Judge permanently bars DoJ from releasing Jack Smith’s report on Trump documents
In a ruling on Monday, US federal judge Aileen Cannon permanently prohibited the justice department from releasing a report put together by former special counsel Jack Smith related to classified documents Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago.
Cannon, based in Florida, had previously dismissed the case against Trump in mid-2024 because, she concluded, Smith had not been properly appointed to a role as special counsel. Smith continued to prepare a final report based on what he and his team had collected in the investigation, Cannon wrote in her ruling Monday.
“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” she wrote of Smith continuing to create a report.
Releasing the report would be a “manifest injustice” for the defendants, since the case didn’t go to a jury, she wrote. “The former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Key events
Public opinion of Trump continues to decline ahead of State of the Union address, polls find
A number of polls released ahead of Donald Trump’s State of the Union address tomorrow illustrate that the president’s approval rating continues to decline, with voters questioning his priorities and whether his policies have made their lives and the country better.
New CNN polling suggests that Trump’s approval rating among independents has plunged to a new low, while “just 32% of Americans now say that Trump has had the right priorities, and 68% say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.” CNN reports: “That’s the president’s most negative reading on that question to date during either of his terms in office. At the same time, 61% of Americans say that Trump’s policies will move the country in the wrong direction rather than the right one. And Trump’s job approval rating among all adults remains mired at 36% … Among political independents, Trump’s approval rating has dropped 15 points over the past year to 26%, the lowest it’s been in either of his term.”
As the president prepares to defend his record in his SOTU speech, a poll from Marist University published today found a majority – 57% – of Americans think the state of the union is “not very strong” or “not strong at all”, and six in ten Americans, including 90% of Democrats and 68% of independents, said the nation is worse off than it was a year ago.
Interestingly, the largest change occurred among Republicans and independents – with 43% of Republicans, up from 26%, and 75% of independents, up from 64%, saying they thought the system of checks and balances in the US is not functioning effectively.
And over the weekend, Washington Post / ABC / Ipsos polling put Trump at 39% approval and 60% disapproval. That means 6 in 10 Americans “disapprove strongly” or “disapprove somewhat” of the way Trump is handling his presidency.
Trump, meanwhile, insisted today:
I had polls for the election that showed I was going to get swamped and I won in a landslide. They were fake polls … I saw one today, that I’m at 40%. I’m not at 40%. I’m at, much higher than that … The real polls say you’d kill anybody [in an election], it wouldn’t even be close.
Senate Democrats call for government to start refunding $175bn in tariff money
A trio of Senate Democrats is calling for the government to start refunding roughly $175bn in tariff revenues that the supreme court ruled were collected because of an illegal set of orders by Donald Trump.
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire are unveiling a bill today that would require US Customs and Border Protection to issue refunds over the course of 180 days and pay interest on the refunded amount.
The measure would prioritize refunds to small businesses and encourages importers, wholesalers and large companies to pass the refunds on to their customers.
“Trump’s illegal tax scheme has already done lasting damage to American families, small businesses and manufacturers who have been hammered by wave after wave of new Trump tariffs,” said Wyden, stressing that the “crucial first step” to fixing the problem begins with “putting money back in the pockets of small businesses and manufacturers as soon as possible”.
The bill is unlikely to become law, but it reveals how Democrats are starting to apply public pressure on a Trump administration that has shown little interest in trying to return tariff revenues after the supreme court announced its 6-3 ruling on Friday.
The Trump administration has asserted that its hands are tied, because any refunds should be the responsibility of further litigation in court.
More on this story here:
Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Iranian officials in Geneva on Thursday as US continues to ramp up military presence in Middle East
US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with an Iranian delegation on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official has confirmed to Reuters, amid a massive US military buildup in the region as Donald Trump mulls launching airstrikes on Iran as soon as this week.
Yesterday, Axios was first to report on the anticipated meeting to discuss a promised detailed Iranian proposal for a nuclear deal. Citing US officials, the news agency reported that the current diplomatic push is probably the last chance Trump will give Iran before launching a huge US-Israeli military operation aimed at forcing concessions from Tehran over its nuclear program, but that could also directly target supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Witkoff and Kushner have both urged Trump to pursue diplomacy before ordering strikes, but as the US continues to ramp up its presence in the region imminent military action appears increasingly likely. Trump last Thursday warned Tehran that he is “going to get a deal one way or another” and said it would be clear “probably within 10 days” whether they could reach one.
The Trump administration reportedly expects to receive the Iranian proposal by tomorrow.
‘I love America’: FBI director Patel defends beer-soaked locker room celebration with US Olympic ice hockey team
FBI director Kash Patel has defended his weekend beer-soaked locker room celebration with the victorious US men’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Milan, saying he had been in Italy on official business and would pay his own way for personal activities.
“Yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment,” Patel wrote on X, after video footage showed him jumping up and down and chugging a beer in the locker room while the hockey team celebrated their 2-1 overtime victory over Canada on Sunday. (You can watch the viral clip here).
Democrats called the trip a wasteful diversion. “The grift & corruption is unreal. Your taxpayer dollars funding the FBI Director’s Italian vacation,” representative Jason Crow of Colorado wrote on social media.
Representative Sean Casten of Illinois said on social media: “3 million pages of evidence of a massive child sex trafficking ring and this is what the FBI director is doing right now.”
FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told Reuters that Patel was in Italy on official business and would reimburse the government for any personal use of FBI resources.
On his official account, Patel posted photos of himself meeting with foreign officials and US personnel who were handling security at the Olympics.
Patel has previously faced criticism for allegedly using the FBI jet for personal travel. Democrats on the House judiciary committee said he had misused government resources by using the FBI’s Gulfstream G550 to travel to Scotland for a golf vacation, fly to Pennsylvania to watch his girlfriend sing at a wrestling match, and fly to a hunting ranch in Texas.
Former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office
Peter Mandelson has been arrested by detectives investigating claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Video footage showed him being driven away from his home in an unmarked car shortly after being escorted from his home by officers.
Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain’s diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear.
London’s Metropolitan police have been investigating the alleged leaking by Mandelson of Downing Street emails and market-sensitive information to Epstein.
The former UK ambassador to the US is understood to believe he has not committed any offence.
A police investigation into Mandelson was opened after the release of files by the US justice department related to the late disgraced financier.
Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the DOJ in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former prime minister Gordon Brown’s government in 2009.
Mandelson, who this month resigned from the Labour Party and quit his position in the UK parliament’s upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.
More on this developing story here:
Democrats working on secret autopsy found Gaza stance cost Kamala Harris significant support in 2024 election – report
Top Democratic officials working on the party’s still-secret autopsy report of the 2024 presidential election loss to Donald Trump found that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s war in Gaza, Axios has learned.
Per Axios’s report, DNC aides compiling the autopsy report held a closed-door meeting with activists from the pro-Palestinian group the IMEU Policy Project, where they were told that the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel was a factor in the party’s losses because it drained support from some young people and progressives.
Hamid Bendaas, a spokesperson for the IMEU Policy Project, told Axios that during the meeting “the DNC shared with us that their own data also found that policy was, in their words, a ‘net-negative’ in the 2024 election.” The group is now accusing the DNC of withholding its report in part because of its findings on Israel, a charge that DNC spokesperson Kendall Witmer denied to Axios.
The DNC said last year that it would not release the review of its election loss in 2024, as it would be a “distraction” from helping the party win going forward.
Asked for comment, a Harris aide pointed Axios to the former vice-president’s recent comments about Gaza on a tour stop for her memoir, 107 Days, where she said: “We should have done more as an administration.” Harris added at the event that “we should have spoken publicly about our criticism” of how Benjamin Netanyahu executed the war.
In her book, Harris said that Biden’s unpopularity, which she argued was partly because of “his perceived blank check” to Netanyahu, harmed her in 2024. She wrote that she privately “pleaded” with Biden to show more empathy for civilians in Gaza. But during her campaign, she declined to publicly break with him over Israel.
RootsAction, a progressive grassroots group, released its autopsy of the 2024 election in December, concluding that Harris focused on courting moderate Republicans over motivating core Democratic working-class, young and progressive voters, a misstep compounded by her failure to break from Biden on Gaza.
Harris’s refusal to signal any meaningful shift from the Biden administration’s deeply unpopular policy on Israel and Gaza alienated Arab American, Muslim, young and progressive voters, costing critical support in swing states [like Michigan], my colleague David Smith wrote at the time.
Monday so far
Here’s what has happened today so far:
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Trump continued railing against the US supreme court’s ruling against his tariffs in several social media posts on Monday, threatening other countries and saying he could use other tariffs instead in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”.
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While the high court said Congress would need to approve tariffs, citing its role in the taxing power, Trump said in a post on Monday: “As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago!”
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The US government has warned travelers in western Mexico to shelter in place as travel has been largely suspended after the Mexican government killed drug lord “El Mencho,” which spurred retaliatory violence by the cartel.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US government aided in the operation against “El Mencho”, who was part of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.
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In a ruling on Monday, US federal judge Aileen Cannon permanently prohibited the justice department from releasing a report put together by former special counsel Jack Smith related to classified documents Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago.
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The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which had sought to get the final report by Jack Smith released, called the ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon to permanently bar its release an affront to the first amendment.
Trump is set to give his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. Foreshadowing the event, he said on Monday that it would be a “long” one.
After a White House event, Trump said he would highlight his administration’s work on immigration and the economy, according to the Associated Press.
“I’m making a speech tomorrow night, and you’ll be hearing me say that,” he said. “I mean, it’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”
First Amendment group slams judge’s ruling on Smith report: ‘no legitimate basis’
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which had sought to get the final report by Jack Smith released, called the ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon to permanently bar its release an affront to the first amendment.
“Judge Cannon’s decision to permanently block the release of this extraordinarily significant report is impossible to square with the First Amendment and the common law,” Scott Wilkens, senior counsel at the Knight Institute, said in a press release. “There is no legitimate basis for its continued suppression.”
The institute last year filed a motion to request Cannon lift an injunction that kept the justice department from releasing Smith’s final report, arguing the public has a right to access the records. Since then, it has also asked the court of appeals to reverse a Cannon order that refused to release the report, and separately filed a motion saying Cannon didn’t have authority over the report.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight Institute, said: “A major purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs, and the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment protects the public’s right of access to documents filed in connection with criminal trials. Given the significance of the Special Counsel’s report, and the role it played in earlier proceedings before Judge Cannon, there is really no question that both the common law and the First Amendment require the report’s release.”
Judge permanently bars DoJ from releasing Jack Smith’s report on Trump documents
In a ruling on Monday, US federal judge Aileen Cannon permanently prohibited the justice department from releasing a report put together by former special counsel Jack Smith related to classified documents Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago.
Cannon, based in Florida, had previously dismissed the case against Trump in mid-2024 because, she concluded, Smith had not been properly appointed to a role as special counsel. Smith continued to prepare a final report based on what he and his team had collected in the investigation, Cannon wrote in her ruling Monday.
“To say this chronology represents, at a minimum, a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order is an understatement, if not an outright violation of it,” she wrote of Smith continuing to create a report.
Releasing the report would be a “manifest injustice” for the defendants, since the case didn’t go to a jury, she wrote. “The former defendants in this case, like any other defendant in this situation, still enjoy the presumption of innocence held sacrosanct in our constitutional order.”
Let’s step back a bit, to the tariffs ruling on Friday.
Trump had asserted he had sole power to enact a set of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Some of those tariffs were massive, depending on the country and product, and his authority was challenged in court by businesses, trade groups and Democratic attorneys general.
The US supreme court, which is majority conservative, ruled against Trump, saying tariffs like the ones Trump attempted needed congressional approval. The creators of the constitution gave this “taxing power” to Congress.
The ruling was a major loss for Trump and his agenda, and the fallout for it on global trade is unclear, as the president has made moves and comments since the ruling to retaliate. He imposed a 15% tariff on all countries under a different tariff authority, increased from 10%.
After the ruling, countries that stuck trade deals with the US under the threat of the massive IEEPA tariffs sought clarity on how to proceed, as the US trade negotiator said that any deals “remain in place”. On Monday, Trump threatened other countries that he could use other tariffs in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way” if he wanted.
President Donald Trump is still mad about the US supreme court ruling against him on tariffs.
In two additional posts on Truth Social this morning, after a lengthy screed earlier, Trump went after the court and threatened other countries with more tariffs if they tried to renegotiate terms because of the court ruling.
“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” he said. “BUYER BEWARE!!!”
In another post, he wrote that he didn’t need to get congressional approval for more tariffs, a central argument in the court case he lost.
“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago! They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly crafted supreme court decision!”
Dan Crenshaw, a Republican representative from Texas, praised the operation against “El Mencho” and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, saying that cartel was “the most violent and deranged cartel in Mexico”.
“Over the past year most of the attention has been on the Sinaloa cartel,” Crenshaw wrote on X. “This is a much needed refocusing on CJNG. Both are major traffickers of fentanyl, but CJNG is more like ISIS than the mafia. They are ruthlessly violent, currently terrorizing all parts of Mexico to intimidate the government back into submission.”
He urged Congress to take action on bills, including his, that would support more military and law enforcement work in Mexico, saying the Mexican government was “finally” a “solid partner” in confronting the cartels.
“We are finally taking them on. It won’t be over soon. But it’s about time we started.”
US orders evacuation of non-essential personnel from embassy in Beirut
The US state department is ordering non-essential US government personnel and their families to evacuate the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
The state department confirmed the move to Fox News, saying the embassy remains operational and has core staff in place.
“We continuously assess the security environment, and based on our latest review, we determined it prudent to reduce our footprint to essential personnel. … This is a temporary measure intended to ensure the safety of our personnel while maintaining our ability to operate and assist US citizens,” a state department official told the conservative outlet.
US ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson shared a statement commending the Mexican government for its operation against “El Mencho”, praising the security forces for their “professionalism and resolve”.
“I express my respect and solidarity with the Mexican officials and service members who confront these criminal elements every day, often at great personal risk,” he said. “This operation underscores a clear reality: criminal organizations that poison our people and threaten our nations will be held accountable.”
He said cooperation between the US and Mexico was at “unprecedented levels”.
US senators and representatives across the political spectrum highlighted travel warnings from the US government, telling their constituents to shelter in place, enroll in a travel advisory program and contact their offices for any assistance needed.
Many elected officials and the US government directed people to sign up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, a free service where US nationals can enroll their trip abroad details so the US state department can contact them in case of emergency.
US ‘provided intelligence support’ to Mexican government in operation against ‘El Mencho’, White House says
The killing of “El Mencho” came as the US government had been urging the Mexican government to take more action against cartel drug networks.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X that the US had “provided intelligence support” to the Mexican government in the operation against Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera Cervantes, who she called “an infamous drug lord and leader within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel” and confirmed he was “eliminated”.
“El Mencho” was considered a “top target” for both the US and Mexican government because he was a top trafficker of fentanyl into the US, Leavitt said. Trump had designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization last year, she noted.
In addition to “El Mencho”, three other cartel members were killed, three were wounded and two were arrested, Leavitt said.
“President Trump has been very clear – the United States will ensure narcoterrorists sending deadly drugs to our homeland are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved,” she said.
US government issues travel warnings for citizens in Mexico amid widespread violence
The Mexican government killed a cartel boss known as “El Mencho”, sparking a wave of retaliatory violence in western Mexico and stranding travelers on Sunday.
The US government urged US citizens in widespread areas of Mexico to shelter in place, saying that US government staff in those areas were also doing so on Sunday and would continue on Monday.
A travel alert from the US embassy in Mexico noted that no airports had been closed, but that roadblocks had affected airline operations, that most flights out of the cities of Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta were canceled, and that rideshares were suspended in Puerto Vallarta.
The alert advised people to “seek shelter” and “minimize unnecessary movements”.
“Americans should keep family and friends advised of your location & well-being,” the travel alert said.
