This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 303. 2/8/26

… JD Vance may have cost figure skater Alysa Liu a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Daily Mail: “JD Vance‘s motorcade in Milan delayed multiple athletes and staff heading to their events during the Winter Olympics in Italy. Team USA figure skater Alysa Liu was among those caught in the disruption, as the athlete nearly missed her skate after the vice president’s oversized convoy blocked access to the Milano skating venue.”

… “Liu arrived with only minutes to spare, rushing into her costume and reaching the ice in time for her short program, her coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, told WaPo. She went on to finish second behind Japan‘s Kaori Sakamoto.”

… “Vance and the US delegation had flown into Milan earlier Friday on multiple aircraft carrying staff, security personnel, food supplies and vehicles. His ground convoy, made up of dozens of Chevy Suburbans, struggled through Milan’s narrow streets. Italian outlet Local News filmed one of the vehicles nearly colliding with a car carrying Italian plates.”

… Only Vance would travel to Milan and bring his own food with him.

… Meanwhile, Trump posted an attack on skier Hunter Hess: “U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”

… This is what Hess said: “It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now. I think it’s a little hard. There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of. Just because I wear the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.”

… Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) sent this letter to James Comer today before Ghislaine Maxwell’s deposition tomorrow: “It is my understanding that Maxwell intends to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer all substantive questions at her upcoming deposition before the House Oversight Committee. This position appears inconsistent with Maxwell’s prior conduct, as she did not invoke the Fifth Amendment when she previously met with Dep. AG Todd Blanche to discuss substantially similar subject matter.”

… “I understand that Maxwell intends to assert this privilege on a ‘blanket basis’ by reading a prepared statement at the outset of the deposition and refusing to permit Members to question her individually through counsel, rather than invoking the privilege on a question-by-question basis. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, I am submitting in this letter the questions I intend to ask at Maxwell’s deposition and request confirmation from the Chair as to whether she intends to invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to the following questions:

1. On Dec 17, 2025, you filed a habeas corpus petition stating that “four named co-conspirators” and 25 men who entered into secret settlements were not indicted as part of the investigation. Is that statement accurate?

2. Who are the 4 co-conspirators and the 25 men, other than Jeffrey Epstein, who sexually abused minors at Epstein’s island, his NM ranch, or his NY residence, and why do you believe they were not indicted?

3. What information, evidence, or personal knowledge do you have regarding why these individuals were not charged or prosecuted by federal authorities?

4. It is well documented that you, President Trump, and Epstein had a social relationship, and there are several photographs of you together. Did you or Epstein ever arrange, facilitate, or provide access to underage girls to Trump?

5. After President Trump publicly stated that he would “look at” a possible pardon for you, did you or anyone acting on your behalf have any discussions with him or his representatives about a pardon or reduced sentence in exchange for your silence?

6. What client lists or records did you or Epstein maintain that document the identities of clients or associates?

7. Please identify any foreign governments or intelligence services, including those associated with Russia and Israel, that Epstein shared information with or otherwise acted on behalf of, and describe the nature and purpose of any such relationships.”

… Howard Lutnick, who used to be a fixture on the Sunday shows every week, remains in hiding since the last Epstein drop proved he lied about his connections to the child sex trafficker. Rep. Thomas Massie: “According to legal documents and emails, Epstein and Lutnick did business together and Lutnick vacationed on Epstein’s island, LONG AFTER Lutnick claims they parted ways and after LONG AFTER Epstein was a known sex offender.”

… NYT: “Howard Lutnick, Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, interacted with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein regularly over at least 13 years while they lived next door to one another on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, records released last week by DOJ. They invested in the same privately held company together, dealt with one another on neighborhood and philanthropic issues, and appear to have socialized in NY and the Caribbean. Epstein at one point sought to meet with Lutnick’s nanny.”

… “The records directly contradict Lutnick’s assertion on a podcast last year that he had been so disgusted by Epstein during a 2005 visit to his townhouse that Lutnick had never set foot in a room with Epstein again: “So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy. I spent zero time with him.”

… Lutnick’s name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files released by DOJ.

… Massie on CNN: “He should just resign. Three people in Great Britain resigned for less than what we’ve seen Howard Lutnick lie about. He clearly went to the island, if we believe what’s in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein.”

… Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) gave an amazing speech Sat night for his reelection campaign: “We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a govt of, by, and for the ultra-rich. It’s the wealthiest Cabinet ever. This is the Epstein class ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate. So prices are up, jobs are going away, Medicaid and school lunches are slashed, nursing homes are getting defunded. Trump was supposed to fight for the working class, instead he’s literally closing rural hospitals to cut taxes for George Soros and Elon Musk.”

… “The president said we’d never need to vote again. Then he said we shouldn’t have elections. Now, he says he wants to take over the elections. And like a scene out of some Banana Republic, Tulsi Gabbard, the spy chief comes to Fulton County to oversee the seizure of ballots. Your ballots. Tulsi said the president asked her to go -which means the president is personally managing federal raids on election sites in battleground states. All in service of his obsession with overturning the 2020 election and laying the groundwork for whatever they’re plotting this year. But they made a big mistake. They came to Fulton County. They came to the political and spiritual heart of the civil rights movement.”

… “The American people are asking: why are roving gangs of masked men—who look like they couldn’t pass the Army physical exam—dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators, on our streets, demanding papers, dragging people from their cars, and shooting people to death?”

… “Trump pardoned a man who helped the cartels make billions trafficking cocaine into the US. Trump freed him because he was Trump’s political ally and because he sent a 4-page letter to Trump saying he was a better president than Biden. Maduro should’ve just sent Trump a check or sponsored the ballroom. The fact is, it pays to be friends with the president. It pays to kiss this president’s ass. And if you really need something, you can always just pay the president—whether you’re a sheikh, a felon, or a kingpin. There’s a buffet of corrupt options.”

… “This is the most corrupt administration of all time and everybody knows it. Listen to what Marjorie Taylor Greene just said about MAGA last week. She said, ‘I think people are realizing it was all a lie. What this admin is really serving in this admin is their big donors. The big donors are getting the special favors, govt contracts, pardons.’ That is all true. Marjorie, welcome to the resistance.”

… “This is the cruelest and most arrogant group of people who have ever ascended to high office—and their cruelty and arrogance are matched only by their incompetence.”

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… Guardian: “Last spring, the NSA flagged an unusual phone call between two members of foreign intelligence, who discussed a person close to Trump. The highly sensitive communique, which has roiled Washington over the past week, was brought to the attention of Tulsi Gabbard. But rather than allowing NSA officials to distribute the information further, Gabbard took a paper copy of the intelligence directly to the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, according to the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj.”

… “One day after meeting Wiles, Gabbard told the NSA not to publish the intelligence report. Instead, she instructed NSA officials to transmit the highly classified details directly to her office, Bakaj said. On 17 April, a whistleblower contacted the office of the IG alleging that Gabbard had blocked highly classified intelligence from routine dispatch, according to Bakaj.

… Bakaj: “The whistleblower filed a formal complaint about Gabbard’s actions on 21 May. The NSA picked up a phone call between two members of foreign intelligence involving someone close to the Trump WH. The NSA does not monitor individuals without a reason.”

… Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA): “The law is clear: when a whistleblower makes a complaint and wants to get it before Congress the agency has 21 days to relay it. This whistleblower complaint was issued in May. We didn’t receive it until February.”

… NYT: “Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to Trump. It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. The whistle-blower report was drafted last May, around the time the Trump administration was deliberating about a strike on Iran. Trump ordered a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June.”

… “The identity of the person close to Trump could not be immediately determined, nor could the content of what the two foreign nationals were saying about the person. The whistle-blower accused Tulsi Gabbard of limiting who could see the report and of blocking wider distribution among the nation’s spy agencies, according to people familiar with the complaint.”

… National security attorney Mark Zaid, who represents the whistleblower: “According to Gabbard, she didn’t see Whistleblower complaint until two weeks ago yet ICIG - whom she praises - told our client last June 2025 that DNI was provided complete submission. So which is the truth? This is why our client needs to speak with Congress.”

… Zaid’s firm issued a statement responding to Gabbard’s social media post denying the allegations: “Gabbard continues to make unfounded claims about our whistleblower client’s complaint. Facts are stubborn things. Let’s go through a few:

Director Gabbard: The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress.

FACT: ICIG letter says you were provided the full submission after the “determination” was made in June 2025.

Director Gabbard: June 2025, I became aware that a whistleblower made a complaint against me that after further investigation, neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible.

FACT: Ms. Johnson did not determine that the complaint was not credible. The ICIG was simply unable to make a determination in the 14-day window.

Director Gabbard: I was made aware of the need to provide security guidance by IC Inspector General Chris Fox on December 4, 2025, which he detailed in his letter to Congress.

FACT: You’re the DNI. What was going on in your office between June 5 and December 4 that you weren’t made aware of the request? Did you look into why for six months the ICIG neglected to relay the request for guidance?

… NYT: “Hours after an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good, a senior federal prosecutor in MN sought a warrant to search the vehicle for evidence in what he expected would be a standard civil rights investigation into the agent’s use of force. The prosecutor, Joseph Thompson, wrote in an email to colleagues that the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a state agency that specializes in investigating police shootings, would team up with the FBI to determine whether the shooting had been justified and lawful or had violated Good’s civil rights.”

… “But later that week, as FBI agents equipped with a signed warrant prepared to document blood spatter and bullet holes in Good’s SUV, they received orders to stop. The orders came from senior officials, including Kash Patel, several of whom worried that pursuing a civil rights investigation - by using a warrant obtained on that basis - would contradict Trump’s claim that Good ‘violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer’ who fired at her as she drove her vehicle.”

… FT: WaPo owner Jeff Bezos fired CEO Will Lewis because he was reportedly angry that he was partying in SF during Super Bowl Week while he was laying off hundreds of employees. It was apparently the “last straw” according to a WaPo source: “Bezos lost patience after the Super Bowl thing. Senior management were livid when they discovered that Lewis was attending festivities around the Super Bowl around the time of the news of the jobs cuts. It came off as callous.”

… Talker Research: “A nationwide survey of 5,000 Americans shows 52% now struggle to pay bills like rent on time each month, while an equal number are struggling to afford necessities like groceries. 9 in 10 people believe the US is experiencing a full-blown cost-of-living crisis, and nearly 8 in 10 said everything became more expensive in 2025.”

… Business Insider: Mikey Weinstein, the president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation which has 100,000 current and former members of the military, said the nonprofit received reports from 8 bases around the world that US military members were being pressured to see the Melania movie: “People are scared. They were pressured to see the movie. Your military superior, that’s not your shift manager at Taco Bell or Starbucks. They have complete and total control over you.”

… “In an email Weinstein shared, an active-duty enlisted member of the US military said they were writing on behalf of a dozen of their unit members and their families who felt ‘pressured’ by their unit commander to see the movie. In the email, this person said their commander suggested the unit and their family members join him, his wife, and their children at a showing of ‘Melania’ at an off-base movie theater.”

… Weinstein: "Every one of our clients who came to us either went to see it or suddenly got sick."

… WSJ: “While his father Steve Witkoff acts as Trump’s all-purpose special envoy, his son Zach Witkoff now heads up World Liberty, which has doled out at least $1.4 billion to both families since the president’s re-election. Among the payouts: a secret $500 million deal to sell almost half the company to an Abu Dhabi royal and his co-investors.”

… “Witkoff is part of a small cadre of Trump admin offspring who, since their fathers moved to DC, have metamorphosed into wealthy financial celebrities in their own right. Key to their transformation has been the crypto sector, where they were all neophytes a few years ago, but now run businesses that raised billions of dollars from investors before the market turned sour. And because they were able to extract real cash from their ventures quickly, they are far less exposed to the current crypto downturn than retail investors who loaded up on digital tokens.”

… “The younger Witkoff now tours the globe alongside a phalanx of aides with an American flag pinned to his suit jacket and counts some of crypto’s most powerful figures as friends, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who Trump pardoned in Oct. He sports a Richard Mille timepiece worth half a million dollars on one day, a $250,000 rose-gold Patek Philippe on another.”

… “Eric Trump is the public face of a bitcoin company where he holds a $90 million stake, while his brothers, Don Jr. and 19-year-old Barron join him as co-founders of World Liberty. Brandon Lutnick, the 28-year-old son of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, runs his father’s former Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, a midtier investment bank that has become a top choice for crypto deals.”

… NYT: “Trump’s allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to a new group supporting flashy initiatives he is planning around the nation’s 250th birthday. The group, Freedom 250, is threatening to overshadow years of plans meant to reach the broadest cross section of Americans for semiquincentennial celebrations. They are now taking on a Trumpian flare, replete with marble and machismo.”

… “But Freedom 250 has also emerged as another vehicle, akin to the WH ballroom project, through which people and companies with interests before the Trump admin can make tax-deductible donations to gain access to, and seek favor with, a president who has maintained a keen interest in fund-raising, and a willingness to use the levers of govt power to reward financial supporters.”

… “Several of Freedom 250’s planned events and monuments lack obvious connections to the Boston Tea Party, the signing of the Declaration of Independence or other seminal moments in the nation’s founding. Rather, they are tailored to Trump’s political agenda and his penchant for spectacle, personal branding and legacy. They include the construction of an arch overlooking DC, an IndyCar race through the capital, a national prayer event and a UFC Championship match on the WH lawn to coincide with the president’s 80th birthday.”

… “Meredith O’Rourke, the president’s top fund-raiser, is amassing private donations for Freedom 250. The detailed breakdowns of packages for donors indicate that those who give $1 million or more will get invitations to a ‘private Freedom 250 thank you reception’ hosted by Trump, with a ‘historic photo opportunity.’ Those who give $2.5 million or more also are being offered speaking roles at an event in DC on July 4.”

… Daily Mail: “A federal statement announcing Jeffrey Epstein‘s death has surfaced in newly released DOJ files but it carries a date that appears to precede the moment he was officially found dead inside his NY prison cell. The document, issued by the US Attorney’s Office for SDNY and dated Friday, Aug 9, 2019, states that Epstein had already been found unresponsive and pronounced dead. But prison records and official accounts show Epstein was not discovered unresponsive until the morning of Aug 10, 2019, when a corrections officer delivering breakfast found him in his cell.”

… In the statement, then–Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman said: “Earlier this morning, the Manhattan CC confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein, who faced charges brought by this Office of engaging in the sex trafficking of minors, had been found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in court.”

… Fox: The FCC is launching an investigation into ABC’s ‘The View’ amid the agency’s crackdown on equal time for political candidates. Last month, the FCC announced it will require the broadcast networks to adhere to the “statutory equal opportunities requirement,” citing the Communications Act of 1934, “including their airing of late-night and daytime talk shows. A source at the FCC said that Monday’s ‘View’ appearance by Senate candidate James Talarico triggered the probe.

… “The source noted that not only would ABC require equal airtime for Republican candidates on the ballot like incumbent Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn and his primary rivals. It would also apply to Ahmad Hassan, the little-known candidate running against Talarico and Crockett in the Democratic primary. ‘Fake news is not getting a free pass anymore,’ the source told Fox.”

… NYT: “To right-wing influencers and conservative media outlets, SF is a wasteland where the once-glimmering downtown mall is dead, the sidewalks are filled with homeless encampments and drug users are shooting up in the streets. To San Franciscans and civic leaders, however, that caricature has never been accurate. And certainly not after a recent AI boom downtown and the redoubling of efforts to improve the quality of life.”

… Pat McAfee, the ESPN host who caters to a young, male audience, said during the first national broadcast of The Pat McAfee Show from SF: “What we thought we were walking into here was, uh, a dump. It’s not at all. It was a beautiful walk this morning.”

… Among the first-time visitors this week to SF was Brayden Landis, 21, a sports management student at York College in PA, who was in the Bay Area as part of a class trip. “To me, the city was known for homelessness, fog and hippies. But the stereotypes melted away. You see the city for what it really is, good and bad, pretty quickly. I think it’s my favorite city I’ve ever been to.”

… A new poll shows that across Europe opinions about the US have shifted dramatically since Trump took office, with some of the most pro-US countries now holding a negative view of the US.

… Another Democrat dramatically outperformed previous results in a special election: CBS: “Louisiana Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez defeated her Republican opponent by double digits in the special election Saturday night for a state House seat in a district Trump won by 13 points in 2024. Martinez won 62% of the vote compared to 38% for her Republican opponent, Brad Daigle.”

… The Atlantic reports that the Trump admin is trying to change the messaging on their immigration enforcement but not the reality: “At the WH, Stephen Miller is still running 10 AM conference calls 6 days a week to issue orders and demand updates on the metrics that matter most to him: deportations, new-ICE-officer deployments, and prosecutions. ICE field commanders have not been waved off the ambitious arrest quotas he set last May, and they remain under orders to maintain staffing levels at 70%, even on the weekends.”

… “I spoke with half a dozen current and former immigration-enforcement officials about how Trump’s mass-deportation campaign may change after Minneapolis, especially with polls showing that one of the president’s top-rated issues is becoming a political liability. Several said they expect ICE operations to continue aggressively, but with less of the publicity and propaganda that DHS has indulged in for months.

… One veteran official referenced Greg Bovino’s film crew showing him shopping for drinks and high-fiving supporters: “No more videos from convenience stores.”

… Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) on CBS: “There is a very real threat without reforms at ICE that you could have ICE patrols around polling stations. And people say, ‘Why would that matter if they’re all American citizens?’ Because we’ve seen ICE discriminate against Latinos. You don’t need to do a lot to discourage people from voting.”

… NPR: “The State Dept is removing all posts on its public accounts on the social media platform X made before Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025. The posts will be internally archived but will no longer be on public view. Staff members were told that anyone wanting to see older posts will have to file a FOIA request. That would differ from how the US govt typically handles archiving the public online footprint of previous admins.”

… Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) was on CNN after Trump endorsed his opponent recently: Q - Do you regret your vote to convict Trump in impeachment? Cassidy: My point is ascribing motivations to others I don't think is fair. Q - But I'm asking about your vote. Do you regret it? Cassidy: All I can say brother is, you live your life forward.”

… Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told ABC that he has no problem naming Dulles Airport after Trump to get money released to complete a tunnel project in NY: “Renaming critical infrastructure projects is not a new concept. Host: Okay, but this isn't like, 'let's honor somebody.' Trump wants it named after himself! And he says he'll unfreeze the money if they do it. Lawler: At the end of the day, I could care less what the name of a building or infrastructure project is. I care that it gets done.”

… Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was asked on ABC about the SAVE Act pushed by Trump and many Republicans to supposedly stop non-citizens from voting: "What you've just asked is essentially, Republicans have created distrust in the elections by making claims of nonexistent fraud, and shouldn't we use the distrust they've created in order to enact a voter suppression law?"

… Kyiv Independent: “The US and Russia could reach bilateral agreements affecting Ukraine without Kyiv’s participation, President Zelensky said on Feb. 6 during a briefing with journalists in Kyiv. Zelensky’s remarks come as diplomatic activity intensifies around efforts to end Russia’s full-scale war, with trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the US, and Russia potentially resuming as early as next week, likely on US soil.”

… “He added that the US is proposing that the war be brought to an end before the start of this summer and is likely to apply pressure on the parties in line with that timeline. He suggested the push is linked to domestic political dynamics in the US, likely referring to the midterm elections. Zelensky said Kyiv is receiving signals that Washington and Moscow could sign bilateral documents, including on economic cooperation.”

… Zelensky: “Intelligence showed me the so-called ‘Dmitriev package’ that he presented in the US - it amounts to around $12 trillion,” describing it as a proposed framework for large-scale US-Russia economic cooperation.

… Dr. Oz on CNN: “Is this measles outbreak a consequence of the admin undermining support for vaccines? Oz: I don’t believe so. We’ve advocated for vaccines all along. Secretary Kennedy has been in the very front of this advocating for measles vaccines. Host: Oh, come on.”

… In 2024, boxer Conor McGregor was found liable to sex assault by a jury and ordered to pay the victim $257,000. He lost all his appeals. This is what RFK Jr. posted today.