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The Wall Street Journal editorial board shredded President Donald Trump on Friday over his administration's move to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump's newly-appointed Eastern Virginia prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, is charging James with bank fraud, over highly partisan allegations by Trump's housing finance chief, Bill Pulte, that James defrauded mortgage lenders by declaring multiple primary residences. James has denied these allegations, and a review of records shows evidence that she, in fact, told her lender that one residence would not be primary. Meanwhile, the case was advanced so abruptly that even Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly wasn't aware it was happening.

Thousands of federal workers were hit by layoffs on Friday as the government shutdown entered its 10th day, according to newly released court filings.

More than 4,100 positions will be axed, the government told a court Friday night, according to The Washington Post. The number comes after White House budget director Russell Vought posted on X earlier in the day, “The RIFs have begun,” using an acronym for reductions in force.

Interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan – who President Donald Trump installed in late September — may have completely circumvented Attorney General Pam Bondi in her latest high-profile indictment. One former U.S. attorney emphasized that such a move would be "funky" and "nuts."

ABC News reported Friday that Bondi was reportedly "caught off guard" by the news that Halligan indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Thursday. Senior Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership hadn't been informed that Halligan was presenting evidence to a grand jury until after the fact.

President Donald Trump triggered an online political firestorm Friday afternoon with his remarkable claim that every time he sees Portland, Oregon, it's "burning down."

Trump addressed reporters from the Oval Office with some Cabinet members at his side, including Robert F. Kennedy, the secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills' Democratic campaign for Senate appeared to get off to a rocky start Friday afternoon.

A video dropped on X of Mills' campaign announcement, proclaiming she would be a vote for a Democratic majority, harshly criticizing Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, and asking people to donate to her ActBlue page.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) added her name to Republicans who aren't happy with the move from President Donald Trump's administration to issue mass layoffs to huge swaths of federal workers.

On Friday, Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought announced via social media that "RIFs," or reduction in force, were going out to federal employees across departments. Reporters have now confirmed the layoffs are happening at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, and more, said Government Executive.

As one right-wing news outlet reported that it had “unmasked” a protester who for months has been participating in nonviolent resistance against the Trump administration’s agenda in Portland, Oregon, while dressed in a frog costume, one journalist spoke directly to the demonstrator about their views and motivations.

“I come out here day in and day out since June because I am worried about my community, I am concerned with what is happening in my community,” said the protester, whom news outlets have recently identified as Seth Todd. “I don’t want to see anyone treated inhumanely.”

White House correspondent Andrew Egger tells The Bulwark that one of the most insidious things about Donald Trump’s decade-long turn atop our politics is the way “we seem to be losing some of our inability even to feel the shock.”

“You could see this in some of the early reactions last night to the news of Letitia James’s indictment on two counts of mortgage fraud,” said Egger. “The New York attorney general has been near the top of Trump’s enemies list for a while, and literally nobody … seems to be trying to argue that this indictment isn’t an act of naked political retribution.”

The stock markets fell on Friday after President Donald Trump "spooked markets" when he took to Truth Social to threaten more tariffs, according to a report.

The New York Times reported that the S&P 500 fell 2.7%, which is the worst in the past six months. The same thing happened with the Nasdaq Composite, which had the worst tumble since the announcement of the Trump tariffs in April.

President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account on Friday evening to vent fury over China's trade practices — and announce a retaliatory tariff that markets have feared.

This follows a previous rant earlier in the day on the same topic, as China condemns retaliatory port fees for U.S. ships.

New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli might occasionally mention President Donald Trump, but he certainly doesn't have the president doing one of his signature campaign rallies to aid in the campaign.

Ciattarelli might be having a MAGA rally, but the most significant MAGA influencer won't be there, Politico reported Friday.

Longtime GOP strategist Frank Luntz had a harsh warning for Capitol Hill on CNN Friday afternoon as the government shutdown drags on into its second week: don't let the two most electorally important groups become a casualty of the standoff, or they will blitz the ballot box with a vengeance.

There currently appears to be no end in sight to the impasse, with Democrats demanding an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies for millions of people whose premiums are set to go up, and Republicans refusing to discuss the matter until a clean bill is passed reopening federal agencies. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is seizing on the chaos to lay off thousands more federal workers.