Trump hosts breakfast with governors at White House

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who has been leading the charge in forcing the release of the Epstein files, said today that he will take Haley Robson, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, as his guest to the State of the Union address next week.

“Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls,” Khanna said in a statement.

Robson, who alleges that — starting at age 16 — she was trafficked by Epstein, joined Khanna and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., in September to stand alongside other survivors on Capitol Hill to demand the release of the Epstein files.

“I’m honored and it came as a wonderful surprise to have been invited,” Robson said in a statement today. “I intend to show up fully with not only a hero, but a man who I have immense respect and admiration for.”

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor may have been released from custody, but his legal saga is not over.

Police continued to search his former residence of Royal Lodge, in Windsor, earlier today. This is where he used to live before his brother, King Charles III, asked him to leave last year amid mounting pressure over his relationship with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Officers have now finished searches of Wood Farm, on the royal Sandringham Estate, where Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this month, according to Thames Valley Police.

His release is not uncommon in cases of alleged white-collar crime. It does not mean he has been cleared — nor does it mean he has been released on bail, so there are no “conditions” for his release. It merely indicates that police have finished with this round of questioning and are continuing the investigation.

Read the full story here.

Democratic Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Jared Polis of Colorado were ultimately invited to and attended a breakfast at the White House this morning with governors of both parties.

But the two said they were still not invited to a dinner at the White House tomorrow.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore at the White House on Friday. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images

The invitations, part of the annual National Governors Association gathering in Washington, emerged as a major source of consternation in recent weeks.

U.S. economic growth slowed in the final three months of last year, dragged down by the six-week shutdown of the federal government and a pullback in consumer spending.

Job seekers speak with recruiters during a career fair in Seattle earlier this month. David Ryder / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The nation’s gross domestic product — the output of goods and services — increased at a 1.4% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, down from 4.4% in the July-September quarter and 3.8% in the quarter before that.

Consumer spending rose just 2.4%, a significant slowdown from the third quarter’s healthy 3.5% gain.

The report also underscores an odd aspect of the U.S. economy: It is growing steadily, but without creating many jobs. Growth was a fairly healthy 2.2% in 2025, yet a government report last week showed that employers added less than 200,000 jobs last year — the fewest since COVID struck in 2020.

Read the full story here.

Trump confirmed this morning that he's weighing a limited military action against Iran over its nuclear and missile programs.

The president made the comment at a working breakfast at the White House with the nation's governors as he asked reporters to leave the room.

Asked by NBC News if he is considering a limited military strike to pressure Iran, the president responded, "I guess I can say, I am considering it."

Trump administration officials held diplomatic talks in Geneva earlier this week with Iran and Trump has warned of consequences if the negotiations are unsuccessful.

In preparation for possible military acton, the Defense Department has sent a surge in forces to the Middle East, including more warships, air defenses and submarines.

Trump border czar Tom Homan said in a CNN interview this morning that former U.S. Border Patrol commander at large, Greg Bovino, should be investigated if a judge declared that he lied under oath.

"Look, if a judge declared he lied under oath, he needs to be investigated, and that’s up to CBP," he said, referring to Customs and Border Protection. "What people need to understand, CBP and ICE do not report to me. They report to Kristi Noem, and she will hold these officers responsible."

A federal judge in Chicago said in November that Bovino had repeatedly lied under oath about threats posed by protesters and reporters during immigration enforcement operations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Gregory Bovino with his security team in Minnesota in January. Lokman Vural Elibol / Anadolu via Getty Images

Homan also said immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis would probably return to their "regular footprint" of about 150 personnel "within a week" after the administration announced a drawdown of its surge in forces.

Homan was placed in charge of the the Minnesota operations after Bovino was demoted from his position as commander at large of the Border Patrol following the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by immigration agents last month.

Trump is hosting governors for a working breakfast in the State Dining Room of the White House this morning ahead of tomorrow’s dinner with the National Governors Association.

Republican and Democratic governors are expected to attend the breakfast, but the White House has not provided an official list of attendees.

Trump has endorsed every House Republican running for re-election in the first primaries of 2026 on March 3 — except one: Rep. Dan Crenshaw.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, during an event in Houston in 2025. Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images file

And unlike dozens of other GOP lawmakers in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas who have received Trump’s blessing, Crenshaw is actually facing a competitive primary. Texas state Rep. Steve Toth is arguing that Crenshaw’s foreign policy and immigration positions are out of step with the “Make America Great Again” wing of the party.

Crenshaw has responded forcefully to the challenge. The four-term congressman significantly outraised Toth and is outspending him on the airwaves, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, running TV spots that emphasize how “Crenshaw stands with Trump.”

But the lack of blessing from the president, whose endorsement shapes Republican primaries up and down the ballot, is a notable omission for Crenshaw, who has tangled with prominent conservative personalities who are boosting Toth’s insurgent campaign in part by questioning Crenshaw’s loyalty to Trump.

Read the full story here.

The U.S. trade deficit slipped modestly in 2025, a year in which Trump upended global commerce by slapping double-digit tariffs on imports from most countries. But the gap in the trade of goods such as machinery and aircraft — the main focus of Trump’s protectionist policies — hit a record last year despite sweeping import taxes.

A container ship prepares to dock at PortMiami in Miami, Fla. earlier this month.  Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Overall, the gap the between the goods and services the U.S. sells other countries and what it buys from them narrowed to just more than $901 billion, from $904 billion in 2024, but it was still the third-highest on record, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

Exports rose 6% last year, and imports rose nearly 5%.

And the U.S. deficit in the trade of goods widened 2% to a record $1.24 trillion last year as American companies boosted imports of computer chips and other tech goods from Taiwan to support massive investments in artificial intelligence.

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The White House announced a reciprocal trade agreement with Indonesia yesterday while President Prabowo Subianto was in Washington to attend the first meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace.

Under the agreement, Southeast Asia’s largest economy will eliminate tariffs for 99% of American goods while the U.S. will maintain tariffs on most Indonesian goods at 19%, the White House said. That is the same rate the U.S. has set for Cambodia and Malaysia. Indonesia also agreed to address non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods and to remove restrictions on exports to the U.S. for critical minerals and other industrial commodities, the White House said.

Indonesian and U.S. companies also reached 11 deals this week worth $38.4 billion, including purchases of U.S. soybeans, corn, cotton and wheat, cooperation in critical minerals and oil field recovery, and joint ventures in computer chips.

Trump accused Democrats in Congress this morning of shutting down the Department of Homeland Security in order to impede U.S. economic growth.

“The Democrat Shutdown cost the U.S.A. at least two points in GDP. That’s why they are doing it, in mini form, again. No Shutdowns!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Also, LOWER INTEREST RATES. 'Two Late' Powell is the WORST!!!"

The president has repeatedly castigated outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for what he says is his refusal to lower interest rates.

The Commerce Department is expected to release its estimates this morning for gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress were unable to reach an agreement last week on an overhaul to Immigration and Customs Enforcement ahead of the deadline to fund DHS, resulting in the department's shutdown.

Democrats have been calling for reforms to ICE after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens and other aggressive enforcement tactics by immigration agents in Minnesota last month.

Border czar Tom Homan said this morning that Democrats' demand for the Trump administration to require ICE agents to not wear masks is a no-go.

"The mask is a nonstarter," he said in an interview on Fox News. "You know, threats against ICE officers are up over 8,000% and not just the officers — their families, their wives and the kids."

Addressing criticisms that ICE racially profiles people in the U.S., Homan said, "That's a bunch of crap."

"We don’t racial profile. When we, you know, detain somebody and question somebody for a short period of time, we need reasonable suspicion," he said.

Homan also criticized Democrats for attacking ICE agents as racists or Nazis, referring to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security out of various executive branch agencies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"If we’re the Nazis for enforcing immigration law, what does that make them? They wrote the law," he said.

Around the time he began taking financial advice from Jeffrey Epstein, Ohio’s richest man made a fateful investment. It was 1990, and Leslie Wexner, whose retail clothing empire included brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret, put $100,000 behind Republican George Voinovich’s successful campaign for governor.

Jeffrey Epstein, Les Wexner and a person whose identity has been redacted pose in an undated photo provided by the federal government.  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

The contributions opened doors that Wexner had sometimes struggled to walk through while attempting to translate his philanthropy and success in business into civic and political power in his home state. Aided by his new friends in the Voinovich administration, Wexner developed this once-small town into an exurban enclave around his mansion. Helped along by a state-funded highway interchange, he built an upscale Columbus shopping mall anchored by his stores.

Wexner’s relationship with Voinovich also planted the seeds for a coalition of CEOs that is credited with shedding Columbus’ image as a Midwestern backwater. Meanwhile, Wexner continued his charitable giving toward pro-Jewish causes, education and other public policy areas — adding to a legacy that put his name on a hospital, art gallery and football training complex at his alma mater, Ohio State University.

But that legacy is now in jeopardy, given Wexner’s association with Epstein, the late sex offender who in 2019 was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The specter of Epstein hovers over Columbus and especially nearby New Albany, where, records show, Epstein owned property and had a senior role in Wexner’s development firm in the 1990s. Epstein, in the words of his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell during a Justice Department interview last year, “ran New Albany.”

Read the full story here.

Trump said yesterday that he is directing agencies to release files pertaining to “alien and extraterrestrial life.

President Donald Trump during a visit to the Fort Bragg U.S. Army base in North Carolina earlier this month. Nathan Howard / Getty Images file

Trump wrote on Truth Social that “based on the tremendous interest shown,” he would be directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and officials at other relevant agencies “to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”

Trump’s announcement comes after former President Barack Obama said in a podcast interview that aliens were real, later clarifying that he meant “the odds are good there’s life out there.” Obama added in his clarification that he had seen “no evidence” of alien existence during his time in office.

Read the full story here.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are set to testify to the House Oversight Committee next week for its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a committee spokeswoman said.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025. Melina Mara / Pool via Getty Images file

The depositions will be held in Chappaqua, New York, on Feb. 26 and 27, according to the spokeswoman. The Clintons have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

While most of the depositions the committee has held in connection with its probe into Epstein have taken place in Washington, the committee has made exceptions. Billionaire Les Wexner’s deposition took place at his estate in New Albany, Ohio, and Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell appeared virtually for her deposition from a federal prison camp in Texas.

Read the full story here.

The Supreme Court could rule as early as this morning on Trump’s authority to impose the kind of broad global tariffs he implemented last year. Losing the case would deal a major economic and political blow to a signature initiative of his second term.

At issue in the pending Supreme Court case is whether a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to regulate imports during times of emergency, grants him the authority to levy global tariffs of unspecified scope and duration. The Constitution assigns Congress the power to set tariffs, and Trump’s challengers in court say he has overstepped his authority.

EMILY’s List yesterday unveiled a list of more than 50 congressional districts across the country it is targeting in this fall’s midterm elections.

The group, which supports Democratic women running for office who support abortion rights, says the initiative, which is called “Mission Majority,” includes the largest target map of any Democratic political group this year.

“This Republican agenda that’s really centered on chaos and cruelty is opening the door for us to compete in tougher and tougher terrain, and you’ll see that reflected in this plan,” EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler told NBC News in an interview.

“Democrats, and especially women supported by EMILY’s List, are uniquely equipped right now to drive big electoral wins,” Mackler said, pointing to electoral victories by Democratic women in Virginia in 2025.

The group’s initiative includes targeting districts that are represented by incumbent women in tough re-election fights, districts that have female candidates they’ve already endorsed and Republican-held districts where they say Democrats don’t normally compete — like Colorado’s 4th District, Florida’s 21st District, Iowa’s 2nd District, Kentucky’s 6th District and South Carolina’s 1st District. Those districts are all major long shots; Trump won each of them by 10 points or more.

“Voters have shown us that they are desperate for leaders who are going to stand up and fight for them to make their lives better, and when we put bold leaders in front of them, we win in some of the toughest territories,” Mackler added.