Politics

Victoria's Secret founder Les Wexner testified under oath Wednesday that federal law enforcement never interviewed him about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite their well-documented close business ties.

During a House Oversight Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, Wexner said he had never been contacted by the FBI or Department of Justice regarding Epstein's activities or investigations.

"Has the FBI or DOJ ever directly contacted you or spoken to you about Epstein?" Wexner was asked.

"Never," Wexner said during the recorded testimony that aired on C-SPAN.

When asked if he spoke to any law enforcement agency about Epstein's 2019 investigation in New York, Wexner again responded: "Never. I don't remember ever talking to any law enforcement agency."

New Mexico will reopen its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro ranch in the state following a public pressure campaign for a fuller accounting of the role the location it played in the late financier’s sex-trafficking conspiracy.

“Upon reviewing information recently released by the US Department of Justice, Attorney General Raúl Torrez has ordered that the criminal investigation into allegations of illegal activity at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch be reopened,” the New Mexico department of justice posted online on Thursday.

The department said that it had closed its prior investigation in 2019 at the request of New York federal prosecutors that handled the second investigation in Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme that ultimately led to his arrest.

The department said “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination” and that “special agents and prosecutors at the New Mexico Department of Justice will be seeking immediate access to the complete, unredacted federal case file”

Police decked out in gas masks and armed with less than lethal munitions move through a cloud of gas.

Tear gas and other chemical weapons used on crowds could cause health problems to both agents and protestors. Sean Bascom/Anadolu via Getty Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

On January 31, federal agents fired tear gas into a crowd of civilians, clergy, and children gathered outside the ICE building in Portland, Oregon. Witnesses say, and video shows, that the demonstration was largely peaceful before the gas was deployed. In the weeks since, a federal judge moved to restrict the use of these chemical munitions at the site following reports that agents used them against demonstrators who posed no imminent threat.

Under the second Trump administration, displays of force against protesters have become increasingly common. So it’s important to know which chemicals are being deployed against those exercising their First Amendment rights—because they’re not benign.

Tear gas, the most widely deployed crowd-control weapon, can cause more harm than temporary irritation. Beyond burning eyes and skin, it has been linked to corneal ulcers and menstrual cycle disruptions, with some reports suggesting possible associations with miscarriage.

But tear gas is just one type of chemical used by federal agents for crowd control.

On January 24, federal agents used hexachloroethane smoke—more commonly known as HC—on protesters at the same Portland ICE facility where they would tear gas children just a week later. According to medical experts, HC is “demonstrably more dangerous” than tear gas. The smoke releases zinc chloride, which can cause chemical burns, acute respiratory distress, and pulmonary edema at high concentrations. Safety data from the manufacturer also warns of potential long-term risks, including organ damage and cancer with repeated exposure.

The US Army has been moving away from HC use in training for decades due to health risks to soldiers, replacing it with less toxic alternatives. Yet spent HC canisters have been documented at protests in Portland—including during the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Past reports linked exposure to symptoms ranging from vomiting and hair loss to prolonged appetite loss and significant weight decline.

The Trump administration has given immigration officers broader powers to detain legal refugees awaiting a green card to ensure they are "re-vetted," an apparent expansion of the president's wide-ranging crackdown on legal and illegal immigration, according to a government memo.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a memo dated February 18 and submitted in a federal court filing, said refugees must return to government custody for "inspection and examination" a year after their admission into the United States.

Blue states would have a major tool to push back. Whether they would use it is less clear.

States have the power to set separate rules for state and local elections and to apply federal restrictions only on residents voting in federal races, according to interviews with more than a dozen election experts, officials and lawmakers. Operating two distinct election systems, a process called bifurcation, would give states more freedom over who can vote in races for governor, state legislature and other down-ballot contests.

The ballroom project has faced stiff opposition from historic preservation groups and sections of the public.

"No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever - not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else," the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in its federal lawsuit.

"And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in." The case is still in litigation.

The commission's Secretary Thomas Luebke said the panel had received over 2,000 comments from the public and that they were "overwhelmingly in opposition - over 99% to this project".

Commission Vice Chairman James McCrery abstained from discussions and the vote at Thursday's meeting. His architecture firm was initially selected by Trump to handle the ballroom, but the administration switched architects on the project to Shalom Baranes.

Two new Trump-appointed members of the commission were sworn in at the start of the meeting, including Chamberlain Harris, a White House aide.

Workers on Thursday began restoring an exhibit on the lives of the nine people once enslaved at the former President's House in Philadelphia amid a contentious legal fight between the city and the Trump administration.

Mayor Cherelle Parker visited the site Thursday morning and thanked the workers for their efforts, spokesperson Joe Grace said.

A federal judge had set a Friday deadline for the Interior Department to restore the exhibit on the people enslaved by George Washington at the site on Independence Mall. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the restoration work, a spokesperson said.

Meta launched what’s set to be the largest push to back political candidates in its history, a move that just so happens to come as the social media company faces a wave of negative press and arguably its most precarious legal fights to date.

The New York Times reported that Meta kicked off a $65 million effort ahead of this year’s midterm elections to “boost state politicians who are friendly to the artificial intelligence industry, beginning this week in Texas and Illinois.”

The Times noted that “the sum is the biggest election investment by Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp” and reported that company representatives said the investment is “driven by concerns over the regulatory threat to the artificial intelligence industry as it aims to beat back legislation in states that it fears could inhibit A.I. development.”

Editor's Note: Again, facts put into the Opinion section. Sneaky, sneaky.:

A third-party arbitrator is ordering the Department of Housing and Urban Development to restore telework agreements for thousands of federal employees, after finding HUD breached its union contract when it implemented the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate last year.

In a decision issued Wednesday, third-party arbitrator Michael T. Loconto determined that the agency’s actions amounted to a prohibited personnel practice, violating both its collective bargaining agreement and federal statute. The decision gives HUD until Monday — the start of the next pay period — to reestablish all regular and routine telework agreements that existed as of January 2025. The decision covers roughly 7,000 HUD employees represented by American Federation of Government Employees Council 222.

A 21-page slideshow buried in the massive trove of Epstein-related documents included allegations that sometime between 1983 and 1985, Trump forced a woman to give him oral sex when she was in her early teens. When the woman bit down on Trump’s exposed penis, he allegedly punched her in the head and kicked her out. That same woman told the DOJ that Epstein had introduced her to Trump in 1984.

Yet last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that there was “no evidence” that Trump had committed any crime—adding to the growing pile of denials from Trump officials that constitute a sweeping cover-up of the president’s alleged wrongdoing.

Justice Department records indicate that the FBI spoke to this woman not once but at least four separate times, according to independent journalist Roger Sollenberger. Now those records appear to have been removed from public viewing—despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires all documents relating to the alleged sex trafficker to be made public.

Slideshow: https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01660622.pdf

Detention facilities are seeing more overcrowding and understaffing as the Trump administration ramps up enforcement in the interior of the country, experts said. Unlawful border crossings have plummeted due to the administration’s restrictions. Federal data shows that most current ICE detainees are not accused of crimes beyond civil immigration offenses.

The expansion of ICE detention is “coupled with a dissolution of oversight, a reduction in detention standards, and draconian restrictions on releases,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official during the last three administrations. “That appears destined to lead to more deaths, medical issues and trauma for detainees.”

New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard recently told Scripps News that she requested an investigation into public land surrounding the ranch after learning about a 2019 email included in newly released Epstein-related documents. The email, sent to a conservative radio host, claimed two girls were buried on public land leased near the ranch. The act was allegedly carried out at the direction of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking.

Asked about the allegation, Huffines said he assumed any investigation had been completed before the sale and would cooperate if authorities pursue additional leads.

mmigrants who came to the U.S. as refugees could be detained after a year of arriving here under a new policy from the Department of Homeland Security.

Refugees must either get a green card within a year, or "present themselves to the agency" to avoid detention, according to a Feb. 18 memo from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The move marks yet another attempt from the Trump administration to further limit legal pathways to resettle in the United States. The administration last year set the lowest-ever cap for refugees it would admit into the U.S.

And USCIS later announced that it would re-review the status of everyone who had been admitted into the U.S. as a refugee under the Biden administration, essentially reopening those cases and risking the loss of legal refugee status.

On Tuesday afternoon, as public interest in the story grew, CBS issued a written statement insisting that Colbert was not prohibited from airing the Talarico interview. Rather, the network said the CBS lawyers “provided legal guidance,” which included “options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled.”

Soon after, while the host filmed Tuesday night’s show, Colbert referred to CBS’ statement as “crap” and picked up a copy of the statement in a dog waste bag. “I’m just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies,” he added.

The state legislator, who accused the FCC of “colluding” with CBS, told supporters at a rally in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, “I think it’s safe to say that their plan backfired. These are the same people who ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read. And this is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top.”

Interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiTJ7Pz_59A

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The Salvadoran national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.

The government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, wrote in her Tuesday order. “From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

“I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas,” Talarico said, which was met with audience applause. “This is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch, what we say, what we read. And this is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top.”

Talarico accused the Trump administration of “selling out the First Amendment to curry favor with corrupt politicians.”

“A threat to any of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights.”

Youtube link to interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiTJ7Pz_59A

Last fall, the department signed several interagency agreements transferring many of its employees and programs to the departments of Labor, Interior, State, and Health and Human Services.

These interagency agreements will move billions of dollars in grant programs to other agencies. The Labor Department, in particular, will oversee federal funding that goes to K-12 schools, including grants for schools serving low-income communities.

Once this transfer is complete, the Labor Department will disperse more education funding than it does for its own labor programs.

Congress recently passed a spending package that increased funding for the Education Department, rejecting the Trump administration’s calls for deep budget cuts to reflect many of its core programs being moved elsewhere.

But officials say it’s still moving ahead with plans to transfer more employees and programs out of Education.

The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its shocking refusal to consider Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine for approval.

The refusal was revealed last week in a sharply worded press release from Moderna. Subsequent reporting found that the decision was made by political appointee Vinay Prasad, the Trump administration’s top vaccine regulator, who overruled a team of agency scientists and a top career official in rejecting Moderna’s application.

In an announcement Wednesday morning, Moderna said the FDA has now agreed to review its vaccine after the company held a formal (Type A) meeting with the FDA and proposed a change to the regulatory pathways used in the application.

“We appreciate the FDA’s engagement in a constructive Type A meeting and its agreement to advance our application for review,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in the announcement. “Pending FDA approval, we look forward to making our flu vaccine available later this year so that America’s seniors have access to a new option to protect themselves against flu.” The agency is expected to provide a decision on the vaccine by August 5, 2026.

Tribal nations are quickly issuing new tribal citizenship cards to their members, especially to those who live away from the tribe’s lands. It is important to note the majority of Indigenous Americans now live away from their traditional areas, many in urban centers.

But just issuing the cards is proving to be not enough, as the Miles case shows. Tribal leaders are now also taking actions to ban ICE from entering tribal property. As independent sovereign nations, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly given the tribes the right to govern various aspects of tribal life, including jurisdictional matters.

Several other tribes are following suit; plus, notifying ICE their agents must have a search warrant signed by a judge to enter any tribal property.

The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda, a move Washington views as a way to counter censorship, three sources familiar with the plan said.

The site will be hosted at "freedom.gov," the sources said. One source said officials had discussed including a virtual private network function to make a user's traffic appear to originate in the U.S. and added that user activity on the site will not be tracked.

The Trump administration has released another $77 million in frozen federal funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Tuesday, as a political battle over the critical infrastructure continued.

New York and New Jersey sued after the U.S. Department of Transportation withheld $205 million in funding for the project since October 1. The funding freeze triggered a halt to construction that put 1,000 workers out of work.

USDOT released $30 million on Friday, bringing the total released to $107 million. A spokesperson for USDOT said the agency is following the court order. The Gateway Development Commission, which is overseeing the project, said on Tuesday that construction remained paused and it was working to "get workers back on the job to resume some construction as soon as possible."

The FBI has formally notified Minnesota's state criminal investigation agency that it will not be providing any evidence or information connected to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, according to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

In response to the FBI's refusal to share evidence in Pretti's case, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty posted on X: "The HCAO and BCA remain committed to investigating the Pretti, Good, and Sosa-Celis shootings here in Minneapolis."

BCA is asking for anyone with information about the shooting of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, or Julio Sosa-Celis to come forward and contact them at 651-793-7000.

• Congressional Democrats sent a counteroffer to the White House and Republicans in negotiations to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.
• Democrats want increased restrictions on immigration enforcement agents in exchange for funding the agency.
• DHS closed early Saturday morning when two-week-long stopgap funding for the agency ran out.

Col. Dave Butler, who served as communications adviser to Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, was fired on Hegseth’s orders, according to Fox News, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

It’s unclear why Hegseth took issue with Butler, who officially retired. Several outlets reported that Butler’s name had been on a list of officers nominated for promotion, but Hegseth held up those promotions in part due to Butler.

Butler was also the top public affairs official under the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who retired in 2023. Milley was chosen by President Donald Trump to serve in that role in 2019, but the two clashed repeatedly in the ensuing years.

Almost immediately after being sworn in as defense secretary in January 2025, Hegseth revoked Milley’s security clearance and directed department officials to open a review into the retired general’s conduct.

The Trump administration complied last week with a judge who ordered the unfreezing the project’s federal funding. And on Monday, Trump carved out an offramp for himself to still maintain some control on the project.

“Please let this statement represent the fact that, under no circumstances, will the Federal Government be responsible for ANY COST OVERRUNS – NOT ONE DOLLAR!” Trump wrote, in a confusing message that suggested measures would be put in place to stop that happening.