Activists announced at a briefing in South Africa plans to launch the largest civilian-led flotilla to Gaza in March, with more than 100 boats and over 1,000 participants, including doctors and aid workers. Organisers urge Israel not to intercept the mission.
Published On 5 Feb 2026
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The ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden, who is charged with murdering his current wife, once described his spouse as “the greatest thing in my life,” according to reports.
William “Bill” Stevenson, 77, was arrested Monday in connection with the death of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson following a weeks-long investigation, the New Castle County Division of Police said.
Officers responded to the couple’s Delaware home on Dec. 28, 2025 for a reported domestic dispute when they found Linda Stevenson unresponsive.
William Stevenson, the first husband of former first lady Jill Biden, has been charged with killing his wife at their Delaware home in late December. (New Castle County Police via AP; AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her cause of death has not been revealed. Stevenson is being held in jail on $500,000 bail.
The couple were married for nearly 40 years, according to an indictment obtained by PEOPLE.
Stevenson married Biden in 1970 when she was an 18-year-old University of Delaware student and he was 23. The nuptials lasted five years before they divorced.
Stevenson remained a critic of his ex-wife, but said he wasn’t “bitter” about the way things ended.
“I’m not bitter because, if it wasn’t for my divorce, I would never have met my wife Linda and she’s the greatest thing in my life,” Bill told the Daily Mail in a 2020 interview.
JILL BIDEN’S EX-HUSBAND CHARGED WITH MURDER IN DEATH OF WIFE
Jill Biden speaks during a reception in the East Room of the White House on December 2, 2024 in Washington, D,C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Bill has claimed Jill and former President Joe Biden had an affair before she was divorced, and that Bill introduced the pair in 1972. The Bidens have denied the affair allegations.
In a Facebook post, Linda’s daughter Christine Vettori described her mom as her best friend, saying the pair talked nearly every day and ate dinner together every Friday.
“The pain of losing her is paralyzing and the emptiness in my heart is an abyss,” she wrote. “Most days I can barely breathe.”
Vettori noted that her mother had her at a young age.
The home of William Stevenson, the ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden, is shown in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Stevenson has been charged in the killing his current wife at the home. (AP Photo/Mingson Lau) (AP Photo/Mingson Lau)
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“In a lot of ways, we grew up together,” she wrote. “We both were raised by a village of incredibly strong women, lead by love and determination to be the best examples of motherhood they knew.”
“Together we will honor her memory by seeking justice for her murder and never letting her legacy to be overshadowed by her murderer,” she added.
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Colombo. Co-host Sri Lanka Cricket has appealed to the Pakistan Cricket Board to reconsider its decision to boycott the India-Pakistan match to be held on February 15 as it could cause huge loss to all the stakeholders of the T20 World Cup. The Pakistan government has announced to boycott this big match against India in support of Bangladesh. Despite less threat from ICC, Bangladesh had withdrawn its name from the World Cup expressing concern in India.
Now after SLC has written a letter to PCB, there may be a new twist in this matter. SLC sources told PTI that their executive committee met on Tuesday and decided to write a letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board appealing to Pakistan to reconsider their decision. This letter was finally sent on Thursday.
In the letter, SLC also informed the PCB about the potential adverse impact on tourism, including cancellation of hotel bookings and flight tickets, and disruption to suppliers. SLC also said in the letter that it is ready to host the match at Premadasa Stadium and all the tickets have been sold. According to the newswire, the SLC warned the PCB that pulling out of such a major match would have far-reaching consequences, including huge economic losses, lower than expected tourism income and economic decline.
In the letter, the SLC also reminded the PCB that it had visited Pakistan several times in difficult and sensitive situations, when other countries were hesitant in coming to Pakistan, and had played an important role in bringing Pakistan cricket out of international isolation. This was the time when there was a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009 and countries had stopped visiting Pakistan.
According to a Sri Lankan news website, SLC said that it hopes that this spirit of mutual cooperation will continue in future also. While talking to the media on Thursday, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav made it clear that his team will go to Colombo for the match against Pakistan while Pakistan captain Salman Aga said that his team will follow the orders of their government. There could be a loss of up to $250 million due to India-Pakistan match not being held in the ICC tournament.
Active in journalism for about 15 years. Studied from Delhi University. Interested in sports especially cricket, badminton, boxing and wrestling. Covered IPL, Commonwealth Games and Pro Wrestling League events. From February 2022…read more
The “coordinated” cyber attack targeting multiple sites across the Polish power grid has been attributed with medium confidence to a Russian state-sponsored hacking crew known as ELECTRUM.
Operational technology (OT) cybersecurity company Dragos, in a new intelligence brief published Tuesday, described the late December 2025 activity as the first major cyber attack targeting distributed energy resources (DERs).
“The attack affected communication and control systems at combined heat and power (CHP) facilities and systems managing the dispatch of renewable energy systems from wind and solar sites,” Dragos said. “While the attack did not result in power outages, adversaries gained access to operational technology systems critical to grid operations and disabled key equipment beyond repair at the site.”
It’s worth pointing out that ELECTRUM and KAMACITE share overlaps with a cluster referred to as Sandworm (aka APT44 and Seashell Blizzard). KAMACITE focuses on establishing and maintaining initial access to targeted organizations using spear-phishing, stolen credentials, and exploitation of exposed services.
Beyond initial access, the threat actor performs reconnaissance and persistence activities over extended periods of time as part of efforts to burrow deep into target OT environments and keep a low profile, signaling a careful preparatory phase that precedes actions executed by ELECTRUM targeting the industrial control systems.
“Following access enablement, ELECTRUM conducts operations that bridge IT and OT environments, deploying tooling within operational networks, and performs ICS-specific actions that manipulate control systems or disrupt physical processes,” Dragos said. “These actions have included both manual interactions with operator interfaces and the deployment of purpose-built ICS malware, depending on the operational requirements and objectives.”
Put differently, the two clusters have clear separation of roles and responsibilities, enabling flexibility in execution and facilitating sustained OT-focused intrusions when conditions are favourable. As recently as July 2025, KAMACITE is said to have engaged in scanning activity against industrial devices located in the U.S.
Although no follow-on OT disruptions have been publicly reported to date, this highlights an operational model that is not geographically constrained and facilitates early-stage access identification and positioning.
“KAMACITE’s access-oriented operations create the conditions under which OT impact becomes possible, while ELECTRUM applies execution tradecraft when timing, access, and risk tolerance align,” it explained. “This division of labor enables flexibility in execution and allows OT impact to remain an option, even when it is not immediately exercised. This extends risk beyond discrete incidents and into prolonged periods of latent exposure.”
Dragos said the Poland attack targeted systems that facilitate communication and control between grid operators and DER assets, including assets that enable network connectivity, allowing the adversary to successfully disrupt operations at about 30 distributed generation sites.
The threat actors are assessed to have breached Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) and communication infrastructure at the affected sites using exposed network devices and exploited vulnerabilities as initial access vectors. The findings indicate that the attackers possess a deep understanding of electrical grid infrastructure, allowing them to disable communications equipment, including some OT devices.
That said, the full scope of the malicious actions undertaken by ELECTRUM is unknown, with Dragos noting that it’s unclear if the threat actor attempted to issue operational commands to this equipment or focused solely on disabling communications.
The Poland attack is also assessed to be more opportunistic and rushed than a precisely planned operation, allowing the hackers to take advantage of the unauthorized access to inflict as much damage as possible by wiping Windows-based devices to impede recovery, resetting configurations, or attempting to permanently brick equipment. The majority of the equipment is targeted at grid safety and stability monitoring, per Dragos.
“This incident demonstrates that adversaries with OT-specific capabilities are actively targeting systems that monitor and control distributed generation,” it added. “The disabling of certain OT or industrial control system (ICS) equipment beyond repair at the site moved what could have been seen as a pre-positioning attempt by the adversary into an attack.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has faced questions from the United States Senate about President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign to slash interest rates, despite concerns that such a move could turbo-charge inflation.
Bessent appeared on Thursday before the Senate’s Financial Stability Oversight Council.
There, he received a grilling from Democrats over rising consumer prices and concerns about Trump’s attempts to influence the Federal Reserve, the US central bank.
One of his early clashes came with Senator Elizabeth Warren, who sought answers about a report in The Wall Street Journal that indicated Trump joked about suing his nominee for the Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, if he failed to comply with presidential demands.
“Mr Secretary, can you commit right here and now that Trump’s Fed nominee Kevin Warsh will not be sued, will not be investigated by the Department of Justice, if he doesn’t cut interest rates exactly the way that Donald Trump wants?” Warren asked.
Bessent evaded making such a commitment. “That is up to the president,” he replied.
Last week, Trump announced Warsh would be his pick to replace the current Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who has faced bitter criticism over his decision to lower interest rates gradually.
By contrast, Trump has repeatedly demanded that interest rates be chopped as low as possible, as soon as possible.
In December, for instance, he told The Wall Street Journal that he would like to see interest rates at “one percent and maybe lower than that”.
“We should have the lowest rate in the world,” he told the newspaper. Currently, the federal interest rate sits around 3.6 percent.
Experts say a sudden drop in that percentage could trigger a short-term market surge, as loans become cheaper and money floods the economy. But that excess cash could drive down the value of the dollar, leading to higher prices in the long term.
Traditionally, the Federal Reserve has served as an independent government agency, on the premise that monetary decisions for the country should be made without political interference or favour.
But Trump, a Republican, has sought to bring the Federal Reserve under his control, and his critics have accused him of using the threat of legal action to pressure Federal Reserve members to comply with his demands.
In August, for instance, he attempted to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook based on allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.
Cook had been appointed to the central bank by Trump’s predecessor and rival, Democrat Joe Biden, and she has accused Trump of seeking her dismissal on political grounds. The Supreme Court is currently hearing the case.
Then, in early January, the Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into Powell, echoing accusations Trump made, alleging that Powell had mismanaged renovations to the Federal Reserve building.
Powell issued a rare statement in response, accusing Trump of seeking to bully Federal Reserve leaders into compliance with his interest rate policy.
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell wrote.
Given the string of aggressive actions against Powell and Cook, Trump’s joke about suing Warsh fuelled rumours that the Federal Reserve’s independence could be in peril.
Within hours of making the joke on January 31, Trump himself faced questions about how serious he might have been.
“It’s a roast. It’s a comedy thing,” Trump said of his remarks as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One. “It was all comedy.”
Warren, however, pressed Bessent about Trump’s remarks and chided the Treasury chief for not rejecting them.
“I don’t think the American people are laughing,” Warren told Bessent. “They’re the ones who were struggling with the affordability.”
The prospect of Trump exerting undue influence over the Federal Reserve even earned a measure of bipartisan criticism during Thursday’s council meeting.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, opened his remarks to Bessent with a statement denouncing the probe into Powell, even though he acknowledged he was “disappointed” with the current Fed chair.
Still, Tillis emphasised his belief that Powell committed no crime, and that the investigation would discourage transparency at future Senate hearings.
He imagined future government hearings becoming impeded by legal formalities, for fear of undue prosecution.
“They’re going to be flanked with attorneys, and anytime that they think that they’re in the middle of a perjury trap, they’re probably just going to say, ‘I’ll submit it to the record after consultation with my attorneys,’” Tillis said, sketching out the scenario.
“Is that really the way we want oversight to go in the future?”
For his part, Bessent indicated that he backed the Federal Reserve’s long-term goal to keep interest rates at about 2 percent.
“It is undesirable to completely eliminate inflation,” Bessent said. “What is desirable is to get back to the Fed’s 2 percent target, and for the past three months, we’ve been at 2.1 percent.”
As Thursday’s hearing continued, Bessent was forced to defend the Trump administration on several fronts, ranging from its sweeping tariff policy to its struggle to lower consumer prices.
But another element of Trump’s agenda took centre stage when Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona had his turn at the microphone.
Gallego sought to shine a light on the revelation in January that Trump had filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — part of his own executive branch.
Trump is seeking $10bn in damages for the leak of his tax returns during his first term as president. The IRS itself was not the source of the leak, but rather a former government contractor named Charles Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison.
Bessent was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, though he currently serves both as the Treasury secretary and the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
Critics have argued that Trump’s lawsuit amounts to self-dealing: He holds significant sway over the Justice Department, which would defend the federal government against such lawsuits, and he could therefore green-light his own settlement package.
In Thursday’s exchange with Gallego, Bessent acknowledged that any damages paid to Trump would come from taxpayer funds.
“ Where would that $10bn come from?” Gallego asked.
“ It would come from Treasury,” Bessent replied. He then underscored that Trump has indicated any money would go to charity and that the Treasury itself would not make the decision to award damages.
Still, Gallego pressed Bessent, pointing out that the Treasury would ultimately have to disburse the funds — and that Bessent would be in charge of that decision.
That circumstance, Gallego argued, creates a conflict of interest, since Bessent is Trump’s political appointee and can be fired by the president.
“Have you recused yourself from any decisions about paying the president on these claims?” Gallego asked.
Bessent sidestepped the question, answering instead, “I will follow the law.”
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A Minnesota man who self-identifies as an Antifa member was arrested Thursday after allegedly making violent threats against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the Department of Justice said.
Kyle Wagner, 37, of Minneapolis, is accused in a criminal complaint of using social media in January to encourage assaults on federal law enforcement officers and threaten ICE agents.
The DOJ said Wagner urged followers to confront and attack ICE officers, referred to agents as “murderers” and the “gestapo” and at times called for armed violence against them.
“Anywhere we have an opportunity to get our hands on them, we need to put our hands on them,” he allegedly said. “We want to know who they are. We will identify every single one of them and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. If it has to be done at the barrel of a gun, then let us have a little f—— fun.”
CRIMINAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY RAMS ICE VEHICLE IN MINNESOTA AS ATTACKS ON AGENTS SURGE
Kyle Wagner was arrested by federal agents on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Prosecutors also allege that Wagner, who was arrested on federal threat and cyberstalking charges, used his Instagram account to post personal identifying information about a pro-ICE individual online and later admitted the address belonged to the victim’s parents.
“It’s no surprise that an Antifa terrorist is allegedly threatening to kill and assault federal law enforcement officers as they dutifully remove criminal threats from neighborhoods,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“After all, this is what Antifa is about, lawlessness and violence. But under the leadership of President Trump and Attorney General Bondi, there is no safe haven for terrorists and no protection from the full weight of justice,” he added.
WEST VIRGINIA MAN ALLEGEDLY THREATENED TO KILL TRUMP SUPPORTERS, ICE AGENTS IN ONLINE VIDEOS: REPORT
Kyle Wagner was arrested by federal agents on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (U.S. Department of Justice)
Wagner is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Thursday.
“We know that a ‘worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.’ And Wagner’s alleged actions were an attempt to spread fire into our peaceful community. That is not going to happen,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr.
Kyle Wagner posted a call to action for protesters following the death of Alex Pretti, who was killed by a Border Patrol agent. (Instagram/kaos.follows and Arthur Maiorella/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital previously reported that Wagner was on the run and removed his remaining social media accounts Monday afternoon, while a Venmo account linked to donations was no longer accessible.
Fox News’ Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
US prosecutors reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against the former Barclays boss and former JP Morgan banker Jes Staley, according to newly unsealed files linked to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Multiple documents in the Epstein files cite serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Staley, including that he forced a woman to touch his genitals during a massage before raping her, and left “bloody marks” on the arms of a woman he called “tinkerbell”.
The bulk of the allegations are revealed in what appears to be a confidential 86-page internal memo produced by prosecutors and addressed to Geoffrey S Berman, then US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The memo, titled “Investigation into Potential Co-Conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein” and dated 19 December 2019, summarised interviews with victims, witnesses and subjects of its investigation.
There is no evidence that prosecutors decided to pursue the allegations. Staley, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, did not respond to requests for comment made over several months, either directly or via his lawyers. He has never been charged with a crime related to the allegations.
During a UK court hearing in 2025, Staley admitted to having sex with a member of Epstein’s staff in New York, but agreed with a lawyer during cross-examination that he would describe the intercourse as “consensual”.
The memo refers to one woman’s recollection of events that allegedly occurred “in or around 2011 or 2012”. It says: “Epstein instructed [redacted] to provide a massage to Jes Staley in Epstein’s New York residence. [Redacted] attempted to give him an ordinary massage, but he forced [redacted] to touch his genitals and then raped [redacted].
“Afterwards, [redacted] complained to Epstein, who said he left it to [redacted] and Staley to decide whether to engage in sex. After this incident, [redacted] began to distance herself from Epstein.”
This allegation was included in a section labelled: “Interviews of Victims Who Were Abused As Adults”.
A separate section of the memo again cites allegations against Staley and another financier, Leon Black. “[Redacted] recalled Epstein asking her to massage Leon Black and Jes Staley, both of whom engaged in sexual contact with her against her will during the massages. Moreover, according to [redacted], when she complained to Epstein about the sexual contact, he laughed and told [redacted] that it was up to her whether to engage in sex during those massages.”
The final 15 pages of the document, which summarises potential charges and evidence against some of Epstein’s associates and employees, is heavily redacted. It is not clear whether Staley or Black were interviewed or made aware of the investigation.
A lawyer representing Leon Black said: “Mr Black asked for an independent investigation of his relationship with Epstein. The Dechert law firm investigated and reviewed more than 60,000 documents, interviewed more than 20 people and concluded that Mr Black paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice and that he had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activities. Of the three civil lawsuits filed against Mr Black, one has been dismissed, the other withdrawn and the other is currently facing a case terminating motion for sanctions. There is absolutely no truth to any of the allegations against Mr Black.”
Epstein, once a well-connected financier, used “massages” as a method to groom and sexually abuse teenage girls. He initially pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in the early 2000s, and was subsequently handed an 18-month jail sentence in 2008. He died in prison in August 2019 died in while awaiting trial over child sex trafficking charges.
Allegations against Staley were also discussed in an internal email between two staff members from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on 14 December 2019, the files reveal. That was sent five days before the 86-page internal memo appears to have been produced. “Don’t know if you caught this but one of the non/minor Epstein victims alleges that Jes Staley (reads in memo as “Jess Daily”) raped her during a massage. P. 31,” the email reads.
A separate document in the files marked “CONFIDENTIAL FOR ATTORNEY’S EYES ONLY”, but undated, suggests a victim was left with body marks after an interaction with the former Barclays boss. “The disgusting Mr. staley if anyone ever calls me tinkerbell again I will lose my mind. He left bloody marks on my arms from his belt and thought he had had the right to call me that when he has ears as big as a dumbo. I should have called him that in return!”
Staley was involved in an exchange with Epstein referring to Disney princesses from 9 to 10 July 2010, details of which have been circulating in the media since 2021. In those emails Staley tells Epstein: “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.”
“What character would you like next?” Epstein laters asks, to which Staley replied: “Beauty and the Beast.” Epstein responded: “Well one side is availble [sic].”
A UK court last year heard that Staley had denied knowledge of this exchange, saying “I, honest to God, when I went through the emails I have no idea what this refers to. I have no idea who Snow White is.”
Newly unsealed documents show that there was another email sent to Epstein by an unnamed individual, also on 10 July 2010, saying “the snow white was f..ed twice as soon as she put her costume))”.
The Epstein files also show Epstein asked an unnamed individual to buy a Snow White costume weeks before that exchange with Staley, on 20 June 2010. “brett ratner ,is going to film a big movie„ Snow White, i would love to take photos of you in a snow white costume. you can get it from the costume store”. “Will get it!”, the recipient replies.
Staley’s reputation has been tarnished as a result of his well-documented friendship with the child sex offender.
Staley originally met Epstein in 2000 after he became head of JP Morgan’s private bank, where Epstein was a client. Staley later took over as chief executive of one of the UK’s largest banks, Barclays, in 2015 but was forced to step down in 2021 after City regulators launched an investigation into his relationship with Epstein.
Staley was eventually banned from taking any job in the UK’s financial sector for playing down those ties. He tried and failed to overturn that banking ban last year in a court battle that revealed intimate details of the pair’s friendship.
The Epstein files have thrown up more recent exchanges from June 2023, including a memo produced by US attorneys’ offices representing different districts of New York, following a call with a lawyer representing Epstein victims.
The emailed memo suggests that DANY – probably New York County District Attorney’s Office – “do not doubt her allegations against JE and LB,” believed to refer to Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black. “They believe she was also abused by Staley. They have not found any independent corroboration,” it says. The lawyer is said to be representing an unnamed victim “in connection with civil claims related to JE and any other individuals related, Black/Staley. And also in connection with criminal matters”.
The US Department of Justice, which coordinates responses on behalf of the US attorneys’ offices, did not respond to requests for comment.
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FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican wants to kneecap sanctuary cities and provide more stringent protections for federal agents in a sweeping package designed to push back against disruptions to the Trump administration’s immigration operations.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., plans to introduce his Protect America Act, a colossal legislative package that would punish sanctuary cities, enhance penalties for illegal entry and reentry, boost protections for federal agents, and defund “corrupt” nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or nonprofits.
The goal of the package is to cut into the unrest simmering in cities across the country where the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are operating.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is gearing up to introduce a sweeping immigration package meant to crush sanctuary cities and bolster protections of federal agents. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Schmitt’s legislation comes as anti-ICE protests continue around the country, most notably in Minneapolis, where agitators have clashed with federal agents, resulting in the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good.
“This environment demands action,” Schmitt said in a statement. “The Protect America Act is a comprehensive, four-part legislative response designed to address the root causes of disorder, restore lawful enforcement authority, protect federal officers from coordinated interference and violence, and prevent the abuse of nonprofit status to shield or support criminal activity.”
SCHUMER, JEFFRIES MEND RIFT, PRESENT UNITED FRONT ON DHS REFORMS AS DEADLINE NEARS
Agitators using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity face off with Minneapolis police officers on Jan. 24, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
The package would condition federal funding to sanctuary cities based on cooperation with ICE and federal law enforcement. Cities that don’t comply would lose their funding completely.
It would also require that jails and detention centers coordinate with ICE to share the identity, immigration status and release timing for detainees, allow people to sue for civil liabilities if a “removable alien” is knowingly released within a sanctuary city and commits a serious crime, and halt new foreign student visas until jurisdictions comply with federal immigration law.
In a bid to bolster protections for federal agents, the package would close loopholes that allow people to use whistles or other devices to interfere with officers’ communications, impose penalties of up to five years in prison for people who obstruct federal agents’ duties, ensure that the First Amendment protections explicitly state that the “act does not prohibit expressive content or lawful expressive conduct,” and make assaulting a federal agent a federal criminal offense.
GOP SENATOR JABS JEFFRIES AS ‘BUTT HURT’ OVER TRUMP-SCHUMER DEAL
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at a press conference with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii., following the passage of government funding bills at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2026. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Schmitt’s legislation would also strengthen penalties for illegal entry and reentry into the country by ending catch-and-release and mandating detention, make illegal entry a felony, and boost penalties for illegal reentry to include fines and up to two years in prison.
The fourth prong seeks to de-fang NGOs by revoking the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit that promotes, incites, or provides material support for criminal violence.
His legislative package comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and congressional Democrats offered their own, competing list of demands meant to rein in DHS and ICE, which they are demanding be considered and codified in exchange for their support of the now-sidelined Homeland Security funding bill.
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Schmitt and Senate Republicans haven’t taken well to many of the proposals from their counterparts, notably requiring ICE agents to get judicial warrants, de-masking federal agents and requiring full identification when in the field.
“My view is we’re not doing any of this stuff until, unless, we end sanctuary city status, because that’s what’s causing all of this, is the lack of cooperation,” Schmitt said. “It’s the confrontations that are being created, and why you don’t see this in blue or red jurisdictions that aren’t sanctuary status. So this solution is very obvious. I think there’s a political grandstanding on their part.”
US lawmakers have asked NASA to look into storing the International Space Station (ISS) in a higher orbit at the end of its operational life, instead of sending the structure hurtling into the ocean when the time comes.
The question came up during the markup of the NASA Reauthorization Act and raises an intriguing possibility. Could the multi-billion-dollar complex be sent to a higher orbit where future generations might find a use for it, rather than destroyed?
To be clear, the amendment offered by Reps. Whitesides (D-CA) and Begich (R-AK) and passed by voice vote was not about changing the plan to end ISS operations in 2030, but instead asked whether the ISS could be stored in a higher, stable orbit once it reached the end of its useful life.
Whitesides explained that the amendment required NASA to conduct an analysis of the costs and risks of storing the ISS in orbit. It did not mandate relocation, nor did it authorize funding or the execution of any such plan.
It is, however, worth pondering as the ISS nears the end of its life. In 2024, SpaceX was awarded the contract to build a vehicle to de-orbit the ISS. The vehicle is expected to be ready by 2029, ahead of a planned push to send the ISS into the Earth’s atmosphere.
But the alternative is is intriguing: It is technically possible to boost the orbit, though it would require building a vehicle to do so. The bigger question is whether doing so is worth the risks involved.
Whitesides acknowledged some of those risks in the amendment. The ISS is aging and could shed components in the future, posing a potential debris risk. There is also the possibility of a future uncontrolled re-entry.
NASA has already performed an evaluation and concluded that the chance of something hitting the ISS would increase as the orbit was raised, from an estimated 51 years between impacts at its current altitude to less than four years at 497 miles. Complete fragmentation could be catastrophic.
It is, however, an interesting thought experiment.
Another markup, introduced and later withdrawn, came from Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) regarding the controversial requirement to relocate a space vehicle to Houston. NASA is widely expected to move Space Shuttle Discovery from its current resting place at the Smithsonian Museum to a facility in Texas, although it’s not confirmed this yet.
Beyer’s markup would have required NASA to inform Congress of the cost “and potential for physical harm” to the space vehicle before kicking off the process.
The markup was withdrawn on the understanding that discussions would be had on the relocation “without damaging the vehicle, preserving the integrity of our assets for generations to come.” ®
The Trump administration is seeking to finalize its overhaul of the federal government’s civil service system through a rule issued this week by the office of personnel management (OPM) to strip job protections from 50,000 civil service employees.
Under the rule, the president would have the authority to fire and hire an estimated 50,000 career federal employees.
The OPM said it was reclassifying certain career civil service roles so agencies can “quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives”.
The rule also would change how whistleblower protections, meant to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, are enforced. Instead of the independent office of special counsel handling most whistleblower disclosures from federal workers, federal agencies would be in charge of determining job protections for whistleblowers in their own department.
On Trump’s first day in office on 20 January 2025, he issued an executive order to reclassify thousands of federal employees as political appointees.
“If these government workers refuse to advance the policy interests of the President, or are engaging in corrupt behavior, they should no longer have a job,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in April 2025 after the OPM proposed the rule to reclassify the federal civil service employees as political appointees. “This is common sense, and will allow the federal government to finally be ‘run like a business.’”
During Trump’s first term, he sought to enact these changes in October 2020 under a rule known as Schedule F, but the change was rescinded when Biden took office before it could be implemented.
The latest rule will be reviewed by a federal judge, and critics, notably the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union and Democracy Forward non-profit, have already expressed intent to challenge the rule in court.
Traditionally, only political appointees – roughly 4,000 positions – can be dismissed “at will”.
Under the new rule, many non-partisan roles would be shifted into a category called “Schedule Policy/Career”, in effect treating them as political appointees. That reclassification could allow the administration to remove employees it views as disloyal. The rule – set to be published in the Federal Register on Friday – also states that “personal or political loyalty tests as a condition of employment” are prohibited.
Critics argue the change would open the door to politically motivated purges. “We have successfully fought this kind of power grab before, and we will fight this again. We will return to court to stop this unlawful rule and will use every legal tool available to hold this administration accountable to the people,” said Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward.
The largest union representing federal workers called the rule “a direct assault on a professional, nonpartisan, merit-based civil service”. In a statement, the AFGE president, Everett Kelley, said the OPM was “rebranding career public servants as ‘policy’ employees, silencing whistleblowers, and replacing competent professionals with political flunkies without any neutral, independent protections against politicization and arbitrary abuse of power”.
Stripping civil service protections has also been a central plank of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint.
In a statement on Thursday, anticipating the rule’s release, the OPM director, Scott Kupor, said the reclassification would bring “much-needed accountability to career policy-influencing positions in the Federal government”.
Shrai Popat contributed reporting