UPDATE: The press briefing started at 1:19 pm, and Vice President JD Vance is joining Karoline Leavitt to speak on the government shutdown and take questions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will deliver a press briefing this afternoon following the Senate’s failure last night to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.
The government shut down at midnight after Senate Democrats used for ransom their demands for $1.5 trillion to provide free healthcare to illegal aliens and gender transition care for minors.
This is despite an overwhelming majority of voters, including nearly half of Democrats, saying in a recent New York Times poll that they did not think the Democrats should force a government shutdown to push their radical agenda.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump urged the Democrats not to let the government shut down. Still, he warned Tuesday that he will take “irreversible” measures to implement his agenda if the Democrats refused not come to the table and pass the government funding bill.
WATCH: Trump Threatens Irreversible Actions if Democrats Force Government Shutdown – “Cutting Things That They Like, Cutting Programs That They Like… We Don’t Want Fraud, Waste and Abuse”
The “Schumer Shutdown” is expected to be the main topic of today’s press briefing. Hilariously, in the hours leading up to the briefing, the White House Press Office trolled the leftist media by playing on loop a compilation of radical Democratic Senators ranting against a government shutdown back when they had the majority.
WATCH:
This is funny. Before the press briefing at 1 pm, @WhiteHouse is making the liberal press watch their favorite politicians rail against government shutdowns just hours after they shut the government down to save taxpayer funded healthcare for illegals pic.twitter.com/Nwz6KQLPFb
— Jordan Conradson (@ConradsonJordan) October 1, 2025
Todfay’s briefing also comes after President Trump announced on Saturday that he is deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, to assist with Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and quell the ongoing riots. Meanwhile, the radical left, Oregon’s Governor, and leaders in Portland are pushing back, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has filed a lawsuit against the move.
National Guard and federal agents have also taken to the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, after President Trump signed a memorandum to establish the “Memphis Safe Task Force” and prevent crime. The President seeks to replicate his crackdown in Washington, DC in America’s most dangerous cities. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this morning that in the last 48 hours, over 50 arrests have been made after hundreds of agents and troops from 13 agencies and the National Guard were deployed across the city.
Meanwhile, Trump is still weighing a National Guard deployment in Chicago, Illinois, after he sent hundreds of Homeland Security agents to enforce immigration law last month.
Leavitt is expected to address the latest developments in these cases at 1 pm ET.
Watch live below:
The post WATCH LIVE: White House Holds Press Briefing Amid Government Shutdown, Portland National Guard Deployment – UPDATE: VP Vance to Deliver Remarks and Take Questions appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.