Overview

• At a Friday press conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson said President Donald Trump and budget chief Russ Vought take no pleasure in cuts but conceded the president is trolling Democrats.
• Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram challenged Johnson on the contradiction between calling the situation serious for workers and describing Republicans as having fun online.
• Trump shared an AI-altered video on Truth Social portraying Hakeem Jeffries with a handlebar mustache and Chuck Schumer in a sombrero, using derogatory lines about Black and Latino voters.
• Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a joint statement calling Trump unhinged and accusing him of obsessively posting deepfake videos during the funding lapse.
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats left the administration with an unenviable choice to identify cuts and layoffs and insisted officials do not like firing people.