Good morning everyone. Today is going to be one of the most consequential days yet.
I am already on Capitol Hill at a press conference with more than a dozen Epstein survivors outside the Capitol. Soon I will be meeting with members of Congress and pressing Attorney General Pam Bondi during her critical hearing. This week alone, I have delivered hundreds of documents to lawmakers, directing them to the key records that must be reviewed unredacted. I am working around the clock to bring you real-time updates, especially as the Trump narrative around Epstein continues to unravel.
Last night marked a major shift. A grand jury declined to indict Democratic lawmakers, and the administration’s tariff strategy appears to be collapsing. The political ground is moving fast, and independent reporting has never been more important.
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- The White House narrative concerning Jeffrey Epstein has fallen apart this morning. Over the past 24 hours, the White House has parroted the idea that Donald Trump was a whistleblower of sorts, as new documents showed that Trump called the Palm Beach County Police Chief in the mid-2000s and reported Epstein and Maxwell.
- The newly released FBI document says Donald Trump called Palm Beach’s police chief in 2006 to thank him for investigating Jeffrey Epstein, urged authorities to focus on Ghislaine Maxwell (whom he called “evil”), and claimed he had distanced himself from Epstein and expelled him from Mar-a-Lago, while detailing how a broader early-2000s investigation into Epstein ultimately stalled at the state level.
- The only problem for the White House is that this phone call happened after the arrest of Epstein, not before. And so, now the White House is on record embracing the position that the President knew about Epstein and Maxwell’s conduct, yet only called authorities after Epstein was arrested:
- The White House’s claim that Trump had kicked Epstein out of his club also falls apart this morning. This new document, which is significantly redacted, appears to be a narrative outlining how Epstein was a guest at Mar a Lago, and how Trump never actually kicked him out.
- In a major setback for President Trump, the House rejected a White House-backed effort to block tariff disapproval resolutions from reaching the floor, opening the door for Democrats to force repeated votes on his global tariffs and putting rank-and-file Republicans in a politically difficult position.
- The House defeated a Republican effort to change chamber rules and delay votes on overturning President Trump’s tariffs, after three GOP lawmakers joined Democrats to block a procedural maneuver that would have redefined the legislative calendar to avoid a required vote, clearing the way for Democrats to force action on resolutions to end tariffs imposed under Trump’s emergency declaration. The three Republican lawmakers were Congressman Thomas Massie, Congressman Kevin Kiley, and Congressman Don Bacon.
- A federal grand jury rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers, including Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, with seditious conspiracy charges after prosecutors under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro argued that a video urging military and intelligence personnel to refuse illegal orders violated federal law; the rare rebuke marked a significant setback to a Trump-backed effort widely seen as an attempt to criminalize political dissent.
- Congressman Jason Crow reacted to the failed indictment attempt:
- The Department of Homeland Security faces another partial shutdown by Friday as Democrats and Republicans remain deeply divided over DHS funding, with Democrats demanding major reforms to curb the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, including judicial warrants for home entries, bans on masked agents and limits on ICE operations, while Republicans reject the proposals as impractical and radical, raising the prospect of disruptions across agencies like TSA, FEMA and the Coast Guard if no deal is reached.
- An Associated Press review found that at least two dozen ICE employees and contractors have been charged with crimes since 2020, including assault, sexual abuse, bribery and corruption, raising concerns that rapid expansion, reduced oversight and claims of broad immunity could fuel wider abuses of power nationwide.
- According to El Paso Matters, the FAA abruptly closed airspace over El Paso and parts of southern New Mexico for 10 days, halting all civilian and military flights and citing “national defense airspace” without explanation, a rare move not seen since after 9/11 that has shut down El Paso International Airport and disrupted the region.
- According to Politico, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Adam Schiff are introducing legislation to require the Government Accountability Office to investigate the Trump administration’s handling of hundreds of millions of dollars from Venezuelan oil sales, after funds were placed in offshore accounts in Qatar, raising Democratic concerns about transparency, legal authority, and potential fraud or corruption.
- Germany is preparing new legislation to authorize offensive cyber operations, allowing its intelligence and security services to conduct “hack-back” actions against foreign hackers and hybrid threats, marking a major shift from its traditionally cautious stance as Berlin responds to escalating Russian-linked cyberattacks and infrastructure disruptions, though the proposals face legal, constitutional and diplomatic hurdles.
- A gunman killed at least nine people, including victims at a high school and a nearby home, in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, marking Canada’s deadliest school shooting in decades; the suspect, found dead at the scene from a self-inflicted injury, left a small mountain community of 2,400 reeling as authorities investigate the motive behind the rare mass shooting in a country with comparatively strict gun laws.
- A new NBC News Decision Desk Poll shows President Trump’s approval on immigration has fallen sharply, with 60% disapproving of his handling of border security after recent fatal shootings by immigration agents, strong disapproval rising to 49%, and overall job approval slipping to 39%, as independents shift away and majorities call for ICE reforms and greater oversight.
- An 18-year-old gunman fired shots and took hostages at a school in Hat Yai, southern Thailand, injuring at least three people before being detained by police, who confirmed all hostages were freed; the incident adds to concerns about gun violence in a country that has experienced several high-profile mass attacks in recent years.
- Journalist Don Lemon has hired former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson, who recently resigned over concerns about the Trump administration’s handling of the investigation into Renee Good’s killing, to defend him against federal charges tied to his coverage of a church protest, including alleged violations of religious freedom laws under the FACE Act.
- Jill Zarin was dropped from E!’s upcoming “Real Housewives of New York” revival series The Golden Life after posting an Instagram video criticizing Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show as being mostly in Spanish and lacking white performers, comments that sparked backlash and prompted the production company to cut ties, citing company standards and values.
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Good news:
- India has doubled its wild tiger population since 2006, reaching more than 3,600 tigers by 2018 and accounting for roughly 75 percent of the global total, driven by expanded protected habitat, nationwide monitoring across 20 states, stronger conservation policies and the international Tx2 initiative, even as the country balances rapid human population growth and human-wildlife conflict.
- During a brutal Midwest cold snap with temperatures plunging to -19°F, Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin, opened its doors to people turned away from overcrowded homeless warming shelters, offering couches, heat, Wi-Fi and companionship from its special-needs cats to help protect vulnerable residents from life-threatening conditions.
- The green and golden bell frog, once wiped out in Australia’s capital region by chytrid fungus, is being reintroduced around Canberra after captive breeding and immunization efforts, with scientists deploying specially built “frog saunas” and warm, slightly saline “frog spas” to create fungus-killing conditions that help the endangered amphibians survive and rebuild wild populations.
- Toronto’s Don River, once so polluted it caught fire and was declared biologically dead in 1969, has rebounded after a CAD$1 billion restoration that re-naturalized its course, rebuilt wetlands and added climate-resilient infrastructure, with surveys now documenting more than 20 fish species including Atlantic salmon, walleye, northern pike and largemouth bass thriving in the revitalized waterway.
See you soon.
— Aaron
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