Trump administration live updates: Bill Clinton testifies in House Jeffrey Epstein investigation
Clinton is the first sitting or former president to testify before members of Congress in more than 40 years.
What to know today
- BILL CLINTON TESTIMONY: Former President Bill Clinton is facing questions today from members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, making him the first sitting or former president to testify before members of Congress in more than 40 years.
- EMBASSY WARNING: The United States today told some embassy staff that they could leave Israel — and that those who want to must do so quickly — as fears of an American attack on Iran fueled alarm throughout the region.
- FRIENDLY FIRE: The U.S. government said it would do better to communicate between agencies after the military reportedly used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone in Texas yesterday.
- CHAMP SLAMS WHITE HOUSE TIKTOK: U.S. hockey player Brady Tkachuk said he didn't appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians, calling it something he would never say. Tkachuk also denied being the voice heard shouting “close the northern border” during Team USA’s celebratory phone call with President Donald Trump.
Kamala Harris jumps into the Texas Senate race, endorsing Jasmine Crockett
Former Vice President Kamala Harris has made her first major return to campaign politics since her 2024 presidential run, endorsing Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the competitive Texas Senate primary.
The endorsement, first reported by the Texas Tribune, was confirmed by the Crockett campaign. The Texas Tribune also noted the endorsement comes with a robocall of Harris saying, “Texas has the chance to send a fighter like Jasmine Crockett to the United States Senate. Jasmine has the experience and record to hold Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies accountable.”
Crockett is in a hotly contested race against state Rep. James Talarico for the Democratic Senate nomination on March 3. GOP Sen. John Cornyn is also in a competitive primary against state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Trump bans federal employees from using Anthropic
After months of increasingly heated rhetoric between the Defense Department and leading AI company Anthropic over the military’s use of its systems, Trump announced this afternoon that he was banning federal agencies from using Anthropic’s services.
“I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Anthropic did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The company, led by CEO Dario Amodei, has made clear in months of contract negotiations with the Pentagon that it will not allow its AI systems to be harnessed for domestic surveillance or direct use in lethal autonomous weapons.
Clinton said Trump told him he stopped being friends with Epstein over a 'land dispute,' lawmaker says
Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said on X that Clinton, during the deposition, said Trump told him that his falling out with Epstein was over a “land dispute.” Trump has repeatedly said that he and Epstein stopped being friends because of Epstein’s behavior.
Lawmakers asked Clinton about Epstein files' jacuzzi photo
During his deposition, Clinton told lawmakers he did not know the woman he was pictured with in a jacuzzi in the Justice Department’s release of its files related to Epstein, according to a person in the room for his deposition. Clinton said he did not have sex with the woman, when asked during his deposition. CNN was first to report this detail. The former president also repeatedly said during his deposition that he never visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island.
Files related to the Epstein probes that have been released to date include numerous pictures of Bill Clinton with Epstein and Guislaine Maxwell. In some of the photos, Bill Clinton is shown in a hot tub, swimming in a pool with Maxwell and sitting at a table with a woman sitting on his leg.
The pictures are undated, and it’s unclear where they were taken. None suggests any wrongdoing.
Lawmakers say Trump came up during Clinton deposition
Trump was the subject of some of the questions in the Clinton interview, the top lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee said. Chairman James Comer told reporters that Clinton said that Trump “has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved” with Epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said that Comer’s remarks were “not an accurate description” of the questioning. He said Clinton “did bring up some additional information about some discussions with President Trump,” and a full record “brings up some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.” He did not elaborate but called for the full transcript to be released.
From left, Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in Chappaqua today. Charly Triballeau / AFP - Getty Images
The Clintons told the committee in sworn declarations last month that they had “no personal knowledge” of any “criminal activities” by Epstein or Maxwell.
Trump calls Lutnick 'a very innocent guy'
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told reporters that Hillary Clinton was questioned yesterday about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick acknowledged earlier this month that he’d visited Epstein’s island with his family in 2012.
Lutnick has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Comer said yesterday he was open to deposing him, something Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said today she was in favor of. “I believe we will have votes to subpoena him,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that “Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say. He’s a very innocent guy.”
Trump says U.S. may 'end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba'
President Donald Trump said the U.S. has been "talking" with the Cuban government and may take over the country.
"We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba after many, many years. We've had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba," the president told reporters before departing on Marine One.
After the U.S. captured the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, in January, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump signaled that Cuba could be the next target. At the initial press conference, Rubio issued a warning to Cuban officials, stating, “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.” He reaffirmed the threats in an interview NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
In late January, Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on any country that sells oil to the country. Cuba heavily relied on assistance and oil from allies like Venezuela, Mexico and Russia amid an economic crisis.
At least one U.S. citizen killed in Cuba boat shootout, officials say
The Cuban government says it is willing to exchange information with the United States as both countries open investigations into the deadly shootout off Cuba’s coast. U.S. officials tell NBC News American citizens were among the passengers on the boat involved in the confrontation. At least one U.S. citizen was killed and another is now detained. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for the "TODAY" show.
Bill Clinton says he ‘saw nothing’ and ‘did nothing wrong’ related to Jeffrey Epstein
Former President Bill Clinton told members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigating his ties to Jeffrey Epstein that he “saw nothing” and “did nothing wrong,” and ripped the panel for making his wife sit for a deposition.
“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing — I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes,” Clinton said of Epstein in his opening statement to the panel, which he posted on X.
The former president is being deposed in a closed-door setting one day after the committee questioned his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for around six hours about what she knew about the late sex offender and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
While he acknowledged knowing and traveling with Epstein, he said his wife had “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein” and “no memory of even meeting him.”
“Whether you subpoena 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right,” he wrote.
His statement concluded, “Since I am under oath, I will not falsely state that I am looking forward to your questions. But I am ready to answer them to the best of my abilities, consistent with the facts as I know them: the legitimate, the logical and even the outlandish.
“With that, Mr. Chairman, fire away.”
Texas’ Big Bend braces for border wall in national park, worrying local Republicans and Democrats
Two hours from the closest stoplight, the Rio Grande runs through rugged canyons under the darkest skies in the continental United States, carving cliffs that drop 1,500 feet below the Texas desert floor of the beautifully desolate Big Bend National Park.
The few who call the region home feel a unique bond to the land. In their eyes, it’s the kind of natural barrier that steel cannot supplement. It’s one reason why the Big Bend has so far been spared from the bulldozer crews that come with new stretches of border wall.
“We’ve got a God-made barrier,” said Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland, a Republican who oversees a department of five deputies just east of Big Bend.
But this year, the Trump administration is forging ahead with a plan Cleveland never thought he would see.
Locals and elected leaders from both parties across far West Texas are condemning the Department of Homeland Security’s newly revealed plans to build a border wall through Big Bend National Park and its neighboring state park. They are warning it will cut off access to popular destinations, choke off tourist dollars and disrupt one of the nation’s most pristine regions, while doing little to stop illegal immigration.
Democrats say GOP has set a new precedent with Bill Clinton's deposition
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said this morning that Democrats have "real questions that deserve serious answers from former President Clinton" during his closed-door deposition in Chappaqua today.
"We have said from day one that Democrats want to talk to anyone, whether they are a Republican or a Democrat, no matter how powerful they are, whatever position that they've been in," Garcia told reporters ahead of the deposition.
Garcia said that they don't want to see another "sideshow" today like what happened during Hillary Clinton's deposition yesterday, in which he said Republicans asked her about UFOs and conspiracy theories.
A motorcade carrying former President Bill Clinton approaches the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center this morning. Angelina Katsanis / AP
Because "Republicans have now set a new precedent, which is to bring in presidents and former presidents to testify," Democrats are again demanding that Trump testify before their panel about his relationship with Epstein, Garcia said.
Trump appears in the Epstein files "almost more than anybody else," Garcia said.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and authorities have not accused him of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Hillary Clinton deferred a number of questions to Bill Clinton yesterday, Comer says
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said this morning that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton deferred a number of questions during her deposition yesterday to her husband, who will be asked about them today in his closed-door testimony to the committee.
"There were at least a dozen times when she said, 'You'll have to ask my husband that, I can't answer that.'" Comer told reporters in Chappaqua, New York. "So we already had a big portfolio of questions for him, and that increased yesterday, so we look forward to that."
"A lot of the Clinton Global Initiative questions yesterday went unanswered because Ms. Clinton deferred to her husband," Comer added.
Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., arrive today. David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
Bill Clinton has acknowledged that he flew on Epstein's plane several times in 2002 and 2003 on Clinton Foundation trips.
Comer also said this morning that there was a “a pretty thorough line of questioning” between Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Hillary Clinton related to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, adding that he thought reporters “will find it very interesting," without offering details.
Mace this morning called for the Oversight Committee to question Lutnick about his ties to Epstein, and Comer said yesterday that it is "very possible" that he could ask Lutnick to testify before the panel.
Lutnick told lawmakers recently that he had no personal relationship with Epstein but acknowledged visiting his island while on a family vacation more than a decade ago.
Diet Coke brought into building ahead of Bill Clinton's deposition
Boxes of snacks and drinks, including Diet Coke, are brought into the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center ahead of former President Bill Clinton's closed-door deposition. David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
Bill Clinton was frequently photographed drinking Diet Coke during his presidency.
What to expect at Bill Clinton's testimony to House Oversight
The House Oversight Committee will conduct a deposition with Bill Clinton today in its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s what you need to know.
Where is the deposition?
The former president’s deposition will be in the same place former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s was yesterday, at a performing arts center in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons live. The committee can hold depositions outside of the Capitol, as it did last week in Ohio with billionaire businessman Les Wexner.
Media crews gather in front of The Chappaqua Performing Arts Center this morning. Charly Triballeau / AFP - Getty Images
Who will be there?
Several committee members and staff are expected to attend today as they did yesterday, including Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and ranking member Robert Garcia, D-Calif.
What will we see?
The deposition will be behind closed doors again, so we won’t see anything in the moment. The testimony will be filmed like Hillary Clinton's was yesterday. Comer committed last night to release the video from the former first lady's deposition “hopefully within the next 24 hours.”
How do depositions work?
Committee rules require that witnesses are under oath in depositions and that the testimony is transcribed.
Depositions proceed in one-hour rounds of questioning, alternating between the Republicans and Democrats. Republicans, who are in the majority, will get to ask questions for the first hour and then Democrats in the second hour. Typically, lawyers for the committee lead asking questions, but members of Congress may ask questions as well.
Vance to meet with Omani foreign minister amid U.S. threats to Iran
Vice President JD Vance is expected to meet with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in Washington today, a source familiar with the plans said, as concerns about a U.S. attack on Iran spread in the region.
The meeting will include other U.S. officials as well, the source said.
The Trump administration and Iran have been holding indirect discussions about the country's nuclear enrichment and missile programs. Possible U.S. action has prompted warnings in the region, including the U.S. telling some embassy staff in Israel that they could leave the country if they do so quickly.
Rep. Nancy Mace says House Oversight Committee should question Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Epstein probe
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said this morning in a post on X that the House Oversight Committee should question Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over his ties to Epstein.
Mace reposted another post that included a photo from the DOJ's Epstein files release that showed what appeared to be Lutnick and Epstein with some other men at a shoreline.
"Howard Lutnick should take questions from the Oversight committee," she wrote in her post.
Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said ahead of Hillary Clinton's deposition yesterday in the committee's Epstein investigation that he may also ask Lutnick to testify.
"That’s very possible," Comer said. "And I think there, you know, I think it’s a good possibility that his name will arise in some questioning today."
Lutnick recently told lawmakers at an unrelated hearing that he had no personal relationship with Epstein but acknowledged visiting the late convicted sex offender’s island while on a family vacation in 2012.
Trump to travel to Texas to deliver remarks on energy
Trump is set to travel to Corpus Christi, Texas, to deliver remarks on energy this afternoon, the White House said.
The visit comes just days before Texas' Senate Republican primary. While the president has endorsed candidates in other races, he has yet to back a Republican Senate candidate in the state, where incumbent John Cornyn is facing a tough challenge from the state attorney general, Trump ally Ken Paxton, in a three-way race with Rep. Wesley Hunt.
“President Trump looks forward to returning to the great State of Texas next week to discuss the economy and tout his ‘Drill Baby Drill’ agenda,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this week.
When asked about the lack of an endorsement last week, Trump said, “I just haven’t made a decision on that race yet. It’s got a ways to go, and I haven’t, he’s a good man. John (Cornyn) is a good, I like all three of them. Actually, I like all three. Those are the toughest races. They’ve all supported me. They’re all good, and you’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three.”
Trump last traveled to Texas in July to survey the damage after the devastating floods in the Hill Country region.
Trump’s takeover of the GOP upends Texas Senate race
Unlike many of the Texans packed into the Angry Elephant last week, Phillip Mori wasn’t completely sold on Senate candidate and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Mori, a 64-year-old mortgage banker and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, came to the Republican-themed bar hoping to hear Paxton talk about how he would address border security. Paxton laid out the case for his primary challenge against GOP Sen. John Cornyn and his experience taking on Democratic presidents as attorney general, but Mori thought he focused too much on the past.
Even so, Mori still said he’d likely be voting for Paxton by “default” in Tuesday’s primary. He feels that he cannot support Cornyn, who “seems like he’s conservative when it’s time to run for office,” Mori said.
“There’s a lot of people that wear the name Republican [who] are more Bush-era people and Romney people than they are out for America First,” said Mori, noting that he counts Cornyn among those Republican relics.
Voters like Mori are making Cornyn’s primary the toughest fight of his political career. And even though Trump remains neutral in the primary, the dynamics underscore the practical effects of the GOP’s transformation in Trump’s image over the last decade, with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement elevating more combative and bombastic candidates.
Left-wing plumber helps Greens sink ruling Labour and far right in surprise U.K. election win
LONDON — Britain’s beleaguered government has spent much of its time in power concerned about the surging far right. Instead, it just received a sucker punch from the progressive left.
The Green Party delivered a stunning blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer early today with a victory in a hotly contested special election in the northern city of Manchester.
The vote in the constituency of Gorton and Denton was seen as a three-way tussle between the Greens, the rising far-right party Reform UK led by Trump ally Nigel Farage, and Starmer’s ruling center-left Labour Party, which has long dominated politics in the area.
It was a comfortable victory for Green candidate Hannah Spencer, 34, who becomes the party’s fifth member of Parliament and one of 650 lawmakers in the U.K.’s lower house.
Spencer was a plumber before she entered politics, a hint of the appeal insurgents from both sides of the political spectrum now have in a country where wages are stagnant, public services are ailing, and years of government scandal have eroded trust in institutions.
Starmer’s position has been under intense scrutiny for months, but recent revelations linked to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal have left him badly weakened.
U.S. hockey player Brady Tkachuk slams White House TikTok as ‘clearly fake’ after anti-Canada slur
American hockey player Brady Tkachuk said yesterday that he did not appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians after winning Olympic gold, calling it fake and something he would never say.
The video includes fabricated audio of Tkachuk referring to Canadians as “maple syrup eating (expletive),” with the expletive bleeped out. The video carries a note saying it “contains AI-generated media.”
“It’s clearly fake because it’s not my voice and not my lips moving,” Tkachuk said. “I’m not in control of any of those accounts. … I know that those words would never come out of my mouth.”
Asked if he liked the video, Tkachuk said he did not: “I would never say that. That’s not who I am.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. military reportedly used a laser to shoot down Customs and Border Protection drone, sparking new air closure
The U.S. government said it would do better to communicate between agencies after the military reportedly used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone in Texas yesterday.
Some Democratic members of Congress, including the ranking members of the House Homeland Security and Transportation committees, called the incident another example of “incompetence.”
It comes two weeks after CBP used a military laser to shoot down what turned out to be party balloons in Texas, which caused the temporary closure of El Paso’s airspace.
U.S. tells embassy staff in Israel to leave now if they want amid Trump threats to attack Iran
TEL AVIV — The United States told some embassy staff today that they could leave Israel — and that those who want to must do so quickly — as fears of an American attack on Iran fueled alarm throughout the region.
The message, conveyed in an email from Ambassador Mike Huckabee that was sent to the U.S. mission, instructed those wishing to leave to “do so TODAY.” NBC News has seen the email, which was first reported by The New York Times.
The guidance was issued out of “an abundance of caution” after meetings and calls through the night including conversations with the State Department, Huckabee said in the email.
“There is no need to panic,” the email read. “For those desiring to leave, it’s important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later.”
Bill Clinton to face lawmakers in Epstein probe for rare testimony by a former president
Former President Bill Clinton is set to face questions today from members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, making him the first sitting or former president to testify before members of Congress in over 40 years.
He will be deposed in a closed-door setting one day after the committee questioned his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for around six hours about what she knew about Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said yesterday that he expected the former president’s deposition to take “even longer.” The meeting is taking place in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons have a house.
The Clintons told the committee in sworn declarations last month that they had “no personal knowledge” of any “criminal activities” by Epstein or Maxwell.
