On today's podcast:
1) With the US government shutdown closing in on the one week mark, President Trump showed signs of cracking Monday, sending mixed messages about the state of talks with Democrats on their biggest demand. Trump, who had remained on the sidelines of negotiations for days, on Monday said he was open to negotiating with Democrats over health care subsidies to bring an end to the funding stalemate, at one point suggesting those talks had already begun. The remarks appeared to mark a shift after days of Republicans maintaining they’d only consider a possible extension of Obamacare subsidies after Democrats first passed legislation to fund the government.
2) A federal judge declined to quickly issue a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s plan to deploy National Guard members to Chicago to counter protests against the US immigration crackdown, while urging the government to delay the controversial plan until she rules. US District Judge April Perry on Monday said she could not rule immediately on a request by Illinois for a two-week halt to the deployment, which would include National Guard troops under federal control from Illinois and Texas. She set a Thursday hearing for arguments.
3) President Trump is pressing Israel and Hamas to secure a settlement to the two-year conflict that’s devastated Gaza and destabilized the Middle East, with the warring sides starting mediated negotiations. A key sign of progress in the talks, taking place in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, will be whether Hamas frees all the roughly 20 of its live hostages — plus the remains of those who are dead — in return for Israel releasing about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Indirect discussions between negotiators about preparing the conditions for that exchange got underway on Monday, AlQahera News reported on its X account, citing unidentified individuals. Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working with both sides to establish an appropriate mechanism.
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