Senate Republicans and Democrats locked in an agreement to move forward with a behemoth funding package, smashing through resistance on both sides of the aisle. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up the final vote for the package Friday after hours of quelling resistance among Senate Republicans. Lawmakers will plow through several amendments before voting on the package, which is expected to pass and head to the House. 

That also means that, despite their best efforts, a government shutdown is all but guaranteed given that the deadline to fund the government is midnight Friday. 

The move came after President Donald Trump intervened to strike a deal with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Thursday, which will strip out the controversial Department of Homeland Security funding bill and tee up a two-week funding extension to keep the agency afloat. 

Trump urged Senate Republicans to support the plan in a post on Truth Social, where he argued that the only thing ‘that can slow our Country down is another long and damaging Government Shutdown’

‘I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay,’ Trump said. ‘Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before).

‘Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much-needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote,’ he continued.

It’s a bitter pill for Senate Republicans, who pushed onward with the original six-bill funding package despite Senate Democrats making clear that they would not support it if the DHS bill was still attached. 

Still, the successful first step virtually guarantees that the new, skinnier five-bill bundle and two-week continuing resolution (CR) will advance out of the Senate.

But it won’t prevent a partial government shutdown. 

That’s because the modification to the package, coupled with the CR for DHS, will need to be agreed to by the House, which is not in session until next week, at the earliest. From there, it is unclear how long it will take lawmakers in the lower chamber to process the bill, and resistance is mounting among angry fiscal hawks.

But Democrats aren’t walking away with everything they want, either. Before rapidly unifying behind the plan to block the DHS bill, Democratic leadership argued that a CR of any kind would effectively allow Trump to have a ‘slush fund’ for immigration operations.

Renegotiating the Homeland Security funding bill could backfire, too, given that congressional Democrats originally agreed to the restrictions baked into the current legislation and Republicans aren’t thrilled to relitigate the bill.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States has directly communicated expectations to Iran as pressure mounts for Tehran to accept a nuclear deal, even as Iranian officials publicly signal interest in talks.

Asked whether Iran faces a deadline to make a deal, Trump suggested the timeline already had been conveyed privately. 

‘Only they know for sure,’ he said, confirming when pressed that the message had been delivered directly to Iranian leaders.

Trump also tied the growing U.S. naval presence in the region explicitly to Iran, saying American warships ‘have to float someplace’ and ‘might as well float near Iran’ as Washington weighs its next steps.

Meanwhile, Iran is ready to discuss its nuclear program with the U.S. ‘on an equal footing,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday, as Washington dramatically ramps up military pressure in the Middle East amid growing doubts about Tehran’s willingness to accept verifiable limits on its nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. has long insisted Iran give up its ability to enrich uranium — the material used to build a nuclear weapon — while Iran maintains it has never pursued a bomb and says its nuclear program is intended for energy and civilian purposes.

Araghchi said no meeting was currently scheduled with U.S. officials, but left the door open to talks under specific conditions.

‘If the negotiations are fair and on an equal footing, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to participate,’ he said, adding that talks could not happen immediately. ‘Preparations are needed, both in terms of the form and subject of the discussions and the venue.’

U.S. and allied officials, however, remain deeply skeptical. 

Iran’s record under the 2015 nuclear deal — agreeing to stringent limits and international inspections only to later exceed enrichment caps and restrict monitoring — has fueled doubts about whether its latest overtures would translate into meaningful action.

That trust deficit was further strained in 2025, when diplomatic efforts unfolded alongside military action. 

In June 2025, the U.S. military joined Israel in striking three Iranian nuclear facilities — including the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites — in an operation aimed at degrading Tehran’s nuclear capabilities even as indirect talks were underway. Iranian officials later cited the strikes as evidence that Washington was unwilling to negotiate in good faith.

But time may be running out for diplomacy. Trump warned Thursday that Iran must end its nuclear program and halt the killing of protesters or face the possibility of U.S. military action.

‘We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now, and it would be great if we didn’t have to use them,’ Trump said.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, which arrived in the region at the end of January, is operating with a carrier strike group that includes multiple destroyers and air squadrons flying F-35C Lightning II jets, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, CMV-22B Ospreys and MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.

Trump reinforced his message Wednesday on Truth Social, writing: ‘Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.’

Tensions broke out once again at the start of January amid mass anti-government protests in Iran and a brutal crackdown resulting in thousands of deaths.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff has called for an end to Iran’s nuclear program, the transfer of enriched uranium out of the country, limits on its missile program and an end to financial support for proxy groups such as Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons — an assertion U.S. and Israeli officials continue to dispute, arguing Tehran’s enrichment advances and reduced cooperation with international inspectors have brought it closer than ever to a potential nuclear breakout.

The House of Representatives is preparing a rare weekend meeting as congressional leaders race against the clock on a partial government shutdown.

The House Rules Committee, which acts as a gatekeeper before most legislation sees a chamber-wide vote, is expected to meet on Sunday at 4 p.m. to consider a federal funding deal that is poised to pass the Senate on Friday.

It means the full House could vote on the bill as early as Monday, three days after Congress’ deadline to avert a shutdown.

The plans are still tentative and expected to be finalized ahead of a 4:30 p.m. House GOP strategy call on Friday afternoon, but they are a sign that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is looking to move with urgency once the deal passes the Senate.

Senate Democrats walked away from a bipartisan deal to fully fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2026 amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis.

Federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in the Midwest city during separate demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown. In response, Democrats threatened to hold up a massive federal funding bill that also includes dollars for the departments of War, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation and others unless funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were stripped out.

The deal reached would fund all but DHS through Sept. 30, while funding DHS with a two-week extension of current spending levels to give Congress time to hash out a compromise that would include stricter guardrails on immigration enforcement agencies under the department’s purview.

It rankled House Republicans all the way up to Johnson, who signaled he was not happy with the outcome but would work with his counterparts in the Senate to quickly end the expected shutdown.

‘I’ve been very consistent and insistent that they should take the House’s bills that we sent over and negotiated very carefully in bipartisan fashion, and pass them,’ Johnson told reporters on Friday. ‘We can work out decisions in the area of DHS, but we should not interrupt the funding of government in the meantime.’

A senior GOP aide close to House conservatives said the two-week stopgap for DHS was ‘crazy.’

‘That hands more leverage to Democrats to derail immigration enforcement, and we’d be right back here again in two weeks with more crazy demands from the radical Left,’ the aide told Fox News Digital.

Whether the legislation will survive the House Rules Committee remains to be seen.

Three members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va. — sit on the panel. Roy and Griffith have not said how they feel about the deal.

But Norman told Fox News Digital after details emerged on Thursday, ‘THERE IS NO RATIONAL REASON TO REMOVE DHS FROM THE APPROVAL PROCESS.’

Norman accused Democrats of trying to ‘demonize’ and ‘bludgeon’ DHS, adding, ‘IF THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN, ‘DO IT’!!’

Former CNN host Don Lemon retained a high-priced attorney familiar with defending clients against the Trump administration following his arrest related to his involvement in a protest at a St. Paul, Minnesota, church.

Lemon is being represented by Abbe Lowell, an attorney well known for taking on cases where a prominent political figure needs legal help; most notably Hunter Biden.

Biden, the surviving son of former President Joe Biden, is Lowell’s most visible recent client. The younger Biden has been one of the Trump administration’s top foils, and Lowell guided the 55-year-old author, businessman and recovering addict through a web of legal problems largely centered in his home state of Delaware.

After Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles, where he was preparing to cover an awards show for his podcast, Lowell confirmed his client was taken into custody late Thursday and said that, as a journalist, his ‘constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done.’

Lowell slammed the Justice Department for pursuing Lemon instead of federal immigration agents involved in law enforcement shootings of alleged agitators Renee Good and Alex Pretti in recent days.

‘This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand. Don will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.’

During Biden’s tax and gun-charge case, Lowell often spoke out pointedly in defense of his client.

‘Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,’ Lowell said, while also accusing Delaware federal prosecutor David Weiss of bowing to pressure from the Republican Party in pursuing the case.

Amid a countersuit against Delaware computer repairman John Paul Mac Isaac, Lowell wrote to the Justice Departments in Washington and Dover, also calling for investigations into former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Breitbart editor Steve Bannon over the laptop fiasco.

During scrutiny of Biden’s lucrative globe-trotting, Lowell depicted his client as the beloved remaining son of a doting father, saying that when ‘the President calls his son every day and it goes on the speakerphone, he says ‘hello’ to the people in the room. That is not an offense, that is nothing other than a loving father.’

Biden later, however, retained high-powered attorney and South Carolina State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Charleston, in a separate defamation case against Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. Harpootlian had just represented Low Country legal eagle–turned–convicted killer Richard ‘Alex’ Murdaugh.

Besides Biden and Lemon, Lowell has represented imprisoned former Sen. Robert Menendez Sr., D-N.J., during his 2017 corruption investigation that ended in a mistrial.

He also defended former Sen. John Edwards, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2004, as the scandal-plagued Carolinian fought allegations that he used $1 million in campaign donations to hide a mistress and child.

Then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., who was a person of interest in Chandra Levy’s disappearance; Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook, who has been fighting attempted firing by the Trump administration; and lobbyist Jack Abramoff all counted Lowell as a legal defender.

He also represented first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, during a 2016 election-season probe into alleged Russian interference.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unloaded his frustrations with the latest iteration of a government funding package backed by President Donald Trump and laid out a stark warning to the top House Republican and the White House in the process. 

Graham is one of the few remaining holdouts blocking the Senate from moving on to a government funding package brokered by Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as lawmakers race to beat the government funding deadline at midnight on Friday. 

The top Trump ally’s frustrations with the funding package have little to do with the president or the deal struck with Schumer. Much of his ire is directed at a provision tucked in by the House last week that would repeal a law that allows senators whose phone records were subpoenaed by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for up to $500,000 per infraction. 

And Graham was not happy that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., let the repeal slip through.

‘You could have called me about the $500,000,’ Graham said. ‘I’d be glad to work with you. You jammed me, Speaker Johnson. I won’t forget this. I got a lot of good friends in the House. If you think I’m going to give up on this, you really don’t know me.’

Graham has been a vocal proponent of that law, which was slipped into the last funding patch by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., with a green light from Schumer. 

He also turned his frustration on the White House.

‘I’ve been told the White House doesn’t like this, and I told the White House last night, ‘I don’t care if you like it or not.’ I literally texted my friends at the White House, ‘If I were you, I would not call me tonight.’’ 

‘And they didn’t call me,’ he continued. ‘I don’t work for the White House. They’re my political allies. I’m close to President Trump. I don’t work for him.’ 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have charged that it’s a law designed to allow their colleagues to enrich themselves off the taxpayers’ dime, and tried on several occasions in the Senate to repeal it.

Graham is willing to lift his hold on the package if he gets a vote on expanding the number of people and organizations who were affected by Smith’s Arctic Frost probe that can sue, along with a vote on his legislation that would criminalize the conduct of officials who operate sanctuary cities. 

Several other lawmakers are demanding amendment votes, too, which Republican leaders are currently working to address. A positive sign, however, is that none appear to be demanding a guaranteed outcome.

Israel announced Thursday that it will reopen the Rafah border crossing for people to travel between Gaza and Egypt for the first time since May 2024. 

Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which oversees humanitarian and civil efforts in Gaza, said the crossing ‘will open this coming Sunday (February 1st) in both directions, for limited movement of people only.’ 

‘The return of residents from Egypt to the Gaza Strip will be permitted, in coordination with Egypt, for residents who left Gaza during the course of the war only, and only after prior security clearance by Israel,’ COGAT said. 

‘In addition to initial identification and screening at the Rafah Crossing by the European Union mission, an additional screening and identification process will be conducted at a designated corridor, operated by the defense establishment in an area under IDF control,’ it continued.

This will be the first opening of the Rafah crossing for people since Israel seized the area in May 2024, according to Reuters. Israeli forces captured the territory as part of an effort to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza by the terrorist group Hamas. 

In early 2025, there was an evacuation of medical patients along the route during a temporary ceasefire, The Associated Press reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had said Sunday that Israel agreed to a ‘limited reopening’ of the crossing under President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

‘As part of President Trump’s 20-point plan, Israel has agreed to a limited reopening of the Rafah Crossing for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism,’ the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel wrote. 

The Prime Minister’s Office said the reopening was contingent on the return of all living hostages and what it described as a ‘100 percent effort’ by Hamas to locate and return the remains of all deceased hostages.

Israel on Monday then confirmed that the remains of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, have been recovered and returned home after 842 days. 

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report. 

The Justice Department released more than 3 million Jeffrey Epstein records including his personal emails Friday, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche telling Fox News Digital that ‘in none of these communications, even when doing his best to disparage President Trump, did Epstein suggest President Trump had done anything criminal or had any inappropriate contact with any of his victims.’

‘During the course of our investigation, we seized years and years’ worth of Epstein’s personal emails,’ Blanche told Fox News Digital. ‘These are communications with hundreds and hundreds of individuals discussing intimate details of Epstein’s and others’ lives.’

‘In none of these communications, even when doing his best to disparage President Trump, did Epstein suggest President Trump had done anything criminal or had any inappropriate contact with any of his victims,’ Blanche told Fox News Digital Friday morning. 

Fox News Digital first obtained newly declassified emails from the Epstein case Friday morning. The Justice Department is expected to release more than 3 million pages of records from the files Friday, Blanche said. 

The new records mentioning the president largely show Epstein showing his disdain for Trump and criticizing him during his first administration.

But one email reviewed by Fox News Digital was from March 2016, between Epstein and author and reporter Michael Wolff. In the email, Wolff is encouraging Epstein to come up with an ‘immediate counter narrative’ to James Patterson’s book about him, ‘Filthy Rich: A Powerful Billionaire, the Sex Scandal that Undid Him, and All the Justice that Money Can Buy.’

‘You do need an immediate counter narrative to the book,’ Wolff writes. ‘I believe Trump offers an ideal opportunity. It’s a chance to make the story about something other than you, while, at the same time, letting you frame your own story.’

‘Also, becoming anti-Trump gives you a certain political cover which you decidedly don’t have now,’ he continues.

In another email, three years later, in January 2019, Epstein writes to Wolff: ‘Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.’

In another email, in February 2019, Epstein writes a long email to Wolff, noting that (REDACTED) worked at Mar-a-Lago, and that ‘Trump knew of it and came to my house many times during that period.’

‘He never got a massage,’ Epstein writes.

Epstein then goes on to discuss a business arrangement involving Trump relating to a friend who was having ‘financial difficulty with assisted living homes.’

In another email to Wolff in January 2018, Epstein is complaining about the president, saying that he ‘doesn’t take advice,’ and that ‘his children have little experience and poor judgment.’ 

‘There are huge discrepancies re his real net worth,’ Epstein writes to Wolff. ‘Full disclosure would make it clear.’

Epstein, also in January 2018, continues mocking Trump, calling him ‘dopey Donald or demented Donald,’ and complains about his finances and acquisitions and relationship with Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, in emails between Epstein and Thomas Landon of The New York Times in January 2018, Landon asks if Epstein still is in touch with Wolf, who had published his book ‘Fire and Fury’ about Trump.

‘Yup,’ Epstein replies.

Landon writes: ‘Have to say, he is looking/sounding increasing unhinged—Are you tempted to take any money off the table in the markets?’

‘No. But no question Donalds statement is goofy,’ Epstein replies. It is unclear which Trump statement he is referring to. ‘Early dementia?’

Landon replies: ‘You be judge—wasn’t here a time when he at least completed sentences?’

Epstein writes back: ‘No, he was always stupid.’

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced Wednesday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison will testify under oath next month as part of a congressional investigation into a massive fraud scandal involving the state’s welfare programs.

Walz and Ellison will testify at a hearing on ‘Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part II’ on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at 10 a.m. EST, the committee says.

Walz, who said this week he is not running for political office again, has become the public face of the fraud scandal which exploded under his watch and could total as much as $9 billion of taxpayer funds, according to prosecutors. 

‘Americans deserve answers about the rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs that occurred on Governor Walz’s and Attorney General Ellison’s watch. The House Oversight Committee recently heard sworn testimony from Minnesota state lawmakers who stated that Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison failed to act to stop this widespread fraud and retaliated against whistleblowers who raised concerns,’ Comer said in a press release. 

‘We look forward to questioning Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison under oath about this scandal to ensure transparency and accountability for the American people, and to advance solutions to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse and impose stronger penalties on those who defraud taxpayers.’

The House Oversight Committee launched its investigation in December 2025 after federal prosecutors uncovered what lawmakers say is extensive fraud and money laundering across Minnesota’s social services system. According to the committee, criminals have stolen an estimated $9 billion in taxpayer funds intended to feed children, support autistic children, house low-income and disabled Americans, and provide healthcare to vulnerable Medicaid recipients.

As part of the probe, Comer has demanded documents and communications from Walz and Ellison related to the alleged fraud. He has also requested that the U.S. Department of the Treasury provide all relevant Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, and ordered transcribed interviews with current and former Minnesota state officials. Those interviews are scheduled to conclude in February.

The investigation gained new momentum in January after the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor released a report finding that the Department of Human Services’ Behavioral Health Administration failed to comply with most requirements and lacked adequate internal controls to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

On Jan. 7, the Oversight Committee held the first hearing in the series, where Minnesota lawmakers testified about what they described as years of ignored warnings and systemic failures.

Ellison’s role and alleged lack of oversight in the developing fraud scandal has raised questions as well, including over a 2021 audio recording of him meeting with members of the Somali community who would soon be convicted of defrauding millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz and Ellison’s office for comment.