The shutdown’s newest stage: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Deska newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In Friday’s edition, four of NBC News’ reporters in Washington dig into the next phase of the government shutdown standoff: layoffs ordered by the Trump administration. Plus, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker dives into Trump’s direction of the prosecution of old political adversaries.

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— Scott Bland

Trump’s latest shutdown move: ‘Substantial’ federal layoffs

By Sahil Kapur, Yamiche Alcindor, Monica Alba and Laura Strickler

The Trump administration announced Friday that it has begun “substantial” layoffs of federal workers, as the government remains shut down due to the inability of Congress to reach a funding deal.

“The RIFs have begun,” White House budget director Russ Vought said on X, referring to “reduction in force” for workers.

While he didn’t provide details, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed to NBC News that the layoffs have begun and said they will be “substantial.”

Affected agencies include the departments of Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, according to an administration official.

Spokespeople for several of those departments confirmed to NBC News that they were sending layoff notices on Friday but declined to enumerate how many employees were affected, referring comment to OMB.

Democrats pushed back, saying that a shutdown does not require President Donald Trump to fire workers or give him new powers to do so, and argued that the White House is being vindictive.

A DHS spokesperson said that the layoffs at the department were occurring within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has been a major target of Trump’s since its then-director affirmed that he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. “During the last administration, CISA was focused on censorship, branding and electioneering,” the DHS spokesperson said. “This is part of getting CISA back on mission.”

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the cuts at that department were focused on countering a “bloated bureaucracy” created under the Biden administration, adding: “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”

Read more here →

Two down, one to go?

Analysis by Kristen Welker

The Justice Department’s indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James now means that two of the three people President Donald Trump implored his attorney general to indict are now facing federal charges.

Just a few weeks ago, Trump took to his Truth Social account to direct a message to Attorney General Pam Bondi in which he criticized her lack of action on James, former FBI Director James Comey and California Sen. Adam Schiff, all prominent critics of Trump who served in key investigative positions looking into Trump and his allies over the years.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT,” he wrote.

The message seemed almost like a private one meant for Bondi’s eyes only — and that’s because it was. An administration official confirmed to NBC News Thursday that President Trump had meant it to be a direct message. Upon learning he instead blasted out the message for the world to see, Trump tried to shrug the mistake off.

The relatively clear line between the message to Bondi and the recent charges against two of Trump’s most prominent political critics, James and Comey, is spurring fears about who might be the next target. The day after Comey’s indictment, Trump said, “I think there will be others” who could be charged, adding that was only his “opinion.” But he’s been explicit about wanting his Justice Department to go after his political enemies — with the charges against James and Comey the most recent examples.

Even in this politicized era, the public has been giving poor marks in this space. A Pew Research Center poll from late September found that more than 6 in 10 U.S. adults believe Trump improperly used his office to punish his critics and improperly encouraged federal investigations of his political opponents.

While Trump is not constitutionally eligible to seek a third term in office, the question is: Will this sentiment cause blowback on Republicans in the future?

In December, I asked President Trump about whether he wanted his administration to investigate then-President Joe Biden. He told me: “I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success.”

We’ll discuss this and more on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” with Vice President JD Vance, Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham.

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Scott Bland and Owen Auston-Babcock.

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