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James Talarico gets Colbert bump, with assist from FCC, as voting starts in Texas primary – as it happened

James Talarico gets Colbert bump, with assist from FCC, as voting starts in Texas primary – as it happened

February 20, 2026

James Talarico gets the Colbert bump, with an assist from the FCC, as voting begins in Texas primary

Google Trends data reveals that searches for ‘James Talarico’ have spiked since Stephen Colbert revealed on Monday night that CBS had forced him not to broadcast an interview with the Texas Democrat in response to a threat from the hyper-partisan chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.

The data shows that Talarico’s name is the third-most searched term in the United States in the past 24 hours, giving the Texas state representative a boost just in time for the start of early voting on Tuesday in the Democratic primary for US Senate, in which he is challenging Jasmine Crocketta better-known congresswoman, for the party’s nomination.

James Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January.
James Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Monday night, Colbert told viewers of the Late Show that CBS lawyers told him not to broadcast his interview with Talarico, who became a favorite of many Democrats when he and other Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas to keep Republicans from quickly passing new Congressional maps skewed in their favor.

Colbert said he was allowed to put his interview with Talarico on his show’s YouTube channel, where it has now been viewed more than 3.3 million times, but it could not be broadcast because of the FCC chairman’s warning. The host, a vocal critic of Donald Trump whose show was cancelled as the FCC considered whether or not to allow the CBS parent company, Paramount, to be sold to pro-Trump owners, also said that the lawyers advised him to to even mention the network’s refusal to air his interview with Talarico.

The Google data also shows searches for information on Talarico are suddenly 6 times greater than those for Crockett, who was the more searched candidate until yesterday.

As the journalist Laura Bassett points out, that could prove to be “a massive own goal for the Trump administration,” given that Texas Republicans are convinced that Crockett, a Black congresswoman who is regularly vilified on Fox News, would be easier to defeat in the November general election than Talarico, a former Presbyterian seminarian whose attacks on the “billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over Texas” are grounded in Christian teachings.

This concludes our live coverage of Donald Trump’s second administration for the day. We will be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:

","elementId":"d0d09f7b-ac75-4362-b3cc-a0c396084126"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
    n
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    Democrats mourned the passing of Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader whose 1988 campaign for the Democratic nomination to be president paved the way for Barack Obama.

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    Donald Trump’s former receptionist, Chamberlain Harris, 26, will be sworn in on Thursday as the newest member of the US Commission of Fine Arts, just in time to review his ballroom plans.

    • n
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    Google Trends data reveals that searches for ‘James Talarico’ have spiked since Stephen Colbert revealed on Monday night that CBS had forced him not to broadcast an interview with the Texas Democrat in response to a threat from the hyper-partisan chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

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  • n

    Police officers “surrounded and arrested a man who ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun” on Tuesday, the United States Capitol Police said.

    • n
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    A US immigration judge has ended the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student who helped lead protests at the school over the Israeli assault on Gaza

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  • n

    After Republican congressman Randy Fine posted an Islamophobic comment to social media over the weekend, the backlash from Democrats has been swift.

    • n
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A federal judge in Oregon on Tuesday extended a temporary order that bars federal officers from using tear gas on peaceful protesters gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland.

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The judge, Michael Simon, granted a request from the ACLU, acting on behalf of protesters, including one thoughtful young man who dresses as a chicken, to extend the order he first issued on 3 February for another 14 days. The order applies to the area around the ICE building in Portland’s residential South Waterfront neighborhood, where massive amounts of tear gas have been used recently against protesters.

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The order bars federal officers from using “chemical or projectile munitions,” including tear gas, pepper balls and other so-called “less-lethal” munitions, “unless the specific target of such a weapon or device poses an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person.”

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Donald Trump’s former receptionist, Chamberlain Harris, 26, will be sworn in on Thursday as the newest member of the US Commission of Fine Arts, a seven-member panel of arts experts that has advised the federal government on the architectural development of Washington DC since it was established by Congress in 1910.

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Shortly after she joins the board, Harris, who has no arts experience but was known during Trump’s first term as the ROTUS, or Receptionist of the United States, will take part in the next item on the commission’s agenda on Thursday: its formal review of the “East Wing modernization and ballroom addition” at the White House.”

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Harris, who is currently employed by Trump as the deputy director of Oval Office operations at the White House, might be expected to rubber-stamp her boss’s plans for a grand ballroom.

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During Trump’s time out of office, Harris was so close to Trump that she was even drawn into the classified documents case, when his lawyers were forced to admit that she had scanned the contents of a box containing classified materials “and stored them on a laptop in her possession owned by Trump’s Save America PAC”.

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Harris is just one of seven newly appointed members of the commission put in place by Trump last month. Another member, who previously served from 2019 to 2024, is James C. McCrery, a classical architect who drew up the first designs for Trump’s ballroom, when it was a modest 500-seat affair. McCrery reportedly stepped back into a role as a consultant on the ballroom when Trump demanded that the 90,000-square-foot addition to the 55,000-square-foot mansion be expanded to seat 1,350 people.

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Google Trends data reveals that searches for ‘James Talarico’ have spiked since Stephen Colbert revealed on Monday night that CBS had forced him not to broadcast an interview with the Texas Democrat in response to a threat from the hyper-partisan chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.

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The data shows that Talarico’s name is the third-most searched term in the United States in the past 24 hours, giving the Texas state representative a boost just in time for the start of early voting on Tuesday in the Democratic primary for US Senate, in which he is challenging Jasmine Crockett, a better-known congresswoman, for the party’s nomination.

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Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January.","caption":"James Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January.","credit":"Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images"}},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

On Monday night, Colbert told viewers of the Late Show that CBS lawyers told him not to broadcast his interview with Talarico, who became a favorite of many Democrats when he and other Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas to keep Republicans from quickly passing new Congressional maps skewed in their favor.

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Colbert said he was allowed to put his interview with Talarico on his show’s YouTube channel, where it has now been viewed more than 3.3 million times, but it could not be broadcast because of the FCC chairman’s warning. The host, a vocal critic of Donald Trump whose show was cancelled as the FCC considered whether or not to allow the CBS parent company, Paramount, to be sold to pro-Trump owners, also said that the lawyers advised him to to even mention the network’s refusal to air his interview with Talarico.

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The Google data also shows searches for information on Talarico are suddenly 6 times greater than those for Crockett, who was the more searched candidate until yesterday.

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As the journalist Laura Bassett points out, that could prove to be “a massive own goal for the Trump administration,” given that Texas Republicans are convinced that Crockett, a Black congresswoman who is regularly vilified on Fox News, would be easier to defeat in the November general election than Talarico, a former Presbyterian seminarian whose attacks on the “billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over Texas” are grounded in Christian teachings.

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A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday during jury selection in a case where nine people are accused of being part of a “North Texas antifa cell” that planned a shooting attack on an ICE detention facility on the Fourth of July last year.

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According to the NPR affiliate KERA, the judge, Mark Pittman, halted jury selection after one of the defense lawyers, MarQuetta Clayton, brought up the death of Jesse Jackson during questioning of prospective jurors and then noticed that she was wearing a shirt with images of civil rights icons Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm.

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Pittman called Clayton’s shirt “improper” and compared it to a prosecutor wearing “a shirt with Donald Trump riding an eagle with an ICE flag.”

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KERA also reported that, before the judge halted proceedings, “a vocal portion of the pool of 75 prospective jurors expressed anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement and anti-Donald Trump sentiments when asked by the judge and prosecutors.”

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Clayton is currently running for office, as a candidate in the Democratic primary to be an elected a county judge. Early voting started on Tuesday.

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Police officers “surrounded and arrested a man who ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun” on Tuesday, the United States Capitol Police said in a statement.

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The suspect, identified by the police as “18-year-old Carter Camacho of Smyrna, GA,” was stopped shortly after noon on the Lower West Terrace, which was the scene of intense fighting five years ago between Trump supporters and Capitol Police officers on January 6 2021.

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Camacho had multiple rounds of ammunition and a tactical style vest when he was arrested, the police said.

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Officers found what they identified as the suspect’s Mercedes SUV parked near the Capitol, with a gas mask and helmet inside it.

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The Capital Police chief, Michael Sullivan told the Associated Press the man got out of his SUV and ran “several hundred yards” toward the building with a shotgun before officers intercepted him and ordered him to put down the firearm and get on the ground.

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The police released photographs of the suspect being handcuffed, and his gun on the pavement.

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Sullivan told reporters at a news conference after the arrest that Camacho was wearing a tactical vest and gloves and had a Kevlar helmet and gas mask in the vehicle. The shotgun was loaded and he had additional rounds on him, the chief said.

n Sullivan said the motive was under investigation, including whether members of Congress were the target. Congress is not in session.

n “Just last summer, we held an active threat exercise on the West Front of the U. Capitol – in the very location where today’s officers stopped the suspect,” Sullivan said. “These now routine exercises are planned monthly and in different areas of the Capitol Complex to keep our officers ready for potential threats just like this.”

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A US immigration judge has ended the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student who helped lead protests at the school over the Israeli assault on Gaza.

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Mahdawi was arrested last year in Vermont while he was attending a naturalization interview with authorities.

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Lawyers for Mahdawi filed notice of the immigration judge’s decision with a federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to his release from immigration custody last April.

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Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, where he lived until he moved to the US in 2014. He became a lawful permanent resident of the US in 2015.

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He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia last year, and then began studying for a master’s degree in September at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (Sipa), where he said he would be focusing on international diplomacy and security, as well as “peacemaking, conflict resolution and negotiation”.

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Mahdawi spoke outside a courthouse in Burlington, Vermont on 30 April 2025, after a judge released the Palestinian-American student activist.","caption":"Mohsen Mahdawi spoke outside a courthouse in Burlington, Vermont on 30 April 2025, after a judge released the Palestinian-American student activist.","credit":"Photograph: Amanda Swinhart/AP"}},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent Mahdawi in the case Mahdawi v. Trump, said in a statement that Mahdawi “was detained for his protected speech” on behalf of Palestinians assaulted and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

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“This is good news, but the government can still appeal or refile their case,” the ACLU added. “We won’t stop fighting until he is free for good.”

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In their letter to the federal appeals court in New York, which was posted online by a freelance reporter, John Hawkinson, Mahdawi’s lawyers wrote: “This development underscores the dangers of the government’s interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the government’s view, it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for his speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings no matter how unmeritorious all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time.”

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After Republican congressman Randy Fine posted an Islamophobic comment to social media over the weekend, the backlash from Democrats has been swift.

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On Sunday, the GOP lawmaker from Florida wrote: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

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Fine later wrote, “for context, this is the leader of one of the key mainstream Muslim groups that supported Mamdani” and shared a comment from Nerdeen Kiswani – a Palestinian activist – who wrote that dogs are “unclean” and they shouldn’t be “indoor pets”. Kiswani later told NBC News in an email that her original comment was “satire” based on a “hyper local NYC conversation” about dog waste in the city after the recent snow storm. She told NBC News that she was “satirizing Islamophobic hysteria portraying Mamdani’s mayoralty as a societal takeover”.

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After Fine took to social media, Kiswani noted that “no one told Randy to get rid of his dogs” and said that Fine concoted a narrative around “banning dogs” as an “excuse to post genocidal rhetoric against Muslims”.

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“Illiterate boomers really turned my joke into a national headline,” she said in a post on X.

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Fine speaks at a ‘Sharia-Free America’ caucus press conference at the US Capitol, 3 February 2026.","caption":"Randy Fine speaks at a ‘Sharia-Free America’ caucus press conference at the US Capitol, 3 February 2026. 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Several Democrats have decried Fine’s post, and called on Republican leadership to act quickly.

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“Randy Fine is a disgrace to the United States Congress. He is an Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot,” said House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. “It is unacceptable that Mike Johnson and House Republicans continue to remain silent. Their casual acceptance of hateful and divisive language enables this out-of-control behavior. Republican leaders must hold this so-called Member of Congress accountable.”

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Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, called on speaker Johnson to should strip him of Fine of all his committees and assignments. “He should be forced to resign,” Garcia added.

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In a statement, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Fine’s post is “genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official”, while also calling for him to be censured and stipped of his committees.

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“It should not stop shocking us that the Republican Party openly embraces this,” she added.

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Fine has since doubled down on his comments over the weekend, with a spree of subsequent media interviews. “My post was in response to a major Muslim leader saying dogs should be forbidden from New York City – because to some Muslims, it bothers them,” Fine told Newsmax in an interview on Tuesday. “Well, if they’re going to make us choose between our dogs and them going home, the choice is easy.”

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Later today, we can expect to hear more of Fine’s defense when he joins far-right activist Laura Loomer on her show at 9:30pm ET.

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    n
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    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that its top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, will leave her position next week. A DHS official told the Guardian that McLaughlin, a vocal defender of the administration’s immigration policies, started planning to leave the department back in December but ultimately pushed back her departure in the aftermath of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings in Minneapolis. Her departure comes amid a department wide shutdown, as negotiations over guardrails for federal immigration enforcement have stalled.

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    The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights trailblazer who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice, died at the age of 84. His passing saw dozens of tributes from current and former officials – including Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

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    Early voting began in several hotly contested primary races in Texas today. At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between four-term incumbent John Cornyn, and the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton. Democrats are waging their own internal battle – a race between two rising liberal stars: Austin-based state senator, James Talarico, and Representative Jasmine Crockett.

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    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially shut down over the weekend, after negotiations to implement guardrails on federal immigration enforcement stalled in Congress. On Monday, a spokesperson for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats had sent the White House a counter-proposal after they deemed the initial GOP offer “insufficient”.

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    Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before Congress to deflect scrutiny from Donald Trump. In an interview with the BBC, Clinton said the US Department of Justice was “slow-walking” the release of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s catalogue of crimes and urged the administration to “get the files out”.

    • n
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Donald Trump has insisted that tax refunds this year will be “substantially greater” thanks to the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ – the president’s sweeping tax policy legislation signed into law last year.

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In a recent statement, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that so far the average refund processed is almost 11% higher in 2026, compared to last year’s filings.

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“In some cases, estimates are that over 20% will be returned to the Taxpayer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY FOR OUR GREAT SENIORS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, INTEREST DEDUCTIONS ON CAR LOANS, AND MUCH MORE. Don’t spend all of this money in one place!”

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US residents have until 15 April to file their taxes.

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Former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have paid tribute to the late civil rights trailblazer Rev Jesse Jackson, calling him a “tribute giant”.

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“From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” the Obamas said in a statement.

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They added that Michelle got her “first glimpse” of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager.

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“In his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land,” the Obamas noted. “We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson family and everyone in Chicago and beyond who knew and loved him.”

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially shut down over the weekend, after negotiations to implement guardrails on federal immigration enforcement stalled in Congress.

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Now, Democratic lawmakers are continuing to push for greater oversight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). On Monday, a spokesperson for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats had sent the White House a counter-proposal after they deemed the initial GOP offer “insufficient”.

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Democrats have demanded judicial warrants for arrests made in homes, requiring immigration officers show their face while patrolling, and the use of body-worn cameras. Republicans, by and large, have called these conditions non-starters.

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A reminder that ICE received a $75bn infusion thanks to Donald Trump’s tax policy bill signed into law last year, and remains operational. However, several other agencies within DHS have been affected by the shutdown, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

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Tricia McLaughlin, the top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson is set to leave her position, according to a report from Politico.

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McLaughlin, who has become one of the agency’s most vocal defenders and supported several nationwide immigration crackdowns, is expected to inform colleagues Tuesday about her plans, and will DHS leave next week, according to two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

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Her departure comes amid a department wide shutdown, as negotiations over guardrails for federal immigration enforcement have stalled.

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A Texas-sized showdown is brewing deep in the heart of the largest red state in the US. As early voting begins on Tuesday for the Lone Star state’s 3 March primaries, Republicans and Democrats alike face a high-stakes choice that could set the stage for one of the fiercest Senate races of the 2026 midterm cycle.

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At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between the party’s old guard and a Maga culture warrior, with four-term incumbent John Cornyn, a conservative fixture of Senate leadership locked in the fight of his political career against the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton.

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Democrats, meanwhile, are waging their own internal battle – a race between two rising liberal stars: Austin-based state senator, James Talarico, who grounds his Bernie Sanders-style populism in biblical teachings and Representative Jasmine Crockett, a civil rights attorney and liberal media darling known for her sharp-tongued clapbacks to Republicans.

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It has been three decades since Democrats last won a statewide election in Texas. In 2024, Donald Trump dominated the state, widening his margin of victory with the support of Hispanic voters.

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But now, as Trump contends with sagging approval ratings amid economic unease and a backlash to his deportation agenda, Texas Democrats sense an opening.

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We’re also covering the death of African-American civil rights trailblazer and presidential candidate Rev Jesse Jackson at the age of 84.

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My colleagues are monitoring the latest developments and reactions to his passing. There has been an outpouring of messages, highlighting Jackson’s legacy – which included paving the way for Barack Obama’s presidential run and victory in 2008.

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Donald Trump posted a tribute on social media a short while ago, though much of it focused on his own past relationship with Jackson.

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“Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,” Trump wrote, adding that he provided office space for Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition “for years” at 40 Wall Street.

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Jackson did describe Trump as a “friend” during that period and publicly thanked him for supporting the Rainbow Push Coalition, which works on educational and economic equality. But he broke with Trump during the 2016 campaign and sharply criticized his rhetoric and policies once he entered the White House.

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“The victory can be legal but without moral legitimacy,” Jackson told Politico after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. “It was a divisive campaign full of race targeting: People in Mexico were going to be stopped by a wall; Muslims were going to be kept from coming in; there was a whole campaign saying Barack had not been born here.”

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In his Truth Social post, Trump also claimed Jackson had “much to do” with Obama’s victory “without acknowledgment or credit” from the former president. That is incorrect. Obama has repeatedly credited Jackson’s presidential runs with helping make his own possible. Trump further asserted that Jackson “could not stand” Obama, without offering evidence.

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Jackson did privately criticize Obama during the 2008 campaign, in remarks caught on a live microphone. “Barack, he is talking down to black people,” Jackson said, adding that he wanted to “cut his nuts off”. He later apologized and went on to support Obama throughout both of his terms.

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President Trump has said Hillary Clinton “merely showed her anger” at the Munich security conference and called her a “really bad representative” of the US.

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Trump also said Gavin Newsom and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “shouldn’t be talking badly” about the US – but also, presumably, him – on “foreign soil”.

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Writing on Truth Social, he said:

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n

Heading to D.C. Will give an Air Force One Press Conference, shortly. Marco was fantastic in Munich! AOC and Newscum were an embarrassment to our Nation. For one thing they shouldn’t be talking badly about the U.S.A., especially on “foreign soil.” They made fools of themselves, and always will! Crooked Hillary merely showed her anger and Trump Derangement. Really bad representatives of our now very successful Country!

n
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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next couple of hours.

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We begin with the news that the former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accused president Donald Trump of orchestrating a “cover-up” over files related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to an interview with the BBC published on Monday.

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“Get the files out. They are slow-walking it,” Clinton, who is due to testify before a Congressional committee on the issue, told the British broadcaster in an interview in Berlin.

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The Justice Department last month released the latest cache of so-called Epstein files – more than 3m documents, photos and videos related to its investigation into Epstein, who died from what was determined to be suicide while in custody in 2019.

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Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, features regularly in the files, but no evidence has come to light implicating either Clinton in criminal activity, AFP reported.

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The couple has been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House oversight committee, which is investigating Epstein’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

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“We will show up but we think it would be better to have it in public,” Hillary Clinton told the BBC. “I just want it to be fair,. I want everybody treated the same way.”

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The former secretary of state said she and her husband “have nothing to hide. We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly.”

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In other developments:

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    Donald Trump has piled pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal with Russia “fast” before US-brokered talks in Geneva on Tuesday. “Ukraine better come to the table, fast,” the US president told reporters onboard Air Force One while en route to Washington. Trump is pushing to end the conflict, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but two previous rounds of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi did not yield any signs of a breakthrough.

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    Donald Trump has vented his fury against a green energy deal between the British government and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a likely future Democratic presidential candidate. “The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum,” Trump said in an interview with Politico, using the derogatory nickname he reserves for Newsom. “Gavin is a loser. Everything he’s touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster.”

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    Trump’s most unbridled critics at this weekend’s Munich Security Conference were not Europeans but Americans – and not just Democratic politicians. A few Republicans, out of earshot of the US president’s favoured Fox News, have had the courage to challenge Trump’s diet of tariffs and unpredictability.

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    Trump is committed to the success of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, because his leadership is crucial for US national interests, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said. “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” Rubio said, standing next to Orbán at a joint press conference in Budapest.

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    John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire and one of Donald Trump’s earliest Wall Street backers, is planning to move an Ohio manufacturing plant to China despite heavy pushback from employees. Workers at the plant have called the relocation “a slap in our face”, after Paulson vocally defended domestic manufacturing, and are fighting to keep the plant open.

    • n
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Key events

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Closing summary

This concludes our live coverage of Donald Trump’s second administration for the day. We will be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:

  • Democrats mourned the passing of Jesse Jacksonthe civil rights leader whose 1988 campaign for the Democratic nomination to be president paved the way for Barack Obama.

  • Donald Trump’s former receptionist, Chamberlain Harris26, will be sworn in on Thursday as the newest member of the US Commission of Fine Arts, just in time to review his ballroom plans.

  • Google Trends data reveals that searches for ‘James Talarico’ have spiked since Stephen Colbert revealed on Monday night that CBS had forced him not to broadcast an interview with the Texas Democrat in response to a threat from the hyper-partisan chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

  • Police officers “surrounded and arrested a man who ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun” on Tuesday, the United States Capitol Police said.

  • A US immigration judge has ended the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student who helped lead protests at the school over the Israeli assault on Gaza

  • After Republican congressman Randy Fine posted an Islamophobic comment to social media over the weekend, the backlash from Democrats has been swift.

Federal judge extends ban on ICE agents in Portland using tear gas on protesters

A federal judge in Oregon on Tuesday extended a temporary order that bars federal officers from using tear gas on peaceful protesters gathered outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Portland.

The judge, Michael Simon, granted a request from the ACLU, acting on behalf of protesters, including one thoughtful young man who dresses as a chicken, to extend the order he first issued on 3 February for another 14 days. The order applies to the area around the ICE building in Portland’s residential South Waterfront neighborhood, where massive amounts of tear gas have been used recently against protesters.

The order bars federal officers from using “chemical or projectile munitions,” including tear gas, pepper balls and other so-called “less-lethal” munitions, “unless the specific target of such a weapon or device poses an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person.”

Trump's former receptionist joins fine arts commission in time to review his ballroom

Donald Trump’s former receptionist, Chamberlain Harris26, will be sworn in on Thursday as the newest member of the US Commission of Fine Arts, a seven-member panel of arts experts that has advised the federal government on the architectural development of Washington DC since it was established by Congress in 1910.

Shortly after she joins the board, Harris, who has no arts experience but was known during Trump’s first term as the ROTUS, or Receptionist of the United States, will take part in the next item on the commission’s agenda on Thursday: its formal review of the “East Wing modernization and ballroom addition” at the White House.”

Harris, who is currently employed by Trump as the deputy director of Oval Office operations at the White House, might be expected to rubber-stamp her boss’s plans for a grand ballroom.

During Trump’s time out of office, Harris was so close to Trump that she was even drawn into the classified documents case, when his lawyers were forced to admit that she had scanned the contents of a box containing classified materials “and stored them on a laptop in her possession owned by Trump’s Save America PAC”.

Harris is just one of seven newly appointed members of the commission put in place by Trump last month. Another member, who previously served from 2019 to 2024, is James C. McCrerya classical architect who drew up the first designs for Trump’s ballroom, when it was a modest 500-seat affair. McCrery reportedly stepped back into a role as a consultant on the ballroom when Trump demanded that the 90,000-square-foot addition to the 55,000-square-foot mansion be expanded to seat 1,350 people.

James Talarico gets the Colbert bump, with an assist from the FCC, as voting begins in Texas primary

Google Trends data reveals that searches for ‘James Talarico’ have spiked since Stephen Colbert revealed on Monday night that CBS had forced him not to broadcast an interview with the Texas Democrat in response to a threat from the hyper-partisan chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr.

The data shows that Talarico’s name is the third-most searched term in the United States in the past 24 hours, giving the Texas state representative a boost just in time for the start of early voting on Tuesday in the Democratic primary for US Senate, in which he is challenging Jasmine Crocketta better-known congresswoman, for the party’s nomination.

James Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January.
James Talarico, a Texas state representative, and Jasmine Crockett, a Texas congresswoman, at a US Senate Democratic primary debate in January. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Monday night, Colbert told viewers of the Late Show that CBS lawyers told him not to broadcast his interview with Talarico, who became a favorite of many Democrats when he and other Democratic state lawmakers fled Texas to keep Republicans from quickly passing new Congressional maps skewed in their favor.

Colbert said he was allowed to put his interview with Talarico on his show’s YouTube channel, where it has now been viewed more than 3.3 million times, but it could not be broadcast because of the FCC chairman’s warning. The host, a vocal critic of Donald Trump whose show was cancelled as the FCC considered whether or not to allow the CBS parent company, Paramount, to be sold to pro-Trump owners, also said that the lawyers advised him to to even mention the network’s refusal to air his interview with Talarico.

The Google data also shows searches for information on Talarico are suddenly 6 times greater than those for Crockett, who was the more searched candidate until yesterday.

As the journalist Laura Bassett points out, that could prove to be “a massive own goal for the Trump administration,” given that Texas Republicans are convinced that Crockett, a Black congresswoman who is regularly vilified on Fox News, would be easier to defeat in the November general election than Talarico, a former Presbyterian seminarian whose attacks on the “billionaire mega-donors and puppet politicians who have taken over Texas” are grounded in Christian teachings.

Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa cell’ case over defense lawyer's shirt with images of civil rights icons

A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday during jury selection in a case where nine people are accused of being part of a “North Texas antifa cell” that planned a shooting attack on an ICE detention facility on the Fourth of July last year.

According to the NPR affiliate KERA, the judge, Mark Pittman, halted jury selection after one of the defense lawyers, MarQuetta Clayton, brought up the death of Jesse Jackson during questioning of prospective jurors and then noticed that she was wearing a shirt with images of civil rights icons Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm.

Pittman called Clayton’s shirt “improper” and compared it to a prosecutor wearing “a shirt with Donald Trump riding an eagle with an ICE flag.”

KERA also reported that, before the judge halted proceedings, “a vocal portion of the pool of 75 prospective jurors expressed a nti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement and anti-Donald Trump sentiments when asked by the judge and prosecutors.”

Clayton is currently running for office, as a candidate in the Democratic primary to be an elected a county judge. Early voting started on Tuesday.

Police arrest man running toward US Capitol with a loaded shotgun

Police officers “surrounded and arrested a man who ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun” on Tuesday, the United States Capitol Police said in a statement.

The suspect, identified by the police as “18-year-old Carter Camacho of Smyrna, GA,” was stopped shortly after noon on the Lower West Terrace, which was the scene of intense fighting five years ago between Trump supporters and Capitol Police officers on January 6 2021.

Camacho had multiple rounds of ammunition and a tactical style vest when he was arrested, the police said.

Officers found what they identified as the suspect’s Mercedes SUV parked near the Capitol, with a gas mask and helmet inside it.

The Capital Police chief, Michael Sullivan told the Associated Press the man got out of his SUV and ran “several hundred yards” toward the building with a shotgun before officers intercepted him and ordered him to put down the firearm and get on the ground.

The police released photographs of the suspect being handcuffed, and his gun on the pavement.

Sullivan told reporters at a news conference after the arrest that Camacho was wearing a tactical vest and gloves and had a Kevlar helmet and gas mask in the vehicle. The shotgun was loaded and he had additional rounds on him, the chief said.

Sullivan said the motive was under investigation, including whether members of Congress were the target. Congress is not in session.

“Just last summer, we held an active threat exercise on the West Front of the U. Capitol – in the very location where today’s officers stopped the suspect,” Sullivan said. “These now routine exercises are planned monthly and in different areas of the Capitol Complex to keep our officers ready for potential threats just like this.”

Victoria Bekiempis

US military officials have said American forces launched assaults on three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing 11 in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration’s months-long campaign against alleged traffickers.

The military action on Monday brought the number of fatalities caused by US strikes to 145 since September, when Donald Trump called on American armed forces to attack people deemed “narco-terrorists” on small vessels. There have been 42 known strikes in notorious drug-trafficking routes such as the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the Associated Press reported.

US Southern Command posted video to social media, showing this week’s strikes. Authorities insisted the boats transported drug-trafficking criminals but the video does not appear to provide information confirming this claim.

Immigration judge ends deportation proceedings against Columbia student protester Mohsen Mahdawi

A US immigration judge has ended the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student who helped lead protests at the school over the Israeli assault on Gaza.

Mahdawi was arrested last year in Vermont while he was attending a naturalization interview with authorities.

Lawyers for Mahdawi filed notice of the immigration judge’s decision with a federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to his release from immigration custody last April.

Mahdawi was born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, where he lived until he moved to the US in 2014. He became a lawful permanent resident of the US in 2015.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Columbia last year, and then began studying for a master’s degree in September at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (Sipa), where he said he would be focusing on international diplomacy and security, as well as “peacemaking, conflict resolution and negotiation”.

Mohsen Mahdawi spoke outside a courthouse in Burlington, Vermont on 30 April 2025, after a judge released the Palestinian-American student activist.
Mohsen Mahdawi spoke outside a courthouse in Burlington, Vermont on 30 April 2025, after a judge released the Palestinian-American student activist. Photograph: Amanda Swinhart/AP

The American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent Mahdawi in the case Mahdawi v. Trump, said in a statement that Mahdawi “was detained for his protected speech” on behalf of Palestinians assaulted and killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

“This is good news, but the government can still appeal or refile their case,” the ACLU added. “We won’t stop fighting until he is free for good.”

In their letter to the federal appeals court in New York, which was posted online by a freelance reporter, John Hawkinson, Mahdawi’s lawyers wrote: “This development underscores the dangers of the government’s interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the government’s view, it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for his speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings no matter how unmeritorious all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time.”

Democrats call on Randy Fine to resign following Islamophobic social media post

After Republican congressman Randy Fine posted an Islamophobic comment to social media over the weekend, the backlash from Democrats has been swift.

On Sunday, the GOP lawmaker from Florida wrote: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

Fine later wrote, “for context, this is the leader of one of the key mainstream Muslim groups that supported Mamdani” and shared a comment from Nerdeen Kiswani – a Palestinian activist – who wrote that dogs are “unclean” and they shouldn’t be “indoor pets”. Kiswani later told NBC News in an email that her original comment was “satire” based on a “hyper local NYC conversation” about dog waste in the city after the recent snow storm. She told NBC News that she was “satirizing Islamophobic hysteria portraying Mamdani’s mayoralty as a societal takeover”.

After Fine took to social media, Kiswani noted that “no one told Randy to get rid of his dogs” and said that Fine concoted a narrative around “banning dogs” as an “excuse to post genocidal rhetoric against Muslims”.

“Illiterate boomers really turned my joke into a national headline,” she said in a post on X.

Randy Fine speaks at a ‘Sharia-Free America’ caucus press conference at the US Capitol, 3 February 2026.
Randy Fine speaks at a ‘Sharia-Free America’ caucus press conference at the US Capitol, 3 February 2026. Photograph: Michael Brochstein/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Several Democrats have decried Fine’s post, and called on Republican leadership to act quickly.

“Randy Fine is a disgrace to the United States Congress. He is an Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot,” said House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. “It is unacceptable that Mike Johnson and House Republicans continue to remain silent. Their casual acceptance of hateful and divisive language enables this out-of-control behavior. Republican leaders must hold this so-called Member of Congress accountable.”

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, called on speaker Johnson to should strip him of Fine of all his committees and assignments. “He should be forced to resign,” Garcia added.

In a statement, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Fine’s post is “genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official”, while also calling for him to be censured and stipped of his committees.

“It should not stop shocking us that the Republican Party openly embraces this,” she added.

Fine has since doubled down on his comments over the weekend, with a spree of subsequent media interviews. “My post was in response to a major Muslim leader saying dogs should be forbidden from New York City – because to some Muslims, it bothers them,” Fine told Newsmax in an interview on Tuesday. “Well, if they’re going to make us choose between our dogs and them going home, the choice is easy.”

Later today, we can expect to hear more of Fine’s defense when he joins far-right activist Laura Loomer on her show at 9:30pm ET.

Here's a recap of the day so far

  • The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that its top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, will leave her position next week. A DHS official told the Guardian that McLaughlin, a vocal defender of the administration’s immigration policies, started planning to leave the department back in December but ultimately pushed back her departure in the aftermath of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings in Minneapolis. Her departure comes amid a department wide shutdown, as negotiations over guardrails for federal immigration enforcement have stalled.

  • The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights trailblazer who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice, died at the age of 84. His passing saw dozens of tributes from current and former officials – including Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

  • Early voting began in several hotly contested primary races in Texas today. At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between four-term incumbent John Cornyn, and the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton. Democrats are waging their own internal battle – a race between two rising liberal stars: Austin-based state senator, James Talarico, and Representative Jasmine Crockett.

  • The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially shut down over the weekend, after negotiations to implement guardrails on federal immigration enforcement stalled in Congress. On Monday, a spokesperson for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats had sent the White House a counter-proposal after they deemed the initial GOP offer “insufficient”.

  • Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before Congress to deflect scrutiny from Donald Trump. In an interview with the BBC, Clinton said the US Department of Justice was “slow-walking” the release of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s catalogue of crimes and urged the administration to “get the files out”.

Harry Davies and Yuval Abraham

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deepened its reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology last year as the agency ramped up arrest and deportation operations, leaked documents reveal.

ICE more tha n tripled the amount of data it stored in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform in the six months leading up to January 2026, a period in which the agency’s budget swelled and its workforce rapidly expanded, according to the files.

ICE appears to be using a range of Microsoft’s productivity tools, as well as AI-driven products, to search and analyse the data it holds in Azure. Files suggest some of the agency’s own tools and systems may also be running on Microsoft servers.

The documents – obtained by the Guardian and its partners +972 Magazine and Local Call – raise questions about whether Microsoft technology is facilitating an immigration crackdown by an agency accused of conducting unlawful operations and using excessive force on a large scale.

As ICE expanded through 2025, it boosted spending on cloud computing. Amazon and Microsoft, both longtime providers to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), have emerged as beneficiaries of deals worth tens of millions of dollars struck by third-party resellers.

The leaked documents do not specify the kinds of information stored by ICE on Microsoft servers. However, they indicate the agency has used Azure services including “blob storage” of raw data, as well as AI tools that analyse images and videos, and translate text.

In January, according to the files, ICE held almost 1,400 terabytes in Azure, which if only comprised of photographs would be equivalent to approximately 490m images. This was up from 400 terabytes in July 2025 after climbing through the second half of last year, files suggest.

Donald Trump has also spent time on Truth Social, posting pictures of himself alongside the late civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The pair were friendly in the 1980s and 1990s, when Jackson thanked Trump for supporting the Rainbow Push Coalition. But he notably broke with the president during the 2016 campaign and sharply criticized his rhetoric and policies once he entered the White House.

Trump touts tax refunds as benefit of sweeping tax policy bill

Donald Trump has insisted that tax refunds this year will be “substantially greater” thanks to the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ – the president’s sweeping tax policy legislation signed into law last year.

In a recent statement, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that so far the average refund processed is almost 11% higher in 2026, compared to last year’s filings.

“In some cases, estimates are that over 20% will be returned to the Taxpayer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY FOR OUR GREAT SENIORS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, INTEREST DEDUCTIONS ON CAR LOANS, AND MUCH MORE. Don’t spend all of this money in one place!”

US residents have until 15 April to file their taxes.

'We stood on his shoulders': Obamas pay tribute to 'true giant' Jesse Jackson

Former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have paid tribute to the late civil rights trailblazer Rev Jesse Jacksoncalling him a “tribute giant”.

“From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect,” the Obamas said in a statement.

They added that Michelle got her “first glimpse” of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager.

“In his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land,” the Obamas noted. “We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson family and everyone in Chicago and beyond who knew and loved him.”

Democrats and Republicans have finalized a settlement over voter registration issues in North Carolina that threatened the ballots of about a quarter million voters.

The Republican National Committee had sued North Carolina’s State Board of Elections, arguing that some voters had registered without providing a driver’s licence number, the last four digits of their social security number or another unique identifier, as required under the Help America Vote Act. When a Republican-friendly board conceded to the suit, Democrats intervened.

State officials have been whittling down the number of voters caught in the middle, contacting them to get identifying information. About 70,000 voters remain according to the state’s tracking web page. The settlement requires the state to maintain a separate list of these voters and bars the state from discounting their votes but requires them to present identification numbers and an ID when they vote. Their ballots will be cast provisionally in some cases, to allow them to provide ID later.

The settlement also bars the state from registering future voters who do not provide the last four digits of their social security number, a driver’s license number or attest that they have neither.

“The DNC has put Republicans on notice: If you attack voting rights, the DNC will be there to defend Americans at every turn,” said DNC chairman Ken Martin. “While the RNC has waged an all-out assault on voters in North Carolina, we have been fighting like hell to protect the sacred right to vote — and we will never back down.”

Democrats send homeland security counter-proposal to White House as shutdown continues

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially shut down over the weekend, after negotiations to implement guardrails on federal immigration enforcement stalled in Congress.

Now, Democratic lawmakers are continuing to push for greater oversight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). On Monday, a spokesperson for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats had sent the White House a counter-proposal after they deemed the initial GOP offer “insufficient”.

Democrats have demanded judicial warrants for arrests made in homes, requiring immigration officers show their face while patrolling, and the use of body-worn cameras. Republicans, by and large, have called these conditions non-starters.

A reminder that ICE received a $75bn infusion thanks to Donald Trump’s tax policy bill signed into law last year, and remains operational. However, several other agencies within DHS have been affected by the shutdown, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The DHS official also confirms that McLaughlin will leave the department next week.

We’ll bring you the latest lines as we get them.

A DHS official tells the Guardian that McLaughlin started planning to leave the department back in December but ultimately pushed back her departure in the aftermath of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings in Minneapolis, according to the people briefed on her exit.

Top DHS spokesperson to leave role as agency shutdown continues - report

Tricia McLaughlinthe top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson is set to leave her position, according to a report from Politico.

McLaughlin, who has become one of the agency’s most vocal defenders and supported several nationwide immigration crackdowns, is expected to inform colleagues Tuesday about her plans, and will DHS leave next week, according to two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Her departure comes amid a department wide shutdown, as negotiations over guardrails for federal immigration enforcement have stalled.

Tricia McLaughlin speaks during a news conference at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE_ Headquarters in Washington, 21 May 2025.
Tricia McLaughlin speaks during a news conference at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE_ Headquarters in Washington, 21 May 2025. Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP
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