President Donald Trump traveled through Asia this week, sitting down for a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which he described as “truly great,” while Americans at home bore the brunt of the ongoing government shutdown, which is entering its second month.Democrats now find themselves in a bind as they have succeeded in framing health care as the issue at the heart of the stalemate but are grappling with the lapse of federal food assistance for millions of Americans set to begin Saturday.The shutdown is also likely to lead to more flight delays as the Federal Aviation Administration grapples with staffing shortages. At the same time, federal employees are working without pay, and food banks are bracing for a surge in demand.The president, though, seems to have his mind focused elsewhere as he instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume testing of nuclear weapons to ensure the U.S. keeps up with its rivals.“With others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” he told reporters after departing South Korea to return to the U.S.The Trump administration is continuing to add pressure on Venezuela, with the country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, now accusing the U.S. of “fabricating a new eternal war.”See previous updates here, and read the latest below:Bondi Brushes Off Trump's Public Push to Prosecute EnemiesWhen Bondi first came before Congress for her confirmation hearing, she vowed to end political weaponization at the Justice Department.But Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told her Tuesday that promise has been broken numerous times: Just look at President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post on Sept. 20 addressing her by name and telling her “we can’t delay any longer” to bring criminal charges against people like former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) because it was harming his administration’s reputation and credibility. Did the attorney general consider that social media post a directive to the Justice Department? Klobuchar asked."Sen. Klobuchar, President Trump is the most transparent president in American history, and I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years," Bondi said.When the senator pressed Bondi about reports that she initially pushed back against senior Trump administration officials trying to push out former U.S. attorney Erik Siebert in Virginia, the AG said she wouldn’t discuss any "personnel decisions."Klobuchar didn’t get much further with a query over the firing of U.S. Attorney Michael Ben’Ary. The attorney was fired after Julie Kelly, a pro-Trump right-wing activist who peddles Jan. 6 conspiracy theories, posted a message on X claiming that "one can only assume [Ben’Ary] was a big part of the internal resistance to the Comey indictment."Bondi said she wouldn’t discuss it because "Comey was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia, by one of the most liberal grand juries in the country."See All UpdatesClose