The Headlines - Democrats Denounce Shutdown Vote, and Trump Issues Flurry of Pardons

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Plus, a new gambling scandal in pro sports. Here’s what we’re covering:Senate Passes Bill to Reopen Government Amid Democratic Rift by Catie EdmondsonShutdown Deal Revives Democratic Infighting by Michael GoldSpending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches by Devlin BarrettTrump Pardons the Husband of a Republican Congressional Ally by Kenneth P. VogelTrump Pardons Giuliani and Others Involved in Effort to Overturn 2020 Election by Alan Feuer and Glenn ThrushFelon Freed by Trump Is Sentenced Again, This Time to 27 Months by Santul Nerkar, Michael S. Schmidt and Olivia BensimonHow Canada Lost Decades of Progress in Fighting Measles by Vjosa IsaiM.L.B. Limits Bets on Individual Pitches After Gambling Charges by Jenny VrentasTune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, November 11th. Here's what we're covering. On this vote, the eyes are 60. The nays are 40. The bill, as amended, is passed. On Capitol Hill yesterday, lawmakers took another crucial step

towards ending the ongoing shutdown as the Senate gave its final approval for a spending package to reopen the government. And with that, after six excruciating weeks, I will stop talking and let all of you get some rest. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Next, the measure will go to the House, where members have been on a nearly two-month recess. Yesterday, Speaker Mike Johnson told them to return to Washington immediately. After the House vote, which could happen tomorrow at the earliest, the bill would head to President Trump, who said he's willing to sign it, and end the longest shutdown.

in U.S. history. Meanwhile, the compromise that broke the logjam, where a handful of senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans, has caused an enormous rift in the Democratic Party. They're looting the health care for middle-class families, poor families, in order to pay for tax breaks for people who already have too much. The American people want us to stop this health heist. They don't want Democrats to be driving the getaway car. Democrats have expressed intense anger towards the eight senators who broke ranks and dropped what had been the party's central demand, an extension of health care subsidies for over 20 million Americans. They accused them of enabling Trump's agenda and betraying their

constituents. Notably, all eight senators could afford to take a political hit. Two are retiring, and the others are not up for re-election next year. Today on the daily, Michael Barbaro speaks with Times political correspondent Shane Goldmacher about the politics of the shutdown and the tradeoffs that Democrats have made. The Democratic Party has clearly elevated two issues that it feels are the winning issues for the party. The first is health care. And the second is affordability told through health care. And those have been the dominant topic of conversation for weeks, which is pretty hard to pull off when you're the minor.

party with no power in Washington, and it took a shutdown for them to do that and for them to elevate those issues in hopes that long past the shutdown, voters will think, oh, that's the party that's actually fighting for me on those issues. Right. So that's one side of the ledger, the good side. That's the good side. But the risk of that fight was inflating people's expectations that they were actually going to win something.

And they didn't get those outcomes. Beyond moving towards ending the shutdown, the spending bill passed by the Senate also includes another provision that could let some lawmakers personally collect up to half a million dollars from the government. The measure creates a new legal pathway for senators to sue if federal investigators search their phone records without notifying them. It's not clear who added the language to the bill, but the provision is retroactive to 2022.

That means that a handful of sitting Republicans could potentially sue and get the payout. Their phone records, things like what numbers were called and how long calls lasted, were subpoenaed as part of the investigation into the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Lawmakers were not formally notified about the subpoenas until two years later. Republican lawmakers said that accessing those records was inappropriate spying. One Democratic senator, meanwhile, said the new provision, quote, takes a reasonable protection against government surveillance and wraps it in an unacceptable giveaway of your tax dollars to Republican senators.

At the White House, President Trump has issued a flurry of pardons in recent days, granting clemency to political allies, long-time supporters, and key figures accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election. The list includes Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former lawyer, Mark Meadows, his former White House chief of staff, and Sidney Powell, who pushed baseless conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines. The pardons also covered a number of lower profile officials who worked to change election results. Many of the people Trump pardoned still face prosecutions at the state

level, so Trump's federal pardons are largely seen as symbolic, but they underscore just how far the president is willing to go to sustain the lie that the 2020 election was rigged. Trump's use of pardon power has also rewarded other allies in recent days. He quietly signed a pardon for the husband of a Republican congresswoman who pleaded guilty to health care fraud, and two prominent Republicans in Tennessee politics were found guilty of public corruption. Since he first took office in 2017, Trump has sidestepped a long-standing Justice Department process

of formally reviewing clemency applications, instead handing out pardons and commutations in a freewheeling manner. And at least eight convicts Trump granted clemency to in his first term have been charged with crimes again. One man who was jailed for drug trafficking and money laundering had his sentence commuted in 2021, thanks to connections to Trump's son-in-law. He was back in court on Monday, accused of sexual and physical assault. Federal prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence him to five years in prison.

On Monday, public health officials announced that Canada has officially lost its status as having eliminated measles amid a downturn in vaccination rates and a surge in the disease. According to the World Health Organization, a country loses elimination status if a disease spreads unchecked for more than a year.

We're going to start with measles because cases are on the rise right across the country. More warnings from the provinces as the number of cases of measles continues to grow. More than two dozen new measles infections were reported

and health officials believe there are likely going to be more undetected. In the past, Last 12 months in Canada, there have been more than 5,000 cases of measles, an outbreak caused by the collision of politics and public health, as pushback against vaccines has grown in the post-pandemic era. As of a few years ago, less than 80% of Canadian 7-year-olds were fully vaccinated against measles, far below the 95% threshold that experts say is needed to stop the virus from spreading.

The highest concentration of cases in Canada has been in the western province of Alberta, where politicians have emphasized personal freedoms to reject vaccination, and the conservative premier has called unvaccinated people the region's, quote, most discriminated against group. A recent Times investigation found that as the outbreak spread, health officials in Alberta were stymied from ramping up warnings about measles. Experts say that the resurgence of the disease in Canada and beyond is especially concerning because it could be a kind of canary in a coal mine,

suggesting that other once-eliminated diseases could also come roaring back. And finally, the world of pro sports is grappling with yet another gambling scandal this week, after two MLB pitchers were charged with sharing inside information with bettors, who then made hundreds of thousands of dollars. The alleged scheme centered on what are known as micro-bets, wagers that happen in the moment, like, will the next batter get a hit, or will the next pitch be a strike? And prosecutors say that in this case, some bettors knew exactly what kind of pitch was coming.

So let's see if you can be efficient. Throw it over the plate, and the first one bounces in the grass. They say two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians were coordinating with bettors and even using phones in the middle of games to tell them what to bet on next. Lawyers for both players say they're innocent. Major League Baseball is conducting its own investigation, and yesterday, the MLB announced that it's moved to limit bets on individual pitches to $200. The allegations of betting and baseball come as other leagues, including the National Basketball Association,

are also facing claims that players have been colluding with gamblers. In recent years, betting companies have expanded the number and types of events that can be gambled on, and the explosion of small side bets have transformed pro sports, driving fan engagement, boosting profits, and potentially opening the door to more, legal collusion. But at the end of the day, this is sports, and there are variables you cannot always control. During a Guardian's game back in May, bettors allegedly had four grand riding on a single pitch, betting that it would be a ball. The pitcher wound up, released, and oops, swing and a miss for a strike. Prosecutors say the pitcher later sent one of the

betters a message with a giff of a sad puppy dog face. Those are the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis. We'll be back tomorrow.