Government shutdown updates: Leavitt says Trump exploring cutting aid to Portland

In an X post explaining the FDA’s decision to approve a new generic version of mifepristone, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the agency approved the new tablet only “because federal law requires approval when an application proves the generic is identical to the brand-name drug.”

Kennedy posted a copy of a letter he sent last month to Republican attorneys general in which he pledged the FDA would conduct a new review of abortion pills, a move abortion rights advocates say could lead to significant restrictions on the most common abortion method nationwide.

In his post on Thursday, Kennedy doubled down on that pledge, and specifically access to mifepristone through telehealth appointments, which is how many women access abortion care in states with bans.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie

In preview clips published ahead of a full interview with the Trump-friendly network OANN Thursday night, the president recounted his meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday.

“Well, we got along very well. I learned that they were much different outside of the office, because in the office, they were total gentlemen,” Trump said. “Outside of the office, they get out to the press and they start ranting and raving. I said, ‘Are those the two guys who just left?’ They were very nice. We had a nice talk for an hour, and they went outside, and it was a different group of people. I mean, they're political people.”

“And one of the other things is fraud, waste and abuse. They don't want to have any anybody. I mean, the whole thing is crazy. When you find obvious fraud, you want to take care of it, waste and abuse, and they don't want anything to change, and what that's going to do is ruin it for the people that are taxpaying, great American patriots,” Trump continued.

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie

The Senate floor is open Thursday, but the chamber is not voting due to Yom Kippur. The Senate is, however, expected to vote again Friday on both the Democrat funding bill that includes health care provisions and the short-term government funding bill.

As of now, however, Thune said he is not expecting the Senate to engage in weekend work.

"Unlikely," Thune said Thursday when asked if he'd hold votes this weekend.

Thune suggested he could be open to a meeting with Minority Leader Schumer over the weekend, but it would depend on its purpose.
"We'll see, if the meeting is focused around just a photo op along the lines of what they would try to get out of the White House meeting, I'm not sure there's a lot of purpose in that. But if they want to actually come forward and talk about how to end this thing, we'll see," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Johnson defended the president's threats to fire federal government workers or withhold funding from congressionally-approved projects on Thursday.

The speaker argued that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats blocking the House-passed bill handed "the keys to the kingdom" to Trump.

Johnson said Trump and Vought are "going to look to see for the administration's priorities first, sure that those are funded."

"And so that's some those are some very serious determinations that have to be made. We want to protect hard-working federal workers, and these are people who protect all the rest of us," Johnson said.

"Is it constitutional? Is it lawful? Is it part of our system? Of course it is. It always has been," he added without giving more details.

-ABC News' John Parkinson