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Senate to attempt votes on government funding as shutdown continues for third day

admin - Latest News - October 3, 2025
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As the shutdown enters its third day, the Senate is set to vote on measures to fund the government that are not expected to reach the vote threshold required to pass. NBC News’ Monica Alba reports from the White House on where the parties stand in negotiations and what lawmakers have had to say about the shutdown.



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Oct. 2, 2025, 6:10 PM EDTBy Chloe MelasWhen Harvey Weinstein, Luigi Mangione and NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere faced hard time, among the first people they called was Craig Rothfeld.Rothfeld is the founder and owner of Inside Outside Ltd., a company that helps clients, including the aforementioned three, navigate the unnerving world of life behind bars.With only about a half-dozen prison consulting firms in the United States, Rothfeld is part of a little-known niche industry spawned around the criminal justice system that caters to big-name and no-name clients, all with the same goal.“I’m advocating for their human rights,” Rothfeld said.Rothfeld said he knows firsthand the misery and anguish prisoners experience because he was once incarcerated himself. He served 18 months after he was indicted for various financial crimes and was released in 2017.He said he started his company later that year to help others get through the challenges he faced. “Somebody needs a CPAP machine. They can’t breathe or sleep without it. How do I arrange for that CPAP machine to be able to be brought into either a federal prison or a state prison with them?” Rothfeld said. Luigi Mangione at his arraignment at Manhattan criminal court on Dec. 23.Curtis Means / Pool via Getty ImagesWhen someone hires him, Rothfeld gives the person a list of do’s and don’ts based on the 40 questions clients most often ask him, he said. “Never sit on somebody else’s bed. … Do not go into their cell unless you’re invited. You do not join a conversation that you’re not a part of,” he said. Rothfeld, whom Weinstein granted permission to talk about his experience behind bars, said Weinstein’s first questions before he was locked up were the same as those of other, nonfamous clients. “How am I going to talk to my family? Where am I going? And where do you think I’m going, and how are we going to deal with all of my medical conditions and medical needs?” Rothfeld said.Weinstein, who has chronic myeloid leukemia, or bone marrow cancer, is serving time at Rikers Island in New York City as he awaits sentencing stemming from a sexual assault conviction in June.One of his attorneys, Jennifer Bonjean, said prison consultants are important advocates for people entering the system. “As lawyers, we depend heavily on them to help our clients adjust to prison in all manner of ways, whether it’s to help resolve a medical concern, assist with a disciplinary issue or to advocate for a placement in a facility,” Bonjean said this week.Craig Rothfeld.NBC NewsArthur Aidala, Weinstein’s longtime criminal defense attorney, said he refers clients to Rothfeld because the “fear of the unknown” is overwhelming.”Preparing to enter prison, and then crossing that threshold, is an experience whose horror is truly indescribable,” Aidala said this week. “For most people, it feels insurmountable.”In the case of Raniere, who was sentenced to 120 years in federal prison in 2019 on sex trafficking and child pornography charges, Rothfeld’s first task was to get him out of solitary confinement, he said. Raniere was confined to solitary in 2022 after he was allegedly assaulted by another inmate.“If you spent 280 days in the SHU [Special Housing Unit] with no explanation whatsoever and you have feces on the floor and the walls, yeah, your human rights are being violated,” he said.One of Raniere’s attorneys, Ronald Sullivan, said navigating the federal Bureau of Prisons requires knowledge of a “byzantine set of regulations, the understanding of which can make a tangible difference in time served.”He said that regulations change frequently and that relationships with prison officials often determine how quickly or slowly requests are granted.Rothfeld said conditions at Rikers Island and the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City are “deplorable.” “Some days you have cold water, and that’s it. Sometimes you don’t get to shower for the week,” he said. “The food is inedible. Quite often, there’s leaks coming from the ceiling. There’s broken lights in cells, there’s mice, there’s cockroaches. It is completely inhumane.”Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in court for his retrial as the jury deliberates at Manhattan Criminal Court on June 10 in New York.Michael Nagle / Getty Images fileOfficials at Rikers Island, a jail that is operated by the city of New York, did not respond to a request for comment.The federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversees the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, said that it makes every effort to ensure inmates’ physical safety and health and that their treatment is humane. It also said the detention center provides nutritionally adequate meals.Rothfeld said he charges a flat fee for his services but would not provide specifics. He said celebrity clients account for only about 2% of his business. “I don’t cost what an attorney costs. I don’t cost six figures. I don’t cost what a brand-new, fancy sport car costs,” he said. “I work with families to meet them where they’re at.”It is not publicly known whether Sean “Diddy” Combs, the former music mogul who is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, has hired a prison consultant. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 11 years and three months in federal prison after he was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center for over a year. Rothfeld said Combs can expect better conditions in a federal prison than at the detention center.“He’ll be able to go outside,” he said. “There’ll be a yard of access to fresh air. He’ll be able to work out if he wants to work out. The second thing is the nature of his living quarters. In all probability, he will be in a dorm-like setting. Anything is nicer or better, relatively speaking, than the MDC.”Rothfeld speaks alongside Diana Fabi Samson and John Esposito, attorneys for Harvey Weinstein, outside Queens criminal court in New York last year. Julia Nikhinson / APRothfeld said he encourages his clients to become voracious readers. “I always recommend that people read fantasy,” he said. “Speaking from personal experience, I read ‘Game of Thrones’ when I was in prison, and it got me outside of where I was.”For the victims of the crimes his clients have committed, Rothfeld said he is not an arbiter of morality. “It’s not my job to judge; it’s not my job to argue. It’s my job to advocate. And as I tell people, the punishment is prison,” he said. “I believe, no matter who you are, famous or not — most of my clients no one’s ever heard of — you should have humane living conditions. Your civil rights should be honored when you’re incarcerated.”Chloe MelasChloe Melas is an entertainment correspondent for NBC News. Emily Lorsch contributed.
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Oct. 11, 2025, 8:00 AM EDTBy Alicia Victoria LozanoPORTLAND, Ore. — A small group of federal agents in camouflage and face masks watched from atop the immigration processing center Thursday night as a unicorn, peacock, dinosaur and raccoon danced to Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Across the street, the self-proclaimed frog brigade — three adults in inflatable amphibian costumes — posed for photos and bounced around in unison. A small group of counterprotesters nearby shouted, “We love you, ICE!”Similar scenes outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building south of downtown Portland have been playing out for weeks as people protest President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts and the deployment of more than 200 National Guard troops to Oregon’s largest city to protect federal property.The absurdity of adults dancing in inflatable costumes during anti-ICE demonstrations is meant to display community joy, protesters say, and helps to dispel the Trump administration’s narrative that Portland is a crime-ridden “war zone,” a characterization local and state leaders say is false.Plus, the costumes provide protection from gas and other toxins deployed by federal agents, protesters say.“If you’re going to make it silly and say that we’re evil, we’re going to make it silly by showing how evil you are,” said Brooks Brown, of Vancouver, Washington, who passed out 30 inflatable costumes Thursday night to anyone who wanted to get it on “Operation Inflation.”A protester in a frog costume in front of federal officers Monday outside the ICE building in Portland.Stephen Lam / San Francisco Chronicle / Getty ImagesNot without its civic challenges, the greater Portland area has some 7,000 homeless residents, and simple assaults have increased 8% from the time last year, but homicides have dropped 50% and aggravated assaults 4% in the same period, according to police and city data, and overall crime has held steady.Protester Jack Dickinson, known locally as the Chicken Man, first donned his chicken costume in June during Trump’s military parade in Washington. He said he wanted to counter the show of force with farce.As immigration raids accelerated across the country and the administration appeared to fixate on Portland’s protests, the chicken costume took on new meaning, he said.“This is an unacceptable betrayal of the American democracy,” Dickinson said, referring to federalized forces deployed in Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. “ICE is kind of the perfect example of the cruelty with which they are implementing their agenda, and it’s just not something we can sit by and let happen.”The costume strategy appears to be working. Demonstrators have attracted attention from international media outlets in France, Australia and England.California Gov. Gavin Newson, a Democrat and a frequent target of Trump’s verbal and online jabs, seized on the movement to mock the administration on social media.“Portland is war ravaged! SEND IN THE CALIFORNIA (???) NATIONAL GUARD!” he posted this week on X with a video of a unicorn, raccoon and dinosaur dancing outside the immigration building.Despite the costumed antics, the Trump administration stuck to its depiction of the protesters on Thursday during a federal appeals court hearing challenging a judge’s order barring the Guard from being sent to Portland. The panel has not made a decision yet.Department of Justice attorney Eric McArthur called protesters “violent people” who hurled rocks at federal agents, lit fires on the street and blocked cars.“The president is entitled to say enough is enough and bring in the National Guard to reinforce the regular forces,” he added.Federal officials pointed to the three-week closing of the ICE building from mid-June to early July because of damage to windows, security cameras and other parts of the building, allegedly caused by protesters.Protesters have blamed the ongoing federal presence for civil unrest, saying the toxins being used against them are causing health concerns in the residential neighborhood.Speaking before a panel of federal judges Thursday, Senior Assistant Oregon Attorney General Stacy Chaffin said the administration’s portrayal of Portland was “untethered from reality.”Protests in Portland outside the ICE facility on Thursday.Alicia Lozano / NBC NewsAs lingering toxins from tear gas lobbed by federal officers caused people to clear their throats and wipe their stinging eyes Thursday night outside the ICE building, protesters said they were skeptical the Trump administration would follow a court order that was not in its favor.Brown and other demonstrators pulled a cart filled with 30 inflatable costumes and began passing them out to protesters, turning the gathering into a kind of night circus as a raccoon, polar bear and axolotl bounded toward the ICE building.Brown said he created an Operation Inflation website in one night this week after seeing federal police confront protester Seth Todd, otherwise known as “Toad” because of the costume he wears. Brown said he immediately began selling inflatable costumes from the site, adding that the operation is not funded or backed by any outside organization.Brown said he grew up learning about the deadly Kent State shooting in 1970, when four unarmed students were killed and another nine wounded by members of the Ohio National Guard. Operation Inflation is his attempt to de-escalate tensions between protesters and federal officers.Protests in Portland outside the ICE facility on Oct. 9.Alicia Lozano / NBC News“People should be able to protest. They should have their voices heard,” he said between coughs from the tainted air.Dressed as Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh,” Portland resident Joy Wilson marveled at the masked agents staring down at her. She said she usually reads a book during demonstrations to highlight the peace and calm of Portland’s resistance movement, and Thursday night marked her first time attending a protest in costume.But after witnessing federal agents pepper spray Todd in the respiratory hole of his inflatable suit on Oct. 4 in an act that was caught on video and posted to social media, Wilson said she decided to show solidarity because the frog has become a symbol of nonviolent protest.“People sometimes wonder, ‘What can I do’” to protest, Wilson said. “This makes it so accessible.”Wilson’s husband, Kevin, who was wearing regular clothes, stood nearby, carefully picking out more costumes to order online for demonstrators. Their teenage daughter and her friends passed out pizza slices to the demonstrators.“Should I go with the unicorn?” he mused before selecting a range of animals, including a lobster, a shark and a bear.“I already ordered a squirrel,” Wilson confessed with a grin.Alicia Victoria LozanoAlicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.
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