Chump's very bad day

Convicted Felon Donald Chump was finally informed by the Supreme Court that the power over tariffs belonged to the U.S. Congress and he did not take the news well.  Lauren Martinez (THE MIRROR) reports:

Donald Trump didn’t mince words as he took aim at the Supreme Court’s decision which reversed his controversial blanket tariffs, but one of his claims during his speech was hilariously fact-checked live by his favorite news network–Fox News.

The network cut into the Friday, February 20 episode of America Reports to bring the President’s live remarks from the White House, just hours after the Court handed down its ruling.

 However, as he began speaking and quickly slammed the justices who voted against him, the president also quickly touted the accomplishment of the DOW reaching 50,000–which Fox inadvertently showed wasn’t the case.

“I have very effectively utilized tariffs over the past year to make America great again,” he said in his remarks.

“Our stock market has just recently broken 50,000 on the DOW and simultaneously, and even more amazingly, broken 7,000 on the S&P, two numbers that everybody thought upon our landslide election victory could not be attained.”

However, while the DOW did reach 50,000 earlier in the month on February 6, Fox inadvertently fact-checked him with their live ticker on screen while airing the speech.

In the corner, it clearly showed the DOW was currently sitting at 49,000.

His comment was one of several that were deemed as incendiary during his speech, where he ranted about the decision, calling the justices who voted against him as traitorous, and even made claims that he was allowed to “destroy” the country. 

He raged and cursed.  He was an angry toddler.  Jen Psaki felt that he was running through the stages of grief. 

And Yelena Mandenberg (THE MIRROR) reports:

President Donald Trump's economy got some disappointing reports and news this Friday morning, as U.S. economic growth apparently slowed in the last quarter of last year, as the Supreme Court struck down global tariffs.

Earlier today, SCOTUS nixed President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda. In the court, the 6-3 decision unilaterally strikes down tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs levied on nearly every other country.

Then, reports found that 4th quarter GDP growth was highly disappointing. According to the Commerce Department’s report on Friday, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP)—which measures the total output of goods and services—grew at an annual rate of 1.4% during the fourth quarter. It comes after Nicki Minaj refused to answer a creepy question from Trump in a toe-curling conversation.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Friday, February 20, 2026.  Chump has questions still to answer regarding The Epstein Files, his new 'Board of Peace' got off to an underwhelming start, and much more. 

Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee went to Ohio where they took a deposition from billionaire Les Wexner who funded pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.  

Henry J. Gomez (NBC NEWS) notes:

Wexner, 88, has said he met Epstein in the mid-1980s and eventually hired him to manage his money. He also has said he cut ties with Epstein in 2007, after Epstein was accused of sexually abusing minors in Florida. Around that time, Wexner wrote in a letter issued by his foundation in 2019, “we discovered that he had misappropriated vast sums of money from me and my family.”

Wexner also has denied any knowledge of an allegation made by Epstein survivor Maria Farmer, who said in a 2020 lawsuit against the Epstein estate that she was assaulted in 1996 by Epstein at an Ohio property “owned and secured” by Wexner and his wife, Abigail Wexner.

“I was naïve, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein,” Wexner said in a statement submitted to the House Oversight Committee at his deposition Wednesday. “He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide. I completely and irrevocably cut ties with Epstein nearly twenty years ago when I learned that he was an abuser, a crook, and a liar. And, let me be crystal clear: I never witnessed nor had any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activity. I was never a participant nor coconspirator in any of Epstein’s illegal activities.”

Scrutiny of Wexner’s relationship with Epstein has intensified in the months since Congress required that the Justice Department release Epstein-related files. Wexner was called an Epstein co-conspirator in a 2019 FBI document released last week and mentioned as a possible co-conspirator in a previously released FBI email from that same year. A Wexner legal representative has said that Wexner had been informed in 2019 by an assistant U.S. attorney that he was “neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect.”

As new details have emerged, politicians across the state have been under pressure to rid their campaigns of the money Wexner gave them.

Last night on MS NOW's THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, US House Rep Robert Garcia spoke about the testimony Wexner offered. 

There are also questions about Donald Chump as a result of The Epstein Files.  Philip Wang (TIME MAGAZINE) notes:

Rep. Maxwell Frost told TIME that multiple witness statements in the files refute Trump’s claim that he expelled the convicted sex offender from the Palm Beach club in 2007. Frost said he plans to disclose further details in a speech on the House floor in the coming weeks, where members of Congress are shielded from defamation lawsuits under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.

“I read many documents that completely refute what Donald Trump has said in terms of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Frost said, adding that there was a “specific document” in the files containing multiple witness accounts that contradict the President’s version of events.

Trump said in 2025 that he banned Epstein after learning the financier had recruited young female spa workers away from Mar-a-Lago. But The New York Times previously reported that Trump told associates he removed Epstein for a different reason—that Epstein had behaved inappropriately toward the teenage daughter of a club member.

Frost also said he reviewed material he believes undermines statements made by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about his relationship with Epstein.

“This is obviously the administration engaged in some sort of cover up, because we said we don't want any redactions unless it's victim names,” he said during a phone interview from Orlando, Florida. “That's it, victim names—not to protect friends of Donald Trump, not to protect billionaires and elites in this country, the names of victims.”

Still on Chump, Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

The Department of Justice spoke four separate times to a woman who credibly accused Donald Trump of having sex with a minor he met through Jeffrey Epstein—but most accusations against the president appear to have been removed from the government’s documents on the alleged sex trafficker.

A 21-page slideshow buried in the massive trove of Epstein-related documents included allegations that sometime between 1983 and 1985, Trump forced a woman to give him oral sex when she was in her early teens. When the woman bit down on Trump’s exposed penis, he allegedly punched her in the head and kicked her out. That same woman told the DOJ that Epstein had introduced her to Trump in 1984.

Yet last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that there was “no evidence” that Trump had committed any crime—adding to the growing pile of denials from Trump officials that constitute a sweeping cover-up of the president’s alleged wrongdoing.

Department of Justice records indicate that the FBI spoke to this woman not once, but at least four separate times, according to independent journalist Roger Sollenberger. Now, those records appear to have been removed from public viewing—despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires all documents relating to the alleged sex trafficker to be made public.

 

Simon Marks (THE I PAPER) notes:

Fully understanding that Trump’s Department of Justice is completely in thrall to the President and will not be authorising any investigation of his conduct, top Democrats are urging the American media to look into unproven allegations contained within the Epstein files.

Referring to a series of tips provided by the public – many of them second-hand and some without any contact information for investigators to pursue – Congressman Ted Lieu of California suggested this month that the job must fall to the Fourth Estate to do some digging.

“Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times”, he told reporters on Capitol Hill. He described allegations in the files as “highly disturbing” and added: “So I encourage the press to go look at these allegations.”

In a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Lieu cited an unclassified FBI document containing claims from an anonymous man who alleged that, while working as a driver in 1995, he overheard Trump phoning someone called “Jeffrey” and discussed “abusing some girl”. The document said the man later met a young girl, who alleged she was raped by Trump and Epstein. The man claimed that authorities later found the girl dead with her head “blown off”.

Donald Chump has put together 'The Board of Peace.'  It's a vanity project in search of attention for the preening ego of all time.  Yesterday, 'The Board of Peace' met for the first time.

 

Before it started, protesters greeted Chump.  J.D. Wolf (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reports:

President Donald Trump was confronted by protesters Thursday morning as his motorcade arrived at the recently renamed “Donald J Trump Institute for Peace“ building where he is convening the inaugural meeting of his newly formed “Board of Peace.”

According to the White House press pool, demonstrators gathered across the street as the motorcade pulled up shortly before 9 a.m., holding large signs and yelling, “Donald Trump go to hell,” reflecting deep skepticism about the president’s intentions.

Eric Malinowski (INDEPENDENT) notes that Chump made himself the focus of the meeting:

In his remarks, Trump repeated his claim that he had ended eight wars but acknowledged that ending the Russo–Ukrainian war continues to elude him.

He also complained about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize last year. Speaking about European countries who are interested in joining the Board of Peace, Trump noted that Norway had agreed to host a future Board event and expressed disappointment that the country did not award him the prize.

When not lamenting all the things he has never accomplished, Chump just made weird remarks.  Gabe Whisnant (NEWSWEEK) notes:

President Donald Trump veered off script during Thursday’s Board of Peace remarks, and while welcoming Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, Trump offered an aside about Peña’s youth and appearance.

“It’s always nice to be young and handsome. It doesn’t mean we have to like you. I don’t like young, handsome men. Women — I like. Men, I don’t have any interest,” Trump says as chuckles can be heard among those gathered for the multi-national event in Washington D.C.

Santiago Pena turns 48 later this year.  That's not young.  And young people don't fall asleep at public meetings which, for the record, Chump did again in 'The Board of Peace' meeting.  See Marcia's "Chump's continued decline as he sleeps through another public meeting" for more on that. 

Sophia Cai and Eli Stokols (POLITICO) add, "President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he intends to name his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a special peace envoy, unveiling the decision at his 'Board of Peace' event, attended by more than a dozen world leaders."  This while Chump pretends the point is to help Gaza.  

For those who've forgotten, in March of 2024, Patrick Wintour (GUARDIAN) reported on how Jared saw Palestine:

Jared Kushner has praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property” and suggested Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the strip.

The former property dealer, married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, made the comments in an interview at Harvard University on 15 February. The interview was posted on the YouTube channel of the Middle East Initiative, a program of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, earlier this month.

Kushner was a senior foreign policy adviser under Trump’s presidency and was tasked with preparing a peace plan for the Middle East. Critics of the plan, which involved Israel striking normalisation deals with Gulf states, said it bypassed questions about the future for Palestinians.

And this January,  Nick Duffy and Matt Bradley (NBC NEWS) noted:

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner this week unveiled plans for a “New Gaza” filled with gleaming high-rise towers and tourist-packed beaches — an optimistic vision that stands in stark contrast to the reality of a territory in ruins after two years of war.

[. . .]

On the ground in Gaza, meanwhile, Kushner’s plan felt like another world. Israeli forces continue to occupy around half of the Palestinian enclave.

More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and hundreds of thousands of the enclave’s 2 million people have been driven from their homes and live in tents, where they are exposed to disease, storms and flooding.

It's what Jared's been pitching for years.  In 2018, Khalil E. Jahshan, Michael C. Hudson, Yousef Munayyer, Tamara Kharroub and Joe Macaron (DC's Arab Center) noted the many problems with Jared's 'concepts.'  Let's note Jahshan:

In his interview, Jared Kushner claims that he has done “a lot of listening,” having spent his precious time “focusing on the people and trying to determine what they actually want.” Apparently, Kushner does not know many Palestinians, or he failed to take good notes.

Most Palestinians I know are very determined, industrious, and hard-working. They would welcome “the new opportunities and better paying jobs” that Kushner is dangling before their eyes. However, Palestinians are well-educated and politically savvy enough to know that their problem is not purely economic—that first and foremost, it is political in nature. Of course, they want normalcy in their daily life and a thriving economy, but they realize, clearly better than Jared Kushner and Trump’s advisor, Jason Greenblatt, that meaningful change only comes with action on fundamental concerns: ending the Israeli military occupation of Palestine and attaining national self-determination, with the realization of the Palestinians’ inalienable and universally recognized political rights, including the right of return to millions of Palestinian refugees.

Kushner accuses Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of having harbored the same talking points for the past 25 years. In fact, Trump’s envoy must acknowledge these long-held aspirations of the Palestinian people if Washington is truly interested in listening to them, or in moving forward on peace. Go back to the drawing board Mr. Kushner; your biased ideas are neither an “ultimate” nor a coherent “plan”!

And we'll note Kharroub:

Kushner’s statements signal the extent to which the Trump Administration is out of touch with reality as well as the flawed premises on which it has based its new peace plan. What is remarkable is how Kushner’s deeply uninformed statements are unapologetically condescending toward the Palestinians. “Don’t allow your grandfathers’ conflict to determine your children’s future,” Kushner appealed to the Palestinian public, without any regard for or understanding of the daily struggles of Palestinians who continue to live under repressive Israeli military occupation. He flippantly dismissed Palestinian rights and international law as Abbas’s “talking points which have not changed in the last 25 years.” Additionally, Kushner’s only concrete reference to the “deal” is an economic development plan for Gaza, to be underwritten financially by Arab Gulf states (this is while the United States cuts funds to UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority). Reducing the conflict to a mere economic issue and placing sole responsibility for its non-resolution on President Abbas and not Israel, is a clear echo of Israeli right-wing falsehoods and an attempt to preemptively blame the Palestinian leadership for the eventual failure of the deal. Although the Palestinians are the weakest players in this game, no deal can be achieved without their unequivocal participation. A lasting peace cannot be imposed by the Trump Administration or Arab states without justice as its primary premise.

It's a blue print for ethnic cleansing.  It ignores the realities for Palestinians and, in fact, Jared wants to move them over to a desert. There's no factoring in the ongoing genocide.  If anything, it just 'helps' Jared's plan to clear the region of Palestinians.  

Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Senators warn moving critical programs to agencies with no education policy experience could delay funding, increase administrative burden, raise program costs

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations; and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies pushed the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) to open an investigation into the Department of Education’s (ED) transfer of grant programs to agencies with no expertise in education policy, such as the Department of Labor (DOL)—a key step in the Trump administration’s efforts to illegally dismantle and eventually abolish ED.

“We are deeply concerned that the administration’s decisions to [transfer] grant programs in this manner delayed crucial funding that millions of students and schools rely on, created administrative inefficiencies, increased the cost of program administration, and compromised the quality of technical assistance provided to states and grantees,” wrote the senators.

In May 2025, the Trump administration formalized an interagency agreement (IAA) through which it moved the day-to-day management of career and technical education and adult education grant programs, including Perkins V and AEFLA, from ED to DOL. Perkins V grants annually provide over $1.4 billion in funding for career and technical education programs for about 11 million students around the country. AEFLA provides over $700 million in annual funding for adult education opportunities, most often for people without a high school degree or who are English language learners. In 2024, AEFLA served about 1.3 million adult students.

“[T]hese programs are a critical pathway to the middle class and can play a key role in reducing poverty and enabling employment,” wrote the lawmakers.

ED is reportedly paying DOL around $1 million to cover the cost of administering these programs during FY25 and FY26. Public reporting suggests that the transfer of these programs has been deeply flawed, leading to weeks-long delays in grant disbursements and harming students and schools.

“[T]he reports raise questions about whether the transfer has actually reduced alleged ‘duplication of effort,’ or just created inefficiency,” said the senators.

In November 2025, ED announced six additional IAAs, pointing to the May IAA as a template for their work to dismantle the Department. These IAAs transferred significant responsibilities for grant administration for dozens of programs for early childhood, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education out of ED.

The lawmakers asked GAO to investigate these IAAs — and any future IAAs — and the agreements’ impacts on program costs, timely access to funding, access to services, and quality of technical assistance for grantees.

Senator Warren has led the fight to make our higher education system more affordable, cancel student loan debt, and hold student loan servicers accountable for incompetence and malfeasance. She launched the Save Our Schools campaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education.

• On February 19, 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) pushed Education Secretary Linda McMahon on concerns that the U.S. Department of Education is apparently obstructing Congressional efforts to hold federal student loan servicers accountable for underperformance.
• On February 2, 2026, Senator Warren released a new report revealing the findings of their investigation into how private student loan lenders will reap the benefits from cuts to federal student loan access enacted in Republicans’ Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBBA). The report is the first Congressional analysis of the impacts of the OBBBA’s student loan restrictions on the private lending market.
• On January 22, 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) led their Senate colleagues in demanding answers from Trump Education Secretary Linda McMahon about the Trump Administration’s proposal to eliminate affordable student loan repayment options for millions of Americans.
• On December 8, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in writing to the federal student loan servicers to ensure they are providing borrowers with the customer service they deserve in the wake of the Trump administration’s student loan policy whiplash. The senators sent letters to MOHELA, Nelnet, EdFinancial, Maximus, and CRI.
• On December 1, 2025, Senator Warren published an op-ed in USA Today calling for Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to resign following the recent news that President Trump and Secretary McMahon plan to further dismantle the Department of Education (ED).
• On November 24, 2025, Senator Warren pushed for an expanded investigation into the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle ED and whether its recent decision to transfer many of ED’s responsibilities to four other agencies violates federal law.
• On November 17, 2025, Senator Warren led over 40 of her colleagues in a letter urging Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to immediately end any plans to sell or transfer the federal student loan portfolio to the private market.
• On November 10, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in a letter urging the Trump administration to use the IRS’s existing legal authorities to stop the looming “tax bomb” facing borrowers who obtain income-driven repayment (IDR) discharges of their student loan debt.
• On October 15, 2025, Senator Warren and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) led 70 members of Congress in a letter calling on the Trump administration to address the ongoing and unprecedented wave of student loan delinquencies and defaults, which threatens the financial stability of millions of people and could have disastrous effects on the American economy.
• On September 19, 2025, following a push by Senator Warren and nine other senators, the Acting Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education agreed to open an investigation into DOGE’s infiltration of internal systems, including the scope of its access to sensitive student loan borrower information and its impact on borrowers’ rights and privacy.
• On August 26, 2025, Senator Warren led colleagues in sending a follow-up letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon condemning the Department of Education for deliberately hiding the “Submit a Complaint” button on the Office of Federal Student Aid’s website, firing employees responsible for providing customer service to borrowers and families and misleading Congress about the scope of these firings.
• On August 7, 2025, Senator Warren publicly released Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s response to the senator’s 60+ questions and pressed for additional information. Senator Warren announced that she would refer certain matters where the Department has proved uncooperative to the Government Accountability Office and the Education Department’s Inspector General.
• On August 4, 2025, Senator Warren led eight Senators in pressing major private student loan lenders on their plans to serve the incoming surge of borrowers who will be pushed to the industry because of Republicans’ recently passed “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
• On July 17, 2025, Senator Warren released a new 23-page report, “Education At Risk: Frontline Impacts of Trump’s War on Students,” highlighting warnings from 11 major national education and civil rights organizations on the impact of the Trump Administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education (ED), slashing support to millions of American students, primary and secondary school teachers, administrators, parents, and student loan borrowers.
• On July 15, 2025, Senators Warren and Sanders, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, urging her to reverse the interest hike on student loan borrowers in the SAVE forbearance.
• On July 14, 2025, Senator Warren joined a letter to the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, and Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, demanding that the Department of Education stop blocking nearly $7 billion in funds for K-12 schools, including for afterschool programs.
• On July 3, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in submitting an amicus brief for NAACP v. US, arguing to the United States District Court District of Maryland that President Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education violate separation of powers and lack constitutional authority.
• On June 10, 2025, Senator Warren met with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and delivered over 1,000 letters to McMahon that the senator had received from people in all 50 states who were worried about the Secretary’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
• On June 9, 2025, Senator Warren led her colleagues in pushing the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Education to open an investigation into new information obtained by her office, revealing that DOGE may have gained access to two FSA internal systems, in addition to sensitive borrower data.
• On May 20, 2025, Senator Warren and 27 other senators pushed for full funding for the Office of Federal Student Aid.
• On May 14, 2025, Senator Warren led a Senate forum entitled “Stealing the American Dream: How Trump and Republicans Are Raising Education Costs for Families,” highlighting the consequences of Secretary Linda McMahon’s reckless dismantling of the Department of Education and President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” for working- and middle-class students and borrowers.
• On May 13, 2025, Senator Warren agreed to meet with Education Secretary Linda McMahon and promised to bring questions and stories from Americans across the country to highlight how the Trump administration’s attacks on education are hurting American families.
• On May 6, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren highlighted the consequences of President Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon’s reckless dismantling of the Department of Education for American families in a Senate forum.
• On April 24, 2025, Senator Warren launched a new investigation into the harms of President Trump’s attacks on the Department of Education, seeking information on the impact of the Trump administration’s actions from the members of twelve leading organizations representing schools, parents, teachers, students, borrowers, and researchers.
• On April 10, 2025, following a request led by Senator Warren, the Department of Education’s Acting Inspector General agreed to open an investigation into the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the Department of Education.
• On April 2, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mazie Hirono, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon regarding the Department of Government Efficiency’s proposed plan to replace the Department of Education’s federal student aid call centers with generative artificial intelligence chatbots.

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2020 is a crazed obsession for Chump

2020.  Four years ago.  Convicted Felon Donald Chump cannot let it go.  It is like when he did not get an Emmy for THE APPRENTICE and he raged and raged and suggested it was rigged.  It was not nor was the 2020 election.  Mr. Chump is just a buffoon.  Jordan King (NEWSWEEK) reports:

The BBC has told a court it will seek to dismiss President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit because he failed to show that the broadcaster defamed him and that he lacks legal jurisdiction in Florida.

Lawyers for the BBC wrote in a filing in Miami on Wednesday that they would “raise various arguments regarding the court’s lack of general and specific personal jurisdiction over them under Florida law… as well as arguments regarding [Trump’s] failure to state a claim for defamation or for violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.”

[. . .]

In the BBC’s filing on Wednesday, reported by The Telegraph, it said it intends to argue that the court lacks jurisdiction under Florida law, and that Trump failed to state claims for defamation or unfair trade practices.

A trial is scheduled for February 15, 2027, while the BBC’s formal deadline to respond to the complaint is March 17, 2026, according to court filings.

Convicted Felon Donald Chump needs to be stopped with regards to his constant law suits.  I hope the BBC fights back with all their might.  He is a threat to press freedom.  

Chris Brennan (USA TODAY) notes Mr. Chump's trip to Georgia:

President Donald Trump's affordability tour is set to roll into northwestern Georgia on Feb. 19 with a deceitful name for a deceptive mission.

If the White House were being honest here – I know, I know, as if – this would be called the "Believe What Trump Says, Not What You Know To Be True – Or Else" tour.

Trump's approval rating is cratering, in part due to his inept approach to America's economy, aggravated by the slipshod tariffs he impulsively slaps on other countries. But that won't be the story he tries to sell in Rome, Georgia.

A review of three previous affordability tour stops from Dec. 9 to Jan. 27 shows that Trump will likely ramble rhetorically for more than an hour, touching on his immigration enforcement efforts, his dishonest complaints that any election result he doesn't like is proof of voter fraud, and his very real concerns about Republicans losing control of Congress in November's midterm elections.

And, Trump being Trump, he's likely to illogically insist that "affordability" is a Democratic "hoax" to hoodwink Americans into thinking their economy is not soaring, while also claiming Democrats are to blame for America's current economic woes.

Those two notions obviously contradict each other. Trump won't care. But he may also level threats toward anyone telling a story about the economy that contradicts his economic claims.

Mr. Brennan is correct, everything Mr. Chump might say is totally predictable.  Mr. Chump is very predictable.  Some comments on the article:

Middleman24

3 hours ago

My electric bill hasn't been reduced to half as promised.........it went up. Along with my auto and home insurance,(and deductibles/co-pays) health care contributions, groceries, clothing.........etc etc

Lee West

1 hour ago

The American people know that billionaires and wealthy corporations have made record profits since Covid while the affordability on healthcare, childcare, utilities, groceries, housing, taxes, insurance and the cost of living have sky rocketed while wages are stagnate. On top of that, this fascist corrupted and lawless regime has dismantled our government that serves the people, our democracy, the rule of law and constitution for their own self enrichment. This is what dictators do in banana republics. This administration is now one of them and the American people have awakened and will rise against it. We have the power and they need to know that.

Billy A

2 hours ago

Yes! The sinful greed we are enduring from this new GOPOLIGARCHY will place us into a deep financial recession that can easily evolve into a full blown depression.

The illegal tariffs are weighing on Walmart stock this morning because they know that the CPI will rise in never before seen increases. Why are we losing the greatest economy in 70 years is wasy to answer.

This is all happening because the felon in the W.H. wants a bigger second round of tax breaks for his super yacht donors.

The young voters that voted for him will fight his WWIII and will curse his name forever.

STORMY SINNER FELON TIMES

Lawrence Johnson

3 hours ago

The Delusional old guy tour, taking America to where we've never been before 

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Thursday, February 19, 2026.  The former Prince Andrew is arrested in the UK, Donald Chump tries to wish Epstein away but the public feels he's involved, THE NEW YORKER explores his involvement in an interview with THE MIAMI HERALD's Julie K. Brown, and much more. 

Major news out of England this morning, Megan Specia and Michael D. Shear (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

British police on Thursday arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, over suspicions of misconduct in public office after accusations that he shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy.

The arrest was a stunning blow to the British monarchy, which has been rocked by scandals for decades and is now having to endure the spectacle of having one of its members arrested. The move escalated the long-running crisis for Buckingham Palace over the former prince’s ties to Mr. Epstein and allegations of sexual abuse of a young woman.

His brother, King Charles III, in a statement confirmed the arrest. The Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had “arrested a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office and are carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.”

Brittney Melton (NPR) notes, "U.K. media reports that this man is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew. Police have investigated whether Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential government information with his late friend, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while he was U.K.'s trade envoy. Mountbatten-Windsor admits to ties to Epstein and settled a lawsuit with one of Epstein's underage victims, but denies wrongdoing."  Jamie Grierson (GUARDIAN) adds:

The current whereabouts of Mountbatten-Windsor is unknown. It is understood neither the king nor Buckingham Palace was informed in advance of Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest.

Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 on Thursday, has always denied any wrongdoing or accusations against him. Thames Valley is one of a number of police forces to have assessed allegations that resurfaced when the so-called Epstein files were published by the US Department of Justice.

The force previously said it was reviewing allegations that a woman was trafficked to the UK by Epstein to have a sexual encounter with Andrew, and claims he shared sensitive information with the disgraced financier while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.

Oliver Wright, one of the force’s assistant chief constables, said: “Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office. It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence. We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”

The family of the late Virginia Giuffre, who accused Mountbatten-Windsor of sexually abusing her when she was 17 as part of a sex trafficking ring run by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell – allegations the former prince has denied – released a statement.

Her family members Sky and Amanda Roberts and Danny and Lanette Wilson said: “At last. Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty. On behalf of our sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we extend our gratitude to the UK’s Thames Valley police for their investigation and arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you.”

SKY NEWS notes the likely course that follows:

A former police chief has given an insight into what happens next after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's arrest.

"This is massive. You don't have to arrest somebody that you're investigating - you can ask them to provide a statement through their lawyer, you can invite them to a police station without arresting them - [so] to actually arrest, it would suggest there is some significant evidence," Dal Babu, former chief superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, says.

"I should imagine at this stage they'll have prepared interviews. There'll be an interview strategy. 

"They'll present those questions to Andrew, and I think his lawyer would probably advise him at this stage to make no comment. 

"And then once that has occurred, he'll be released under investigation."

Michael D. Shear (NEW YORK TIMES) notes others have been exposed in the release of The Epstein Files:

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is not the only member of the British elite who has been caught up in files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender.

The files, released by the U.S. Department of Justice, have also put a harsh spotlight on Peter Mandelson, a longtime British political operative who served as ambassador to the United States, and Sarah Ferguson, Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife and the one-time Duchess of York.

[. . .]

The emails and text messages in the latest release of Epstein files revealed that Ms. Ferguson had carried on a long and personal correspondence with Mr. Epstein long after the disgraced financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution in 2008.

In a 2009 email, Mr. Epstein suggested that he paid for flights for “the Duchess and the girls from Heathrow to Miami,” an apparent reference to travel for Ms. Ferguson and her daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. In 2010, in another email exchange, Ms. Ferguson called Mr. Epstein “a legend,” adding, “I really don’t have the words to describe my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness. Xx I am at your service. Just marry me.”

Mr. Epstein also urged Ms. Ferguson to help him improve his public image, suggesting in one email that she release a statement asserting that he was “not a pedo.” There is no evidence that she did so.

Ms. Ferguson’s representatives have not responded to requests for comment since the new files were released. In 2011, she admitted that he had helped pay off her debts and apologized for her “terrible error of judgment” in “having anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein.” The new files show that she continued to exchange emails with Mr. Epstein after that admission.

That's in the United Kingdom.  In the United States?  

 

Donald Chump has made clear that he wants to 'move on' from The Epstein Files and his Epstein scandal.  However, the American people aren't there with him on this.  Sarah Davis (THE HILL) reports:

More than half of Americans in a new poll said they believe President Trump is attempting to conceal crimes committed by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

In an Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday, 53 percent of respondents said they believe Trump is “trying to cover up Epstein’s crimes.” Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they do not believe the president is trying to conceal these crimes. 

Additionally, exactly half of the poll’s respondents said they believe Trump was involved in Epstein’s illicit activities, while 30 percent said he was not involved.

Guess they didn't buy Chump's claim to have been "exonerated."  Julie K Brown addressed that claim this week:

President Donald Trump continues to insist that he didn’t know about Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with underage girls. While speaking to reporters Monday, Trump seemed to acknowledge that he had been accused of wrongdoing associated with Epstein announcing that he had been “totally exonerated” and adding that he has “nothing to hide.”

But the files raise even more questions about the President’s association with Epstein — particularly about how much he knew and when he knew it — as well as his effort to protect the powerful people whose names are listed as suspected co-conspirators in the files.

To be clear, there are two sexual assault allegations involving minor girls who have accused Trump of rape that are part of the public record. Both are referenced in the Epstein files.

There is no evidence that their stories are true. But they shouldn’t be dismissed either.  

David Remnick (THE NEW YORKER) interviewed Julie K. Brown of THE MIAMI HERALD who has been reporting on the Epstein case for many years now:

David Remnick: Well, let’s start with what we know about the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. What is Trump saying it was, and what’s the reality? What are we learning?

Julie K. Brown: Trump has said that he really wasn’t as good of friends with him, that he had a falling out with him, that they had some events together—he was at Mar-a-Lago at some events, but he’s downplayed that, I think it’s fair to say. From what we have seen, they were much closer—certainly much closer than I thought they were when I did this story originally. I think we’re getting new information that shows that maybe they were closer, but we don’t find any evidence thus far that he was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

Can you be a little bit more specific about the relationship, what it consisted of?

Well, I think that they were sort of competitors, in a way. They were both very wealthy, connected men, and I think they competed. We know that there was this real-estate deal in the early two-thousands in Palm Beach, and then Trump jumped on it, and it ended up in a bidding war, and Trump won. And then he sold the property—it was this massive mansion—for oodles and oodles of money. Of course, Epstein was really mad about that. So I think Trump wanted to show off his wealth to Epstein, and Epstein wanted to show off his wealth.

That’s a situation of rich guys, whose is bigger, et cetera.

Yes.

What about their social relationship? And they seem to bond—to put this delicately—over the question of women.

Yes. They definitely did. Trump did an interview saying that [Epstein] likes women and he really likes them young. And so that was the same way they competed over money. They were also, I think, to some degree, competing over their prowess with women.

[. . .]

You’re publishing a story that has implications for the President of the United States where the Epstein case is concerned. What does it say?

We have found a document in these files that is an interview that the police chief of Palm Beach gave to the F.B.I. And in that interview the police chief, Michael Reiter, told the F.B.I. that back when Epstein’s case had first come to the attention of the police, and Epstein was first reported as a suspect in doing this—

What’s the year?

Around 2006. Around that time period, Trump called the police chief and he said to the police chief, “Thank God you’re doing something about him, because . . .” And I’m just quoting off the top of my head. I don’t have the document in front of me, but he said, “Thank God—everybody knew this.” He also knew about [Ghislaine] Maxwell’s role [as Epstein’s associate], calling her “evil.” We have this F.B.I. report of this interview that the chief gave to the F.B.I. where he is recalling this conversation that he had with Trump many, many years ago about Epstein. So it does raise some questions about how much Trump knew—whether he knew the extent of Epstein’s crimes.

So, in 2006, Donald Trump has what kind of communication with the police chief?

He called the police chief on the phone.

And there’s paper on that?

There is. There’s an F.B.I. report. It’s an interview that the police chief gave to the F.B.I.

So what does that suggest to you about Trump—that he was doing the right thing or that he was complicit in some way?

I think people are going to look at it one of two ways: A) that he was somewhat of an informant for the police, in that he called them after this case became active and he became aware of it, and admitted, “Wait a minute, I know he was doing this.”

Or you could look at it another way, in that he was also one of those people who knew, and really didn’t go to the police before then to tell them what he was doing. The police were sort of hearing that there were things happening at Epstein’s mansion well before this, but, every time they went to investigate, all the women who were coming and going who they saw on the street and stopped were of age. So they couldn’t find any evidence that a real crime was being committed. But if in fact Trump knew that there were some crimes being committed against underage girls, and he knew about it and didn’t tell them ahead of time, I guess people will look at that from a different vantage point, in that he should have told the police sooner.

We noted THE ECONOMIST-YOU.GOV poll already, Ryan Mancini (THE HILL) reports on another poll:

Most Americans say they believe the files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein show that wealthy, powerful people are rarely held accountable, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

The poll found that nearly 7 in 10 respondents, or 69 percent of Americans, believe their views were captured “very well” or “extremely well” by a statement saying the Epstein files “show that powerful people in the U.S. are rarely held accountable for their actions.”

Reporting on the poll, Jason Lange (REUTERS) gets off this howler, "The Republican president, who socialized extensively with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s, has denied any knowledge of the financier's crimes and says he broke off ties in the early 2000s, before Epstein's plea deal."  Again, refer to the 2006 report on Chump talking to a sheriff about Epstein's crimes.  Seems like that should have been caught before Lange's report was released.  And Adam Lynch reports:

Despite however hard Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi may declare the Jeffrey Epstein case finished, it’s likely not, reports Left Hook author Wajahat Ali. Nestled within the Epstein Files, is evidence that the FBI interviewed a woman who credibly accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager.

“This woman also accused Jeffrey Epstein, and she successfully settled a lawsuit in 2021 with the Epstein estate,” Ali reports.

“Investigative reporter Roger Sollenberger discovered this bombshell and told Ali that “The allegations and FBI interview are landmark revelations, undermining the White House’s protestations that Trump hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and showing instead that the U.S. government has been aware of a credible Trump accuser in the Epstein files.”

In the summer of 2025, the DOJ included the redacted woman’s allegation in a 21-page internal slideshow presentation as well as in an internal email chain involving the government investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Ali wrote. But she’s not the not the only credible accuser.

There is another incident that allegedly occurred at Mar-a-Lago in 1994 involving a 14-year-old girl who later became a key government witness against convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Chump's name came up yesterday in a deposition taken by the House Oversight Committee.  Cheyenne Ubiera (THE MIRROR) reports:

President Donald Trump's attendance at Victoria's Secret runway shows with Jeffrey Epstein has been described as "odd" by Les Wexner, it has been claimed.

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett spoke with billionaire Les Wexner, the co-founder and chair emeritus of Bath & Body Works. During their closed-door interview, Crockett shared Wexner's comments about Trump.

"There were always young girls looking for an opportunity to model, and there were always rich and powerful people on the other side, dangling a carrot, saying, ‘I will give you the life you are seeking.’ Yet ultimately, their stories are the same," said Crockett. "They are stories of abuse. They are stories of trafficking at the highest level."

 

The state representative revealed that when Wexner was asked about Trump and Epstein being in the same room, he said he didn't quite remember, "he imagined that yes, that possibly happened because he did remember that Donald Trump also would like to show up to the Victoria's Secret runway shows.

"That was a little odd to him because Donald Trump as not engaged in fashion whatsoever."

The House Oversight Committee traveled to Ohio to the billionaire's compound to take his statements.  Kaia Hubbard (CBS NEWS) reports:

Billionaire retail tycoon Les Wexner, a longtime benefactor of Jeffrey Epstein, told House lawmakers that he was "duped by a world-class con man" and knew nothing of Epstein's crimes, according to his prepared testimony before the House Oversight Committee.

Wexner, who hired Epstein to manage his money, was among members of Epstein's inner circle who were subpoenaed for testimony last month. Members of the Oversight Committee and staff members deposed Wexner behind closed doors in his home state of Ohio on Wednesday. 

Wexner, 88, previously led the former parent company of Victoria's Secret and worked with Epstein beginning in the mid-1980s. In his prepared statement, which CBS News obtained, Wexner outlined how he cut ties with Epstein in the aftermath of Epstein's 2006 arrest. Documents show the two men stayed in touch, but Wexner said they never spoke again.

[. . .]

Democratic Rep. Dave Min of California argued that Wexner's claim that he was not aware of Epstein's abuse is "just not credible."

"I realize he's an elderly gentleman, memories fade," Min said. "But the reputation of Jeffrey Epstein is very clear. Everyone around Jeffrey Epstein knew exactly what he was up to."

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said there were no Republican members of Congress at the deposition, though he said there were GOP staff members. 

The Committee traveled to meet Wexner.  Don't marvel over people responding in polls that there are two systems of justice in the United States.

On the topic of polls, Jason Lange (REUTERS) notes, "U.S. public approval of Donald Trump's immigration policies fell to the lowest level since his return to the White House, amid signs he is losing support among American men on the issue, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.  Just 38% of respondents in the four-day poll, which closed on Monday, said Trump was doing a good job on immigration, a priority issue for the administration. The rating was down from 39% in a January Reuters/Ipsos poll and as high as 50% in the months shortly after Trump returned to power."  At SALON, Amanda Marcotte notes Kristi Noem and Chump's actions and policies:

The havoc Noem brings is most obvious when it comes to her deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to blue cities as a paramilitary force rather than a law enforcement agency. The secretary has worked to make herself the face of these invasions, which have invariably led to pandemonium. In recent weeks, America has watched as agents have tear gassed civilians, made race-based arrests that have scooped up citizens and even small children, and sent two non-violent citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, to their graves.

As a presidential candidate in 2024, Trump billed himself as the savior who would end crime and bring order to what he falsely portrayed as a turbulent social landscape due to imaginary immigrant crime sprees. While the president appears to personally enjoy the violence and unrest his homeland security secretary has unleashed, even he can see the polling that shows it is backfiring. But this was inevitable, especially with Noem at the helm. Her personal behavior in office has been as bizarre as her theory that masked federal agents terrorizing innocents would read as bringing order to the public. More than anyone besides Trump himself, Kristi Noem is responsible for the current DHS funding shutdown.

On Renee Nicole Good, as Kat noted last night in "Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, U2," U2 has just released a song memorializing Renee.  

Meanwhile, Max Burns (THE HILL) notes the lack of perspective in the White House:

This week marks the beginning of Lent, a time when millions of Americans practice the seemingly lost arts of inner reflection, repentance and humility. At its core, Lent is a reminder that not every impulse deserves to be gratified, and not every internal thought should be shouted into the public square of social media.

Imagine that. 

One place we won’t see any reflection, repentance or humility is the White House, where even the impersonation of Christian ethics has fell out of favor long ago. Introspection has no place in an administration so totally defined by self-aggrandizing rhetoric, hate-mongering and gleeful bigotry. The Trump administration wears its personality cult egotism on its sleeve as a point of pride for the whole world to see.

It is rich irony that, after decades warning about how Democrats would corrupt our country with state-sponsored atheism and moral relativism, Republicans can now lay claim to perhaps the most godless and amoral administration in American history.  

Just ask President Trump, who still defends sharing (and then blaming someone else for sharing) a blatantly racist video portraying Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. Or ask Attorney General Pam Bondi, who boldly declared that Americans shouldn’t think about Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking because the stock market was up. This is what passes for moral leadership in today’s decaying Republican Party. 

As Betty noted last night in "Updates on Chump's war on history, the Crooked Court's new stock measure and who does Chump's Tweets,"  White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt declared yesterday that Chump does all of his own social media posts.  This despite telling us a few weeks back that someone other than Donald posted the racist video.  Which is it, Karoline?

Brad Bannon (THE HILL) observes:

Donald Trump is in deep do do according to three national surveys conducted this month. Polls for the Associated Press and NBC presented presidential performance ratings underwater more than 20 points. The 47th president just missed the terrible trifecta with a negative job rating of 19 percent in a survey for Quinnipiac University. It’s like he just played the slot machine in one of his old bankrupt casinos and came up all lemons.

His job rating is now as deep underwater as the Titanic is in the cold icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, ominous storm clouds hover over the beleaguered MAGA citadels in the White House and on Capitol Hill. The midterm election is a referendum on the incumbent chief executive. Unless there is a sharp increase in President Trump’s fortunes in the next eight months, his party will pay the price for his high crimes and misdemeanors in November.

The nature of public discontent is obvious in a recent national poll conducted by YouGov.com for The Economist. The biggest concern among adult Americans is inflation, with no other problem even close to it on the top 40 public opinion hit parade. The lame duck president’s score for fighting inflation was negative 28. You do the math.

That’s hardly a surprise since prices rose by 2.4 percent in the ninth month of his encore administration. This is the guy who promised repeatedly during his 2024 campaign that he would bring prices down on Day One of his second term. Americans are holding him accountable for his broken promise.

The two major initiatives of Trump term two have only served to intensify the economic carnage. His terrible tariffs have raised consumer prices. His big bad budget gave tax cuts to bankers and billionaires which accelerated the income growth for the wealthy at the expense of middle Americans.

While mothers and fathers struggle to feed their families at home, Trump has focused on fights abroad. The public wants cheaper butter but Trump’s priority is more guns. He has rattled a blunt saber against NATO allies Canada and Denmark, taken control of Venezuela and threatened Iran. But he has done little to improve the health, wealth and well-being of hardworking American families.

Trump’s callous indifference to the economic hardships faced by ordinary Americans is no skin off his back.

 

Monique Danao (MONEYWISE) notes:

As Donald Trump renews calls for sweeping tariffs and tougher trade negotiations, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is sounding an alarm, saying that the policies could leave Americans “measurably poorer.”

Krugman, a Nobel laureate recognized for his research on international trade and a frequent commentator on U.S. economic policy, says the warning isn’t about Wall Street or abstract trade balances. He says it’s about higher prices at home — from groceries and household goods to cars and construction materials — as tariffs function like a tax on consumers.

In a recent Substack post, Krugman argued that Trump’s approach to trade risks pushing the United States toward what he calls an “economic divorce” from significant trading partners. If that happens, he says, Americans are likely to feel the impact in their wallets.

“Now US economic relations with other nations have turned abusive, and the world is moving toward divorce,” Krugman wrote.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Adam Schiff's office:

Lawmakers: “The Trump Administration’s policies risk eliminating a significant number of trained caregivers from an already strained system, reducing access to care and raising child care costs for American families”

“Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat”

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.) joined U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.-05), and over 40 other lawmakers in raising serious concerns about how the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration policies are shrinking the child care workforce and driving up costs for American families.

The letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children & Families (ACF) comes amid reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity at and around child care facilities and worsening staffing shortages nationwide.

The American economy heavily depends on immigrant workers in the child care sector, making up approximately 20 percent of the U.S. child care workforce and totaling more than 282,000 workers. In parts of Florida, Texas, New York, and California, that share is even higher — nearly 40% in California, which has almost half a million foreign-born early childhood educators. Over 1 million Californian parents — both immigrants and U.S. citizens — depend on reliable access to child care so they can continue working.

“These policies — paired with the Administration’s recent moves to slash federal support that made child care more affordable — are an attack on American families,” wrote the lawmakers.

Since Trump began his indiscriminate mass deportation campaign in Los Angeles last June, student and staff absences have risen at California child care centers. At the same time, Republican influencers have harassed workers at Somali-run day care centers in San Diego, including at their homes, confronting operators about unsubstantiated claims of alleged fraud.

Over the last year, President Trump has enacted a cruel and aggressive immigration agenda, including eliminating legal immigration pathways, stopping lawful immigration processes, and ramping up indiscriminate ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raids. Those arrested include critical child care providers taking care of children in their communities.

The Trump Administration’s immigration policies have significantly impacted immigrant child care workers and the families whose children they care for. Following the Administration’s decision to revoke a longstanding policy protecting “sensitive locations” from ICE and CBP raids, immigration enforcement activities are now occurring at child care facilities, with agents apprehending and detaining employees in front of children and their families. Other child care workers have been stripped of their work permits and forced to leave their jobs.

These actions are pushing providers to leave the child care field, and programs have seen sharp staffing declines. Some estimates say the Administration’s immigration agenda could reduce the child care workforce by 15 percent — over half a million workers. This, along with Trump Administration efforts to slash federal support that makes child care more affordable, is an “attack on American families,” the lawmakers emphasized.

“Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat,” continued the lawmakers.

“As Members of Congress committed to supporting American families and maintaining an affordable, reliable child care system, we seek to ensure that federal enforcement practices are not unintentionally driving up costs, destabilizing child care programs, or undermining the safe, supportive environments that children need to thrive,” added the lawmakers.

The lawmakers requested that, by February 26, 2026, HHS share any information available regarding the impact of immigration operations on child care staffing shortages, including data on staffing shortages, enrollment declines, projected cost increases, and how coordination with DHS on enforcement actions may disrupt federally funded child care programs.

In addition to Schiff, Padilla, Warren, Duckworth, and Quigley, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), as well as Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.-03), Becca Balint (D-Vt.-AL), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.-01), Greg Casar (D-Texas-35), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.-31), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.-09), Herb Conaway (D-N.J.-03), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.-04), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.-03), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.-03), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.-04), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas-29), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.-51), Bill Keating (D-Mass.-09), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.-08), George Latimer (D-N.Y.-16), Summer Lee (D-Pa.-12), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.-08), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.-03), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.-AL), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.-02), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.-03), Mark Takano (D-Calif.-39), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.-20), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.-25), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.-24).

Earlier this month, Schiff and Padilla joined Warren, Alsobrooks, Quigley, and 56 other lawmakers in demanding answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the impact of children’s exposure to ICE and CBP’s escalating violence in American communities, which threatens to leave them with lasting physical and psychological trauma.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Assistant Secretary Adams:

We are concerned about how the Trump Administration’s immigration agenda is making it more difficult for Americans to find and afford child care. Immigration policy changes — including terminations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), the elimination of other lawful immigration pathways, and immigration raids in and around child care programs — are driving child care providers out of the workplace, exacerbating child care workforce shortages and high prices. These policies — paired with the Administration’s recent moves to slash federal support that made child care more affordable — are an attack on American families. We request information regarding how the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children & Families (ACF) is assessing these workforce impacts and what steps ACF is taking to prevent further disruptions to child care services and to protect families from rising costs and reduced access.

The child care sector depends heavily on immigrant workers. Nationally, immigrants make up approximately 20 percent of the child care workforce — more than 282,000 workers. That share is even higher in some areas, including parts of Florida, Texas, New York, and California — in some cases as high as 70 percent. The vast majority of these workers are immigrants who have lived in the United States with lawful status, playing by the rules, building stable lives, and caring for children every day — yet they now risk losing their ability to work in the United States, as this Administration has abruptly terminated most TPS designations and dramatically limited pathways to lawful immigration and access to corresponding employment authorizations. To date, this Administration has stopped most lawful immigration processing for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants from 39 countries. Many others have been arbitrarily stripped of status.

On Day 1 of his presidency, President Trump began ordering the elimination of legal immigration pathways and revoked a long-standing policy that protected areas such as child care facilities and other “sensitive locations” from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. During his first year back in office, President Trump also ramped up indiscriminate ICE arrests, with over 86 percent of people arrested by ICE lacking any charges or convictions for violent crimes. Some of those arrested have been critical child care providers taking care of children in their communities. For example, a nanny in Wisconsin was reportedly detained by ICE after a routine check-in despite the fact that she is an asylum seeker with no criminal record. Meanwhile, some child care workers have been stripped of their work permits, such as several immigrant teachers working at a preschool in Washington D.C. who lost their work authorizations and were forced to quit.

Alarmingly, some ICE enforcement activities have occurred at child care facilities themselves. In November 2025, federal agents apprehended an employee at a Chicago early-education center. During the drop-off period, a vehicle followed a staff member into the facility’s parking lot and federal agents apprehended the employee as children and parents watched. Other providers have reported similar enforcement activity, including child care centers in Minnesota that described worker detentions — with one provider at a Spanish immersion program being detained in the child care center’s parking lot — and “visits” from federal agents.

Apparently because of these developments, providers are leaving the child care field, and programs have seen sharp staffing declines and have begun canceling child enrichment activities to minimize time outdoors and avoid attracting ICE’s attention.

The Trump Administration’s policies risk eliminating a significant number of trained caregivers from an already strained system, reducing access to care and raising child care costs for American families. According to some estimates, the Administration’s immigration agenda could reduce the child care workforce by 15 percent — over half a million workers — as the child care sector loses both immigrant and U.S.-born workers. Another study estimates that “a doubling of ICE arrests is associated with a 12 percent reduction in child-care employment” for immigrant women since President Trump took office, and approximately “39,000 fewer foreign-born child care workers.” Indeed, economists warn that “deportations and restrictive immigration policies . . . could increase scarcity” in the child care workforce. The Economic Policy Institute warns that this “labor supply shock” would likely raise prices across the economy, as providers are forced to compete for fewer qualified staff. Because child care programs already face high turnover and must meet strict staffing ratios, even modest hiring challenges can force them to scale back or shut down.

Immigration enforcement against child care workers not only impacts the child care sector but also risks second-order effects for American families’ employment. When child care is disrupted, many parents must cut work hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for children. One study estimated that, from February to July 2025 alone, the “doubling of ICE arrests led to about 77,000 fewer employed U.S.-born mothers.” Already, child care is one of the most burdensome expenses for American families. Nationwide, families spend an average of more than $13,000 each year on child care, and up to almost $30,000 in some states. And even when families can afford child care, these services are in short supply; more than half of parents report waiting months for available slots. Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat. Now, this Administration’s immigration agenda will exacerbate the child care crisis for American families, worsening child care workforce shortages, increasing child care prices, and driving Americans out of the workforce.

As Members of Congress committed to supporting American families and maintaining an affordable, reliable child care system, we seek to ensure that federal enforcement practices are not unintentionally driving up costs, destabilizing child care programs, or undermining the safe, supportive environments that children need to thrive. To better understand these dynamics, we respectfully request that ACF answer the following questions by February 27, 2026:

1. Since January 2025, has ACF collected or analyzed data on child care staffing shortages, including the rate of programs reporting difficulty hiring or retaining early childhood educators?

a. Has ACF assessed how immigration policy changes may be contributing to shortages? Please describe any analyses or other information ACF has provided to DHS regarding how immigration enforcement actions may unintentionally disrupt federally funded child care programs or children’s access to care.

b. Please provide any internal projections regarding how ongoing reductions in the child care workforce may affect child care availability, waitlists, program closures, or prices over the next 12-24 months.

2. What steps is HHS taking to assess and mitigate the effects of immigration-related enforcement actions on the safety and stability of early learning environments, and to ensure that such actions do not disrupt children’s access to federally funded child care programs?

a. What guidance, if any, has ACF issued to state or local grantees regarding maintaining program stability in communities experiencing sudden workforce disruptions or enrollment declines? Please provide copies of relevant guidance.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

###

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