President Donald Trump has a busy day ahead as he continues his Asian tour.
The president will kick off his agenda at 9:30am local time in Tokyo, meeting with Japan’s conservative nationalist Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country’s first female leader.
From there, Trump will visit troops aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuko and conclude the day with a dinner and reception with business leaders back in the Japanese capital.
The whirlwind of meetings comes as Donald Trump disclosed he recently had an MRI scan for undisclosed reasons.
“I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect,” he told reporters on Air Force One Monday as he traveled to Japan.
Pressed further on what the scan was taken for, the president replied: “You can ask the doctors.”
Also on board, Trump labeled House Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as “low IQ” before suggesting she take the “very hard” cognitive tests that he passed.
“If you give her an IQ test, have her pass like the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed,” he said, before describing the test itself. “Those are very hard… The first couple of questions are easy. A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn’t come close to answering any of those questions.”
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Key Points
- Trump doesn’t rule out an unconstitutional third term run:
- Trump to meet with Sanae Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister
- President confirms he had an MRI but won't say what it was for
- AOC claps back after Trump calls her 'low IQ'
- Thousands of flights delayed Monday amid staffing shortages due to shutdown
- Melania Trump is distancing herself from the president’s East Wing demolition: report
Trump to meet with Sanae Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister
00:14
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Josh Marcus
Donald Trump is slated to meet on Tuesday morning at 9am local time in Tokyo with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan, the country’s first female leader.
Ms Takaichi, 64, won the ruling party’s leadership contest after Shigeru Ishiba resigned, but secured the country’s top job only after the Liberal Democratic Party, which remains the largest party in the parliament, stitched up a coalition with the smaller right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.
Calling herself the successor of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, whom she was an ally of, Ms Takaichi said she would pick Satsuki Katayama as the first woman finance minister at a time of rising prices and slowing growth.
Here’s a primer on the Japanese leader.
Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to remove head of Copyright Office
00:00
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Josh Marcus
The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal on Monday before the Supreme Court as it seeks to remove Shira Perlmutter, director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
A lower federal appeals court barred the White House from unilaterally firing the official, whose office is part of the Library of Congress.
The cases raises important questions about the president’s ability to remove personnel at key federal agencies.
More than 100 former Justice Department officials call on Trump to drop Comey case
Monday 27 October 2025 23:45
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Josh Marcus
More than 100 former Justice Departments filed an outside brief on Monday in federal court urging a judge to dismiss the Trump administration’s prosecution of former FBI director and frequent Trump critic James Comey.
“This looks like a picking out of a political enemy and prosecuting that person,” James Pearce, who signed the amicus brief, told The Washington Post of his motivations. “The brief makes clear that we are not advocating in any way a relaxation of the standards. The way that the vindictive prosecution doctrine is that it is extraordinarily hard to meet. And it is appropriately not granted to the majority of defendants who seek it.”
Here’s more on the controversial Comey case.
Photos: Trump's Asia tour so far
Monday 27 October 2025 23:15
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Josh Marcus
Conservative Florida college will be first to sign Trump 'compact' to get funding preference
Monday 27 October 2025 22:55
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Josh Marcus
New College of Florida, a public liberal arts school that has undergone a series of conservative policy overhauls in recent years, has announced it will be the first to sign on to the Trump administration’s “compact” for higher education in exchange for federal funding preferences.
“As other colleges have rejected the compact, we see it as a bold step forward from the Trump administration that will help preserve America’s place as the world’s number one destination for higher education,” the school wrote in a news release.
New College, under the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has eliminated diversity programs and gender studies.
The compact calls on universities to a make a number of changes in line with Trump priorities, including capping international students, freezing tuition, and adopting particular definitions of gender.
Many well-known universities including University of Arizona, MIT, and Brown University have rejected the compact.
Mexico gets 'a few more weeks' to avoid tariff increase from Trump
Monday 27 October 2025 22:35
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Josh Marcus
The president’s attentions may be in Asia at the moment, but the White House continues to negotiate trade terms with its continental neighbors.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday during a press conference that after speaking with President Trump over the weekend, her country would have a “few more weeks” to avoid a tariff hike that was set to kick in this week to make time for further discussions.
The White House has said it is seeking to remove 54 non-tariff barriers to trade with Mexico, including disputes over intellectual property, and has threatened rates as high as 30 percent on Mexican goods that don’t fall under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico free trade agreement.
The parties previously agreed to a 90-day pause in July.
Air traffic controllers stop getting paid tomorrow, Transportation Secretary says
Monday 27 October 2025 22:20
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Josh Marcus
Air traffic controllers are required to continue working during a government shutdown, but tomorrow they will stop being paid, according to the Department of Transportation.
“Air traffic controllers will stop getting paid starting TOMORROW,” Transportation Sean Duffy wrote on X. “This is not ok! I just visited several of them at [Cleveland Hopkins International Airport] and they are worried about paying their mortgage. [Chuck Schumer] and [Hakeem Jeffries] you’ve got to do better!”
John Bowden has more on how the government shutdown is impacting the U.S. air travel system.
Trump demands ‘no early voting’ in latest threat to upcoming elections as California and New York ballots roll in
Monday 27 October 2025 22:00
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Josh Marcus
Even as he cast ballots by mail himself and launched messaging campaigns encouraging his supporters to do the same, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to eliminate mail-in voting altogether, baselessly casting doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in votes.
Now he appears to be calling for the end of all forms of early voting.
After publicly demanding the prosecution of his political enemies, Trump encouraged the Department of Justice to investigate the outcome of the 2020 presidential election with “gusto” — and signaled that the “biggest SCANDAL in American history” will “happen again” unless the government eliminates early voting.
“Look what happened to our Country when a Crooked Moron became our ‘President!’” he wrote on Truth Social. “We now know everything. I hope the DOJ pursues this with as much ‘gusto’ as befitting the biggest SCANDAL in American history! If not, it will happen again, including the upcoming Midterms. No mail-in or ‘Early’ Voting, Yes to Voter ID!”
The president’s post, which veered from the NBA gambling scandal to California’s redistricting push, glimpsed how his administration is framing midterm elections in 2026 with the balance of power in Congress — and the future of his administration — at stake: Votes for Democratic candidates and the measures they support that are not cast on Election Day are illegitimate.
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump's signature One Big Beautiful Bill could send debt levels skyrocketing
Monday 27 October 2025 21:45
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Josh Marcus
America’s national debt is now climbing at its fastest rate ever, propelled in part by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Republicans earlier this year.
A new forecast from the IMF shows the U.S. heading the route of countries in southern Europe famous for their own issues with debt, inflation and financial instability, like Greece and Italy. But while the two European nations have seen conditions bottom out and, in Greece’s case begin to improve, the U.S. appears to be making little progress fighting its own accumulation of debt.
The IMF report analyzed debt as a percentage of GDP, revealing that the U.S. looks set to surpass both countries with its ratio of debt-to-GDP by 2030. At that time, the IMF projects the U.S. will have the highest debt-to-GDP ratio of any country on earth.
And despite the claims of Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress to the contrary, his administration has contributed to that imbalance by surging new spending in the forms of tax cut extensions and funding for the president’s mass deportation efforts, two of the largest items in the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year.
John Bowden has the story.
Murkowski comments on SNAP benefits amid shutdown
Monday 27 October 2025 21:30
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Kelly Rissman
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) expressed her frustration with the government shutdown to The Independent, specifically on the subject of SNAP recipients not receiving money and open enrollment beginning.
The Alaska moderate said federal employees have one message for Washington: “End the shutdown. End the shutdown. We want to get paid.”
The American Federation of Government Employees said on Monday it was time to pass a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
Murkowski spoke to The Independent after speaking on the Senate floor. She pointed out how the Senate faces two key cliffs this week: open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act marketplace and benefits for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance.
The Trump administration said it would not send out SNAP benefits at the beginning of November due to the government shutdown.
“And so if there's something that is the precipitating factor, I think it's not that the unions have changed, maybe, but that you have this date that is so pivotal.”
“I mean, we've heard pretty clearly that through USDA, you're not going to see these SNAP benefits paid out,” she said.
Democrats have opposed a continuing resolution because they want to see an extension of the enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces. Open enrollment begins next month.
“That's that's happening at the same time you've got the the release of the the ACA premiums,” she said. “So you've got a pivot point here that I think many have looked at and said, ‘you know, that's going to be that's going to be the precipitating event.’”
Murkowski said she hopes people look at the potential loss of benefits for hungry recipients as a moment to end the shutdown.
The Trump administration said it won’t disburse SNAP benefits at the beginning of November. Murkowski said she understood why.
“And I get the fact that they're, they want to reserve for disaster contingency,” she said. “I think that there are some other programs within USDA that they might be able to look to.”
During the debate over the One Big, Beautiful Bill, Murkowski worked to get exemptions for Alaska for some of the biggest changes to SNAP.
WATCH: Glenn Beck says Trump told him the real reasons for the dramatic remodeling of the White House
Monday 27 October 2025 21:15
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Kelly Rissman
Statue of Confederate general toppled by protestors in 2020 is returned to its DC perch after Trump’s order
Monday 27 October 2025 21:00
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Kelly Rissman
The statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by demonstrators protesting the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has been reinstated in Washington, D.C., under orders from President Donald Trump.
After sitting in storage for over five years, the statue of Albert Pike, a brigadier general and revered figure among Freemasons, returned to Judiciary Square, just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, on Saturday, WTOP News reported.
The bronze statue of Pike was the sole outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation’s capital. It had been yanked to the ground with ropes and chains and set on fire on Juneteenth 2020, as nationwide protests erupted following the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man killed in Minneapolis when a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck.
Isabel Keane has the story.
Which states are redistricting ahead of the midterms?
Monday 27 October 2025 20:45
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Kelly Rissman
- Texas - Lawmakers redrew the congressional map in hopes of picking up five more GOP House seats.
- California - Voters in the state will decide in November on whether to redraw the congressional map to pick up five Democratic seats to counteract Texas Republicans’ efforts.
- North Carolina - The GOP-controlled legislature passed a map this month that would give the party an extra House seat.
- Virginia - Democrats in the state are reportedly considering a redistricting plan of their own.
- Indiana - GOP Governor Mike Braun on Monday called a special session to be held on November 3 to “consider altering the boundaries of Indiana’s congressional districts.”
DOJ lawyer appears to refer to Trump third term in court arguments: report
Monday 27 October 2025 20:30
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Kelly Rissman
After President Donald Trump refused to rule out running for a third term, despite the 22nd Amendment, a Justice Department attorney appeared to make references to the president serving a third term, Bloomberg reported.
At a hearing for a gun case in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, an attorney told the three-judge panel: “This president, in three years or in seven years, we’ll have another administration, and if those new leadership, you know, took a different view of this, there’s nothing, there’s zero impediment to this just being put right back in effect.”
Later, DOJ attorney Sean R. Janda made a similar comment, telling the panel: “As my friend on the other side said, three years in the future or seven years in the future.”
Thousands of flights delayed Monday amid staffing shortages due to shutdown
Monday 27 October 2025 20:15
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Kelly Rissman
Thousands of flights were delayed and hundreds more were canceled on Monday as the shutdown drags into the fourth week.
According to FlightAware, 3,658 flights were delayed and 494 were canceled on Monday amid air traffic controller shortages due to the shutdown.
There were 22 "staffing triggers” over the weekend, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News Sunday.
"That's a sign that the controllers are wearing thin," he warned.
Air traffic controllers are due to miss their first full paycheck on October 28 if Congress doesn’t end the stalemate.
Duffy threatens to pull another $160M from California for issuing commercial driver’s license to non-citizens
Monday 27 October 2025 20:00
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Kelly Rissman
U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has threatened to pull $160 million from California, claiming the state is illegally issuing commercial drivers licenses to non-citizens.
“Gavin Newsom cares more about giving illegals commercial drivers licenses than he does citizens of his own state and the safety of Americans. It’s shameful,” Duffy said, speaking to FOX News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
“He’s been lying about what he’s been doing and we’re going to fight tooth and nail to make sure we hold states like California accountable.”
Duffy added that he would also be pulling California's ability to issue commercial driver's licenses.
It comes after the Transportation Department last month tightened up restrictions over issuing commercial licenses to non-citizens, including the possession of employment-based visas and being subject to a mandatory federal immigration status check.
Mike Bedigan has the latest.
WATCH: Biden says America depends on a presidency with limited power
Monday 27 October 2025 19:40
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Kelly Rissman
Melania Trump is distancing herself from the president’s East Wing demolition: report
Monday 27 October 2025 19:30
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Kelly Rissman
First Lady Melania Trump privately expressed disquiet about President Donald Trump’s plans to demolish the East Wing of the White House to make way for his lavish new ballroom, according to a report.
The president’s wife “raised concerns about tearing down the East Wing” and “told associates it wasn’t her project” when she was asked about the drastic redevelopment, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unnamed administration officials.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
Spokesperson Davis Ingle told the WSJ: “President Trump is a builder at heart. Make no mistake: the newly improved East Wing and brand new ballroom will make the People’s House more useful and beautiful for generations of presidents, and Americans, to come.”
Joe Sommerlad has the story.
Democrats are slamming Johnson after he claimed GOP isn't 'in charge of government'
Monday 27 October 2025 19:20
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Kelly Rissman
Democrats are taking aim at House Speaker Mike Johnson after he claimed that Republicans don’t control the government as the shutdown drags into the fourth week.
"Democrats are required to open the government. They keep saying, 'Republicans are in charge of government.' We aren't!” he said at his daily press conference on Monday.
He clarified that in the Senate, Republicans need 60 votes to pass the spending bill, but lack a “bare majority.”
“It takes 60 votes in the Senate, and Democrats have voted again and again to keep it shut down — hurting families, workers, and taxpayers across the country,” Johnson later wrote on X.
Democrats swiftly slammed his comments Monday.
When one party controls the House, Senate, and White House, it means they’re in charge.
— Rosa DeLauro (@rosadelauro) October 27, 2025
Happy National Civics Day. https://t.co/Zk94tb7lCY
Surprised @HouseGOP hasn’t deleted this — but then again, they’ve been on a paid vacation for five weeks… https://t.co/JMpfyo638e
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) October 27, 2025
DHS compares immigrants to the parasitic alien villains in the Halo video games
Monday 27 October 2025 19:10
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Kelly Rissman
The Department of Homeland Security likened immigrants to parasites known as “the Flood” in Halo video games in a disturbing social media post.
“Finishing this fight,” the DHS wrote on X Monday, alongside an illustration resembling the video game. It depicts someone in military gear, equipped with a firearm, riding in a fictional armored fighting vehicle.
Finishing this fight. pic.twitter.com/6Ezq9NUqMq
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 27, 2025
Democrat says 'no kings in America' after Trump refuses to rule out third term run
Monday 27 October 2025 19:00
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Kelly Rissman
President Donald Trump once again refused to rule out running for a third term — this time on Air Force One — despite the Constitution barring anyone from serving more than two terms.
“I haven’t really thought about it. We have some very good people as you know, but I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had,” the president told reporters Monday. “I would love to do it. I have my best numbers ever.”
The 22nd Amendment prohibits anyone from serving more than two terms as president: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray replied to a clip of Trump, writing: “There are NO KINGS in America—our Constitution is very clear that no president can serve more than 2 terms.”
“This is the LAW, not a suggestion, and no wannabe dictator can change that.”
There are NO KINGS in America—our Constitution is very clear that no president can serve more than 2 terms.
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) October 27, 2025
This is the LAW, not a suggestion, and no wannabe dictator can change that. https://t.co/aQdlvI96gc
AOC snaps back after Trump calls her 'low IQ'
Monday 27 October 2025 18:50
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Kelly Rissman
President Donald Trump challenged New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take a cognitive test, calling her “low IQ.”
“If you give her an IQ test, have her pass like the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed,” he told reporters on Air Force One Monday.
The New York Democrat fired back, writing back on X: “Out of curiosity, did those doctors ask you to draw a clock by any chance? Was that part hard for you, too? Asking for 340 million people.”
Clock drawings is a method used to screen for dementia, according to VeryWell Health.
Hello Mr. President!
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2025
Out of curiosity, did those doctors ask you to draw a clock by any chance? Was that part hard for you, too?
Asking for 340 million people. https://t.co/afaYP47knh
Glenn Beck says Trump told him the real reasons for the dramatic remodeling of the White House
Monday 27 October 2025 18:40
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Kelly Rissman
Conservative anchor Glenn Beck claims that Donald Trump told him the real reason behind his controversial changes and expansion of the White House, amid criticism over the drastic remodeling project.
“It’s not because he likes gold; he’s doing it to project power and wealth," Beck said, speaking on a recent episode of The Glenn Beck Show.
The president’s plans for the historic East Wing, which has been partly demolished to make way for a lavish new $300 million ballroom, has been condemned by many, with First Lady Melania even having reportedly expressed disquiet.
Mike Bedigan has the story.
GOP Senator denounces Trump administration's strikes against 'narco-terrorists'
Monday 27 October 2025 18:25
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Kelly Rissman
A Republican senator called the Trump administration’s recent strikes against suspected drug-carrying boats, which have killed dozens, “wrong.”
“The Constitution says when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it,” Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul told “Fox News Sunday.”
“The drug war or... the crime war has typically been something we do through law enforcement. So far they’ve alleged these people are drug dealers. No one’s said their name, no one’s said what evidence, no one’s said whether they’re armed,” he said.
“At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings,” he added. “It’s wrong.”
The U.S. has carried out at least 10 strikes against alleged “narco-terrorists” since last month, killing more than 40 people.
WATCH: Trump doesn’t rule out an unconstitutional third term run: ‘I would love to do it’
Monday 27 October 2025 18:15
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Kelly Rissman
FAA staffing shortages slam 50 airports over the weekend as air traffic controllers are set to miss first full paycheck
Monday 27 October 2025 18:00
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Kelly Rissman
Trump administration officials are warning that flight delays at America’s airports will only increase as the holidays approach and a resolution to the ongoing federal government shutdown appears out of reach.
With the shutdown now in its 26th day, the stress points in Washington are beginning to show as federal workers appear to be on the brink of missing a second paycheck, due to hit bank accounts at the end of the week. That includes air traffic controllers, who are due to miss their first full paycheck on October 28 if Republicans and Democrats in Washington do not cut a deal. Controllers received a paycheck at a partial rate on October 15.
“This shutdown has real consequences for these hard-working American patriots,” said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
John Bowden has the story.
Largest federal workers union demands end to shutdown as it enters fourth week
Monday 27 October 2025 17:50
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Kelly Rissman
In a statement published Monday, the president of AFGE, the largest federal workers’ union representing 800,000 federal and DC government employees, called for Congress to end the shutdown and pass a “clean” continuing resolution.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” Everett Kelley, AFGE National President, wrote.
“Today I’m making mine: it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship. Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”
You can read the full statement here.
Trump’s final words on Jan 6 to Mike Pence revealed
Monday 27 October 2025 17:30
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Kelly Rissman
A new book claims that President Donald Trump called Vice President Mike Pence a "wimp" during their final phone call just hours before the Capitol riot occurred.
The interaction was documented by Pence in his personal notes, which are being published for the first time in an upcoming book by ABC News' Jonathan Karl titled Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign that Changed America.
The note was reportedly going to be used by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump if the president's Capitol riot case ever went to trial.
Graig Graziosi has the story.
ICYMI: Zelensky says Ukraine will work on ceasefire plan ‘in next 10 days’
Monday 27 October 2025 17:20
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Kelly Rissman
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country will work on a plan for a ceasefire with Russia “in the coming 10 days.”
“President Trump is concerned about escalation,” Zelensky told Axios. “But I think that if there are no negotiations, there will be an escalation anyway. I think that if Putin doesn’t stop, we need something to stop him. Sanctions is one such weapon, but we also need long-range missiles.”
“We speak not only about Tomahawks. The US has a lot of similar things that doesn’t require much time for training. I think the way to work with Putin is only through pressure,” he added.
ANALYSIS: The government shutdown staring contest will finally get real this week
Monday 27 October 2025 17:10
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Kelly Rissman
Democrats in Congress got hit with a sucker punch Monday when the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents federal workers, put out a statement calling for an end to the government shutdown.
“The path forward for Congress is clear: Reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on larger issues,” AFGE president Everett Kelley said in a statement on Monday.
The statement poses a significant issue for Democrats in their strategy for the government shutdown.
Eric Garcia has the story.
WATCH: Trump confirms he had an MRI but won't say what it was for
Monday 27 October 2025 17:00