Closing summary
We’re wrapping up our live coverage for the day. We’ll be back on Tuesday. Here is a summary of today’s developments:
Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes against Iran will hinge in part on the judgment of Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons, according to people familiar with the matter. The president has not made a final determination on any strikes, as the administration prepares for Iran to send its latest proposal this week, ahead of what officials have described as a last-ditch round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday in Geneva. More here.
Trump has declared that he can use tariffs in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”, as the UK and the EU said they were seeking urgent clarity on the US trade deals they struck last summer. Trump threatened to escalate his global tariff war on Monday, after a supreme court ruling last week that he had overstepped his legal authority to impose his “liberation day” measures last year. More here.
The 21-year-old man who was shot and killed after having entered Trump’s Florida resort on Sunday – while carrying a shotgun – came from a North Carolina family of the president’s supporters and had reportedly become increasingly fixated on the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files. The focus of the FBI’s investigation into the intrusion attributed to Austin Tucker Martin is tightening on his movements and motives. More here.
The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean, which killed three men – its third such attack over the course of a week. The Southern Command identified the three men killed as “male narco-terrorists” and clarified that no US military forces were harmed in the strike. More here.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, announced that he is inviting the family of Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil- and human-rights trailblazer who died last week, to the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Several other lawmakers have announced they’re inviting survivors of sexual assault by Jeffrey Epstein.
After a rampant immigration crackdown by the Trump administration in Minnesota that led to the death of two US citizens, representative Ilhan Omar said her guests for the president’s address on Tuesday will include four Minnesotans affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Aliya Rahman, Mary Granlund, Mubashir Hussen, and Gerardo Orozco Guzman were invited by the Minnesota lawmaker.
Rahman was violently detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in South Minneapolis last month, and said she suffered medical neglect while in detention. Granlund is part of the Columbia Heights School Board. Hussen was wrongfully detained by ICE agents despite letting them know he is a US citizen, while Orozco Guzman’s father, Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, was taken by ICE under the Trump administration’s so-called Operation Metro Surge and remains detained in New Mexico.
Like Jeffries, several other lawmakers have invited survivors of sexual assault by Jeffrey Epstein to the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Democratic representative James Walkinshaw of Virginia said he will host Jess Michaels, who was sexually assaulted by Epstein in 1991.
“For years, Jeffrey Epstein built a system of abuse that relied on powerful allies and enablers who helped him hide in plain sight and kept survivors from being heard,” said Walkinshaw. “The truth is coming to light because survivors of Epstein’s abuse have shown extraordinary courage and refused to be silenced.”
Representative Ro Khanna of California, and one of the authors of the Epstein Transparency Act, said he invited Haley Robson, one of Epstein’s accusers, to the president’s address on Tuesday. Robson said she was trafficked by the late sex offender when she was 16.
Representatives Jamie Raskin and Suhas Subramanyam announced they will be joined by Sky and Amanda Roberts, the brother and sister-in-law of Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide.
Invitees are meant to reflect lawmakers’ priorities in their district or in the country broadly.
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The US women’s hockey team, which brought home a gold medal from the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, declined an invitation from President Donald Trump to attend his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
“We are sincerely grateful for the invitation extended to our gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey Team and deeply appreciate the recognition of their extraordinary achievement,” reads a statement from the US women’s team. “Due to the timing and previously scheduled academic and professional commitments following the Games, the athletes are unable to participate. They were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgment.”
The president also invited the men’s hockey team, but it remains unclear whether the they will attend the speech.
Per the AP, the women’s players didn’t learn of the invite until late Sunday night, hindering their capacity to change their travel plans.
Maryland AG sues Trump administration over ICE detention facility
Maryland attorney general, Anthony Brown, is suing the department of homeland security (DHS) to halt the construction of an immigrant detention facility in Maryland.
Brown said in the lawsuit that the White House purchased the property and plans to convert it into an immigration facility without conducting an environmental review or receiving public input.
DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement, spent more than $100m on a 54-acre warehouse in Maryland’s Washington County, according to the lawsuit. The department plans to convert it into a detention center capable of holding 1,500 people at a time.
“A facility this size would generate nearly four times more wastewater than the site was designed for, risking sewage overflows on the property and backups throughout the surrounding community, increased traffic, air quality impacts and the burden of local emergency services were never assessed,” Brown said in a video posted on Facebook.
Besides DHS, secretary Kristi Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, are named in the suit.
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Hakeem Jeffries invites Epstein survivor, family of Jesse Jackson to Trump's State of the Union address
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, announced that he is inviting the family of Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil- and human-rights trailblazer who died last week, to the State of the Union address on Tuesday.
“Rev. Jackson was a transformative political figure and a trailblazer extraordinaire who fought to make America live up to its promise of a thriving multiracial democracy,” said Jeffries in a statement. “While far-right extremists wage an all-out attack on civil rights, voting rights and democracy itself, House Democrats are committed to carrying on Rev. Jackson’s work. In his name, we will continue to stand up for the American people until we can end this national nightmare at long last.”
Jeffries also invited Vonetta Rougier, a bus operator from Brooklyn who is bearing the brunt of the “skyrocketing price of housing, food and healthcare,” as well as Marina Lacerda, who was groomed and abused by Jeffrey Epstein when she was a teenager.
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NBC News is reporting that the office of the US Attorney for DC, Jeanine Pirro, will stop pursuing the case against six Democratic lawmakers who were denounced by Donald Trump after they made a video urging troops to refuse unlawful orders.
The move comes after a grand jury in Washington DC earlier this month declined to charge the lawmakers: Elissa Slotkin, Mark Kelly, Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan. They all have military or intelligence backgrounds.
Slotkin, a former CIA officer, organized the 90-second video, in which she stated that service members have a duty to disobey illegal commands. Trump condemned the video as “seditious behavior by traitors” that was “punishable by death”.
Because of the video, defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, formally censured Kelly and attempted to reduce his rank and pension. Kelly, a retired Nasa astronaut and navy captain, filed a lawsuit against Hegseth, arguing that the video was protected under free speech.
New Utah voting districts that give Democrats an improved shot at winning a US House seat can be used in this year’s election, a federal court ruled Monday while turning aside a Republican request to block the new map.
The ruling marked the second setback in recent days for Republicans, who also lost an appeal at Utah’s state supreme court.
A Utah judge imposed the new districts last November after striking down the congressional districts that the Republican-led legislature had adopted after the 2020 census. The judge ruled that the legislature had circumvented anti-gerrymandering standards passed by voters.
The ruling thrust Utah into a national redistricting battle being waged among states ahead of the midterm elections. Donald Trump has pressed Republican-led states such as Texas, Missouri and North Carolina to redraw their districts to give the GOP an advantage in the November elections, prompting Democratic-led states such as California and Virginia to respond with their own redistricting plans.
Read the full story here:
FBI director, Kash Patel, faces backlash from Democratic lawmakers and other public figures after footage of him celebrating with the men’s USA hockey team in Milan was released over the weekend.
The video, which was sent to a ProPublica reporter, was posted as news spread about the man who was shot and killed after having entered Donald Trump’s Florida resort, as well as the ongoing controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files.
“3 million pages of evidence of a massive child sex trafficking ring and this is what the FBI director is doing right now,” said representative Sean Casten of Illinois in a post on X.
California senator Adam Schiff posted on Monday: “Patel deserves a gold medal, too... for wasting tax payer money, and world class hypocrisy. What a disgrace for our FBI Director to be passing this off as ‘official business.’”
Meanwhile, former CNN anchor Don Lemon posted a TikTok calling the Trump administration “gross” and “trashy.”
“Why are you even there? And, mostly likely, on taxpayer dollars. Yes, of course on taxpayer dollars,” Lemon said. “This administration is so tacky.”
The US department of education announced it will move some of its responsibilities to other federal agencies in efforts to “break up the federal education bureaucracy.”
According to a statement, the education department will hand off several tasks to the state department and the department of health and human services (HHS), which education secretary, Linda McMahon, said are better equipped to handle the responsibilities.
“As we continue to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states, our new partnerships with the State Department and HHS represent a practical step toward greater efficiency, stronger coordination, and meaningful improvement,” said McMahon.
The state department will help oversee reporting about foreign money given to US universities, while HHS will help manage family engagement and school support programs, including emergency preparedness.
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The American Bar Association condemned President Donald Trump after he called members of the Supreme Court “disloyal to the Constitution.” He made the comment after the court struck down sweeping tariffs he had imposed through executive orders, ruling that the tariffs exceeded the powers given to the president by Congress.
“While judicial opinions are always subject to analysis and critique, such disagreement must be voiced with respect for the facts and the law and must respect the independence and integrity of the courts,” reads a statement by the association’s president, Michelle A Behnke.
“Incendiary rhetoric has helped contribute to the alarming increase in attacks on and threats to our judges. It must stop,” Behnke added.
Republican representative Nancy Mace called for the resignation of Texas representative Tony Gonzales as he faces allegations of having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
“These text messages are disgusting and inexcusable,” Mace said in a statement. “She is gone now. Her son is growing up without his mother. And Tony Gonzales is campaigning like nothing happened.”
Mace added: “Tony Gonzales should resign immediately and be held fully accountable for what he’s done. She and her family deserved better. And Texans deserve a congressman who does not prey on women.”
Mace joins Republican representatives Lauren Boebert and Anna Paulina Luna in condemning the Texas lawmaker. The San Antonio Express-News reported last week that the former aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, wrote to another staffer in April 2025 that she had an affair with Gonzales. She died after lighting herself on fire in September.
President Donald Trump on Monday denied reports that Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, has cautioned him about the risks associated with launching a military campaign against Iran.
“I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The Guardian has reported that Caine has been less confident about the likelihood of success with attacking Iran than he was about the Venezuela operation last month, with concerns centering on the low stockpile of anti-missile systems.
A senior FBI official who was ousted by the Trump administration last year announced his bid for Congress in Maryland.
David Sundberg was fired in January 2025, just days after President Donald Trump began his second administration, which was part of a broader FBI purge that took place after the president took office. Sundberg will be running to succeed Democratic representative Steny Hoyer in Maryland’s 5th congressional district.
“I’m running for Congress because I believe in the rule of law, not the rule of one man,” said Sundberg in a statement posted on his campaign website. “I was pushed out for doing my job and refusing to allow politics to compromise justice. But while they took my job, they didn’t take my oath.”
Sundberg was the former assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which led the bureau’s 6 January Capitol attacks investigation. The field office was also involved with the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
US military strike on boat allegedly smuggling drugs kills three men
The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean which killed three men, in its third such attack over the course of a week.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” US Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on Twitter/X.
The message was accompanied by a 20-second video of the strike, which shows black-and-white footage of a strike being launched and the boat bursting into flames.
The Southern Command identified the three men killed as “male narco-terrorists” and clarified that no US military forces were harmed in the strike.
Many have questioned the legality of the US boat strike initiative, including international legal scholars and national security experts.
“Under both U.S. and international law, it is flagrantly illegal to use the military to kill civilians suspected only of crimes,” a December statement by Jeffrey Stein, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Christopher Anders, director of the democracy and technology division at ACLU, says. “Civilians, including those suspected of smuggling drugs, are not lawful targets. Just because the Trump administration says these strikes are firmly grounded in law doesn’t make it true.”
The most recent strike comes just three days after the last, which took place on 20 February and killed three men. The actions are part of the Trump administration’s increased investment of US forces in the region to intercept alleged “narco-terrorists.”
The latest attack brings the total number of people killed in US strikes on suspected boats since September to at least 151.
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France moves to ban US ambassador Charles Kushner from direct government access
France’s top diplomat has requested that US ambassador Charles Kushner (who is also Donald Trump’s daughter’s father-in-law) no longer be allowed direct access to members of the French government after he skipped a meeting to discuss comments related to the killing of a far-right activist.
French authorities had summoned Kushner to the Quai d’Orsay on Monday evening but he did not show up, multiple outlets reported citing diplomatic sources.
Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign affairs minister, moved to restrict Kushner’s access “in light of this apparent misunderstanding of the basic expectations of the mission of an ambassador, who has the honor of representing his country.”
The ministry, however, left the door open for reconciliation. “It remains, of course, possible for Ambassador Charles Kushner to carry out his duties and present himself at the Quai d’Orsay, so that we may hold the diplomatic discussions needed to smooth over the irritants that can inevitably arise in a friendship spanning 250 years,” it said in a statement.
The US embassy in France and the US state department’s bureau of counter-terrorism said they were monitoring the case, writing on X that “violent radical leftism is on the rise” and should be treated as a public safety threat.
Deranque was beaten to death in Lyon last week during a fight with allegedly hard-left activists. The killing has put France on edge, stoking tensions between left and right ahead of the 2027 presidential vote, while the Trump administration denounced what it called “terrorism” in France on Friday, prompting pushback from Paris.
“We reject any instrumentalization of this tragedy, which has plunged a French family into mourning, for political ends,” Barrot said over the weekend. “We have no lessons to learn, particularly on the issue of violence, from the international reactionary movement.”
This was the second time Kushner did not show after being summoned. He was summoned in August last year over his letter to French president Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism. France’s foreign officials met with a representative of the US ambassador since the diplomat did not show up.
Public opinion of Trump continues to decline ahead of State of the Union address, polls find
A number of polls released ahead of Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tomorrow illustrate that the president’s approval rating continues to decline, with voters questioning his priorities and whether his policies have made their lives and the country better.
New CNN polling suggests that Trump’s approval rating among independents has plunged to a new low, while “just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, and 68% say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.” CNN reports: “That’s the president’s most negative reading on that question to date during either of his terms in office. At the same time, 61% of Americans say that Trump’s policies will move the country in the wrong direction rather than the right one. And Trump’s job approval rating among all adults remains mired at 36% … Among political independents, Trump’s approval rating has dropped 15 points over the past year to 26%, the lowest it’s been in either of his term.”
As the president prepares to defend his record in his SOTU speech, a poll from Marist University published today found a majority - 57% – of Americans think the state of the union is “not very strong” or “not strong at all”, and six in 10 Americans, including 90% of Democrats and 68% of independents, said the nation is worse off than it was a year ago.
Interestingly, the largest change occurred among Republicans and independents – with 43% of Republicans, up from 26%, and 75% of independents, up from 64%, saying they thought the system of checks and balances in the US is not functioning effectively.
And over the weekend, Washington Post / ABC / Ipsos polling put Trump at 39% approval and 60% disapproval. That means six in 10 Americans “disapprove strongly” or “disapprove somewhat” of the way Trump is handling his presidency.
Trump, meanwhile, insisted today:
I had polls for the election that showed I was going to get swamped and I won in a landslide. They were fake polls … I saw one today, that I’m at 40%. I’m not at 40%. I’m at, much higher than that … The real polls say you’d kill anybody [in an election], it wouldn’t even be close.
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Senate Democrats call for government to start refunding $175bn in tariff money
A trio of Senate Democrats is calling for the government to start refunding roughly $175bn in tariff revenues that the supreme court ruled were collected because of an illegal set of orders by Donald Trump.
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire are unveiling a bill today that would require US Customs and Border Protection to issue refunds over the course of 180 days and pay interest on the refunded amount.
The measure would prioritize refunds to small businesses and encourages importers, wholesalers and large companies to pass the refunds on to their customers.
“Trump’s illegal tax scheme has already done lasting damage to American families, small businesses and manufacturers who have been hammered by wave after wave of new Trump tariffs,” said Wyden, stressing that the “crucial first step” to fixing the problem begins with “putting money back in the pockets of small businesses and manufacturers as soon as possible”.
The bill is unlikely to become law, but it reveals how Democrats are starting to apply public pressure on a Trump administration that has shown little interest in trying to return tariff revenues after the supreme court announced its 6-3 ruling on Friday.
The Trump administration has asserted that its hands are tied, because any refunds should be the responsibility of further litigation in court.
More on this story here:
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Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Iranian officials in Geneva on Thursday as US continues to ramp up military presence in Middle East
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with an Iranian delegation on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official has confirmed to Reuters, amid a massive US military buildup in the region as Donald Trump mulls launching airstrikes on Iran as soon as this week.
Yesterday, Axios was first to report on the anticipated meeting to discuss a promised detailed Iranian proposal for a nuclear deal. Citing US officials, the news agency reported that the current diplomatic push is probably the last chance Trump will give Iran before launching a huge US-Israeli military operation aimed at forcing concessions from Tehran over its nuclear program, but that could also directly target supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Witkoff and Kushner have both urged Trump to pursue diplomacy before ordering strikes, but as the US continues to ramp up its presence in the region imminent military action appears increasingly likely. Trump last Thursday warned Tehran that he is “going to get a deal one way or another” and said it would be clear “probably within 10 days” whether they could reach one.
The Trump administration reportedly expects to receive the Iranian proposal by tomorrow.
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'I love America': FBI director Patel defends beer-soaked locker room celebration with US Olympic ice hockey team
FBI director Kash Patel has defended his weekend beer-soaked locker room celebration with the victorious US men’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Milan, saying he had been in Italy on official business and would pay his own way for personal activities.
“Yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment,” Patel wrote on X, after video footage showed him jumping up and down and chugging a beer in the locker room while the hockey team celebrated their 2-1 overtime victory over Canada on Sunday. (You can watch the viral clip here).
Democrats called the trip a wasteful diversion. “The grift & corruption is unreal. Your taxpayer dollars funding the FBI Director’s Italian vacation,” representative Jason Crow of Colorado wrote on social media.
Representative Sean Casten of Illinois said on social media: “3 million pages of evidence of a massive child sex trafficking ring and this is what the FBI director is doing right now.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told Reuters that Patel was in Italy on official business and would reimburse the government for any personal use of FBI resources.
On his official account, Patel posted photos of himself meeting with foreign officials and US personnel who were handling security at the Olympics.
Patel has previously faced criticism for allegedly using the FBI jet for personal travel. Democrats on the House judiciary committee said he had misused government resources by using the FBI’s Gulfstream G550 to travel to Scotland for a golf vacation, fly to Pennsylvania to watch his girlfriend sing at a wrestling match, and fly to a hunting ranch in Texas.
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Former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
Peter Mandelson has been arrested by detectives investigating claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Video footage showed him being driven away from his home in an unmarked car shortly after being escorted from his home by officers.
Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain’s diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear.
London’s Metropolitan police have been investigating the alleged leaking by Mandelson of Downing Street emails and market-sensitive information to Epstein.
The former UK ambassador to the US is understood to believe he has not committed any offence.
A police investigation into Mandelson was opened after the release of files by the US justice department related to the late disgraced financier.
Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the DOJ in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former prime minister Gordon Brown’s government in 2009.
Mandelson, who this month resigned from the Labour Party and quit his position in the UK parliament’s upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.
More on this developing story here:
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Democrats working on secret autopsy found Gaza stance cost Kamala Harris significant support in 2024 election – report
Top Democratic officials working on the party’s still-secret autopsy report of the 2024 presidential election loss to Donald Trump found that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s war in Gaza, Axios has learned.
Per Axios’s report, DNC aides compiling the autopsy report held a closed-door meeting with activists from the pro-Palestinian group the IMEU Policy Project, where they were told that the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel was a factor in the party’s losses because it drained support from some young people and progressives.
Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson for the IMEU Policy Project, told Axios that during the meeting “the DNC shared with us that their own data also found that policy was, in their words, a ‘net-negative’ in the 2024 election.” The group is now accusing the DNC of withholding its report in part because of its findings on Israel, a charge that DNC spokesperson Kendall Witmer denied to Axios.
The DNC said last year that it would not release the review of its election loss in 2024, as it would be a “distraction” from helping the party win going forward.
Asked for comment, a Harris aide pointed Axios to the former vice-president’s recent comments about Gaza on a tour stop for her memoir, 107 Days, where she said: “We should have done more as an administration.” Harris added at the event that “we should have spoken publicly about our criticism” of how Benjamin Netanyahu executed the war.
In her book, Harris said that Biden’s unpopularity, which she argued was partly because of “his perceived blank check” to Netanyahu, harmed her in 2024. She wrote that she privately “pleaded” with Biden to show more empathy for civilians in Gaza. But during her campaign, she declined to publicly break with him over Israel.
RootsAction, a progressive grassroots group, released its autopsy of the 2024 election in December, concluding that Harris focused on courting moderate Republicans over motivating core Democratic working-class, young and progressive voters, a misstep compounded by her failure to break from Biden on Gaza.
Harris’s refusal to signal any meaningful shift from the Biden administration’s deeply unpopular policy on Israel and Gaza alienated Arab American, Muslim, young and progressive voters, costing critical support in swing states [like Michigan], my colleague David Smith wrote at the time.
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Monday so far
Here’s what has happened today so far:
Trump continued railing against the US supreme court’s ruling against his tariffs in several social media posts on Monday, threatening other countries and saying he could use other tariffs instead in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”.
While the high court said Congress would need to approve tariffs, citing its role in the taxing power, Trump said in a post on Monday: “As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago!”
The US government has warned travelers in western Mexico to shelter in place as travel has been largely suspended after the Mexican government killed drug lord “El Mencho,” which spurred retaliatory violence by the cartel.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US government aided in the operation against “El Mencho”, who was part of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
In a ruling on Monday, US federal judge Aileen Cannon permanently prohibited the justice department from releasing a report put together by former special counsel Jack Smith related to classified documents Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago.
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which had sought to get the final report by Jack Smith released, called the ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon to permanently bar its release an affront to the first amendment.
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Trump is set to give his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Foreshadowing the event, he said on Monday that it would be a “long” one.
After a White House event, Trump said he would highlight his administration’s work on immigration and the economy, according to the Associated Press.
“I’m making a speech tomorrow night, and you’ll be hearing me say that,” he said. “I mean, it’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”
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First Amendment group slams judge's ruling on Smith report: 'no legitimate basis'
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which had sought to get the final report by Jack Smith released, called the ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon to permanently bar its release an affront to the first amendment.
“Judge Cannon’s decision to permanently block the release of this extraordinarily significant report is impossible to square with the First Amendment and the common law,” Scott Wilkens, senior counsel at the Knight Institute, said in a press release. “There is no legitimate basis for its continued suppression.”
The institute last year filed a motion to request Cannon lift an injunction that kept the justice department from releasing Smith’s final report, arguing the public has a right to access the records. Since then, it has also asked the court of appeals to reverse a Cannon order that refused to release the report, and separately filed a motion saying Cannon didn’t have authority over the report.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight Institute, said: “A major purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment protects the public’s right of access to documents filed in connection with criminal trials. Given the significance of the Special Counsel’s report, and the role it played in earlier proceedings before Judge Cannon, there is really no question that both the common law and the First Amendment require the report’s release.”
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Judge permanently bars DoJ from releasing Jack Smith's report on Trump documents
In a ruling on Monday, US federal judge Aileen Cannon permanently prohibited the justice department from releasing a report put together by former special counsel Jack Smith related to classified documents Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago.
Cannon, based in Florida, had previously dismissed the case against Trump in mid-2024 because, she concluded, Smith had not been properly appointed to a role as special counsel. Smith continued to prepare a final report based on what he and his team had collected in the investigation, Cannon wrote in her ruling Monday.
“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” she wrote of Smith continuing to create a report.
Releasing the report would be a “manifest injustice” for the defendants, since the case didn’t go to a jury, she wrote. “The former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
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Let’s step back a bit, to the tariffs ruling on Friday.
Trump had asserted he had sole power to enact a set of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Some of those tariffs were massive, depending on the country and product, and his authority was challenged in court by businesses, trade groups and Democratic attorneys general.
The US supreme court, which is majority conservative, ruled against Trump, saying tariffs like the ones Trump attempted needed congressional approval. The creators of the constitution gave this “taxing power” to Congress.
The ruling was a major loss for Trump and his agenda, and the fallout for it on global trade is unclear, as the president has made moves and comments since the ruling to retaliate. He imposed a 15% tariff on all countries under a different tariff authority, increased from 10%.
After the ruling, countries that stuck trade deals with the US under the threat of the massive IEEPA tariffs sought clarity on how to proceed, as the US trade negotiator said that any deals “remain in place”. On Monday, Trump threatened other countries that he could use other tariffs in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way” if he wanted.
President Donald Trump is still mad about the US supreme court ruling against him on tariffs.
In two additional posts on Truth Social this morning, after a lengthy screed earlier, Trump went after the court and threatened other countries with more tariffs if they tried to renegotiate terms because of the court ruling.
“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” he said. “BUYER BEWARE!!!”
In another post, he wrote that he didn’t need to get congressional approval for more tariffs, a central argument in the court case he lost.
“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago! They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly crafted supreme court decision!”
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Dan Crenshaw, a Republican representative from Texas, praised the operation against “El Mencho” and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, saying that cartel was “the most violent and deranged cartel in Mexico”.
“Over the past year most of the attention has been on the Sinaloa cartel,” Crenshaw wrote on X. “This is a much needed refocusing on CJNG. Both are major traffickers of fentanyl, but CJNG is more like ISIS than the mafia. They are ruthlessly violent, currently terrorizing all parts of Mexico to intimidate the government back into submission.”
He urged Congress to take action on bills, including his, that would support more military and law enforcement work in Mexico, saying the Mexican government was “finally” a “solid partner” in confronting the cartels.
“We are finally taking them on. It won’t be over soon. But it’s about time we started.”
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US orders evacuation of non-essential personnel from embassy in Beirut
The US state department is ordering non-essential US government personnel and their families to evacuate the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
The state department confirmed the move to Fox News, saying the embassy remains operational and has core staff in place.
“We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel. … This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist US citizens,” a state department official told the conservative outlet.
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US ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson shared a statement commending the Mexican government for its operation against “El Mencho”, praising the security forces for their “professionalism and resolve”.
“I express my respect and solidarity with the Mexican officials and service members who confront these criminal elements every day, often at great personal risk,” he said. “This operation underscores a clear reality: criminal organizations that poison our people and threaten our nations will be held accountable.”
He said cooperation between the US and Mexico was at “unprecedented levels”.
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US senators and representatives across the political spectrum highlighted travel warnings from the US government, telling their constituents to shelter in place, enroll in a travel advisory program and contact their offices for any assistance needed.
Many elected officials and the US government directed people to sign up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free service where US nationals can enroll their trip abroad details so the US state department can contact them in case of emergency.
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US 'provided intelligence support' to Mexican government in operation against 'El Mencho', White House says
The killing of “El Mencho” came as the US government had been urging the Mexican government to take more action against cartel drug networks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that the US had “provided intelligence support” to the Mexican government in the operation against Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, who she called “an infamous drug lord and leader within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel” and confirmed he was “eliminated”.
“El Mencho” was considered a “top target” for both the US and Mexican government because he was a top trafficker of fentanyl into the US, Leavitt said. Trump had designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization last year, she noted.
In addition to “El Mencho”, three other cartel members were killed, three were wounded and two were arrested, Leavitt said.
“President Trump has been very clear – the United States will ensure narcoterrorists sending deadly drugs to our homeland are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved,” she said.
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US government issues travel warnings for citizens in Mexico amid widespread violence
The Mexican government killed a cartel boss known as “El Mencho”, sparking a wave of retaliatory violence in western Mexico and stranding travelers on Sunday.
The US government urged US citizens in widespread areas of Mexico to shelter in place, saying that US government staff in those areas were also doing so on Sunday and would continue on Monday.
A travel alert from the US embassy in Mexico noted that no airports had been closed, but that roadblocks had affected airline operations, that most flights out of the cities of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta were canceled, and that rideshares were suspended in Puerto Vallarta.
The alert advised people to “seek shelter” and “minimize unnecessary movements”.
“Americans should keep family and friends advised of your location & well-being,” the travel alert said.
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Major institutions of higher education in the US are reckoning with the latest release of the Epstein files after discovering the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with board members, professors and administrators on campuses across the country.
In some cases, professors have been placed under review, research centers closed or conferences canceled. Students and staff have responded in different ways, including petitions, open letters and campus forums.
The Guardian spoke with students, employees and alumni at some of the universities implicated.
On 9 February, faculty at Barnard College, the private women’s liberal arts’ college affiliated with Columbia University, published an open letter signed by more than 70 faculty members calling on the university to “acknowledge and investigate” recently released correspondence between Epstein and Francine LeFrak, a prominent donor and member of the school’s board of trustees. LeFrak appears in the Epstein files 15 times, according to reporting from the Barnard Bulletin.
In one appearance, LeFrak asked – in 2010 – to join a close friend and Epstein during “the holidays”; in another, later that year, she invited Epstein “as her guest” to a trip to Rwanda, where she founded an initiative that provides occupational training and employment for female survivors of that country’s genocide.
The letter notes that the connection between Epstein and LeFrak is “repugnant”, particularly since the interaction took place following Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Trump launches new attack on 'ridiculous, dumb' supreme court ruling
President Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on the US supreme court following its decision to strike down his tariffs.
Writing on Truth Social, he crowed that the court had “accidentally and unwittingly” given him “far more powers and strength” as a result of its ruling.
He said that other tariffs can be used in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”.
In his typical rambling style, Trump wrote:
The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling.
For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely “terrible” things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades, but incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, can’t charge them a License fee - BUT ALL LICENSES CHARGE FEES, why can’t the United States do so? You do a license to get a fee! The opinion doesn’t explain that, but I know the answer! The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used.
Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!). The next thing you know they will rule in favor of China and others, who are making an absolute fortune on Birthright Citizenship, by saying the 14th Amendment was NOT written to take care of the “babies of slaves,” which it was as proven by the EXACT TIMING of its construction, filing, and ratification, which perfectly coincided with the END OF THE CIVIL WAR. How much better can you do than that?
But this supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion, one that again will make China, and various other Nations, happy and rich. Let our supreme court keep making decisions that are so bad and deleterious to the future of our Nation - I have a job to do.
Donald Trump’s administration has said it will stop collecting tariffs the supreme court ruled were illegal as they were imposed using emergency powers, as investors attempted to digest the US president’s latest volley of replacement levies.
The US dollar slumped 0.4% against a basket of other currencies on Monday after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said it would deactivate all tariff codes associated with International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) related orders as of Tuesday at midnight (5am UK time).
Gold jumped 0.6% to $5,135 an ounce, its highest level since the end of January, as investors flocked to the safe haven asset, while bitcoin dropped as much as 4.8% to $64,300 before recovering some ground, at $65,734. Futures tracking the US S&P 500 stock market slipped 0.5% on Monday morning.
The supreme court ruled last week that Trump had overstepped his legal authority to impose his “liberation day” measures last year, plunging financial markets into a new phase of uncertainty over where US trade policy will land.
Trump retaliated over the weekend with a new flat-rate global tariff of 15% under a separate legal authority to replace the tariffs that had been struck down. The new levies will come into force on Tuesday and could last for up to 150 days under separate powers.
The European Union is poised to freeze the ratification process of its trade deal with the US and is seeking more details from president Donald Trump’s administration on its new tariff program, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
Zeljana Zovko, the lead trade negotiator in the European People’s Party group on the US deal, told Bloomberg in an interview that the EU has “no other option” but to delay the approval process to seek to clarity on the situation.
The center-right EPP group is the largest political bloc in the European parliament.
Donald Trump is yet to respond to the incident but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, wrote in a post on X on Sunday:
In the middle of the night while most Americans were asleep, the United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump’s home.
Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans. It’s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department.
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Richard Luscombe is a reporter for Guardian US based in Miami, Florida
Investigators believe the suspect left North Carolina and headed south, picking up a shotgun along the way, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said.
The box for the gun was recovered in his vehicle, Guglielmi said. The man drove through the north gate of Mar-a-Lago as another vehicle was exiting, and he was confronted by Secret Service agents and was fatally shot …
Sunday’s episode has parallels with a 2019 incident in which a Chinese woman carrying multiple cellphones and a computer thumb drive bearing malware gained access to the main lobby of Mar-a-Lago, having evaded security.
That was one of a number of incidents during Trump’s first term in office that drew accusations of lax security at the club, which he has often called his “winter White House”.
In July, 2024, Trump was wounded during an assassination attempt as he spoke at a rally for supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the presidential election campaign. A bullet grazed his ear and some spectators were killed.
Then on 15 September of the same year a man with a rifle was captured after waiting near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach while the president played a round. He appeared to be pointing the weapon through a perimeter fence. He was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
Last Wednesday, police in Washington arrested a man from Georgia who was armed with a loaded shotgun and sprinted towards the west side of the US Capitol building.
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Investigators are continuing working to compile a psychological profile and establish a motive. Asked by journalists yesterday whether the suspect was previously known to law enforcement, Palm Beach county sheriff Ric Bradshaw said “not right now”.
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Martin's family had reported him missing on Sunday morning - sheriff's office
The Moore County Sheriff’s Department in North Carolina said a relative of Martin’s reported him missing early on Sunday morning.
In a statement posted to Facebook, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office wrote:
The Moore County Sheriff’s Office confirms that on February 22, 2026, at approximately 1:38 a.m., a relative of 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin approached a deputy at a local business and reported him missing. He was subsequently entered into a national missing person database.
Following that report, federal authorities informed the Sheriff’s Office that they are conducting an active investigation in Florida involving Martin. At their request, the missing person case information has been turned over to federal investigators.
The Moore County Sheriff’s Office had no prior history involving Martin before the missing person report.
Suspected gunman was 'very quiet' and came from a family of 'big Trump supporters', cousin says
The New York Times is reporting that Austin Tucker Martin graduated from Union Pines High School in Cameron, North Carolina, in 2023, and started an artwork company last June that specialised in handmade drawings of golf courses.
According to its website, Fresh Sky Illustrations:
Is an artwork company that mainly focuses on bringing to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course by illustrating golf course scenes and providing framed copies of handmade works in various golf course gift shops while handling personal commissions on the side.
Combining the aesthetics of the sunny outdoors, and old digital aesthetics from the mid 2000s, Fresh Sky Illustrations hopes to awaken a sense of hope and comfort with this handcrafted webpage design.
Martin, who lived in a part of North Carolina renowned for its golf courses, was a registered voter, although state voting records indicate he wasn’t affiliated to a particular party.
The 21-year-old was described by his cousin Braeden Fields as “very quiet” and inexperienced with guns.
“He doesn’t even know how to use a gun. He’s never used a gun,” Fields, 19, told ABC station WTVD hours after Martin had been killed.
Fields said the family are “big Trump supporters” and that Martin has an older brother in the military.
Martin “never really talked about … he didn’t want to get into politics,” Fields said, adding that Martin worked at a golf course, preparing it for the season, and liked to send his paychecks to charity.
“We grew up together, practically,” Fields said. “I never, I wouldn’t believe that he would do something like this. Mind-blowing.”
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Suspected gunman identified after being shot dead inside Mar-a-Lago perimeter
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
The armed man who US Secret Service agents killed yesterday after allegedly breaching the secure perimeter of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida has been identified in media reports as Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old illustrator from Cameron, North Carolina.
Although the US president often spends weekends at the oceanfront resort, he was at the White House in Washington during this incident, as was first lady Melania Trump.
At a press conference on Sunday morning, Ric Bradshaw, the sheriff of Palm Beach county, said that the suspect was carrying a gas canister and a shotgun.
Bradshaw later confirmed Austin’s identity after initially withholding it until officials could notify his family, according to the Washington Post.
Austin’s family in North Carolina had reported him missing in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to the Moore County Sheriff’s Office.
As my colleague Richard Luscombe notes in this story, Bradshaw told reporters that two Secret Service agents and one of his deputies went to the north gate of the property at about 1.30am ET (06:30 GMT) after a security detail alerted them that a person was within an inner perimeter.
There, they confronted a white male carrying a shotgun and a gasoline can, Bradshaw said.
“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can (and) raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” the sheriff said.
“At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat. He is deceased at the scene.”
A motive has not beeen determined by investigators, who are being led by the FBI. The security breach follows two assassination attempts against Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.
