The Latest: Trump Says Officials Opposing Guard Deployment Should Be Jailed

The Illinois governor and Chicago mayor say they won't stop trying to protect their communities after threats by President Donald Trump to have them jailed for opposing his deployment of National Guard troops to support immigration arrests in nation’s third-largest city. Trump's social media post is just the latest example of his efforts to punish his political opponents.

The Nobel Peace Prize will soon be announced, just as Trump takes credit for some notable foreign policy interventions. But longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote, since the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals.

The Latest:

Frustrated lawmakers say lack of trust makes ending the shutdown harder

A president looking to seize power beyond the executive branch. A Congress controlled by Republicans unwilling to directly defy him. A minority party looking for any way to fight back.

The dynamic has left Washington in a stalemate on Thursday's the ninth day of the government shutdown, and some lawmakers are venting their frustration as they seek traction without the trust that's typically the foundation of any bipartisan deal.

Groups of lawmakers — huddled over dinners, on phone calls, and in private meetings — have tried to brainstorm ways out of the standoff that has shuttered government offices and threatened to leave hundreds of thousands of federal employees without a scheduled payday. But relations between the parties are badly broken.

“We’re in an environment where we need more than a handshake,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat

▶ Read more about lawmakers’ frustrations over the shutdown

Trump was nominated before. Experts say a Nobel Peace Prize win is unlikely this year

Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.

Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.

Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.

Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month, “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”

A person cannot nominate themselves.

▶ Read more about this year’s prize

Trump has yet to provide Congress hard evidence that targeted boats carried drugs, officials say

The Trump administration has yet to provide underlying evidence to lawmakers proving that alleged drug-smuggling boats targeted by the U.S. military in a series of fatal strikes were in fact carrying narcotics, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

As bipartisan frustration with the strikes mounts, the Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday voted down a war powers resolution that would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes on the cartels.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the administration has only pointed to unclassified video clips of the strikes posted on social media by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and has yet to produce “hard evidence” that the vessels were carrying drugs.

The administration has not explained why it has blown up vessels in some cases, while carrying out the typical practice of stopping boats and seizing drugs at other times, one of the officials said.

▶ Read more about the lack of evidence supporting deadly strikes on Caribbean boaters

Trump says Illinois governor and Chicago mayor opposing his deployments should be jailed

Trump on Wednesday said the Illinois governor and Chicago mayor should be jailed as they oppose his deployment of National Guard troops for his immigration and crime crackdown in the nation’s third-largest city. The officials said they would not be deterred.

He made the comment in a social media post, the latest example of his brazen calls for his Democratic opponents to be prosecuted or locked up.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, when asked what crimes the president believed Pritzker and Johnson had committed, failed to identify any, but she said they “have blood on their hands” and pointed to Chicago Police Department reports that at least five people were killed and 25 shot over the weekend.

National Guard troops from Texas are positioned outside Chicago, despite a lawsuit by the state and city to block the deployment.

The troops’ mission is not clear, but the Trump administration has undertaken an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Chicago.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments