Trump live: Major airport forced to ground planes as federal shutdown causes huge staff shortage

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents searched more phones at the border than ever this year, with some officers turning tourists away for liking or sharing memes about Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, according to reports.

The number of phones probed by border agents jumped by 17 percent during the last year, with the CBP digging into more than 55,424 devices, according to statistics seen by Wired. Just a year earlier, the CBP had conducted 47,000 searches.

The aggressive increase in inspections has coincided with a collapse in the number of tourists visiting the U.S., as people from Canada and Europe seek alternative vacation destinations.

President Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic predicting that his meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping would span “three to four hours,” despite White House guidance budgeting less than two hours for the bilateral summit, according to the New York Post.

Trump is set to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea.

“We’re going to have something that’s going to be very, very satisfactory to China and to us,” Trump reportedly said at a Wednesday dinner. “I think it’s going to be a very good meeting. I look forward to it tomorrow morning when we meet.”

The U.S. president also allegedly discussed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

“You have a neighbor that hasn’t been as nice as they could be, and I think they will be,” Trump reportedly said to Lee. “I know Kim Jong Un very well, and I think things will work out very well.”

A progressive Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives and several other Chicago officials are facing federal charges stemming from protests outside an Immigration Customs and Enforcement facilitythat has emerged as a flashpoint for demonstrations against Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist now running for a House seat in Illinois, is charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE office and assault.

The grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Abughazaleh and five other defendants, some of whom are involved in Chicago politics, of banging “aggressively” on a federal agent’s car, forcing the officer to drive at an “extremely slow rate of speed,” and etching the word “PIG” on the vehicle.

Alex Woodward has the story.

The Blackfeet Nation in Montana declared a state of emergency in response to the potential loss of food assistance benefits due to the ongoing shutdown.

The Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota similarly issued an emergency declaration.

Chairwoman Lonna Jackson-Street told the Associated Press that children make up the majority of those in the Spirit Lake Nation who rely on SNAP benefits.

“If our kids can’t eat, then we’re all in crisis,” Street said.

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jim Himes criticized the recent barrage of U.S. strikes against suspected drug-carrying vessels.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. carried out another three lethal strikes on four vessels in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing 14 people. One person survived the strikes.

There have been at least 13 strikes on 14 vessels since early September, raising the death toll to 50.

“There is no legal authorization for these strikes,” Himes told MSNBC Wednesday. “There is a purported memo inside the White House articulating the legal basis for these strikes, which has not been shared with the Congress.”

“If Lindsey Graham and other Republicans want to go the route of saying it’s okay to kill people legally just so long as the American public supports it, the American public really needs to think that through,” he continued.

“It’s a very dangerous path for this country to go down,” the Democrat warned.

Last week, President Donald Trump addressed the recent strikes at a roundtable.

“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them,” the president said.

Graham defended the strikes over the weekend, saying Trump has “all the authority he needs” to conduct the attacks.

The Federal Reserve announced that it slashed interest rates for the second time this year amid rising unemployment and increasing inflation.

The Federal Open Market Committee released its statement on Wednesday saying that it would slash interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated,” a statement said. “The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months.”

Eric Garcia has the story.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a point on Wednesday, due to a slow job market.

“Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up but remained low through August; more recent indicators are consistent with these developments. Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated,” the Fed said in a statement.

South Park will return Friday — not Wednesday — with a new Halloween-themed episode addressing Donald Trump’s recent White House demolition.

A teaser image of the long-running Comedy Central series shows Trump and Satan wearing hard hats and surveying the wreckage of the East Wing, referencing last week’s real-life moment when crews started to destroy the historic building to make room for Trump’s planned $300 million ballroom.

The East Wing, which previously stood for 123 years, is being torn down after Trump, 79, initially vowed that his new venue wouldn’t “interfere” with the original landmark. The president reportedly plans to name the ballroom after himself.

Carsen Holaday has the story.