Shutdown cracks, Jay Jones’s texts, Trump’s Gaza deal
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
The Senate remains far apart on resolving the ongoing government shutdown. But the battle for public opinion on who’s to blame has shifted. Republicans appear split on whether to negotiate on health-care costs, as Democrats are demanding. And polling shows voters blame the GOP just as much as Democrats, if not more, for failing to fund the government.
Plus, what Attorney General Pam Bondi’s combative hearing before the Senate Oversight Committee this week signals about her place in the Trump administration, the text messages blowing up a statewide race in Virginia and the peace deal for Gaza that President Donald Trump helped broker.
Host Colby Itkowitz speaks with national politics reporter Liz Goodwin and Dan Merica, the co-anchor of The Post’s flagship politics newsletter, The Early Brief.
Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Josh Carroll. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I still could see a scenario, like basically my dime store analysis is that I think either, I think either Trump decides he wants an ACA deal to open back up the government and that's a thousand percent what happens and it just happens. Or Trump doesn't decide that. And then I do think eventually Senate Democrats would fold. |
| 0:23.8 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Report's weekly politics roundtable. |
| 0:29.1 | I'm Kolby Ekowitz. It's Friday, October 10th. There is a lot to get to today. First, we're |
| 0:35.6 | going to talk about which side might crack first in the ongoing |
| 0:38.6 | government shutdown. Next, Attorney General Pam Bondi's contentious hearing in the Senate. Also, |
| 0:45.9 | we'll discuss some text messages that are getting a Virginia Democrat in trouble. And finally, |
| 0:51.5 | the peace deal between Israel and Hamas, that President Trump helped |
| 0:55.1 | broker. I'm thrilled to be joined today by national politics reporter, Liz Goodwin, and back |
| 1:01.2 | with me at the roundtable, Dan Marica, the co-anchor of our politics newsletter, The Early Brief. |
| 1:06.4 | Thank you both for joining me. Yeah, thanks for having us. Happy to be here. |
| 1:11.6 | So Liz, congratulations on your new role as a national politics reporter. |
| 1:16.4 | Oh, thank you. |
| 1:17.1 | Because before that, you were our Senate expert. |
| 1:20.1 | Yes. |
| 1:20.7 | And we're going to tap into that Senate expertise right now. |
| 1:23.5 | We're going to go back to that. |
| 1:26.6 | I can't quit them, so it's fine. |
| 1:28.3 | I mean, once you're a Senate expert, you're always a Senate expert, I think. |
| 1:32.3 | Because the negotiations over the government shut down, over funding the government, it's all playing out in the Senate right now. |
| 1:39.3 | So what's the latest? |
| 1:41.3 | Yeah, so we're kind of in an interesting place that I could not have predicted |
| 1:45.7 | a week ago for sure, because I think Republicans, when the shutdown started last week, I think |
... |
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