What we covered here
• Failed indictment: A federal grand jury today declined to indict Democratic lawmakers who posted a video urging service members and intelligence officials to disobey any illegal orders from the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter.
• Epstein files: The DOJ un-redacted some more names in the Jeffrey Epstein files after pressure from lawmakers who reviewed unredacted versions of several records. Separately, the White House said the president supports Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after he testified about having lunch at Epstein’s Caribbean Island in 2012.
• DHS hearing: At a congressional hearing, the head of Customs and Border Protection said there are several open investigations into his officers’ conduct during Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.
• Funding deadlock: Facing a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said negotiators are making progress on proposed changes to ICE. Chuck Schumer did not directly rule out a short-term stopgap bill but said Democrats are putting pressure on the GOP over ICE demands.
Our live coverage for the day has ended. Catch up with the latest here.
Democratic lawmakers react after grand jury declines to indict over disobey illegal orders video
Democratic lawmakers who posted a video urging service members and intelligence officials to disobey any illegal orders from the Trump administration reacted after a federal grand jury declined to indict them.
Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania said on X, “I will not be intimidated for a single second by the Trump Administration or Justice Department lawyers who tried and failed to indict me today.”
Rep. Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire said in a statement, “Today an American grand jury honored our Constitution by standing up to an outrageous abuse of presidential power and taxpayer dollars. No matter the threats, I will keep doing my job and upholding my oath to our Constitution.”
Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado warned Americans “should be appalled by the fact that Donald Trump and his goons at Department of Justice and everywhere else are weaponizing their justice system just to try to silence dissent and to crush political opponents.”
“This is good news for the Constitution and the free speech protections it guarantees,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania said.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said in a post on X, “Tonight we can score one for the Constitution, our freedom of speech, and the rule of law.”
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona in a post called the attempt to secure an indictment an “outrageous abuse of power.”
Trump says he's "thinking" about sending second carrier strike group to Middle East if Iran talks fail
President Donald Trump told Axios on Tuesday he’s “thinking” about sending another aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East as the US keeps up pressure on Iran amid ongoing negotiations.
“We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” Trump said in an interview with Axios’ Barak Ravid, also a CNN analyst, on the eve of a Wednesday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
“He also wants a deal. He wants a good deal,” Trump told Axios about the Israeli leader.
Trump also told Axios he’s anticipating a second round of talks with Iran next week. The US president has repeatedly said Iran wants to make a deal, but there are ongoing questions about the parameters of any agreement and whether it would be limited narrowly to Iran’s nuclear program. Trump told Axios it should also address Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles.
The US military presence in the region has accelerated in recent weeks as Trump has considered options for striking Iran, but there’s been no indication a decision has been made. Last weekend, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the region after completing talks with Iran on Friday.
House GOP fails to shield Trump from challenges to his tariffs
House Speaker Mike Johnson failed to reinstate a ban on lawmakers’ ability to challenge President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods.
The House rejected a rule on Tuesday that contained language blocking House votes that object to Trump’s tariffs through July. GOP leaders had argued that lawmakers should allow the Supreme Court time to weigh in.
With razor-thin margins in the House, three Republicans – GOP Reps. Thomas Massie, Don Bacon and Kevin Kiley – were enough to sink the vote.
Democrats are now likely to move forward with forcing votes to repeal Trump’s tariffs.
The Senate has passed at least three resolutions rebuking Trump’s tariffs, but they routinely ran into resistance in the House where members were blocked from forcing votes on the matter.
Grand jury declines to indict democratic lawmakers who urged service members to disobey illegal orders
A federal grand jury on Tuesday declined to indict Democratic lawmakers who posted a video urging service members and intelligence officials to disobey any illegal orders from the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department’s case focused on a 90-second video clip that featured six democrats, including Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. The video, which outraged the Trump administration, had warned that “threats to our Constitution” are coming “from right here at home,” and repeatedly urged the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”
The declination is a rebuke of the administration’s efforts to paint the six lawmakers — all of whom served in either the military or intelligence services — as dangerously undermining the president’s authority as commander in chief. It was not immediately clear which of the lawmakers were facing indictments.
CNN has asked the Justice Department for comment.
Johnson says Dem lawmakers who made illegal orders video “probably should be indicted”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said today the six Democratic lawmakers who drew intense criticism and scrutiny from President Donald Trump and his administration over a video instructing military members to disobey illegal orders “probably should be indicted,” after a grand jury reportedly rebuffed an attempt by the Justice Department to charge them.
Johnson wouldn’t weigh in on the specific news reports, including by the New York Times, on Tuesday evening, saying “that’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
Johnson told reporters he thinks the Democrats in the video went “further” than articulating the law as it relates to illegal orders.
“They were suggesting that they disobey orders, and I think that crosses the line. It’s very serious. I’m glad new attention has been paid to it, and I hope that they straighten up their act,” he said.
Sen. Mark Kelly reacts to reports that DOJ unsuccessfully sought his indictment
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona condemned the reported attempt today by the Justice Department to seek an indictment against him and other Democratic lawmakers over a video last year in which they urged active duty service members not to obey illegal orders, calling the move an “outrageous abuse of power.”
“Donald Trump wants every American to be too scared to speak out against him. The most patriotic thing any of us can do is not back down,” he added.
Kelly along with Democratic lawmakers Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan appeared in a November video warning that “threats to our Constitution” are coming “from right here at home,” and repeatedly urged the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”
Trump scheduled to have dinner with Murdoch at the White House Tuesday
President Donald Trump is scheduled to have dinner with Rupert Murdoch at the White House Tuesday night, according to an official and a person familiar with the meal.
Trump is still embroiled in a lawsuit against the powerful owner of the Wall Street Journal after the news organization reported on a suggestive birthday letter given to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name. Trump has denied that it’s his signature and said at the time of the report that he personally warned Murdoch he’d sue if the newspaper published it.
A CNN reporter spotted Murdoch on Capitol Hill earlier Tuesday.
Trump throws shade on DOGE’s slashing of the federal workforce
President Donald Trump critiqued the Department of Government Efficiency for the haphazard way it led the downsizing of the federal workforce last year – noting it was “the one thing I didn’t like about DOGE.”
“When you cut, get rid of the people that are doing a lousy job,” he told Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow in an interview airing Tuesday. “In other words, take care of the people that are doing a good job. And I didn’t want a general cut.”
Instead, Trump said, he would have preferred that the agencies’ secretaries carried out more targeted layoffs of 10% of their payrolls.
DOGE spearheaded the efforts to overhaul the federal workforce in the early months of the president’s second term, which included offering a buyout package and requiring workers to report what they accomplished in the prior week. Agencies also laid off thousands of employees, reorganized their operations, required employees to return to the office and offered other incentives to depart. This prompted many to quit or retire.
Roughly 352,000 federal workers left between January 20, 2025 — the first day of Trump’s second term — and December, according to the Office of Personnel Management. When including new hires, the workforce shrunk by 242,000 employees, or a little over 10%.
Trump says Iran wants to make a deal, "they'd be foolish if they didn’t”
President Donald Trump again said Iran wants to strike a nuclear deal, while warning that “they’d be foolish if they didn’t.”
“As you know, we have a massive flotilla right now going over to Iran. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal. I think they’d be foolish if they didn’t,” Trump told Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow in an interview airing Tuesday.
“We took out their nuclear power last time, and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time,” Trump added, before reiterating that Iran wants to make a deal — but that it has to be a “good deal.”
“No nuclear weapons, no missiles, no this, no that, all the different things that you want,” Trump went on.
The president last week said the US had “very good talks” with Iran after delegations from both countries participated in indirect discussions in Oman Friday. Trump is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, with Israeli sources telling CNN Netanyahu intends to present him with new intelligence on Iranian military capabilities.
Trump again expresses support for criminal probe into Fed chair
President Donald Trump again signaled support for a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell but said “we’ll have to see” when asked whether the probe is worth it if it stalls the confirmation of his new pick to run the central bank.
“I don’t know, I’m mean, we’ll have to see what happens,” he told Fox Business during an interview airing Tuesday.
“Something’s wrong, and we can’t let that happen either,” he added of the renovations at the Fed headquarters.
Trump went on to praise Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia who launched the investigation into Powell and the renovation project he’s overseeing. The president has criticized the project for months over its price tag, while also slamming Powell repeatedly over his resistance to lowering interest rates more rapidly.
“All he has to do is lower interest rates,” Trump said. “Interest rates should be lower.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has threatened to hold up Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace Powell atop the Fed until Pirro ends her investigation. But Trump downplayed the senator’s threat in the interview, saying he’d been “fighting Tillis for a long time.”
“So let’s see,” Trump said. “If it happens, it happens.”
Catch up on today’s top politics headlines
We’re tracking the latest in Washington today, including Congress’s fast-approaching deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security and the latest on the Jeffrey Epstein files.
If you’re just joining us, here’s a look at the top headlines from today:
DHS deadline:
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that there’s “forward progress” on changes to ICE practices, adding that he hopes Democrats will agree to a short-term bill to keep the DHS funded past Friday’s deadline. Separately, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the White House’s counterproposal on changes to ICE, deriding the offer as “woefully inadequate.”
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t directly say on whether he’ll rule out a short-term stopgap bill, but made clear Democrats are putting pressure on the GOP to cave to their demands and pass a funding bill by Friday.
Epstein files:
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is under fire after he confirmed during a Senate subcommittee hearing today that he and his family had lunch with Epstein on the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender’s Caribbean Island in 2012. Trump still has full faith in Lutnick, the White House said.
- The White House declined to say whether Trump had a call with the Palm Beach, Florida, Police Department in the mid-2000s about Epstein. An account of the call was included in the Epstein files released recently by the DOJ.
More top headlines:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran is the “first and foremost” issue on the agenda as he departed for a meeting with Trump in Washington scheduled for tomorrow.
- Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said today that last week’s talks with the United States were meant to gauge Washington’s “seriousness.”
- Trump will meet Friday with US military members involved in last month’s “Operation Absolute Resolve” to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, the White House said.
CNN’s Donald Judd, Adam Cancryn, Morgan Rimmer, Chris Isidore, Holmes Lybrand, Veronica Stracqualursi, Dalia Abdelwahab, Nadeen Ebrahim, Max Saltman, Niamh Kennedy, Alison Main, Manu Raju and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
Thune says Lutnick will have to answer questions about his relationship to Epstein
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will have to answer questions about his relationship with Epstein, but argued it is “up to the American people,” to say whether his answers are “sufficient.”
Lutnick confirmed on Tuesday that he and his family had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein on the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender’s Caribbean island in 2012, even as he insisted the two did not have a relationship.
“I think it’s going to be – ultimately, what happens there is probably going to be up to American people. And the, what I’ve been for, and I’ve been very clear about this from the outset, is full disclosure. Get the information out there, let’s have transparency. And I think that’s being done,” Thune told reporters when asked about Lutnick.
“And so, you know, for people whose names appear, or in some context, might be in the Epstein files, they’re going to have to answer the questions around that. And I think the American people are going to have to make judgments about whether or not they think those answers are sufficient.”
Schumer won't directly rule out short-term stopgap for DHS
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t directly say on Tuesday whether he’ll rule out a short-term stopgap bill to avert a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, but made clear Democrats are putting pressure on the GOP to cave to their demands and pass a funding bill by Friday.
“There’s no reason we can’t get this done by Thursday. We have sent them legislative language,” Schumer said on Tuesday when asked about passing a bill to extend DHS funding for a few weeks while lawmakers try to reach a bipartisan compromise over immigration enforcement reforms.
GOP leaders have made clear they think a deal by Friday at midnight is unlikely, meaning a short-term funding bill will be necessary. Senate Democrats could block such legislation and effectively force a partial government shutdown if they do not provide enough votes for it to clear the 60 vote thresh hold in the 53-47 margin chamber.
Pressed further by CNN on if he was definitively ruling out a stopgap, Schumer responded, “there’s no reason we can’t get it done by Thursday.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said earlier in the day he’s a “hard no” on a short-term spending bill for DHS.
Schumer called the White House’s counterproposal for a DHS funding bill with some reforms “incomplete and insufficient,” adding, “we need legislative language that will rein in ICE and end the violence. The proposal didn’t come close to doing that.”
Trump says White House ballroom project is ahead of schedule and within budget
President Donald Trump said Tuesday construction of his new White House ballroom is progressing ahead of schedule and within budget.
“It is on budget, and ahead of schedule! When completed, it will be the finest Ballroom ever built anywhere in the World, one that has been sought by Presidents for over 150 years — and now they are getting THE BEST!” Trump posted on Truth Social along with two renderings of the project from different angles.
“Because of its unprecedented structural, safety, and security features, it will also be used for future Presidential Inaugurations,” he added.
One of the renderings shows the structure head-on with prominent columns and a grand staircase. The second rendering, which Trump had previously posted, is from the vantage point of the Treasury Department.
The ballroom itself is set to be 22,000 square feet, with the total expansion roughly 89,000 square feet. The most recent estimate for the cost has been $400 million, which the White House has said is being privately funded.
Takeaways from the House hearing with top immigration enforcement officials
The House Homeland Security Committee concluded its hearing with ICE and CBP leaders today after about three hours of tense exchanges, which included calls for impeachment, Nazi comparisons and continued refusal by federal officials to address the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
In his opening statement, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson heavily criticized the Department of Homeland Security for “running roughshod over Americans’ rights,” highlighting the killings of Good and Pretti in Minneapolis.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott faced constant criticism — including from some Republican members of the committee — during their testimonies. Neither official mentioned the killing of Good or Pretti in their opening statements and declined to comment when pressed, citing ongoing investigations.
However, the two parties were largely at odds during today’s hearing, with Republicans highlighting the work of immigration officers and threats they face — while Democrats accused them of trampling rights and arresting US citizens, arguing for significant reforms to immigration enforcement, if not outright defunding.
During the hearing, Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman compared ICE tactics to those undertaken during the Nazi and Soviet Union regimes, citing reports that agents are asking US citizens for proof of citizenship. Lyons flatly rejected that assertion, despite reports that ICE has detained US citizens.
Congress faces a tight deadline of Friday to pass continued funding for the agency — and today’s hearing did nothing to help bridge the divide.
Leavitt says Trump supports Lutnick after revelation of lunch with Epstein
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated Tuesday that President Donald Trump still has full faith in Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, even after Lutnick testified about dining at Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean Island in 2012.
“Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team, and the president fully supports the secretary,” Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing.
Lutnick confirmed details of the 2012 lunch during testimony on Capitol Hill earlier Tuesday, but insisted he “did not have any relationship” with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick said. “We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children with my nannies and my wife… I don’t recall why we did it.”
Trump has signaled he’s grown tired of the discourse surrounding the investigation into Epstein, telling CNN at the White House last week he believes “It’s time now for the country to maybe get onto something else.”
During Tuesday’s press briefing, Leavitt said the administration is “going to get back to business,” adding Trump is “very busy today.”
White House declines to say whether Trump spoke with police about Epstein in mid-2000s
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday declined to say whether President Donald Trump had a call with the Palm Beach, Florida, Police Department in the mid-2000s about Jeffrey Epstein.
“Thank goodness you’re stopping him,” Trump said on the call, according to a newly released document. “Everyone has known he’s been doing this.”
Leavitt said she could not confirm whether the call happened.
“It was a phone call that may or may not have happened in 2006, I don’t know the answer to that question,” she said during a press briefing. “What I’m telling you is what President Trump has always said, is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep and that remains true.”
Leavitt also argued that if the call did happen, it “corroborates” Trump’s account that he had a falling out with Epstein in the early 2000s and cut ties with him.
The account of the call, which was included in the Epstein files released recently by the Justice Department, nevertheless raises fresh questions about what Trump knew about the extent of Epstein’s crimes.
According to the FBI document memorializing the call with then-Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter, Trump also said he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and “got the hell out of there.”
Trump floated idea to rename Penn Station and Dulles airport after himself, Leavitt says
The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump had floated renaming two key transportation hubs after himself in a conversation with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“It is something the president floated in his conversation with Chuck Schumer,” Leavitt said.
CNN reported last week that Trump told Schumer he was finally prepared to drop his freeze on billions of dollars in funding for a major New York infrastructure project if Schumer agreed to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles International Airport after the president.
But last week, Trump told reporters it was the New York Democrat’s suggestion — an explanation Schumer quickly rejected as an “absolute lie.”
“Chuck Schumer suggested that to me about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump station,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “It was suggested to me by numerous people, unions, Democrats, Republicans, a lot of people suggested. Nothing’s been done on that.”
White House reaffirms Trump's threat to block opening of key US-Canada bridge
The White House doubled down today on President Donald Trump’s threat to block the opening of a key bridge connecting the US and Canada, saying that it is “unacceptable” that it hasn’t been constructed with more American materials.
On Monday, Trump threatened to block the opening of the new $4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, and said he won’t let the span open until the US gets back what it is owed.
Canada paid for the bridge, and major construction is complete. It had been expected to open this year after a period of testing.
Under the terms of an agreement signed in 2012, Canada was fund, build, operate, and maintain the bridge, which is jointly owned by Michigan and Canada.
“The fact that Canada will control what crosses the Gordie Howie Howe bridge and owns the land on both sides is unacceptable to the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
She continued, “It’s also unacceptable that more of this bridge isn’t being built with more American-made materials, even more so than what President Barack Obama committed to with the Canadians at the time at the start of the project.”
Trump had previously complained in a social media post that the bridge was built with “virtually no US content,” even though it was made, in part, with American steel and built, in part, by American workers.
Trump, Leavitt said, believes the US “should own at least half of the bridge, have shared authority over what passes across it, and participate in the economic benefits generated by its use.”
The president made that clear in a Tuesday morning call with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, she added.
Michigan lawmakers, including Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, have warned that Trump’s threat could have serious economic repercussions. It could also have political implications for Republicans in the swing state.
President Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of a new bridge connecting the US and Canada due to a range of economic issues. It is not clear how Trump would block the opening of the bridge.
