WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has had one refrain in recent days when asked about the looming government shutdown.

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Will there be a shutdown? Yes, Trump says, “because the Democrats are crazed.” Why is the White House pursuing mass firings, not just furloughs, of federal workers? Trump responds, “Well, this is all caused by the Democrats.”

Is he concerned about the impact of a shutdown? “The radical left Democrats want to shut it down,” he retorts.

“If it has to shut down, it’ll have to shut down,” Trump said Friday. “But they’re the ones that are shutting down government.”

In his public rhetoric, the Republican president has been singularly focused on laying pressure on Democrats in hopes they will yield before Wednesday, when the shutdown could begin, or shoulder the political blame if they don’t. That has aligned Trump with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who have refused to accede to Democrats’ calls to include health care provisions on a bill that will keep the government operating for seven more weeks.

Those dynamics could change Monday, when the president has agreed to host Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Johnson and Thune. Democrats believe the high-stakes meeting means the GOP is feeling pressure to compromise with them.

Still, Republicans say they are confident Democrats would be faulted if the closure comes. For Trump, the impact would go far beyond politics. His administration is sketching plans to implement mass layoffs of federal workers rather than simply furloughing them, furthering their goal of building a far smaller government that lines up with Trump’s vision and policy priorities.

This time, it’s the Democrats making policy demands

The GOP’s stance — a short-term extension of funding, with no strings attached — is unusual for a political party that has often tried to extract policy demands using the threat of a government shutdown as leverage.

In 2013, Republicans refused to keep the government running unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded, a stand that led to a 16-day shutdown for which the GOP was widely blamed. During his first term, Trump insisted on adding funding for a border wall that Congress would not approve, prompting a shutdown that the president, in an extraordinary Oval Office meeting that played out before cameras, said he would “take the mantle” for.

“I will be the one to shut it down,” Trump declared at the time.

This time, it’s the Democrats making the policy demands.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, left, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, tell reporters that they are united as the Sept. 30 funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

They want an extension of subsidies that help low- and middle-income earners who buy insurance coverage through the Obama-era health care law. They also want to reverse cuts to Medicaid enacted in the GOP’s tax and border spending bill this year. Republican leaders say what Democrats are pushing for is too costly and too complicated to negotiate with the threat of a government shutdown hanging over lawmakers.

Watching all this is Trump. He has not ruled out a potential deal on continuing the expiring subsidies, which some Republicans also want to extend.

“My assumption is, he’s going to be willing to sit down and talk about at least one of these issues that they’re interested in and pursuing a solution for after the government stays open,” Thune said in an Associated Press interview last week. “Frankly, I just don’t know what you negotiate at this point.”

Back and forth on a White House sit-down

At this point, Trump has shown no public indication he plans to compromise with Democrats on a shutdown, even as he acknowledges he needs help from at least a handful of them to keep the government open and is willing to meet with them at the White House.

Last week, Trump appeared to agree to sit down with Schumer and Jeffries and a meeting went on the books for Thursday. Once word got out about that, Johnson and Thune intervened, privately making the case to Trump that it was not the time during the funding fight to negotiate with Democrats over health care, according to a person familiar with the conversation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Not long after hearing from the GOP leaders, Trump took to social media and said he would no longer meet with the two Democrats “after reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats.” Republicans privately acknowledge Trump’s decision to agree to a meeting was a misstep because it gave Democrats fodder to paint Trump as the one refusing to negotiate.

“Trump is literally boycotting meeting with Democrats to find a solution,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., wrote on the social media site X before Trump reversed course again and agreed to meet with the leadership. “There is no one to blame but him. He wants a shut down.”

It was not immediately clear what led Trump over the weekend to take a meeting he had once refused. Schumer spoke privately with Thune on Friday, pushing the majority leader to get a meeting with the president scheduled because of the approaching funding deadline, according to a Schumer aide. A Thune spokesman said in response that Schumer was “clearly getting nervous.”

Another reason why Democrats suspect Trump would be fine with a shutdown is how his budget office would approach a closure should one happen.

The administration’s strategy was laid out in an Office of Management and Budget memo last week that said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse, are not otherwise funded and are “not consistent” with the president’s priorities. A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but also eliminate their positions, triggering yet another massive upheaval in the federal workforce.

Jeffries argued that Trump and his top aides were using the “smoke screen of a government shutdown caused by them to do more damage.”

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man accused of trying to join the Islamic State group pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

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Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 23, changed his plea to guilty during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul.

When Hassan was charged in February, prosecutors said he had expressed admiration on social media for the man who carried out a Jan. 1 truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that killed 14 people. That attacker was killed by police. His truck bore the flag of the militant Islamic State group.

Prosecutors say Hassan tried twice in December to travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join the group and fight on its behalf but failed both times. The FBI had been tipped beforehand about a social media user who had expressed support for the Islamic State group and the Somali militant group al-Shabab, and agents conducted surveillance of Hassan on both attempts.

The first time Hassan tried to travel to Somalia, according to court documents, the airline denied him boarding because he lacked the proper travel documents. He missed the second flight while federal officers questioned him, but he wasn’t detained until his arrest in February.

The FBI said it observed Hassan driving with the group’s flag the day before his arrest.

“There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. “Hassan flew the ISIS flag, venerated attacks on the homeland, and wanted to kill Americans. We are not taking chances. We will not let Minnesota become a safe haven for terrorists.”

Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, remains in custody. A sentencing date has not been set. Under a plea agreement, the government agreed not to seek a sentence longer than 17 years, while the defense is free to recommend anything it wants. The final decision is up to the judge.

A New York man accused of plotting an attack on behalf of the Islamic State group in 2019 was sentenced last week to nine years in prison.

Hassan was the latest of several Minnesotans suspected of leaving or trying to leave the U.S. to join the Islamic State group in recent years, along with thousands of fighters from other countries. In 2016 nine Minnesotans were sentenced on charges of conspiring to join the group, and one who actually fought for the group in Iraq was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison.

PERHAM, Minn. — Betsy Gilman last month finally won the gold medal she has been chasing for decades.

Thirteen countries were represented at the World Masters Barefoot Championships that took place Sept. 7-13, 2025, in Chartres, France. Betsy Gilman (center) brought home the gold for the U.S. (Courtesy of Betsy Gilman / Forum News Service)

The 55-year-old Perham resident represented the U.S. at the World Masters Barefoot Championships in Paris, where she collected several medals — including the gold for women of all ages in the barefoot ski jump.

Gilman set a goal for the gold in her mid-30s. While she has received medals in competitions before, the closest she got in the barefoot ski jump was silver. Every year that passed, gold seemed less likely.

But on this day, on a secluded lake in France, Gilman had tied for first place in the barefoot jump, reaching a distance of 8 1⁄2 meters (or roughly 28 feet).

While her personal record is 10 ½ meters (34 feet), she was happy with her jump due to unfavorable conditions.

The tie-breaker required both skiers to give it their all in a “sudden death” match, but high winds benched them. On the last day of the competition, the waters were still rough by barefoot jump standards. Gilman explained the danger of rippling water begins when a skier touches the ramp.

“It’s more slippery on the jump than it is in the water,” she said. “So when you come into the jump, you need to have equal pressure on both feet. If there’s waves, you’re compensating. So if you come in and you have more weight on one foot than the other, you can go off weird.”

The judges informed the skiers that if neither jumped, no gold or silver would be awarded.

“The other woman didn’t want to do it,” Gilman said. Despite the risk of injury, accepted. “All I had to do was a little jump and land it. So that’s exactly what I did.”

In barefoot skiing, Gilman also won gold in her age division 45-54, in slalom and in trick skiing. With all ages included, she placed fourth overall in slalom and fourth in tricks for barefoot skiers. With all the points she collected, she also came home with a bronze medal in all age divisions for her category.

Much was gained on the 19-year journey to the gold.

Gilman is a lifelong skier. She has trained at the World Barefoot Center in Florida since 2008, but it was in 2016 when she decided to take time off from work and chase the gold. She retreated to her family cottage on Big Pine Lake and had the “best summer” of her life. For six months, she trained for the championship competition.

“I’m not the best in slalom,” she said. “I’m not the best in tricks, but I love to jump. I love it. So, I was like, well, that’s a goal I can chase and enjoy doing it.”

Gilman explained the jump became her favorite event because it combined the speed she loves with the skill to glide over a ramp on bare feet and ride away.

While skiing can be done at most ages, barefoot jumping is typically reserved for younger athletes. Gilman explained using feet instead of skis can be hard on the body. Skidding across the water on bare feet isn’t the issue, but rather the crashes into the water. For perspective, she explained those on two skis may travel upward of 18 mph, whereas barefoot jumpers typically go around 42 mph, with the top allowed speed being 44 mph in competitions.

When they take off from an 18-inch high ramp at that speed, a lot can happen.

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Looking for a mentor: Iris

As she began to compete, Gilman found success. She returned home with medals, but the gold in the barefoot jump remained elusive. By not achieving her goal with ease, she found something more valuable.

The years of competing provided a network of friends from all over the world to share her passion for water skiing. When she was feeling down, after the first day of competition in France didn’t go her way, it was the reminder of what matters that pulled her up.

Gilman explained that competitors have three jumps, and the longest distance is the one that is scored. After the first day, she called her husband Ryan and rattled off things that went south that prevented her from showcasing the best of her abilities. He listened and then replied with a simple question.

“He asked, ‘Why are you there?’” she recalled. The question helped her focus on the value of the experience. She was there because she wanted to explore a part of France with friends, and have fun competing. “So he goes, well, just go do that. And then after that, I didn’t think about it anymore.”

Benching the mind can sometimes free up an athlete to perform at their peak. For Gilman, it appeared to help. But the competitive nature of an athlete is always under the surface.

“My goal now is to be the oldest woman barefoot jumper in the world,” she said. “And I’m not far off. I think that the oldest woman who jumps is 58.”

By TRÂN NGUYỄN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a law that aims to prevent people from using powerful artificial intelligence models for potentially catastrophic activities like building a bioweapon or shutting down a bank system.

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The move comes as Newsom touted California as a leader in AI regulation and criticized the inaction at the federal level in a recent conversation with former President Bill Clinton. The new law will establish some of the first-in-the-nation regulations on large-scale AI models without hurting the state’s homegrown industry, Newsom said. Many of the world’s top AI companies are located in California and will have to follow the requirements.

“California has proven that we can establish regulations to protect our communities while also ensuring that the growing AI industry continues to thrive. This legislation strikes that balance,” Newsom said in a statement.

The legislation requires AI companies to implement and disclose publicly safety protocols to prevent their most advanced models from being used to cause major harm. The rules are designed to cover AI systems if they meet a “frontier” threshold that signals they run on a huge amount of computing power.

Such thresholds are based on how many calculations the computers are performing. Those who crafted the regulations have acknowledged the numerical thresholds are an imperfect starting point to distinguish today’s highest-performing generative AI systems from the next generation that could be even more powerful. The existing systems are largely made by California-based companies like Anthropic, Google, Meta Platforms and OpenAI.

The legislation defines a catastrophic risk as something that would cause at least $1 billion in damage or more than 50 injuries or deaths. It’s designed to guard against AI being used for activities that could cause mass disruption, such as hacking into a power grid.

Companies also have to report to the state any critical safety incidents within 15 days. The law creates whistleblower protections for AI workers and establishes a public cloud for researchers. It includes a fine of $1 million per violation.

It drew opposition from some tech companies, which argued that AI legislation should be done at the federal level. But Anthropic said the regulations are “practical safeguards” that make official the safety practices many companies are already doing voluntarily.

“While federal standards remain essential to avoid a patchwork of state regulations, California has created a strong framework that balances public safety with continued innovation,” Jack Clark, co-founder and head of policy at Anthropic, said in a statement.

The signing comes after Newsom last year vetoed a broader version of the legislation, siding with tech companies that said the requirements were too rigid and would have hampered innovation. Newsom instead asked a group of several industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, to develop recommendations on guardrails around powerful AI models.

The new law incorporates recommendations and feedback from Newsom’s group of AI experts and the industry, supporters said. The legislation also doesn’t put the same level of reporting requirements on startups to avoid hurting innovation, said state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, the bill’s author.

“With this law, California is stepping up, once again, as a global leader on both technology innovation and safety,” Wiener said in a statement.

Newsom’s decision comes as President Donald Trump in July announced a plan to eliminate what his administration sees as “onerous” regulations to speed up AI innovation and cement the U.S.’ position as the global AI leader. Republicans in Congress earlier this year unsuccessfully tried to ban states and localities from regulating AI for a decade.

Without stronger federal regulations, states across the country have spent the last few years trying to rein in the technology, tackling everything from deepfakes in elections to AI “therapy.” In California, the Legislature this year passed a number of bills to address safety concerns around AI chatbots for children and the use of AI in the workplace.

California has also been an early adopter of AI technologies. The state has deployed generative AI tools to spot wildfires and address highway congestion and road safety, among other things.

Associated Press reporter Matt O’Brien contributed to the report.