By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal officials have approved another generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, a regulatory formality that quickly triggered pushback from anti-abortion groups aligned with the Trump administration.

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Drugmaker Evita Solutions announced on its website that the Food and Drug Administration signed off on its low-cost form of the pill, which is approved to end pregnancies through 10 weeks.

Students for Life Action, which opposes abortion, in a statement Thursday called the approval “a stain on the Trump presidency and another sign that the deep state at the FDA must go.”

The criticism comes as Republican President Donald Trump’s top health officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., face growing pressure from abortion opponents to reevaluate mifepristone, which was approved 25 years ago and has repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists.

In a letter to Republican attorneys general last month, Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary pledged to conduct a full review of the drug’s safety.

The FDA approved the original version of mifepristone in 2000 and gradually eased access over time. That included approving the first generic pill, from drugmaker GenBioPro, in 2019.

In 2021, the FDA under Democratic President Joe Biden permitted online prescribing and mail-order delivery of the drug, greatly expanding access. Abortion opponents have been fighting the change ever since.

Approval of generic drugs is typically a rote process at the FDA, with multiple copycat versions usually approved after the patent on the original drug expires. In most cases, generic drugmakers only need to show that they’re drug matches the ingredients and formula developed by the original drugmaker.

The FDA typically approves such applications within 10 months. But filing documents posted to the FDA’s website show that Evita Solutions filed its application to market mifepristone four years ago.

The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On its website, Evita states that it “believes that all people should have access to safe, affordable, high-quality, effective, and compassionate abortion care.”

Approval of a second generic is unlikely to affect access to the pill, which is typically taken with another drug, misoprostol. The combination accounts for roughly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions. Mifepristone dilates the cervix and blocks the hormone progesterone, while misoprostol causes the uterus to cramp and contract.

Access to mifepristone is restricted across large sections of the country because of state laws that ban abortion — including medication abortion — or impose separate restrictions on the drug’s use. Those laws are subject to a number of ongoing lawsuits that are winding their way through the legal system

Restrictions on the pill are not supported by most major medical societies, including the American Medical Association.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department fired a top national security prosecutor amid criticism from a right-wing commentator over his work during the Biden administration, further roiling the prominent U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia after the ousting of other senior attorneys in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Michael Ben’Ary, who was chief of the office’s national security unit, was fired Wednesday just hours after Julie Kelly, a conservative writer and activist, shared online that he previously worked as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco during the Biden administration, two people familiar with the matter said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Kelly’s post speculated that Ben’Ary may have been part of the “internal resistance” in the office to the recently charged case against FBI Director James Comey. But Ben’Ary played no role in the Comey case, one of the people said.

His termination comes days after the firing of another prosecutor in the Alexandria, Virginia, office: Maya Song, the people said. Song had served as the top deputy to former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who was nominated by President Donald Trump but pushed out last month amid pressure from the administration to bring charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James in a mortgage fraud investigation.

The firings are the latest in a wave of terminations that have thrown the department into turmoil and raised alarm over political influence over the traditionally independent law enforcement agency and the erosion of civil service protections afforded to federal employees. While U.S. attorneys generally change with a new president, rank-and-file prosecutors by tradition remain with the department across administrations. The Trump administration, however, has fired prosecutors involved in the U.S. Capitol riot criminal cases and lawyers who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of Trump, among others.

Ben’Ary worked for the Justice Department for nearly two decades and was promoted under both Republican and Democratic administrations. He was currently prosecuting the case against the suspected planner in the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Song was fired Friday shortly after the Trump administration installed a new U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, a former White House aide who had been one of Trump’s personal lawyers but had not previously served as a federal prosecutor. Halligan was put in the top job after Trump publicly pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi in an extraordinary social media post to move forward with pursuing cases against some of his political opponents.

Days after that post, Halligan secured the indictment of Comey on allegations that he lied to Congress when he said he had not authorized anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about a particular investigation. Comey, who is expected to make his initial court appearance next week, has denied any wrongdoing and said: “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice.”

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — On Thursday morning, as thousands of federal employees stayed home and faced potential layoffs because of the government shutdown, President Donald Trump got right to work on social media.

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He started by sharing praise from supporters. Then he falsely claimed that “DEMOCRATS WANT TO GIVE YOUR HEALTHCARE MONEY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS.” And then he announced that he would meet with his top budget adviser to figure out where to make permanent cuts to federal programs that “are a political SCAM.”

All that was before 8 a.m., just one flurry in a blizzard of online commentary from the president as the government shutdown entered a second day. Like so many other times when he’s faced complex crises with no easy solutions, Trump seems determined to post his way through it.

The stream of invective and trolling has been remarkable even for a 79-year-old president who is as chronically online as any member of Gen Z. His style is mirrored by the rest of his administration, which so far seems more interested in mocking and pummeling Democrats than negotiating with them.

Government websites feature pop-up messages blaming “the Radical Left” for the shutdown, an unusually political message for ostensibly nonpartisan agencies. When reporters email the White House press office, they receive an automated reply blaming slow answers on “staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown.”

Trump’s White House is accustomed to take-no-prisoners political messaging, continuing its aggressive style from last year’s campaign that critics describe as callous and vindictive. The administration rarely misses an opportunity to get under the skin of its opponents.

The president took a similar online approach to the last government shutdown, which began in December 2018 and lasted until January 2019 during his first term in office. On the 30th day of that shutdown, Politico tallied 40 tweets from Trump, including a complaint that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was acting “so irrationally” and gratitude for federal employees for “working so hard for your Country and not getting paid.”

Back then, Trump took most of the blame, with an Associated Press-NORC poll showing about 7 in 10 Americans saying he had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility. He ultimately backed down from his demand for border wall funding, signed legislation allowing the government to reopen.

It remains to be seen who will face the most blowback this time. Democrats say they won’t vote for any spending legislation unless it extends health care subsidies, used to purchase insurance through the Affordable Care Act, that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Republicans accuse them of being obstructionist, insisting that government operations should be funded while other policies are negotiated separately.

A recent New York Times/Siena poll, which was conducted before the shutdown began, found slightly more registered voters would blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than Democrats. About one-third said they’d blame both sides equally.

There was another red flag for Trump in a one-day text message poll conducted Oct. 1 by the Washington Post. The results showed 47% of Americans saying they thought the president and Republicans in Congress are mainly to blame, compared with 30% saying that of Democrats in Congress.

Trump appears determined to move the needle — or at least blow off some steam — with his account on Truth Social, a social media platform founded by Trump after he was banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The presidential trolling began on Monday after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with Trump and Republicans at the White House. Trump posted a deepfake video of the lawmakers, with Schumer saying, “nobody likes Democrats anymore.” Jeffries was depicted with a cartoon sombrero and mustache.

“It’s a disgusting video, and we’re going to continue to make clear that bigotry will get you nowhere,” Jeffries said on MSNBC this week.

Trump posted a clip of his appearance, but with a soundtrack of mariachi music. The sombrero and mustache were back, too.

“Every day Democrats keep the government shut down, the sombrero gets 10x bigger,” the White House wrote on social media.

Hours before the shutdown began on Tuesday night, the president posted photos from his meeting with Jeffries and Schumer. The pictures showed red “Trump 2028” hats on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, a nod to his talk of running for an unconstitutional third term.

Trump did not have any public appearances scheduled on Thursday. An event to commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month was postponed because of the shutdown.

The White House did not respond to questions about how he was working to resolve the situation. But for at least a few hours, Trump’s social media account went quiet.

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A comet from another star system will swing by Mars on Friday as a fleet of spacecraft trains its sights on the interstellar visitor.

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The comet known as 3I/Atlas will hurtle within 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) of the red planet, its closest approach during its trek through the inner solar system. Its breakneck speed: 193,000 mph (310,000 kph).

Both of the European Space Agency’s satellites around Mars are already aiming their cameras at the comet, which is only the third interstellar object known to have passed our way. NASA’s satellite and rovers at the red planet are also available to assist in the observations.

Discovered in July, the comet poses no threat to Earth or its neighboring planets. It will come closest to the sun at the end of October. Throughout November, ESA’s Juice spacecraft, which is headed to Jupiter and its icy moons, will keep an eye on the comet.

The comet will make its closest approach to Earth in December, passing within 167 million miles (269 million kilometers).

Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope put the comet’s nucleus at no more than 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) across. It could be as small as 1,444 feet (440 meters), according to NASA.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.