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Hillary Clinton testifies as part of House investigation into Epstein… Developing…

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Hillary Clinton testifies as part of House investigation into Epstein… Developing…

Today’s live updates have ended. Read what you missed below and find more coverage at apnews.com.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S. House lawmakers on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes at the start of two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

The deposition was paused after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a photo of Hillary Clinton in the room to a conservative influencer who posted it on social media, violating the committee’s rules for depositions.

The incident prompted the former secretary of state to repeat her longstanding demand that the deposition be made open to reporters.

The Clintons agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the House Oversight panel, whose chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.

Bill Clinton’s Friday testimony will be the first time a former president has been forced to testify before Congress — the latest sign that the demand for a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.

Other news we’re following:

  • Cuba says 4 killed in speedboat shooting were attempting to infiltrate the country: Cuba’s government said late Wednesday that the 10 passengers on a boat that opened fire on its soldiers were armed Cubans living in the U.S. who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism. Cuba’s government said the majority of the 10 people on the boat “have a known history of criminal and violent activity.”
  • US and Iran wrap up another round of indirect nuclear talks: Oman’s foreign minister, who is mediating the talks, said Thursday that they had ended but “will resume soon.” The talks are aimed at reaching a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and potentially averting another war as the U.S. gathers a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East.
  • FBI fires agents who worked on Trump classified document investigation, AP sources say: The FBI has fired additional agents who worked on an investigation into Trump, this time terminating employees who participated in the probe into the Republican’s hoarding of classified documentspeople familiar with the matter said.

Trump huddles with GOP senators on midterm-year agenda

Among the other meetings that the president had at the White House on Thursday was a strategy session with Senate GOP leaders and other close allies on the party’s agenda.

Among those who attended the afternoon meeting with Trump were Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso and Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, according to two people with knowledge of the discussion.

The meeting was to discuss the party’s broader agenda, said one of the people, both of whom were granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

Hillary Clinton says she told lawmakers repeatedly she did not know Epstein

The former secretary of state’s deposition has ended and she told reporters as she exited that she answered the same question again and again from lawmakers about whether she knew Jeffrey Epstein at all.

“I don’t know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said.

She also told reporters that her husband Bill Clinton had ended his relationship with Epstein before Epstein’s sexual abuse came to light in 2008.

Anthropic says it can’t agree to Pentagon demands

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology.

The company said in a statement that it’s not walking away from negotiation but that new contract language received from the Defense Department “made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.”

Top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said earlier that the military would use the technology in legal ways and not let Anthropic dictate any limits ahead of a Friday deadline to agree to its demands or face losing its contract.

He said the Pentagon “has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”

JUST IN: Anthropic CEO says AI company ‘cannot in good conscience accede’ to Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its tech

JUST IN: Hillary Clinton’s deposition in House Epstein investigation ends after over six hours of questioning

US official says 1 American killed, another wounded in speedboat shooting near Cuba

A U.S. official says at least one American citizen was killed and another wounded in an incident in which the crew of a Florida-registered speedboat exchanged fire with the Cuban military.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation into Wednesday’s firefight, said another member of the 10-person crew was in the U.S. on a visa and several others may have been green card holders.

The official said the owner of the boat has alleged that it was stolen by one of his employees.

National Trust says decision on the White House ballroom project means the case can continue

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said the group was “disappointed” that the injunction it sought to halt work on the ballroom wasn’t granted.

But she said the group was pleased that the decision found that the National Trust “has standing to bring this lawsuit, as we have asserted from the start.”

Thursday’s ruling “encouraged us to amend our complaint — specifically, to assert that the president has acted beyond his statutory authority — and we plan to do so promptly,” Quillen said in a statement.

She added that doing so would allow the case to continue.

Denver mayor announces steps against ICE to “keep every resident safe”

Mike Johnston, a Democrat, announced that federal immigration agents wouldn’t be able to operate on city property and that the city’s police would be authorized to intervene to prevent any illegal activity like brutality against suspects and protesters.

Johnston said he was acting to reassure residents rather than because Denver had information about any upcoming increase in immigration operations.

Denver becomes the latest Democrat-dominated city to announce new restrictions on immigration operations, joining Chicago, New York and Seattle. Democratic-led states have also pushed back.

“We will keep every resident safe, regardless of their status,” Johnston said.

Trump to award Medal of Honor to 3 Army veterans

The White House said Trump will give the highest military decoration on March 2 to three U.S. Army veterans: Master Sergeant Roderick W. Edmonds, Staff Sergeant Michael H. Ollis, and Command Sergeant Major Terry P. Richardson.

The Medal of Honor is being awarded posthumously to Edmonds for thwarting efforts at a German prison camp during World War II to segregate Jewish-American prisoners.

The Medal of Honor is being awarded posthumously to Ollis for his work to repel an enemy attack in 2013 of a base in Ghazni, Afghanistan that led to his death after an insurgent detonated his suicide vest.

Richardson is receiving the Medal of Honor for his leadership in a reconnaissance mission in 1968 in Vietnam to occupy an enemy regiment’s base camp and direct airstrikes despite being wounded by an enemy sniper.

Mamdani presents Trump with mock newspaper touting future big housing initiative

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented Trump with a mock newspaper front page during his visit to the White House on Thursday to show the president how a significant housing initiative might be received.

It’s a tactic designed to appeal to Trump, who is known to voraciously consume coverage in the local New York City publications.

Anna Bahr, Mamdani’s communications director, said the Democratic mayor’s team created the mock front page and its headlines for the Republican president to look at and demonstrate what kind of reaction that new federal housing investments could bring.

The mock New York Daily News front page says “Trump to City: Let’s Build” — a riff on the famous 1975 cover that read “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” referring to Gerald Ford’s vow to veto financial assistance to the city.

Mamdani’s office declined to elaborate on the mayor’s housing proposal, but Bahr said Trump was “very enthusiastic” about it.

Read more

EPA union denounces layoff of environmental justice workers

The 22 fired workers focused on poor and minority communities that are disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards and industrial pollution.

The layoffs come as the Environmental Protection Agency has reduced its workforce by about 30% in Trump’s second term.

Justin Chen, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, said Thursday that the cuts have “stretched remaining staff to the breaking point and weakened our ability to respond to mounting environmental and public health threats. There is no justification for further cuts.”

EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said the layoffs are consistent with a notice to Congress last year and are part of EPA’s “broader effort to ensure that the agency’s workforce is best positioned to meet its core mission.”

Columbia student detained by ICE to be released after Mamdani meeting with Trump

The New York City mayor and the president’s surprise meeting at the White House was intended to be about housing.

But during the meeting, Mamdani raised the issue of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier Thursday by federal immigration agents.

The agents had accessed a campus residence by claiming they were searching for a “missing person,” according to Aghayeva’s attorneys and Columbia’s president.

But in a social media post on X, Mamdani said he had received a call from Trump after his in-person meeting at the White House, and that the president “informed me that she will be released imminently.”

Boebert says ‘why not?’ send photo of Hillary Clinton in closed door deposition

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. leaves the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center during a deposition by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. leaves the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center during a deposition by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was defiant in remarks to reporters as she left the closed-door deposition for Hillary Clinton.

Boebert had violated committee protocol by sharing a photo of Clinton with a conservative influencer who posted it online.

When asked why she had shared the photo, Boebert responded, “Why not?”

Boebert also sarcastically said she admired Clinton’s blue suit and wanted to show it to everyone.

Hillary Clinton again demands a public deposition after leaked photo

The former secretary of state repeated demands that reporters be allowed into her deposition after a Republican lawmaker shared a photo of her inside the room with a conservative influencer who posted it on social media.

Clinton has been calling for a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee, but the chair, Rep. James Comer, has insisted that it be conducted in the same manner as other depositions.

Democratic lawmakers said that the leaked photo underscored that there needs to be a clear public record of the deposition. They called for a transcript and video to be released within 24 hours of the deposition’s conclusion.

All three Texas Senate GOP candidates to appear with Trump

The president — and Republican Party kingmaker — has declined to endorse in Texas’s hotly-contested Senate primary.

So when Trump appears in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Friday to talk about energy policies and the economy, all three candidates — incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Wesley Hunt and state Attorney General Ken Paxton — will be there, too.

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, makes a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speaks at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to a supporter during a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Their appearance at Trump’s visit to the southern Te xas town was confirmed by their campaigns and congressional offices.

Cornyn, who is running for his fifth term, is fending off challenges in a primary battle that has gotten vicious and personal.

A candidate must win 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary in order to win outright. If that doesn’t happen, the race will go to a May 26 runoff with the top two vote-getters.

Justice Thomas alludes to threats to explain his remote participation in DC law school conference

Thomas said he changed his plans to appear in person on the American University law school campus because “I wanted to make sure that I didn’t endanger anyone by my mere presence.”

A couple dozen students who protested outside the conference said they were upset that the school provided no notice about or access to the private event. They also distributed a single sheet with excerpts of the testimony of law professor Anita Hill, whose allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her nearly derailed his nomination in 1991.

Spokespeople for the Supreme Court and the school didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Thomas was honored with an award by the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, made up mainly of members of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Thomas spoke from the Washington office of Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Pennsylvania governor vows to block 2 planned ICE facilities

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro vowed Thursday to do whatever he can to block a pair of warehouses slated to become U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in his state as part of a massive expansion.

The Democratic governor met privately for more than an hour with local government officials about plans for the facilities in Berks and Schuylkill counties. Shapiro said they voiced concerns about water and sewer capacity, the impact on roads, the demand for emergency fire and rescue response as well as medical care and other potential effects.

Shapiro said he plans to flex his regulatory authority and legal powers to try to stop them.

First lady Melania Trump to preside over UN Security Council in a historic first

When the wife of President Donald Trump sits in the president’s seat to chair a meeting on Monday afternoon, it “will be the first time a first lady, or first gentleman for that matter, has ever presided over a Security Council meeting,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday.

The United States takes over the rotating presidency of the 15-member council for the month of March and the first lady’s office said the meeting she will preside over on Monday will “emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace.”

Asked the significance of Melania Trump’s presiding role, Dujarric said: “Obviously, it’s a sign of the importance that the United States feels towards the Security Council and the subject.”

He said U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo will be briefing the Security Council at the meeting officially entitled “Children, Technology, and Education in Conflict” on behalf of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Pentagon spokesman says they won’t let AI company dictate limits

The Pentagon’s top spokesman reiterated that the military wants to use Anthropic’s AI models in legal ways and won’t let the company dictate any limits ahead of a Friday deadline to agree to the demands.

Sean Parnell said Thursday on social media that the Pentagon “has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”

Anthropic’s policies prevent their models from being used for those purposes. It’s the last of its peers to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network.

Parnell says the Pentagon wants to “use Anthropic’s model for all lawful purposes” but didn’t offer details and asserted that Anthropic’s resistance is “jeopardizing critical military operations.”

After meeting Tuesday, the Pentagon told the company to open up its technology or risk losing its contract and be designated a supply chain risk.

Mediator cites progress as indirect nuclear talks between the US and Iran wrap up

Oman’s foreign minister said Thursday that talks between the United States and Iran had ended in Geneva but “will resume soon.”

Badr al-Busaidi wrote on X that there had been “significant progress in the negotiation” without elaborating.

He said technical-level talks would take place next week in Vienna, home to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

There was no immediate comment from either American or Iranian officials. Analysts had been concerned that ending Thursday’s talks without an immediate deal could spark U.S. military action against Iran.

Read more

JUST IN: Oman’s foreign minister says talks between Iran and the US in Geneva have ended but ‘will resume soon

Trump hails ruling on White House ballroom construction

“Great news for America, and our wonderful White House!,” Trump posted on his social media site after a federal judge rejected a preservationist group’s request to block continued construction of a ballroom that crews demolished the East Wing to build.

Trump wrote that the project is “ahead of schedule, and under budget” and that the finished project “will stand long into the future as a symbol to the Greatness of America.”

Hillary Clinton deposition resumes

After a pause, the House Oversight Committee’s deposition of the former secretary of state has restarted.

It was put on hold after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert shared a photo of Clinton at the closed-door proceeding with a conservative influence who posted it on social media.

The photo violated committee rules for depositions, but Boebert posted on social media that the influencer “did nothing wrong.”

Democratic senator says Vance is visiting Wisconsin to help congressman

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says that Vice President JD Vance is visiting Wisconsin to “shore up” a Republican congressman in a district targeted by Democrats.

Vance’s trip to central Wisconsin on Thursday was touted by the White House as a chance to talk about President Donald Trump’s successes in the wake of the State of the Union address.

But Baldwin says the true purpose is to help Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who she says is in “lock step with this administration.” Van Orden planned to attend Vance’s event at a manufacturing business in Plover, Wisconsin.

Baldwin says it’s good for Vance to come to Wisconsin “so he can see exactly how this administration’s policies are affecting and in many ways harming Wisconsinites.”

She says Van Orden has not been responsive to voters who oppose Trump’s tariffs, cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies and reductions to federal food aid.

Vance speaks in Wisconsin on affordability, fraud

Vice President JD Vance speaks at Pointe Precision in Plover Wis., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool)

Vice President JD Vance speaks at Pointe Precision in Plover Wis., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Pool)

Vice President JD spoke on Thursday in Plover, Wisconsin, about affordability and reducing fraud, making the case for Republicans in the 2026 midterms.

“The question in November is do we give power to the people who fight for corruption, who fight for fraud, who fight for illegal aliens, or do we give the government to the American citizens for whom it was designed and for whom it was created?” he asked during his address at Pointe Precision Inc., a machining facility. “I think I know the answer. Let’s vote for our people .”

Vance blamed Democrats for the current affordability crisis and called out alleged corruption in Minnesota, citing an example that involved money supposedly being taken away from autistic children.

Democratic senator says Vance coming to Wisconsin to help congressman

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says that Vice President JD Vance is coming to Wisconsin to “shore up” a Republican congressman in a district targeted by Democrats.

Vance’s trip to central Wisconsin on Thursday was touted by the White House as a chance to talk about President Donald Trump’s successes in the wake of the State of the Union address.

But Baldwin says the true purpose is to help Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who she says is in “lock step with this administration.” Van Orden planned to attend Vance’s event at a manufacturing business in Plover, Wisconsin.

Baldwin says it’s good for Vance to come to Wisconsin “so he can see exactly how this administration’s policies are affecting and in many ways harming Wisconsinites.”

She says Van Orden has not been responsive to voters who oppose Trump’s tariffs, cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies and reductions to federal food aid.

Trump, Mamdani to meet at the White House

The New York City mayor is planning on meeting with the president at the White House on Thursday.

That’s according to a person with knowledge of the meeting, granted anonymity to discuss something that was not on Trump’s public schedule. The meeting is expected to be in part about housing.

Despite deriding Mamdani as he campaigned for mayor, Trump has taken a liking to him after their one-on-one meeting late last year.

FILE - President Donald Trump talks after meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE – President Donald Trump talks after meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Judge rejects request to block Trump White House from building its $400 million ballroom project

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a preservationist group’s request to block the Trump administration from continuing construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that The National Trust for Historic Preservation was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its bid to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s project.

Read more

Hillary Clinton deposition paused over leaked photo

The House Oversight Committee’s deposition of Hillary Clinton is being paused after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a photo of the closed-door proceeding to a conservative influencer.

Benny Johnson, a right-wing Youtuber, posted a photo of Clinton at the deposition online and said Boebert had provided it.

The deposition is being recorded on video, but Comer has said that will only be released after Clinton’s attorneys have a chance to review it. The committee’s rules do not allow outside press or photographers to take photos of the proceedings.

JUST IN: Federal judge rejects request to block Trump White House from building its $400 million ballroom project

GOP chair of House Oversight panel says it’s possible lawmakers will question Lutnick on Epstein ties

FILE - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE – Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Outside the House Oversight Committee’s deposition for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. James Comer told reporters that it’s “very possible” that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is called to testify in the House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

Comer is seeking to cast the investigation as a bipartisan effort that is also willing to question Republicans.

Lutnick was Epstein’s neighbor in New York City. He had previously claimed that he cut all ties with Epstein after 2005, but the release of case files on Epstein showed that they had several interactions in the years after that.

JUST IN: Convoy carrying US diplomats in Geneva arrives to resume indirect talks with Iran

Noem says more than 250 DACA recipients arrested and dozens deported in 2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a letter to Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and other senators that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program provides just that, a deferral of removal “for a period of time.”

Dubin and Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Ca., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., blasted the treatment of DACA recipients, known as Dreamers.

“News of DACA recipients being arrested and deported is deeply troubling,” the senators said in a statement.

FILE - Susana Lujano, left, a dreamer from Mexico who lives in Houston, joins other activists to rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE – Susana Lujano, left, a dreamer from Mexico who lives in Houston, joins other activists to rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on June 15, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The DACA program was created during the Obama administration to provide a way for young people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children to remain in the country, so long as they register, undergo a background check and meet other requirements, such as attending school or working. Many have spent much of their lives in the U.S., and have since become adults with families of their own.

From Jan. 1, 2025 to Nov. 19, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported 261 DACA recipients were arrested and 86 had been removed from the country, according to Noem’s letter.

It said of those arrested, 241 had criminal histories, but didn’t provide further information, citing privacy issues. The senators demanded DHS provide more information on the rationale for arresting and deporting Dreamers.

Hillary Clinton testifies she has no information on Epstein’s criminal activities

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is telling U.S. House lawmakers she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes.

“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media.

Her testimony starts off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

JUST IN: Hillary Clinton in testimony says she has no information on Epstein’s criminal activities and never recalls meeting him

Hillary Clinton’s deposition is getting underway

The House Oversight Committee’s closed-door deposition of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is getting underway in Chappaqua, New York, as lawmakers start two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton has previously told the committee she has no memory of ever meeting Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in 2019 while facing charges for sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.

“There is no indication — zero, zip, zilch, nada — that Secretary Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes,” Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Virginia Democrat, said just before the deposition.

Clinton did have connections to Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, through the Clinton Foundation. Maxwell was also a guest at the 2010 wedding of their daughter Chelsea Clinton.

WATCH: Hillary Clinton’s motorcade arrives

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers in New York as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats call for Trump to answer questions in House Epstein investigation

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are arguing that former President Bill Clinton’s appearance for a deposition sets a precedent that should apply to President Donald Trump as well.

” Let’s get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel.

The Republican chair of the committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, has previously said the committee can’t deposition Trump because he’s a sitting president. Trump, however, has expressed regret that the Clintons are being forced to testify in the committee’s probe.

Republicans relishing the chance to question the Clintons

It’s hardly the first time congressional Republicans have pressured the Clintons to answer their questions, but this time it comes as both former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are more than a decade removed from public office.

None the less, the Clintons have emerged as a top target for Republicans in the House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and they were successful in forcing them to appear for depositions in Chappaqua, New York, over the next two days.

“No one’s accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing,” Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters just before the deposition for Hillary Clinton began.

Comer added that Republicans were hoping to understand how Epstein accumulated his wealth and influence with high-powered men around the world.

IN PHOTOS: The press awaits Hillary Clinton’s arrival ahead of testimony

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A New Castle police officer sets up barricades outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as members of the media await the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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Members of the media set up outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as awaiting the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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Members of the media set up outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as awaiting the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Republican chair pledges long days of depositions for the Clintons

FILE - House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., joined at left by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters after a closed-door deposition with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidante of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE – House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., joined at left by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters after a closed-door deposition with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidante of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Rep. James Comer, the GOP chair of the House Oversight Committee, previewed lengthy interviews for both Hillary and Bill Clinton as lawmakers question them about Jeffrey Epstein.

“This is going to be a long deposition,” Comer told reporters outside the convention center in Chappaqua, New York, where the depositions are being held.

Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t remember ever meeting with Epstein, although she does have some connections to his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

House Democrats to force war powers vote on Iran

House Democratic leaders say they’ll force a vote next week on legislation requiring President Trump to terminate military force against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war from Congress.

The U.S. has gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East and the two nations are engaged in indirect talks to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program and potentially avert a war.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries was joined in the announcement by several Democrats who serve as the ranking member on committees with jurisdiction.

Their news release says the Iranian regime is “brutal and destabilizing,” and cited the killing of thousands of protesters.

“However, undertaking a war of choice in the Middle East, without a full understanding of all the attendant risks to our servicemembers and to escalation, is reckless,” the news release stated. “We maintain that any such action would be unconstitutional without consultation with and authorization from Congress.”

Trump administration appeals to the Supreme Court in immigration case

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow it to end legal protections for migrants from Syria for now. It’s the administration’s latest emergency appeal to the nation’s highest court.

The government wants the court to lift a New York judge’s ruling halting the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end temporary protected status for Syrians.

The justices have previously allowed immigration authorities to end legal protections for migrants from Venezuela while lawsuits continue to play out. The federal government argued the Syria case is similar.

About 6,000 people from Syria have temporary legal status after fleeing armed conflict. Ending those protections could mean people lose work authorization and be exposed to possible deportation.

White House drug czar is in Mexico following operation that killed powerful cartel leader

Sara Carter, who heads the administration’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, is in Mexico for talks with government officials following this week’s operation that killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the country’s most powerful drug lord.

“The Mexican government is demonstrating a sincere ongoing commitment to the shared counternarcotics cause which has plagued both of our nations for decades,” Carter said in a statement. “Defeating the cartels is an ongoing mutual effort necessary for the safety and security of both our nations.”

Newspapers hang on display for sale in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, a day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as

Newspapers hang on display for sale in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, a day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” (AP Photo/Jon Orbach)

U.S. intelligence officials provided support to the Mexican government for the operation that killed the cartel leader known as “El Mencho,” according to the White House.

The operation follows President Trump repeatedly pressing the Mexican government to more aggressively target the country’s illegal drug trade. The U.S. president has threatened to send U.S. troops to take out cartels, if Mexico’s government can’t.

Carter and U.S Ambassador Ronald Johnson have met with Mexico’s security cabinet and offered condolences to Mexico’s defense secretary, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla, for the deaths of 33 Mexican national guardsmen and three special operations members killed in the operation.

Led by new generation, Democrats prioritize transparency on Epstein over defending former leaders

Several Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the Oversight panel to advance the contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons last month. Several said they had no relationship with the Clintons and owed no loyalty to t hem.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said both Republican and Democratic administrations “have failed survivors in not getting more information out to the public.” He also said he wanted to ask about Epstein’s possible ties to foreign governments.

Democrats are also coming off an effort this week to confront Trump about his administration’s handling of the Epstein files by taking women who survived Epstein’s abuse as their guests to Trump’s State of the Union address. Even senior Democrats, such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, said it was appropriate for the committee to interview anyone, including the former president, who was connected to Epstein.

World Economic Forum head Børge Brende steps down following pressure over Epstein links

FILE - CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende talks during of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

FILE – CEO of the World Economic Forum Borge Brende talks during of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Brende, a former Norwegian foreign minister, said in a statement Thursday that he’d decided “after careful consideration” to step down as president and chief executive of the forum, known for its annual January summit in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

“I am grateful for the incredible collaboration with my colleagues, partners, and constituents, and I believe now is the right moment for the Forum to continue its important work without distractions,” Brende said in a statement released by the WEF.

Brende was Norway’s foreign minister from 2013-2017 and is one of several prominent Norwegians who’ve faced scrutiny following the latest release of Epstein files.

He didn’t refer directly to that controversy in Thursday’s statement, but the WEF announced earlier this month that it was opening an internal review into Brende to determine his relationship with Epstein after files indicated the two had dined together several times and exchanged messages.

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Iran would be outgunned in any war with the US but could still inflict considerable pain

As U.S. forces mass in the Middle East, Iran faces the threat of major strikes by the world’s most powerful military, potentially targeting its leaders, military, nuclear sites and critical infrastructure.

Iran has nowhere near the same capabilities, and is even more vulnerable after last year’s war launched by Israel and recent anti-government protests. But it could still inflict pain on American forces and allies, and may feel it has to if the Islamic Republic’s survival is at stake.

While Iran suffered major losses last June, it still has hundreds of missiles capable of hitting Israel, according to Israel’s estimates. Iran boasts a much larger arsenal of shorter-range missiles capable of hitting U.S. bases in Gulf countries and offshore American forces, soon to be joined by a second aircraft carrier.

Iran has previously threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the global oil tradeand claimed to have done so partially during military drills last week.

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Slightly more Americans now see Iran and the US as enemies: AP-NORC poll

Most Americans, 61%, say Iran is an “enemy” of the U.S., according to the new AP-NORC poll. That is up slightly from 53% in a Pearson Institute/AP-NORC poll conducted in September 2023.

Roughly 3 in 10 Americans currently say the countries are “not friendly, but not enemies,” and only about 1 in 10 Americans consider the two nations “friendly” or “close allies.”

At the same time, there’s a bit of an age gap on that perception. Only about half of U.S. adults under 45 say Iran is an enemy, compared with about 7 in 10 Americans ages 45 and older.

Most US adults have low trust in Trump’s judgment on military force: AP-NORC poll

Most Americans have significant reservations about Trump’s judgment on foreign conflicts, the AP-NORC poll shows.

Only about 3 in 10 of U.S. adults have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust in Trump’s judgment on the use of military force, relationships with U.S. adversaries or the use of nuclear weapons. More than half trust him “only a little” or “not at all.”

On each measure, Republicans are more likely than Democrats and Independents to trust that the president will make the right decisions. About 6 in 10 Republicans have a high level of trust in Trump, while roughly 9 in 10 Democrats have a low level of trust in him.

Most Americans see Iran as an enemy but doubt Trump’s judgment on military force, AP-NORC poll finds

As the U.S. and Iran head into their next round of nuclear talks in Genevaa new AP-NORC poll finds that many U.S. adults continue to view Iran’s nuclear program as a threat — but they also don’t have high trust in Trump’s judgment on the use of military force abroad.

About half of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned that Iran’s nuclear program poses a direct threat to the United States, according to the new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 3 in 10 are “moderately” concerned and only about 2 in 10 are “not very” concerned or “not concerned at all.”

The survey was conducted Feb. 19-23, as military tensions built in the Middle East between the United States and Iran. The U.S. is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons, while Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment on its soil or hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

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The Dictatorship

What ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ gets right, and wrong, about media

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What ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ gets right, and wrong, about media

This article contains some plot spoilers for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

An early, pivotal scene in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is so recognizable to anyone who works in media right now that it should come with a warning.

Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs, now an esteemed investigative reporter at a New York newspaper, is about to receive a prize during a journalism awards ceremony. But as the category is being announced, she and her colleagues receive text messages declaring that they’ve been fired because the newspaper is shutting down. Gobsmacked, Andy delivers an off-the-cuff acceptance speech in which she makes an impassioned plea to save journalism because it matters more than money or, you know, should.

This sequel frames itself as a journalism movie in a way that its predecessor did not. But it mostly pays lip service to the sense of desperation that pervades the media business.

Her comments go viral, which leads Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), the CEO of media conglomerate Elias-Clark Publications, to ask her to return to Runway magazine, where she will lead the features department and bring some much-needed gravitas to the fashion publication. He wants to boost the mag’s credibility thanks to an error in judgment committed by none other than editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, still sporting that swoopy silver ’do). And that’s how the key figures from 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada” find themselves back in the same orbit.

As a longtime journalist who has gotten significant career news at extremely inopportune times, the mass firing at an awards ceremony rang, sadly, true. I once learned I had a new boss while covering a panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Another time, I got the news that the popular blog I wrote for a major newspaper’s website was being discontinued while I was being checked for head lice. (Fun fact: I had it!)

This industry is brutal and always has been. But it is at its most broken point in modern history, and the film, to its credit, understands this. Not only are crusaders for good, old-fashioned, do-gooder journalism like Andy vulnerable to job cuts, even someone as established as Miranda, the “Prada”-verse’s equivalent of Anna Wintour, fears being pushed out of the profession altogether. This sequel, also written by Aline Brosh McKenna and directed by David Frankel, frames itself as a journalism movie in a way that its predecessor did not. But it mostly pays lip service to the sense of desperation that pervades the media business, rather than depicting it.

This moment aches for a great movie about the importance of the press. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” not only isn’t that movie, it winds up reinforcing many misguided perceptions of journalism as some elite profession that caters to the well-heeled.

Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, and Stanley Tucci as Nigel Kipling in
Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, and Stanley Tucci as Nigel Kipling in “The Devil Wears Prada 2”. 20th Century Studios

To be clear, I did not walk into “The Devil Wears Prada 2” expecting to see “The Post.” (Although, in a way, isn’t that what I got?) As a work of popular entertainment, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” has three main responsibilities: to look great, to show off beautiful clothes and to give Stanley Tucci the chance to put exactly the right amount of sauce on every spicy comment he utters. The whole point of a sequel is to serve the audience the same decadent meal they enjoyed the first time.

But in 2026 you can’t make a movie about a media outlet without acknowledging that the media landscape is an active minefield. You also can’t make a second “Devil Wears Prada” that isn’t frothy and aggressively fabulous. Those two contrasting objectives ultimately knock each other out.

This film tries to give Andy the same level of integrity that she possessed in the 2006 movie, which ends with her interviewing for a gig at a traditional newspaper. To be fair, when she gets Ravitz’s job offer in the followup, she is torn about accepting it. But she likes the idea of getting to write some hard-hitting pieces and of hiring some recently unemployed friends. She also knows how hard it is to find a journalism job, let alone one that pays her more than she was already making.

We know that Andy is not wealthy based on her apartment, where brown water routinely spurts out of the faucet; as before, Tucci’s Nigel helps her out by loaning her outfits from Runway’s ample in-house closet. But not long after rejoining Runway, Andy moves into a much nicer building that’s been renovated by a man who soon becomes her boyfriend (and somehow manages to be even more boring than her boyfriend from the first film). Andy looks phenomenal — no surprise for a movie primarily about fashion. But it is hard to square the notion that Andy’s industry is in dire straits since her straits look pretty darn prosperous.

Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs in
Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs in “The Devil Wears Prada 2”. 20th Century Studios

There is one montage of Andy doing the work of journalism, which mostly consists of her looking gorgeous in meetings or while typing on her laptop. In another scene, she frantically makes work-related phone calls. But the major set pieces take place at cushy events where tons of bold-faced names — Jenna Bush Hager! Law Roach! Karl-Anthony Towns, for some reason! — gather to clink champagne glasses. As fun as it is to watch those pans through the glossy party scene, they reinforce the idea that everyone who works in media spends their time rubbing shoulders with other elites. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is not the first piece of pop culture to do this. But at this particular moment, when so many reporters and editors are getting laid off and struggling to make ends meet, it looks particularly unsavory and inaccurate.

It’s also hard to square all of the above with the fact that Runway is losing money, so much so that it may be sold to a vapid Jeff Bezos-like figure, played by Justin Theroux. During one “sobering” meeting in which Nigel says fewer staffers are being sent to Milan for Fashion Week, he adds that those who are going can no longer take private cars and, instead, will have to Uber. In this economy, no audience will empathize with how hard it is to be a writer, or to do any job for that matter, if Ubering is your version of slumming it. (The team, including Miranda, also has to fly coach. Folks, there is no way Miranda Priestly would ever fly coach. Someone would be left behind, or their job outright eliminated, before that woman sat in anything approaching economy class.)

I did not walk into this movie expecting a nuanced portrait of the journalism industry. But if you’re going to spotlight a topic, you have to reckon with it, preferably in a way that does the subject justice.

In the first film, Andy’s friends give her a hard time when she gets caught up in her new job, accusing her of abandoning her principles. In the sequel, selling out is basically a requirement for anyone who plans to keep working in media. That discrepancy would have been really interesting to explore, but this continuation is too committed to hitting the same beats as its forerunner and landing on some version of a happy ending to go there. As in the first film, the sequel ultimately asserts that money and connections are more crucial to career survival than anything else. Which is a fascinating place to land after an opening in which a bunch of underpaid journalists get laid off and the guy who sold the paper walks away with millions.

What “The Devil Wears Prada 2” doesn’t dare to say is that the media’s reliance on the wealthiest one-percenters to keep outlets afloat is part of the reason so many people like Andy and her friends are losing their jobs: Too many of those cash-flush guys don’t care about the art or craft of journalism. (The movie does underscore that too many of those guys are actual guys.) Perhaps even more notably, it doesn’t point out that the seeds for the current media hellscape were being planted back in 2006, the year that the first movie premiered and that Twitter debuted. Rewatch the original and count the number of times anyone talks about the digital edition of Runway or even says the word internet. You’ll come up blank.

Again, I did not walk into this movie expecting a nuanced portrait of the journalism industry. But if you’re going to spotlight a topic, you have to reckon with it, preferably in a way that does the subject justice. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” takes the problems it raises and then does what Miranda did with her jackets and purses early in the first film: tosses them aside as someone else’s problem.

Jen Chaney is a freelance TV and film critic whose work has been published in The New York Times, TV Guide and other outlets.

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The Dictatorship

‘We are already cooked’: Republicans brace for a midterm reckoning

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‘We are already cooked’: Republicans brace for a midterm reckoning

Gas prices are at a four-year high. Annual inflation has jumped to a nearly three-year peak. Americans are souring on congressional Republicans, President Donald Trump’s handling of inflation and the war in Iran. And his approval rating is at the lowest point of his second term in several polls.

The message from the White House: Things are still better than they were under Joe Biden.

It is not, on its face, the stuff of a winning campaign message — a backward-looking defense at a moment when voters are asking forward-looking questions about their grocery bills, gas tanks and a war with no clear end.

And privately, even some of Trump’s aides acknowledge it.

“The vibe right now is we know we are already cooked in the midterms,” a White House official told MS NOW, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The numbers help explain the gloom. For the first time since 2010, voters say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle the economy, 52% to 48%, according to a recent Fox News poll. Economists have largely scaled back their forecasts for the remainder of the year. Energy analysts are warning that oil prices could surge even higher. And Moody’s recession model now puts the odds of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months at nearly a coin flip.

Six months out from the November election, Democrats are favored to take the House and are increasingly rosy about their prospects for the Senate despite a difficult map.

“As of this moment, of course you have to be very concerned,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., told MS NOW. “If you aren’t concerned, you’d be kind of foolish. … We are either going to win the majority by a little, lose the majority by a little, or lose it by a lot.”

Even so, more than a dozen GOP strategists, lawmakers and White House officials who spoke with MS NOW, said they remain cautiously optimistic that Republicans have enough time to at least stave off a blue wave.

But that optimism is contingent on several unpredictable factors — chiefly, whether the war in Iran comes to a speedy conclusion, and how long its economic aftershocks linger.

White House officials and their allies cautioned against writing the party’s obituary just yet. If 2024 proved anything, they argued, it is that the political environment can change dramatically in a matter of weeks, that news cycles move quickly and that voters have short memories. Internal polling circulating in the White House is not as dire as the public polling, according to one White House official. “Certainly there’s still a lot of work to be done, and that’s not a secret to anyone,” the official said. “But there’s still a lot of time left.”

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., one of the few sitting GOP lawmakers openly critical of Trump, expects Republicans to hold the Senate, and told MS NOW that House Republicans can hang on to their razor-thin majority.

“If we’re disciplined, we keep control of the Congress,” Tillis said. “If we’ve lost, on Wednesday morning, don’t blame the Democrats. Republicans, go to the nearest mirror and look in the mirror. That’s why we’ll lose. If we play team ball, if we set aside our petty differences and recognize Republicans getting elected are the most important thing — no purity test, get them elected — then they’re not playing team ball, and they’re part of the problem.”

The plan, according to two White House officials, is a familiar one: pivot to kitchen-table issues and flood battleground states with Trump and Cabinet surrogates in the coming months. Republicans, these officials insisted, have a record to run on, including a cut in taxes via the One Big Beautiful Bill efforts to reduce drug prices and beefed-up border security.

But conspicuously absent from the game plan outlined by White House officials: any expectation of message discipline from Trump himself.

What matters, the White House official told MS NOW, is “doing what we need to do out on the campaign trail — the events, the fundraising, the retail politics of actually showing up in districts.”

“President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican party and he is committed to maintaining Republicans’ majority in Congress to continue delivering wins for the American people,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement to MS NOW. Trump, she added, would continue to draw “a sharp contrast” between his agenda and that of congressional Democrats, whom she said allowed “millions of illegal aliens to flow through the border, unanimously opposed the Working Families Tax Cuts, and are soft-on-crime.”

But there is bubbling frustration among Republican strategists working House and Senate races that the president and his team have been slow to focus on any of it. Trump has been consumed by the war in Iran and by the construction of a $400 million White House ballroom that has become an unlikely political liability — a gilded symbol, his critics argue, of a president more focused on monuments to himself than on voters squeezed by more everyday concerns.

Some of the major fights Trump has picked of late have only made life harder for Republican incumbents. One House Republican up for re-election in a swing district pointed to the president’s inflammatory Easter morning social media posts, his attacks on the pope and his habit of naming things after himself — episodes which, the lawmaker said, only serve to “fire up the people that want to put a check on his power, instead of taking his energy and focusing on stuff that makes their lives better at home.”

“I still think there’s a lot of members that don’t understand what we’re up against — and that includes leadership,” the House Republican said, granted anonymity in order to speak candidly. “It’s hard to tell if they truly believe the rhetoric that we’re gonna hold the House, or if they’re just saying that to make us feel like we can take some risks and take some really [bad] votes, and they’re just trying to get us to walk the plank for another piece of legislation that they feel they need.”

Several Republican strategists who spoke with MS NOW pointed to missed opportunities to tout the president’s record, and said that the window to alter the trajectory of the election is narrowing.

“If we can somehow — on a grand scale — tout our wins, get our message out and find some clearly stated wins with Iran and foreign policy, we’ll be on better footing,” said T.W. Arrighi, a Republican strategist and former spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.” But I want to spend the summer doing that, with prices ticking down. I don’t want to be spending just two months of the fall doing it.”

Jacqueline Alemany is co-anchor of “The Weekend” and a Washington correspondent for MS NOW.

Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.

Jake Traylor is a White House correspondent for MS NOW.

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The best response to the Supreme Court’s Callais ruling: proportional representation

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The day after the Supreme Court gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. CallaisLouisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order purporting to halt the state’s House primaries so that the elections would be conducted in redrawn districts. Already, legislatures in several southern states have begun planning to dismantle districts that have protected voters of color from racial voting discrimination for generations.

Democratic-controlled state legislatures face a question: protect voters of color and their incumbent representatives, or maximize partisan advantage with more counter-strike gerrymanders of their own?

There’s actually a clear option for voting rights policy that would guard against racial discrimination while preserving the hard-won gains of the Voting Rights Act: proportional representation.

By amending the Uniform Congressional District ActCongress could neutralize the gerrymandering arms race and restore equality of opportunity to our democratic process. We suggest amending the law to make three fundamental changes to how members of the House of Representatives are elected.

By amending the Uniform Congressional District Act, Congress could neutralize the gerrymandering arms race and restore equality of opportunity to our democratic process.

First, states with more than one seat should elect members of Congress using multi-seat districts. Second, states should use some form of list ballot structure, where voters choose either a single candidate (as happens now) or a “party list” vote (like the straight-ticket voting used in six states). Third, states should allocate seats to party lists using a fair allocation formula to ensure that votes have equal weight in determining representation.

This type of system minimizes the state’s role in selecting winners and losers. While any method of registering voter preferences requires some state administration, the current system of single-seat districts allows the government — not the voters — to determine the primary basis of representation.

Additionally, this approach would achieve better representation for voters of color. It would preserve the protections provided by the Section 2 framework of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), with additional benefits. Under a single-seat “first past the post” system, the state is forced to arbitrate competing claims for representation among various racial groups. By contrast, our proposal shifts this power to the citizens, allowing voters to identify and organize their own electoral communities.

Under a list system, candidates running for office can choose to run together on a list, and seats are allocated to lists. This allows voters to pool their voting strength, such that every vote counts toward representation: Even if one’s top candidate fails to earn enough votes to be elected on their own, a vote still counts toward the list and the election of candidates from the voter’s preferred group of candidates. Moreover, the list system ensures minority representation. In a three-seat election, any list receiving 25% of voter support is guaranteed a seat.

List systems allow voters to exercise greater agency than does our single-seat, winner-take-all system. By grouping themselves on the basis of the identity that they find salient, voters determine which groups are entitled to representation. Voters of color are free to determine which aspects of their identity matter most to them. Under the Section 2 framework, voters of color are not entitled to representation as political minorities or based on their other identities even though the framework incentivizes a politics of racial-group identity.

Electing representatives throughout the United States via multi-seat list systems, the type used in the majority of other democraciesincluding Brazil, Norway and South Africa, would also improve substantive representation. List systems facilitate the emergence of different types of coalitions, which can make for more fluid and dynamic politics. Elections are more competitivecoalitions continually shift to attract more voters and party systems are more responsive. Because list systems allow efsmaller groups to gain representation, minority coalitions that do not run on ethnic appeals are likely to emerge, moving U.S. politics away from ethno-nationalist trends. The same mechanisms that facilitate the emergence and survival of racial minority coalitions also allow for small parties running on non-ethnic appeals to gain representation, which can temper racial polarization.

List systems facilitate the emergence of different types of coalitions, which can make for more fluid and dynamic politics. Elections are more competitive, coalitions continually shift to attract more voters and party systems are more responsive.

In the wake of the high court’s Callais decision, both parties may be tempted, tit-for-tat style, to use the redistricting process as a tool for partisan retaliation. This path of mutually assured destruction would further erode voting rights and the foundations of our democracy.

As two of us warned more than a decade agothe Callais decision was predictable. Civil rights activists might be tempted to double down on the VRA’s race-based anti-discrimination approach by relying on state voting rights acts to do what the federal Voting Rights Act once did.  This would be a mistake.

Opponents of state voting rights acts would find it remarkably easy to use the Callais precedent to strike down bills that are mini-replicas of the federal VRA. The core objection of the Supreme Court’s conservatives to the Section 2 framework is that it requires the government to use race to allocate political power — a practice Chief Justice John Roberts famously dismissed years ago as the “sordid business” of “divvying us up by race.”

Reform must protect voters of color and ensure better representation for all Americans — goals that proportional representation is uniquely positioned to achieve. While amending the Uniform Congressional District Act remains the ultimate objective, progress does not have to begin in Congress.

Reformers should champion proportional representation at the local and state levels. With state legislatures reconsidering their electoral lawsthis is a perfect opportunity to consider proportional reforms.  Local governments with the capacity to innovate should also serve as laboratories for electoral democracy. Voting rights reformers are not left powerless by the Callais ruling. There is an obvious next step. We don’t have to live with political or racial inequality.

Michael Latner is director of research on democratic reform at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice and a professor of political science at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Guy-Uriel E. Charles is the Charles J. Ogletree Jr. professor of law at Harvard Law School, where he also directs the Charles Hamilton Institute for Race and Justice.

Luis Fuentes-Rohwer is the Class of 1950 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor at Indiana University Maurer School of Law.

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