Vice President JD Vance is reacting to a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to pay November SNAP benefits to millions of Americans while the government shutdown drags on. CBS News' Weijia Jiang reports.

Washington

President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance responded to a federal court order requiring the administration to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, calling the ruling "absurd" and attributing the funding issue to the ongoing government shutdown. The administration had planned to provide only partial benefits, but a judge ruled that all benefits must be paid, prompting an immediate appeal from the Department of Justice.

The situation has left the status of SNAP payments for over 40 million Americans uncertain. Additionally, President Trump announced pardons for former Tennessee Speaker Glenn Casada and his chief of staff, both convicted of money laundering, with the White House stating the punishment was disproportionate to the crime.

Vance calls judge's SNAP benefits order "absurd"

Let's turn now to how all of this is playing out at the White House. We're getting fresh reaction from President Donald Trump on a court order. Yesterday it demands his administration fully fund snap benefits for the month of November that ruling came from US District Judge John McConnell. He called it quote simply unacceptable for checks to be withheld any longer, and you may remember the administration originally planned to pay the more than 40 million Americans on snap, only up to 65% of their benefits. This month, that decision is, of course, because of the ongoing government shutdown. When asked about what they think of the judges order, the president and Vice President had this to say. It's an absurd ruling because you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown, which what we'd like to do is for the Democrats to open up the government. Of course, then we can fund snap and we can also do a lot of other good things for the American people. But in the midst of a shutdown, the president how he has to triage the situation and you know one other thing our country has to remain very liquid because problems, catastrophes, wars could be anything. We have to remain liquid. We can't give everything away based on a number. Alright, let's go live to the White House and CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Zhang. Weijia, thank you for your time. Can you tell us more about this ruling? And do we know if people will get any of the snap benefits today? Well, we know that the Department of Justice immediately appealed this ruling and filed the paperwork this morning. So at this time it's unclear what happens to those funds, but the administration previously this week said that they would provide about half of the snap benefits with a contingency fund, even though after the Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture said they were taking steps to ensure that process was going through, the president posted and said that no snap money would be going out until after the government reopened. So there was already confusion there, and then it was after that that this. Judge in Rhode Island made another ruling that said no, you actually have to pay all of the snap benefits by today, and that's where we are right now. Because again, the administration has appealed, but previously the White House has insisted that they would at least supply some of the money and they did not intend on defying the court order. So we'll have to see what plays out today, but the bottom line is Mugo that 42 million people or so here in this country rely on those benefits, and so that is why there's this court order for the government to provide it. But you know, we also heard from the president who said because that's a contingency fund we're you know you can't just spend. That amount of money on one thing. He said he wanted to preserve it in case of emergency for other things. OK, we show while we have you here. I want to ask you about a few pardons. The president granted just yesterday. What do we know about who he let off the hook? So President Trump has already pardoned a string of former officials on the state and federal level and we can firmed yesterday that he has pardoned the former Tennessee Speaker of the House, former Representative Glenn Casada, and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothran, who were both convicted on federal money laundering charges. They were accused and again found guilty and sentenced to prison time actually. Three years and two and a half years respectively for launching what he turned out to be illegitimate business to funnel money into their own accounts. But the White House issued a statement to say that the Biden Department of Justice over prosecuted. They said that in the end it was a $5000. Profit that they were talking about and that the punishment simply did not fit the crime, and so that is why they are explaining this pardoning. But you know, of course, critics are already sounding alarm bells about whether this was the right move Mugo. OK, we're saying at the White House for us today. Thank you.

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