Welcome to the beat. I am Melissa Murray in for Ari Melburgh, and we have a lot to cover tonight.

House Minority Leader Hakeens Jeffries is standing by as he stares down President Trump amid the government shutdown.

Plus, Andrew Weissman will be here to discuss Trump's explosive new claim to wartime powers.

And while the DOJ and the FBI insists that there is, quote, no credible evidence that

Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed prominent people, one administration official is singing a very

different tune.

That's what his MO was, you know, get a massage, get a massage.

And what happened in that massage room, I assume was on video.

This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever.

Blackmail people, that's how he had money.

We start tonight, though, with the shutdown in Washington, D.C.,

which Donald Trump is trying to use to maximize

pain and punish political foes. That's how the New York Times put it, as Trump forges ahead

with plans to conduct mass layoffs. Permanent firings have never happened before in a government

shutdown. Now, though, senior government officials are privately

warning that there will be firings and against those firings, advising the administration

that they would be unlawful. Today, press secretary Caroline Levitt seemed unbothered by the prospect

of mass federal terminations.

Can you give us an estimate on the amount of federal workers the Trump administration wants to fire during the government shutdown

over 100s, over-topping thousands?

Look, it's likely going to be in the thousands.

New polling shows that when it comes to casting blame for the shutdown, more Americans are pointing to the Republicans than to the Democrats, 47% to 30% according to the Post.

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