Today's Top Stories from NBC News

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025

In today's newsletter: A judge's ruling on federal layoffs criticizes the White House's actions. Trump makes an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgment about CIA operations in Venezuela. And how reading in public became meme fodder.

Here's what to know today.

▼ The Lead

Judge blocks Trump's layoffs during shutdown, calling them illegal

(Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from laying off federal workers during the government shutdown, which has now stretched to two weeks.

Two unions sued the Trump administration last month ahead of the shutdown after the White House signaled a plan to lay people off through "reductions in force" (RIFs) at federal agencies.

"The activities that are being undertaken here are contrary to the laws," U.S. District Judge Susan Yvonne Illston said. "You can't do this in a nation of laws."

Illston added that the Trump administration had "taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don't apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don't like."

An earlier filing from the government stated that the administration had begun laying off at least 4,000 workers.

Read the full story.

More politics news:

Democrats pressured House Speaker Mike Johnson to seat Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, staging a protest at his office to try to get him to swear in the newest Democratic member of Congress.

Vice President JD Vance defended young Republican leaders who are under scrutiny after Politico published "hundreds of racist and hateful messages" from what it reported was their private group chat.

Republicans in Virginia are centering their message in the closing weeks of the election on recently surfaced violent texts from Jay Jones, the Democrats' nominee for attorney general.

On Saturday, millions of people will march in nationwide "No Kings" protests, which organizers expect to far surpass the 5 million demonstrators who turned out for June's "No Kings" day.

A Republican congressman from Ohio condemned the display of an altered American flag that included a swastika in his office.

The CIA's operations abroad are usually shrouded in secrecy, but President Donald Trump said he had authorized the spy agency to take unspecified action in Venezuela, an extraordinary and unprecedented acknowledgement from a commander in chief.

Asked why he authorized the CIA to go into Venezuela, the president gave two reasons: the first was a claim that the country was emptying "their prisons into the United States of America." The second was narcotics trafficking.

The president's remarks come amid strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Trump indicated he is also considering U.S. military strikes on Venezuelan soil.

"Well, I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," Trump said.

Read the full story.

The Mamdani-Cuomo rivalry will be on full display at debate

As Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo prepare to face off in their first general election debate tonight, a review of the tape from their two Democratic primary debates shows how they have positioned themselves in diametric opposition to each other.

To Cuomo, Mamdani is a young man in a hurry whose lack of experience should disqualify him from leading America's largest city. The former governor also considers his opponent to be the face of a wing of the Democratic Party that he believes is leading the whole organization astray.

To Mamdani, Cuomo is the manifestation of a broken Democratic Party establishment, a root cause of the affordability crisis at the center of his entire campaign, and a politician who has lost the public trust after being accused of sexual misconduct, allegations Cuomo denies.

Separately, Mamdani said it's "too early" to give the president credit for the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Read the full story on their rivalry.

▼ Read All About It

Several nonprofit organizations alleged that the artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI has recently used intimidation tactics to silence them.

Sean "Diddy" Combs will face strict conditions after his release, according to court documents.

Two Alaskan villages destroyed by remnants of a powerful typhoon killed at least one person and displaced more than 1,400 people.

Exposure to any germs could've killed her. Eleven years later, she's living a normal life thanks to a gene therapy treatment.

The Windy City rivalry made its way to the Vatican when Pope Leo XIV, a White Sox fan, seemed to take some glee from the Chicago Cubs' playoff elimination.

Diane Keaton's family has revealed her cause of death and thanked fans for their "love and support."

▼ Staff Pick

Novel performance

On social media, photos and videos of people reading in public have become fodder for jokes about "performative reading," or the idea that people want to look like they're reading without actually doing so.

These callouts stem from a broader cultural fixation on authenticity in the digital age. I spoke to longtime readers about how this discourse has influenced their own relationship to books, as well as why they feel a little bit of "performative reading" may not be so bad.

– Angela Yang, trending reporter

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Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown. Today's newsletter was curated for you by Christian Orozco.

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