Trump says he hopes ‘there will be others’ after Comey indictment
Earlier, on the south lawn of the White House, Donald Trump took a few questions from reporters.
“It’s about justice, it’s not about revenge,” the president said with regard to James Comey’s indictment. “He didn’t think it’d be caught, and he got caught,” Trump said, referring to the former FBI director he fired in 2017. “He lied. He lied a lot.”
The president also said that he hopes “there will be others” who are prosecuted.
Without giving much detail, the president also said that he “thinks we have a deal with Gaza”.
“I think it’s a deal that will get the hostages back. It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” he said.
“That’ll be number eight,” he added, referring to his misleading list of conflicts that he’s resolved since he returned to the White House.
Key events
Ice agent ‘relieved of duties’ after widely circulated video shows him pushing a woman on the floor
An federal immigration officer has been “relieved of his duties” after a video showing him pushing a woman to the floor at an immigration court in New York City spread quickly on social media.
Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, said that the agent’s actions were “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of Ice”.
“This officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation,” McLaughlin added.
The video shows a woman, and a young girl who appears to be her daughter, pleading to officers to not take away her husband at 26 Federal Plaza. In the video, they are crying as officers take him into custody. ProPublica identified the woman as Monica Moreta-Galarza, from Ecuador.
The video captures Moreta-Galarza pleading with the now-suspended officer. He tries to dismiss her by saying “adios”. When Moreta-Galarza touches his shoulder, he grabs her, pushes her across the hallway, against the wall, and on to the floor.
After the incident, Democratic congressman Dan Goldman, of New York, said that Moreta-Galarza “fled” to his office with her two young children. ProPublica also reported that Moreta-Galarza was later taken to hospital after being pushed to the ground.
I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.
Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.
Thread👇 pic.twitter.com/elTzcoskS9
— ProPublica (@propublica) September 26, 2025
Ahead of House Democrats’ meeting today, as a government shutdown looms, Donald Trump continued to blame lawmakers across the aisle for any lapse in government funding earlier today.
“These people are crazy, the Democrats. So if it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down, but they’re the ones that are shutting down,” the president said.
A reminder that Congress is in recess this week, and only the Senate is set to return on Monday – before funding expires at midnight on 30 September. A continuing resolution to keep the government open stalled in the upper chamber last week.
DoJ is in ‘full cover-up mode’, says top House Democrat on judiciary committee following Comey indictment
Per my colleague Chris Stein’s reporting earlier, that Democrats on the House judiciary committee are calling Republican leadership to allow survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse to testify, congressman Jamie Raskin – the committee’s ranking member – said that the indictment of James Comey is because the justice department is in “full cover-up mode”.
“They’re doing the bidding of President Trump with respect to Mr Comey, they’re doing the bidding of President Trump with respect to covering up cases,” Raskin said in an interview with CNN News Central.
He added:
What we see is the complete politicization of the Department of Justice. But we’re in the midst of trying to get this information with apparently real crimes. And we’ve got a strong, bipartisan majority saying, ‘Stop the cover-up of the Epstein files. Just go ahead and release them.’”
‘Dangerous abuse of power’: lawmakers sound alarm over Comey indictment
Chris Stein
For Donald Trump, the indictment of former FBI director and longtime foe James Comey was “justice in America”. Legal observers and lawmakers see something far more troubling.
A former Republican appointed to lead the bureau by Barack Obama and kept on by Trump until he was fired in 2017, Comey was indicted Thursday on charges related to allegedly lying to Congress five years ago during a hearing on the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
The charges were filed in the eastern district of Virginia only after Erik Siebert was forced out as US attorney for reportedly finding no grounds to indict Comey. The justice department replaced him with Trump loyalist with little prosecutorial experience, Lindsey Halligan, and shortly after, a grand jury indicted Comey on one count of making a false statement to Congress and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
The indictment is the latest sign that the president is making good on his promise “to turn our justice system into a weapon for punishing and silencing his critics”, said Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee.
“This kind of interference is a dangerous abuse of power. Our system depends on prosecutors making decisions based on evidence and the law, not on the personal grudges of a politician determined to settle scores,” Warner said.
Democratic senator Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor who played a lead role in Trump’s first impeachment, said on X he had “never witnessed such a blatant abuse of the” justice department, calling it “little more than an arm of the president’s retribution campaign”.
Mike Zamore, national director of policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Trump “has yet again proven his disdain for the principles that have actually made America great”.
Read the rest of Chris’s piece here:
Bryan Graham at Bethpage Black
Donald Trump’s arrival dominated the opening day of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, about 37 miles south-east of Manhattan, where fans had begun lining up outside the gates as early as 3am.
Helicopters circled constantly overhead, while spectators navigated TSA-style checkpoints and Secret Service patrols around the main grandstand.
Shortly after 11am, Air Force One made a low, close flyover of the grounds as it approached Farmingdale, drawing gasps from the crowd and reminding everyone of the president’s imminent appearance.
Officials had urged spectators to budget extra time, wary of the sort of disruption seen at the US Open tennis tournament earlier this month, when Trump’s visit delayed entry and thousands of spectators missed the start of the men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
🚨 HOLY CRAP! The crowd at the Ryder Cup went WILD when President Trump did a flyover on Air Force One
And this is in NEW YORK!
“USA! USA!”
47 will be on the ground shortly! pic.twitter.com/Oh9NogzFoV
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) September 26, 2025
At Bethpage, Trump’s presence was no less inescapable. The early carnival atmosphere – fans chanting “U-S-A” as the American pair of Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas won the opening hole – quickly dulled as Europe seized control.
By midday, the sport itself had receded. What lingered was the sound of choppers, the roar of Air Force One overhead, and the heavy security presence behind the 18th green and near the first tee that turned golf’s biennial matchplay carnival into a backdrop for presidential theatre.
Responding to James Comey’s indictment last night, Matthew Miller, who was the director of public affairs at the justice department during the Obama administration, wrote on X:
The Justice Department we have long known is dead. As in many authoritarian states, it now exists as an arm of the government to punish the president’s enemies, regardless of the law. A tragedy for the country with lasting implications, even if this case is dismissed.
The chair of the House select committee on China has said he will conduct full oversight over a deal for Chinese-based ByteDance to sell the US assets of TikTok that was approved by Donald Trump under a 2024 law.
“The law also set firm guardrails that prohibit cooperation between ByteDance and any prospective TikTok successor on the all-important recommendation algorithm, as well as preclude operational ties between the new entity and ByteDance,” said the Republican representative John Moolenaar.
He said he would host the leadership of the new TikTok entity at a hearing next year.
Immigrants with no criminal record now largest group in Ice detention
José Olivares
Immigrants with no criminal record are now the largest group in US immigration detention, according to data released by the government. The number of people with no criminal history arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and detained by the Trump administration has now surpassed the number of those charged with crimes.
Ice, the federal agency most heavily relied upon by Donald Trump to carry out his mass deportation campaign, released its latest numbers on Thursday.
According to the official data, 16,523 people in immigration detention with no criminal record were arrested by Ice, compared with 15,725 who do have a criminal record and 13,767 with pending criminal charges.
There are now a total of 59,762 people in Ice detention across the US. The remaining number of people in Ice custody were brought in by border officials.
The numbers released by Ice mark the first time under the second Trump administration that the total number of immigrants with no criminal history in detention has surpassed that of people convicted of a crime or with pending charges.
The agency’s data also contradicts Trump administration officials’ repeated narrative that the chief focus of the White House’s agenda and the Department of Homeland Security dragnet is dangerous criminals.
Read my full report with Will Craft below.
Comey’s son-in-law resigns as federal prosecutor – reports
James Comey’s son-in-law, Troy Edwards, has resigned as a federal prosecutor for the eastern district of Virginia, following his father-in-law’s indictment.
According to his resignation letter, seen by multiple outlets, Edwards sent his resignation notice to Lindsey Halligan – the newly minted US attorney for the district – and wrote that he was quitting “to uphold my oath to the constitution and the country”.
A reminder that Halligan was appointed after Trump fired her predecessor, Erik Siebert, after Siebert said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Comey and other Trump adversaries.
Edwards was on the team of attorneys who charged participants in the January 6 attack on the US capitol.
House Democrats call for Epstein victims to testify
Chris Stein
Democrats on the House judiciary committee are asking its Republican leader to allow victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to testify about “the institutional failures that enabled these horrific crimes”.
The letter, signed by 17 Democrats and led by ranking member Jamie Raskin and congresswoman Deborah Ross, a leader in the Democratic Women’s caucus and longtime champion of sexual violence survivors, comes amid continued pressure for the Trump administration to authorize the release of more files related to the disgraced financier.
“The release of Justice Department files related to the sex trafficking ring led by Mr Epstein, while necessary, is not a substitute for the voices of these survivors,” the letter reads.
“The House Judiciary Committee has an important role to play in addressing the institutional failures that enabled these horrific crimes and failed to protect the women and girls he trafficked and abused.”
Testimony by the survivors – some of whom appeared at a press conference outside the US Capitol earlier this month – “will help Congress to better understand the systemic breakdowns and shortcomings that enabled Mr Epstein’s network to operate for so long, including potential gaps in law enforcement practices, prosecutorial discretion, victim protection protocols, reporting requirements, and institutional oversight.”
A spokesperson for the committee’s Republican chair, Jim Jordan, did not respond to a request for comment.
The demand comes as a petition to force a vote in the House on legislation to release the Epstein files draws near to receiving the 218th signature necessary for its success, after Democrat Adelita Grijalva won a special election for a vacant seat earlier this week.
Trump says he hopes ‘there will be others’ after Comey indictment
Earlier, on the south lawn of the White House, Donald Trump took a few questions from reporters.
“It’s about justice, it’s not about revenge,” the president said with regard to James Comey’s indictment. “He didn’t think it’d be caught, and he got caught,” Trump said, referring to the former FBI director he fired in 2017. “He lied. He lied a lot.”
The president also said that he hopes “there will be others” who are prosecuted.
Without giving much detail, the president also said that he “thinks we have a deal with Gaza”.
“I think it’s a deal that will get the hostages back. It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” he said.
“That’ll be number eight,” he added, referring to his misleading list of conflicts that he’s resolved since he returned to the White House.
The president has just left DC to attend the Ryder Cup tournament in New York. He didn’t stop for questions as he boarded the plane.
Barbara McQuade, former US attorney for the eastern district of Michigan, made a key point on social media today about the grounds for a Comey conviction.
She notes that while “probable cause is legally sufficient” in order to obtain an indictment, the justice department policy requires enough evidence to “obtain and sustain a conviction”.
“That means proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” she adds.
Netanyahu addresses the UN general assembly
Right now, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is speaking at the United Nations general assembly in New York.
According to my colleague Amy Sedghi, before he started speaking, dozens of delegates in the hall walked out. There were boos and cheers.
Netanyahu just thanked Donald Trump for his “his bold, decisive action against Iran” earlier this year.
As a reminder, that you can follow the latest developments at our dedicated liveblog below.
Robert Mackey
Donald Trump’s long public campaign to get someone in his administration to bring criminal charges against James Comey, the former FBI director he fired in 2017, finally succeeded on Thursday.
But the president has been so public about his loathing of the indicted man, and his desire to see him jailed, that it might be hard for prosecutors to convince a jury that the case was not brought for political reasons.
Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 after he reportedly refused a request to pledge his loyalty to the newly elected president, and then publicly confirmed to Congress that the FBI was conducting a counterintelligence investigation of Russian efforts to help Trump get elected in 2016.
Trump’s firing of Comey backfired, however, because it helped convince then deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel, former FBI director Robert Mueller, to, in his words, “oversee the previously confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters”.
Although Mueller’s report, issued in 2019, concluded that his team “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities”, the investigation unearthed evidence that a Russian effort did take place and, in Mueller’s words, “established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome”.
Mueller added that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts”.
The indictment of Comey comes as Trump seeks to use the power of the justice department to punish a man he sees as a central figure in the Russia investigation he has continually described as “a witch-hunt” and “a hoax”.
Ahead of government funding expiring, House Democrats hold caucus meeting
The House Democratic caucus will meet virtually today at 2pm EST, ahead of a looming government shutdown just five days away.
Congressional Democrats have so far been united in their push-back on the Republican-written resolution to extend government funding until 21 November. For the president’s part, he cancelled a meeting with Democratic leadership that was scheduled for this week.
Democrats have also called the memo by the office of management and budget (OMB) – which told federal agencies to prepare for a reduction in force in the event of a shutdown – an intimidation tactic.
The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, called Russ Vought, the director of the OMB, a “malignant political hack” earlier this week, and told him to “get lost”.
“We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings,” Jeffries added.
ACLU calls Comey indictment ‘a grotesque abuse of presidential power’
In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that the indictment of former FBI director James Comey “represents a grotesque abuse of presidential power”.
“By firing his previously appointed U.S. Attorney and installing someone who would do his bidding and bring criminal charges at his direction. President Trump has yet again proven his disdain for the principles that have actually made America great,” said Mike Zamore, the ACLU’s national director of policy and government affairs. “The president and his administration have corrupted our system of justice to turn his campaign of retribution into reality.”
Donald Trump will leave the White House at about 9:50am EST to attend the Ryder Cup golf tournament in Bethpage, New York. We’ll keep an eye out for the president if he speaks to reporters en route.
He’ll spend the day at the competition before heading back to DC at 3:30pm EST.
President Donald Trump insisted South Korea will provide billions of dollars in investments “upfront”, despite Seoul’s assertion that it would suffer a financial crisis if it meets the US demands without safeguards.
In July, South Korea pledged $350bn toward US projects, but has balked at US demands for control over the funds and South Korean officials say talks to formalise their trade deal are at a deadlock.
Earlier this month, Trump formalised a trade deal with Japan, lowering tariffs on Japanese automobile imports and other products in return for $550bn of Japanese investment in US projects, and US officials have pressed Seoul to follow suit.
“We have in Japan it’s $550bn, South Korea’s $350bn. That’s upfront,” Trump told reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office as he touted the amount of money he said his sweeping tariffs have brought in.
South Korea, however, says it cannot afford to structure its investments in the same way as Japan, and president Lee Jae Myung told Reuters last week that without safeguards such as a currency swap, South Korea’s economy could be plunged into crisis.
