Today in Politics, Bulletin 316. 2/26/26

… Adrian Aviles, the husband of the staffer Regina Santos-Aviles, who killed herself after being pressured by Rep. Tony Gonzales into an affair: “Tony Gonzales runs his whole campaign on family values, saying that he’s some family man. He’s actually quite a sick man. I have all the messages. I just released a tip of the iceberg of the things that this man was telling her. I would bet that Gonzales does not want me to release all of the messages that show how gross of a man he is.”

… Aviles was sharing Regina’s story on CNN: “My son misses his mother every day. He no longer has his mother. He grabs a particular Gatorade out of the refrigerator and it’s a pink one. He says I’m going to drink these, these were mom’s favorite. It tore me to pieces. My son now has to remember his mother through the color of a Gatorade.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson continues to refuse to call for Gonzales to resign because that would leave him with just a one-seat majority, with the added problem that Thomas Massie often voting with Democrats these days.

… Rep. Troy Nehls (R-NE) was asked by CNN if Gonzales should resign: “That would be the stupidest thing he could ever do given the razor-thin House GOP majority. Q -
Aren’t some things bigger than politics? Nehls: No. Not up here, not the way we do what we do in the House.”

… Hockey News’s Ian Kennedy: “Despite President Trump saying that the USA women’s hockey team will be visiting the White House in his State of the Union address, members of Team USA today confirm they have not heard anything about that.”

… Women’s team player Hilary Knight on the WH invite: “I’m really not sure where that stands. There was an announcement the other day. As far as my knowledge, like, I have not seen anything.”

… Some of the players from the women’s hockey team were asked about the phone call to the locker room from Trump where he made a condescending comment about their team as the men laughed loudly. Hilary Knight: “I thought the call in of itself was distasteful and an awesome moment to refocus the narrative and understand our words matter and how we speak about women matters.”

… Kelly Pannek: “With the phone call specifically, it’s not surprising, to be frank. So, I don’t know why we expect differently? But I think for us it’s also just about getting back to the focus on our team and what our team accomplished - dominant hockey.”

… Men’s team player Jeremy Swayman apologized before his NHL game last night: “We should’ve reacted differently. We know that we are so excited for the women’s team. We have so much respect for the women’s team. To share that gold medal with them is something we’re forever grateful for.”

… Michael Russo, hockey reporter for The Atlantic: “I just went to the Minnesota Frost practice and talked to 4 of the gold medalists from the women’s team (Heise, Pannek, Curl, Zumwinkle) and all of them echoed this: Heise said they’ve received public and private apologies too from men’s players.”

… Bill and Hillary Clinton had their closed-door deposition today with the House Oversight committee on Epstein. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), who was present: “There were no Republicans in Ohio to talk to Les Wexner, who bankrolled Epstein’s fortune for the most part. Hillary Clinton, who maintains that she doesn’t recall meeting Epstein, is here today, and we have a lot of Republicans here today.”

… The Clinton’s lawyers had to temporarily halt the deposition in progress because Lauren Boebert took a photo of Hillary testifying and sent it to right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, who posted it on social media. A spokesman from the Clinton’s came out of the depo and made a statement about it to the media. Photos were strictly prohibited under the rules. The deposition resumed later. Maybe they took Boebert’s phone away.

… Hillary gave a brief press conference outside after it was over: “I don’t know how many times I had to say I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to is island. I never went to his homes. His offices."

… “It then got at then end quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate - one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions about me.”

… Telegraph: “A secret storage locker rented by Jeffrey Epstein contained computers, video tapes, sex-slave manuals and photographs of naked women. Earlier this week, The Telegraph revealed that Epstein paid private detectives to remove items from his Florida property in an apparent attempt to hide them from investigators ahead of a police raid in 2005. These were kept at a nearby storage facility in Palm Beach for several years while police investigated the pedophile.”

… “The unit was rented on Epstein’s behalf by the Riley Kiraly detective agency and was one of at least 6 storage lockers leased by the late financier over a 16-year period. An inventory of the secret Palm Beach lock-up showed that the stashed items included 3 computers, 29 address books and a 3-page list of masseuses in FL. The hidden storage unit also contained nude photographs, believed to be of Epstein’s victims, as well as dozens of pornographic magazines, VHS tapes and DVDs eroticizing teenagers.”

… “An 8mm video cassette tape was also locked away in the storage unit, apparently containing footage of someone in the shower and a woman in lingerie, as well as a 2005 calendar, greeting cards, letters and laboratory results. Although copies of two of the computer hard drives were recovered by the FBI years later, it is not known whether any of the material in the lock-up was ever found.”

… “The Palm Beach unit was just one of at least 6 such lockers known to have been used by Epstein to store files, computers and other items from his properties. Search warrants suggest that US authorities never raided these lockers, raising the possibility that they contained unseen evidence relating to Epstein and his associates.”

… Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia: “We’re going to be demanding that the remaining files get released to the public. And that includes new files that were just discovered in the last couple days of a survivor that has made serious accusations against Trump. We have seen the archive manifest. That clearly shows that the interviews and information around this survivor have been removed and are missing. Where are these files? Who removed them? Those questions have to be answered.”

… NYT: “The vast trove of documents released by DOJ from its investigations into Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against Trump. The materials are FBI memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor.”

… “The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials related to her account, which was publicly released. According to that index, the FBI conducted 4 interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one. But only one of the summaries, which describes her accusations against Epstein, was released by DOJ. The other 3 are missing.”

… “The public files also do not include the underlying interview notes, which the index also indicates are part of the file. DOJ released similar interview notes in connection to FBI interviews with other potential witnesses and victims. It is unclear why the materials are missing. DOJ said in a statement on Monday that ‘the only materials that have been withheld were either privileged or duplicates.’ In a new statement on Tues, the dept also noted that documents could have been withheld because of ‘an ongoing federal investigation.’”

… On Wednesday afternoon, DOJ said in a new statement that it was reviewing which documents were released in connection to the index. The dept said it would publish any documents ‘found to have been improperly tagged in the review process’ that are legally required to be made public.”

… Deadline: Trump’s State of the Union address only drew only 28 million viewers across 8 major news networks, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.
By comparison:

• 2019: 46.8 M

• 2018: 45.6 M

• 2020: 37.2 M

• 2025: 36.6 M

• 2017: 33.9 M

… WaPo: “Voters are closely split over which party they prefer in the Nov midterm elections, but Democrats hold a wide advantage in voter enthusiasm over Republicans that could help them reclaim at least some power. The poll reflects Republicans’ slippery grasp on power as they struggle to motivate their core supporters to show up for them in a year when Trump will not be on the ballot and when many voters are reporting dissatisfaction with the economy.”

… “More Ds than Rs said they are certain to vote this fall - 79% to 65% among registered voters. That 14-point advantage is the largest Democrats have reported on this question ahead of a midterm election since at least 2006. In 2018, when Dems won back the House in a wave election during Trump’s first term, polls showed that they held a 5-point edge in Jan on certainty to vote.”

… A new TV ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) against TX AG Ken Paxton, who is leading in the polls in the US senate primary race, is shocking when you consider that they may be forced to back him in coming months as the GOP nominee against the Democratic candidate. The committee controlled by John Thune is backing Sen. John Cornyn in the race.

… Narrator in the ad: “It’s voting time, so let’s cut through the bullshit. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on biblical grounds. So now Paxton’s wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother of 7. And remember this, Crooked Ken has increased his net worth by as much as 7,000% since taking office. Now think of the Paxton dirty deeds we don’t know about, yet. The wife cheater and fraud, or the Texas workhorse?”

… Seems like maybe Dems could ask to use the Republican add against Paxton after the primary is over. Save a few bucks.

… Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) demonstrated yet again on CNN why he is determined to prove daily that he now holds the crown of dumbest senator. Mullin on Iran: “We are not wanting regime change, but the person that’s leading this effort is the Ayatollah. Remember in 1979, when he came to power, he was saying that he wanted to be a nuclear Iran.”

… The Ayatollah he is talking about died in 1989. The current Ayatollah is not the same person.

… Q - “If we obliterated their nuclear sites already, why are you worried about it right now? Mullin: Because they’re rebuilding it. Host: But it was obliterated. Mullin: I mean, people have car accidents and obliterate their bones and their legs, and yet they can still put you know, they can still put metal back in them and, and and walk again.”

Tomorrow is Ask the Editor where I answer 5 of your questions on a short podcast with Ben, in addition to posting the regular daily Bulletin. Please post any questions you have or any topic you just want me to talk more about in the comments section to this Bulletin.

If you missed yesterday’s podcast Uncovered, where I do a deeper dive into the Top 10 stories of the week with Anthony, you can find that here. If you missed the last Bulletin, you can find it here.

… The New Republic: “Kristi Noem’s blanket fiasco may not have been about a blanket at all. The so-called ICE Barbie allegedly had her rumored beau, expired-special-employee Corey Lewandowski, fire a Coast Guard pilot last May after Noem neglected to bring her favorite weighted blanket onto the second flight of one of her trips. But three DHS insiders indicate that the spectacle may not have been about an abandoned blanket, but rather a mysterious bag with potentially embarrassing contents.”

… One insider: “This was never about a blanket. The blanket was a cover story for what really happened. The whole thing was really about the bag that was left.”

… The consensus of speculation on social media was that likely contained sex toys,