Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Chump continues losing support



President Donald Trump is taking heat for making a wild claim about how he concocted at least one of his tariffs ― and it seems to undermine his own argument for imposing them in the first place. 

“I had an incident with a very nice country, Switzerland,” he told Larry Kudlow during a Fox Business interview that aired on Tuesday. “They were paying no tariffs, sending stuff over here like nobody could believe.” 
Trump claimed the United States had a $42 billion trade deficit with Switzerland, a number similar to one he’d used before and one that analysts said ignored trade in services, which actually put the deficit at $8 billion. 

Trump said he imposed a 30% tariff on goods from Switzerland, leading to “an emergency call from, I believe, the prime minister of Switzerland.” 

But that call didn’t seem to go the way Trump wanted. 

“She was very aggressive, but nice, but very aggressive,” he said. “And I didn’t really like the way she talked to us, so instead of giving her a reduction, I raised her to 39%.” 

There are a few problems with Trump’s claims, starting with the fact that Switzerland doesn’t have a prime minister. 
Trump’s conversation last year was likely with then-Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter, and occurred after he threatened to raise tariffs on the country to 39%. However, that tariff was later reduced to 15% after a Swiss delegation gave Trump several gifts, including a Rolex watch and a gold bar. The decision to give him those items is now under investigation in Switzerland.
But beyond the error ― and beyond the casual misogyny of Trump once again attacking a woman because he doesn’t like how she talks to him ― there was the larger issue of the tariffs themselves. Last year, Trump’s attorneys argued before the Supreme Court that he needed to act without Congress on the issue because trade imbalances had created a “national emergency” that the president was trying to address via tariffs. 

Yet, saying he can raise and lower tariffs because of someone’s attitude seemed to undermine that argument.  

With the court case still pending, Trump’s critics are pointing to the new interview and wondering if the justices were paying attention:


Mr. Chump is an idiot.  On every level, he is a low functioning idiot.  Steve Stevenson (NEWSWEEK) notes three new polls with find bad news for Mr. Chump, "Taken together, the three surveys offer a rare point of agreement across very different polling operations. Each asks voters to directly compare Trump’s performance with Biden’s—and in each case, Trump fails to secure majority approval relative to his predecessor."  RAW STORY notes polling as well:

Kicking off last December, the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota – dubbed Operation Metro Surge – has been chaotic, violent and deadly, with videos of altercations between federal immigration enforcement officials and protesters spreading wildly on social media.

The chaos has dragged Trump’s favorability down significantly, with a private GOP poll from January revealing that a staggering 60% of independent voters rejected Trump’s immigration policy outright, a significant increase from when the president took office. And now, in the wake of two high-profile killings by federal immigration officials, those numbers have only worsened for Trump.
According to the poll, conducted by NBC News between Jan. 27 and Feb. 6, a total of 60% of Americans either somewhat or strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, a staggering increase from the 49% who disapproved recorded last June. Furthermore, 65% of voters said the United States was “on the wrong track,” a jump of five percentage points since last April.


“[W]hite Christians, who played a key role in returning Donald Trump to the White House, are losing confidence in President Trump’s policies,” reports Religion News Service, citing recent Pew Research numbers.

Support from white evangelicals fell nearly 10 points from 66 percent to 58 percent during the first year of Trump's second term. That drop echoed similar declines among white Catholics, whose support fell from 51 percent last year to 46 percent this year. White Protestants who are not evangelical represented the deepest drop, falling from 46 percent to 33 percent, according to the Monday survey.
Confidence that Trump acts ethically dropped even more, with only 40 percent of white evangelicals believing the president behaves morally — down from 55 percent in 2025.



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

Wednesday, February 11, 2026.  Ghislaine Maxwell needs to return to the prison appropriate for the crimes she was found guilty of, Howard Lutnick wants to quibble, Chump tries to have six members of Congress brought up on charges, Homeland Security plays inept and dumb in a hearing, and much more. 


Let's start with William Vaillancourt (DAILY BEAST) reporting on convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's life in Bryan, Texas:


The facility, nicknamed “Club Fed,” offers a “puppy program” with gym and yoga classes. There are no cell blocks or guard towers. Prisoners can use an outdoor running track, access music programs, intramural competitions, social and cultural events, and even play table tennis, according to prison consultant Michael Santos.
In November, it was revealed that Maxwell is allowed an unlimited supply of toilet paper, in direct contrast to the privileges extended to other inmates. CNN also revealed that Maxwell has her meals delivered to her and had lived in a four-person cell by herself.

“The institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards alike,” Maxwell wrote upon her August arrival.
In November, it was revealed that Maxwell is allowed an unlimited supply of toilet paper, in direct contrast to the privileges extended to other inmates. CNN also revealed that Maxwell has her meals delivered to her and had lived in a four-person cell by herself.

“The institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards alike,” Maxwell wrote upon her August arrival.
“The kitchen looks clean too — no possums falling from the celling [sic] to fry unfortunately on ovens, and become mingled with the food being served,” she wrote.

Maxwell wrote to a relative in another letter: “I am much happier here and more importantly safe.“

And she showed up Monday, via the internet, to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee and refused to answer any and all questions.  To every question, she cited the Fifth Amednment and refused to respond.

So why is she at Club Fed in Bryan, Texas?  She never should have been moved there and it's time to move her back.  Bryan, Texas' prison is for lower level offenders, not sex traffickers.  She has made clear that she will not respond to questions from Congress so it's past time for her to go back to the higher level facilities that she belongs in.  



After Ghislaine Maxwell’s closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said she should be transferred back to the maximum security prison in Florida she was moved out of last summer.

Khanna, a member of the committee, wrote on social platform X that Maxwell refused “to answer a single question about the men who raped underage girls, saying she would only do so” if she received clemency from President Trump.
“She must immediately be sent back to the maximum security prison where she belongs,” the California Democrat added.


He's right.  She needs to be sent back to the maximum security prison she belongs in.  She's a convicted sex trafficker.  She never should have been moved to Bryan, Texas.  It's time for her to return to a prison she belongs in. 


She is "evil," after all.


That's what Donald Chump said.  Julie K. Brown (MIAMI HERALD) reports:

President Donald Trump has repeatedly maintained that he had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.

But in July 2006, just as Jeffrey Epstein's criminal sex charge became public, Trump called then-Palm Beach police chief Michael Reiter to tell him that Epstein's activities with teenaged girls were well known in both New York and Palm Beach.

"Thank goodness you're stopping him, everyone has known he's been doing this," Trump told Reiter, according to a 2019 FBI interview with Reiter contained in the Justice Department's Epstein case files.

The interview, conducted in October 2019 and not previously reported, has shed new light on Trump's involvement in the early stages of the 2006 Jeffrey Epstein investigation in Palm Beach, Florida. It also raises questions about how much Trump knew about Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes.

Reiter told FBI agents that Trump revealed that Epstein's associate, Maxwell, was Epstein's "operative," and that Trump said "she is evil and to focus on her," according to the report.

Trump told Reiter that "he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump ‘got the hell out of there,'" the report said. Trump also told Reiter that he threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club.
That stands in sharp contrast to what Trump told reporters in July 2019 when he was asked if he had any knowledge that Epstein had molested girls.

"No, I had no idea. I had no idea," Trump said at the time.



He lied.




Cover up?  Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) notes US House Rep Dave Min's statements to CNN:

 

This "tells me Donald Trump was caught lying because he said that he did not know about Epstein until like 2019," said Min. "He said he'd quit affiliations with Epstein at some point. So the fact that, as early as 2005 or 2006, Donald Trump clearly and apparently knew something about what was going on with Epstein and that he was continuing to send girls from Mar-a-Lago to Epstein's employment. That tells us a lot about what Donald Trump knew and when. And I think that's a smoking gun."
Min said that Trump is desperately trying to distract from the Epstein files. He said that it appears the Justice Department made a lot of " unnecessary redaction of names, including, it looks like, Donald Trump's name quite a lot." Trump, the administration and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell all maintain that Trump did nothing wrong throughout his relationship with the convicted trafficker.

The other problem Min sees is that 15 percent of the Epstein files still remain hidden by the Justice Department.

"We don't have any good reason for that. I'll take Rep. [Tom] Massie (R-Ky.) on his word that he saw some documents, and that fits in with the larger narrative that they're covering this up," Min said.

He recalled this time last year, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel were saying publicly that they would do whatever it took to release all of the files and get to the bottom of the trafficking ring.
"And yet, sometime in May, reportedly, Pam Bondi told President Trump he was in the Epstein files. That launched this whole cover-up. We saw them then deny that the Epstein files existed. Ghislaine Maxwell had a weird visit, a private visit from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who used to be Donald Trump's personal attorney," Min recalled.

It wasn't long after that that Maxwell was sent to a minimum security prison camp that typically doesn't allow sex offenders. Maxwell told the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday that she would reveal everything if she were granted a pardon.

"So this all reeks of a cover-up right now. And we need to release the entire Epstein files. The DOJ needs to explain why they seem to be redacting certain names of people who were implicated in the Epstein files," Min added.







Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in an interview Tuesday that, when he searched President Trump's name in the unredacted Epstein files the previous day, it came up "more than a million times."

Why it matters: At least one of the files Raskin found appears to contradict what Trump has publicly claimed about his association with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the House Judiciary Committee ranking member.

That document is a 2009 email exchange between Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in which Epstein recounted his lawyers' account of a phone call with Trump, as Raskin previously told reporters.
"Trump is paraphrased and quoted as saying, 'No, Jeffrey Epstein was not a member of Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago, and no, we never asked him to leave,'" Raskin said in an interview at the Capitol.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing in the Epstein matter, and maintained that he kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for poaching spa workers.




 












Congressional Democrats introduced legislation on Tuesday that they said would eliminate the statute of limitations that has shielded sex traffickers such as the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez announced the proposal alongside Epstein victims and Virginia Giuffre's family. The proposal — Virginia's Law — is named after Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent accusers, who died by suicide last year. 
The bill's fate in the Senate and House of Representatives, which are both controlled by Republicans, is unclear.

However, a bipartisan effort was successful last year to compel the Department of Justice to release all unclassified files in its Epstein investigation.

"Virginia's dream was to inspire and empower survivors to come forward in a world that too often turns away from abuse and pushes it into the shadows. She wanted to bring light," said Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother.


At WHO WHAT WHY, Russ Baker notes Chump's relationship with billionaire investor Leon Black:


But certain things about Black are also true. The most salient point, to me, is that Trump — so well known for being transactional — seemingly rewarded Black, for something, by unexpectedly appointing his son Benjamin to a significant administration post. 

In the early days of Trump’s second term, the high-flying investment firm Black co-founded, Apollo Global Management, showed interest in taking on a big chunk of the huge debt Elon Musk had incurred in buying Twitter. This occurred while Musk and DOGE were front and center in the Trump administration, centerpieces in Trump’s “showing results” to his base. Musk had also, of course, just pulled out all the stops to get Trump elected; his heavy independent spending in swing states is believed to have contributed to Trump’s victory.
Shortly after a news report on the Apollo interest in Musk’s debt, Trump appointed Black’s son CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). It’s interesting to note that Benjamin Black had not been one of the names bandied about for the position.

Right after this appointment, Apollo purchased an unspecified but clearly substantial amount of Musk’s debt.  

Normally, one might simply assume that Black was doing Trump a favor because Trump was president; getting on his good side would make sense. And Trump is no stranger to quid pro quo. 

However, one needs to consider that Black, who had to leave his roles as CEO and chairman of Apollo over the mess back in 2021 (when Black’s relationship with Epstein was being scrutinized) faces potential continuing legal, financial and reputational peril.

And that’s where the following seems so important: 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, not known for taking major actions without Trump’s assent, has refused to release documents relating to Black and Epstein — in particular, SARS (Suspicious Activity Reports) on huge sums Black sent to Epstein. (SARS are documents filed by financial institutions to inform government agencies of potentially illegal activities.)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) is currently investigating Black for allegedly paying Epstein between $158 and $170 million — ostensibly for tax and estate-planning services. Wyden questions whether those enormous, outsized sums were truly for legitimate professional services or played some other role. To determine that, he very much needs those SARS.  

In a clumsy, fumbling attempt to distract from his withholding those crucial documents, last August, Bessent very blatantly tried to shift suspicion to Wyden, seemingly out of thin air.

Instead of producing the Black-Epstein information, he pivoted to asserting that Wyden is “very rich” and may be guilty of insider trading — and claimed, seemingly with zero basis, that there may be SARS on Wyden. Wyden slammed him back:
Epstein seems to have been closer with Black than almost anyone else, except possibly Trump — whom Epstein once referred to as his “best friend.” Black first met Epstein in 1996 and found him to be a “fascinating guy.” They lived two blocks apart on New York’s Upper East Side and on numerous occasions had breakfast, lunch, and dinner together at Epstein’s town house. 
Black also visited Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, and he once flew with two of his children on Epstein’s jet to Boston to visit Harvard and MIT. In 2011, the two men invested in a firm (Environmental Solutions Worldwide), and two of Black’s sons served on the company’s board. It was all very chummy until 2018 when Black cut relations with him over a fee dispute. 

A lawsuit alleges Black raped a 16-year-old girl (“Jane Doe”) in Epstein’s townhouse in 2002. His lawyer claimed the charges were “totally made up, entirely uncorroborated and, as pleaded, squarely violate the statute of limitations.” The alleged victim’s law firm withdrew from the case in 2025. Another alleged victim accused Black of rape in 2002, also in Epstein’s town house, and she, too, withdrew her case.

With Epstein dead, Black is one of the few people who might know more than anyone else alive about things Trump would not want made public. Which could potentially explain what Trump wants in return for his many favors to Black: specifically, Black’s continued silence.   

At a time when Republicans hope to shift the Epstein focus to the Clintons, it’s worth contemplating that yet another friend of Epstein was Howard Lutnick, whom Trump appointed commerce secretary. Lutnick claims he’d had “limited interactions” with Epstein. But documents show they were actually business partners as recently as 2014, well after Epstein was convicted and served time on Florida sex-trafficking charges.
 
 

Later this morning, Pam Bondi testifies before the House Judiciary Committee.  Hollie Silverman (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi asking 15 questions ahead of her scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week.
[. . .]

The first question posed is: “Who approved the release of the documents that exposed survivors’ names and identifying information?”

Members of Congress gained access Monday to unredacted Epstein files at a DOJ reading room, where they could make handwritten notes but were barred from bringing devices or staff, according to the department and multiple lawmakers.

House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said he saw “tons of completely unnecessary redactions,” alleging the DOJ was “in a cover-up mode” while allowing victims’ names to be exposed, after viewing unredacted records Monday, CBS News reported. The department has said its review prioritized victim protection and that any document flagged for insufficient redaction is removed for further review.

House Democrats said they plan to question Bondi on redactions and file management during this week’s hearing.


Yesterday, the  House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing.  Appearing before the Committee were three witnesses:

Mr. Todd Lyons
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), DHS

The Honorable Rodney Scott
Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), DHS

The Honorable Joseph Edlow
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS



We'll note one exchange:


US House Rep Shri Thanedar:  Commissioner Scott, did the ICU nurse Alex Pretti deserve to die?

Commissioner Rodney Scott: I cannot comment on an on going investigation, sir. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar:  Do you believe that he deserved to die? Should he be killed by your agents?

Commissioner Rodney Scott: I'm not going to comment on an on going investigation, sir, before it's concluded and all the facts are available. 

  
US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Do you agree with CBP Commander Bovino's statement that Alex Pretti was planning to massacre law enforcement agents? 

Commissioner Rodney Scott: I'm not going to comment on an ongoing investigation, sir. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Director Lyons, did Renee Goode deserve to die?

Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I can't comment on ongoing investigations. 


US House Rep Shri Thanedar:  Director Lyons, do you agree with Secretary Noem and Vice President Vance's characterization of Renee Good as a domestic terrorist?

Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I can't speak to their comments as that they are their own.  But I as an ongoing investigation, I can't speak to that. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Director Lyons, what did your agent mean when he said 'You raise your voice, I erase your voice in the video'? Just that we have seen.  All of us have seen. 

Director Todd Lyons: Sir, I'm not aware of that video that you have.  Sir, I can't comment on what that officer said. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Does that statement -- if that statement -- if I show you the video of that -- does that statement reflect the value of your agency and does ICE respect and adhere to The First Amendment?

Director Todd Lyons:  Yes, sir, ICE does respect and refer to The First Amendment, but doesn't respect that.   Well, your statement, you said, doesn't represent the values of the men and women of ICE. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Commissioner Scott, does CBP respect and adhere to The First Amendment and Second Amendment?

Commissioner Rodney Scott: Yes, we do. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Don't you agree that Alex Pretti had every right to exercise his First and Second Amendment freedoms before being shot in the streets by one of your agents?  


Director Todd Lyons:  I believe every person in the United States has a right to their constitutional rights. 

US House Rep Shri Thanedar: Look, I have heard and seen enough.  I'm just sick and tired of your agents running around in our cities, in our streets, causing illegal activities. ICE and CBP thugs are roaming our streets, attacking our communities, using our children as bait, referring to people as bodies and numbers, targeting people for their accents and the color of their skin and killing American citizens all while showing zero remorse for their actions.  Director Lyons and Commissioner Scott, do you think President Trump will pardon you and your boss, Kristi Noem, before he leaves office, just like he has for insurrectionist and his political allies? Do you believe that President Trump will pardon you?  Because -- go ahead.

Director Todd Lyons:  I'm not going to speak on behalf of President Trump but I'll tell you I signed up for this job to protect America and I'm very proud of the service that I provide and I don't need a pardon from anybody.

US House Rep Shri Thanedar:  Well you better hope so. You better hope you get being pardoned because you will be held accountable for the absolute disregard of the law your agencies have shown over the past year. Your agencies have lost the trust of the American people with millions taking to the streets to protect the illegal actions of your agencies. And that's why I introduced a bill in the United States Congress to abolish ICE. ICE must be abolished.  I also co-sponsored a bill to impeach Secretary Kristi Noem and I believe Christina must be impeached and this Congress must do everything in its power to carry out oversight actions against these rogue departments.  


If you Google "You raise your voice, I erase your voice," you immediately get this at the top of the page:

Context and Meaning
  • The Incident: The incident took place during tense, ongoing protests against federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
  • The Threat: The agent, seen in a video sitting in an unmarked vehicle, told a citizen, "I will tell you this... You raise your voice, I erase your voice". When the observer questioned if the agent was threatening to silence them, the agent confirmed, saying "Exactly, yeah".
  • Significance: The statement was widely condemned by civil liberties advocates and social media users as a direct threat against First Amendment rights (freedom of speech and protesting). It was interpreted as a sign of intimidation by law enforcement, rather than a disciplinary action.
Public and Legal Reaction
  • Intimidation Fears: The phrase became a symbol of public fear, with many arguing it showed federal agents treating lawful observation as a threat.
  • "Un-American": The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) described the incident as "about as un-American as it gets," noting that the government cannot legally punish protected criticism.
  • Ongoing Issues: The clip fueled further outrage against federal agents who have been accused of aggressive tactics, including stalking, pepper-spraying, and arresting individuals who record them. 
The incident has raised critical questions regarding the accountability of federal agents and the protection of constitutional rights during public unrest.


Director Todd Lyons is not aware of this video?  This well reported video?  That he should have learned about from the news and should have immediately followed up on?  Roland Martin notes US House Rep LaMonica McIver's exchange at the hearing. 






Federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video this fall that enraged President Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders, four people familiar with the matter said.

It was remarkable that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington — led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump’s — authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation’s spy agencies.

But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington forcefully rejected Mr. Trump’s bid to label their expression of dissent as a criminal act warranting prosecution.

The move to charge the lawmakers — among them, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — was, by any measure, an extraordinary attempt by Trump appointees to politicize the criminal justice system even for a Justice Department that has repeatedly shattered norms of independence from the White House and followed Mr. Trump’s directives to prosecute his adversaries.



 




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


Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) released the following statement following the release of files revealing that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, in addition to being in communication with him over many years, after repeatedly denying his ties to the convicted sex offender. 

“Howard Lutnick lied to the American people about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. For months he’s claimed to have spent ‘zero time’ with him. Now, in the Epstein Files, we learn that the two were in business together years after Epstein was first convicted, with Lutnick even planning to visit Epstein’s private island. 

“Lutnick’s lies about his business dealings with a convicted child sex offender, raise serious concerns about his judgement and ethics. Lutnick has no business being our Commerce Secretary, and he should resign immediately.

“We must not forget that this information only came to light months after the Trump Administration was required by law to release the Epstein Files. Damning revelations like these demonstrate exactly why Donald Trump and the Department of Justice have slow walked and obscured the release of this information from the beginning. The truth must come out, and I will continue to demand a full and independent investigation into how Trump’s attorneys at DOJ have handled these files, to ensure full accountability and that nothing is withheld. The victims of Epstein and his conspirators deserve nothing less.”

###




The following sites updated:

Posted by at