suspect was arrested within an hour and charged with murder, attempted murder, and assault; officials described the attack as “highly premeditated” and the location as “targeted,” but gave no explanation or motive. (Associated Press / CNN)

  8. A man drove a truck into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan, opened fire, and set the building on fire, killing four and injuring eight before police fatally shot him. Officials said the attacker used gasoline to start the fire and found “suspected explosive devices.” The FBI called it an “act of targeted violence.” Trump, meanwhile, praised the response and said the incident “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.” Public records and media images, however, showed a Trump campaign sign at the suspect’s home and past pro-Trump apparel. Police haven’t identified a motive. (NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / The Guardian / Detroit Free Press / The Guardian / Daily Beast / New Republic)

  9. A Republican Arizona state legislator called for a Democratic U.S. Representative to be “tried, convicted and hanged.” John Gillette posted a clip of Pramila Jayapal discussing “nonviolent” protest and falsely claimed she was advocating for the overthrow of the government. The full video, however, showed Jayapal urging peaceful resistance to Trump, not violence. Gillette offered no correction or clarification after his post, which Democrats condemned as dangerous rhetoric. (Arizona Mirror / The Guardian / KUOW / New Republic)

Three years ago today: Day 618: "A work in progress."
Four years ago today: Day 253: "One step at a time."
Five years ago today: Day 1349: "Hustlers."