February 10, 2026

February 10th, 2026.

As of yesterday, members of Congress who sit on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees

can see unredacted versions of the Epstein files the Department of Justice or DOJ has already

released.

As Herb Scribner of Axios explained, the documents are available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

computers in the DOJ building in Washington, DC.

The lawmakers cannot bring electronic devices into the room with them, but they are allowed

to take notes.

They must give the DOJ 24 hours notice before they access the files.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the DOJ to release all the Epstein files by

December 19th.

Only about half of them have been released to date, and many of them are so heavily

redacted they convey little information.

After members of Congress complained on Friday, January 30th, Deputy Attorney General Todd

Blanche said they could see the unredacted documents if they asked.

In a letter dated the next day, Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat of Maryland, immediately

asked for access on behalf of the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee,

saying they would be ready to view the files the following day, Sunday, February 1st.

After viewing the files briefly yesterday, Raskin told Andrew Solander of Axios that when

he searched the files for President Donald Trump's name, it came up more than a million

times.

Raskin suggested that limiting members access to the files is part of a cover-up to hide

Trump's relationship with the convicted sex offender, a cover-up that includes the

three million files the DOJ has not released, despite the requirements of the Epstein Files

Transparency Act.

One of the files he did see referred to a child of nine.

Raskin called it gruesome and grim.

Representative Rokana, a Democrat of California, added, there's still a lot that's redacted.

Even in what we're seeing, we're seeing redacted versions.

I thought we were supposed to see the unredacted versions.

Material that has come out has already shown members of the administration and their allies

are lying about their connections to Epstein.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, who lived next door to Epstein for more than ten years,

said in October that he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005 after visiting his home and

being disgusted.

The files show that in fact, Lutnik not only maintained ties with Epstein, but also was

in business with him until at least 2018, long after Epstein was a convicted sex offender.

Members of both parties have called for Lutnik to resign.

Testifying today before the Senate Appropriations Committee, where members took the opportunity

to ask him about his ties to Epstein, Lutnik acknowledged that he had had more contact

with Epstein than he had previously admitted, but maintained, I did not have any relationship

with him.

I barely had anything to do with him, but even Republicans expressed discomfort with

Lutnik's visit with his family to Epstein's private island.

Kanna called for Lutnik to resign.

In this country, we have to make a decision, he said.

Are we going to allow rich and powerful people who were friends and had no problem doing

business and showing up with a pedophile who was raping underage girls?

Are we just going to allow them to skate?

Or like other countries, are we going to have accountability for the people who did that?

In Europe, the revelation that a leader had ties to Epstein has abruptly ended careers.

The former British ambassador to Washington, Peter Mendelssohn, was fired and has created

a crisis for Prime Minister Keir Starmer for appointing him.

Two senior Norwegian diplomats are under investigation for gross corruption from their ties to Epstein.

One of them, Mona Jewel, resigned Sunday from her position as ambassador to Jordan and

Iraq.

Slovakia's National Security Advisor, Miroslav Lichak, resigned after messages between

him and Epstein showed them talking about women, while also discussing Lichak's meetings

with Russian foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov.

Poland announced it was launching an investigation into whether Epstein was tied to Russian intelligence.

More and more leads, more and more information, and more and more commentary in the global

press all relate to the suspicion that this unprecedented pedophilia scandal was co-organized

by Russian intelligence services, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.

I don't need to tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that Russian intelligence

services co-organized this operation is for the security of the Polish state.

This can only mean that they also possess compromising materials against many leaders still

active today.

Yesterday, Epstein associate Gielin Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking,

testified by video before the House Oversight Committee.

She refused to answer any questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Her lawyer said she is prepared to speak fully and honestly if Trump grants her clemency.

Todd Lions, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, the Commissioner

of Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Services, all part of the Department of Homeland Security, testified today before the House

Committee on Homeland Security.

As Eric Bezel, a meal of political reported, Lions defended the actions of ICE agents, saying

they are properly enforcing immigration laws and that they are the real victims of the encounters

that have left protesters dead or injured because the protests put agents in danger.

Most Republicans back them up, saying the Democrats are trying to stop the removal of criminals.

Democrats asked the men about federal arrests of U.S. citizens and the deaths of Renee Good

and Alex Prety and demanded changes at ICE and Border Patrol.

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security will run out on February 13th and the administration

officials warned members of Congress that a shutdown would disrupt their operations and

thus endanger national security.

Representative James Walkenshaw, a Democrat of Virginia, later told a reporter,

Look, all of this comes from Stephen Miller's sick and twisted, deranged, great replacement

theory.

Whether these folks here know it or not, they are just pawns and Stephen Miller's sick

and twisted scheme.

Daniel Klaidman, Michael Kaplan, and Matt Gottman of CBS News reported that the American Civil

Liberty Union, or ACLU, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after a federal raid

on a popular horse racing venue in Wilder Idaho led to the detention of 105 undocumented

immigrants, as well as the temporary detention of 375 U.S. citizens or lawful residents.

Only five arrests ended in criminal charges, all for unlicensed gambling.

Answering allegations that agents had used zip ties on children, both the federal Bureau

of Investigation, or FBI, field office in Boise, and Homeland Security spokesperson

Trisha McLaughlin, flatly denied the allegations.

ICE didn't zip tie, restrain, or arrest any children, she said.

ICE does not zip tie or handcuff children.

This is the kind of garbage rhetoric contributing to our officers facing a 1,300 percent increase

in assaults against them, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats.

But after photographic evidence of zip tie bruises on a 14-year-old female U.S. citizen,

as well as personal testimony, the FBI changed their assertion to say no young children

were zip tied.

Court documents on seal today show that the FBI raid on the warehouse in Fulton County

Georgia that led to the seizure of 700 boxes of ballots and other election-related items

was based on debunked claims of fraud from 2020 election deniers.

As Ashley Cleves and Matt Cohen of Democracy Docket explained, the affidavit that informed

the search warrant came from Kurt Olson, one of the lawyers who worked with Trump to overturn

the 2020 election, and whom Trump has recently appointed director of election security

and integrity.

In the affidavit, Olson recycled a number of debunked theories.

Legal analyst Joyce White vance notes that, aside from the merits of the case, it appears

that the statute of limitations has run out on any potential election crimes stemming

from 2020.

She goes on to expose the weakness of the case itself, and finally to point out that both

the General Assembly and the Georgia State election board that said there was no intentional

fraud or misconduct in the counting of the Fulton County ballots in 2020 were Republican

led.

White suggests the raid was less about bringing a meritorious criminal prosecution against

specific individuals, and more about casting suspicion over Fulton County's voting system

and ability to conduct a fair election.

Today the National Governor's Association canceled its annual bipartisan meeting with

the president that usually involves a business meeting and a dinner.

Trump had disinvited two Democratic governors, Jared Polis of Colorado, and Wes Moore of

Maryland, prompting the rest of the Democratic governors to refuse to attend.

Democratic governors have a long record of working across the aisle to deliver results,

and we remain committed to this effort.

But it's disappointing this administration doesn't seem to share the same goal.

At every turn, President Trump is creating chaos and division, and it is the American

people who are hurting as a result, the Democratic governors wrote.

If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically

been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending

the White House dinner this year.

Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life

better for people in our states.

Moore is the vice chair of the National Governor's Association, or NGA.

Yesterday, its chair, Oklahoma's Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, wrote,

because NGA's mission is to represent all 55 governors, the association is no longer

serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official

program.

White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt told reporters,

I just spoke with the President about this, it's a dinner at the White House, it's

the people's house, it's also the President's home, and he can fight whomever he wants

to dinners and events here at the White House.

In Washington today, a grand jury refused to indict six Democratic members of Congress

for breaking a law that makes it a crime to interfere with, impair or influence the loyalty,

morale or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States.

Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain at Astronaut, Alyssa Slotkin of

Michigan, a former CIA analyst, and representatives Jason Crowe of Colorado, a former Army Ranger,

Chris Delusio of Pennsylvania, a former Navy officer, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire,

a Navy veteran, and Chrissy Hula-Han of Pennsylvania, a former Air Force officer, recorded a video

last November reminding service members that they must refuse illegal orders.

Trump called it seditious behavior punishable by death.

Although the bar for an indictment is so low that grand juries almost always return

one, the Trump administration's attempts to harass those he perceives as enemies have

been so outrageous that grand juries have repeatedly refused to go along.

The New York Times called today's refusal a remarkable rebuke.

Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson.

He was produced at SoundScape Productions, Dead and Massachusets, recorded with music

composed by Michael Moss.