Former President Bill Clinton broke his silence on the now-infamous photo of himself in a hot tub that was among the millions of pages in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Jeffrey Epstein files release.

Clinton was asked about the photo, which appears to show him and a woman whose identity has been redacted, during his closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Friday.

He said in response to questioning that he did not know who the woman was and that he did not have sex with her, multiple people who were granted anonymity to speak freely confirmed to Fox News Digital.

One of the sources said Clinton intimated that the photo depicted a public hotel pool and that no one pushed back or questioned it.

Clinton is in the hot seat for the committee’s bipartisan investigation into the late financier and sex trafficker for what is expected to be an all-day session of questions into his relationship with Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

In his opening statement this morning, Clinton told lawmakers that he had ‘no idea’ of Epstein’s crimes.

‘Now, let me say what you’re going to hear from me. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos,’ Clinton said, according to his prepared opening remarks.

‘I know what I saw and more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.’

Clinton also warned lawmakers, ‘You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall,’ but said he would not speculate when asked questions.

‘That might be unsatisfying, but I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago, and I’m bound by my oath not to speculate or to guess. This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later,’ Clinton said.

Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., suggested he had an abundance of questions for the former president ahead of the deposition.

‘I think everyone’s seen that there are a lot of photos that have been released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as well as the Epstein estate. There are a lot of email correspondence that included President Clinton,’ Comer said when asked what he needed to hear.

‘Secretary Clinton confirmed this yesterday: Jeffrey Epstein was in the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president. We know that Bill Clinton flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane at least 27 times. So those are questions that we’re going to ask.’

But Clinton said in his opening remarks that he would not have ridden on the plane if he knew the illicit things that took place there.

‘As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I have not 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, not sweetheart deals,’ Clinton said.

‘But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long, and by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.’

Comer also said questions would pertain to Epstein and to Clinton’s relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, the late financier’s accomplice who is serving out a prison term in Texas after being convicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

Comer told reporters that his list of questions for Clinton had ‘increased’ in the wake of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s own deposition before the committee on Thursday.

‘Mrs. Clinton deferred a lot of questions to her husband today. There were at least a dozen times when she said, ‘You’ll have to ask my husband that. I can’t answer that,” the chairman said.

He said that many of those deferrals had to do with the Clintons’ nonprofit work.

‘There are so many examples in the evidence the Department of Justice released, in correspondence where Epstein bragged about how involved he was initially in setting up the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation,’ he said.

‘We asked those questions to Secretary Clinton yesterday, and she kept saying she was in the Senate at that time. She wasn’t focused on it. ‘You’ll have to ask my husband.’ So a lot of the Clinton Global Initiative questions yesterday went unanswered because Mrs. Clinton deferred to her husband.’

The former president defended his wife during his opening statement as well, telling lawmakers that ‘before we start, I have to get personal.’

‘You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him,’ Clinton said. ‘She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her, was simply not right.’

Like Hillary Clinton did in her opening remarks, he said Epstein’s victims deserve both ‘justice’ and ‘healing,’ telling lawmakers that it was for them that he was appearing before the committee.

President Donald Trump was also asked about Clinton’s testimony on Friday and told reporters, ‘I don’t like seeing him deposed.’

Clinton’s deposition began a few minutes after 11 a.m. on Friday, a person familiar with planning told Fox News Digital.

Comer told reporters on Thursday after Hillary Clinton’s sitdown that he expected the ordeal to be ‘even longer’ on Friday. 

Her deposition lasted roughly six hours from start to finish, with a brief lunch break in between.

Neither of the Clintons has been accused of anything related to Epstein’s crimes. But the former president’s name appears multiple times in documents released by the DOJ and the House Oversight Committee pertaining to the investigation into Epstein.

Like his wife’s testimony, Clinton will speak to the committee behind closed doors and under oath. 

The interview will be transcribed, with a video likely to be released within a week of its conclusion.

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When you open a chatbot, stream a show or back up photos to the cloud, you are tapping into a vast network of data centers. These facilities power artificial intelligence, search engines and online services we use every day. Now there is a growing debate over who should pay for the electricity those data centers consume.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address this week, he introduced a new initiative called the Rate Payer Protection Pledge to shift AI-driven electricity costs away from consumers. The core idea is simple. Tech companies that run energy-intensive AI data centers should cover the cost of the extra electricity they require, rather than passing those costs on to everyday customers through higher utility rates.

It sounds simple. The hard part is what happens next.

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Why AI is driving a surge in electricity demand

AI systems require enormous computing power. That computing power requires enormous electricity. Today’s data centers can consume as much power as a small city. As AI tools expand across business, healthcare, finance and consumer apps, energy demand has risen sharply in certain regions.

Utilities have warned that the current grid in many parts of the country was not built for this level of concentrated demand. Upgrading substations, transmission lines and generation capacity costs money. Traditionally, those costs can influence rates paid by homes and small businesses. That is where the pledge comes in.

What the Rate Payer Protection Pledge is designed to do

Under the Rate Payer Protection Pledge, large technology companies would:

• Cover the full cost of additional electricity tied to their data centers
• Build their own on-site power generation to reduce strain on the public grid

Supporters say this approach separates residential energy costs from large-scale AI expansion. In other words, your household bill should not rise simply because a new AI data center opens nearby. So far, Anthropic is the clearest public backer. CyberGuy reached out to Anthropic for a comment on its role in the pledge. A company spokesperson referred us to a tweet from Anthropic’s Head of External Affairs, Sarah Heck.

‘American families shouldn’t pick up the tab for AI,’ Heck wrote in a post on X. ‘In support of the White House rate payer protection pledge, Anthropic has committed to covering 100% of electricity price increases that consumers face from our data centers.’

That makes Anthropic one of the first major AI companies to publicly state it will absorb consumer electricity price increases tied to its data center operations. Other major firms may be close behind. The White House reportedly plans to host Microsoft, Meta and Anthropic in early March to discuss formalizing a broader deal, though attendance and final terms have not been confirmed publicly.

Microsoft also expressed support for the initiative. 

‘The Ratepayer Protection Pledge is an important step,’ Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president, said in a statement to CyberGuy. ‘We appreciate the Administration’s work to ensure that data centers don’t contribute to higher electricity prices for consumers.’  

Industry groups also point to companies such as Google and utilities including Duke Energy and Georgia Power as making consumer-focused commitments tied to data center growth. However, enforcement mechanisms and long-term regulatory details remain unclear.

How this could change the economics of AI

AI infrastructure is already one of the most expensive technology buildouts in history. Companies are investing billions in chips, servers and real estate. If firms must also finance dedicated power plants or pay premium rates for grid upgrades, the cost of running AI systems increases further. That could lead to:

• Slower expansion in some markets
• Greater investment in renewable energy and storage
• More partnerships between tech firms and utilities

Energy strategy may become just as important as computing strategy. For consumers, this shift signals that electricity is now a central part of the AI conversation. AI is no longer only about software. It is also about infrastructure.

The bigger consumer tech picture

AI is becoming embedded in smartphones, search engines, office software and home devices. As adoption grows, so does the hidden infrastructure supporting it. Energy is now part of the conversation around everyday technology. Every AI-generated image, voice command or cloud backup depends on a power-hungry network of servers.

By asking companies to account more directly for their electricity use, policymakers are acknowledging a new reality. The digital world runs on very physical resources. For you, that shift could mean more transparency. It also raises new questions about sustainability, local impact and long-term costs.

What this means for you

If you are a homeowner or renter, the practical question is simple. Will this protect my electric bill? In theory, separating data center energy costs from residential rates could reduce the risk of price spikes tied to AI growth. If companies fund their own generation or grid upgrades, utilities may have less reason to spread those costs across all customers.

That said, utility pricing is complex. It depends on state regulators, long-term planning and local energy markets.

Here is what you can watch for in your area:

• New data center construction announcements
• Utility filings that mention large commercial load growth
• Public service commission decisions on rate adjustments

Even if you rarely use AI tools, your community could feel the effects of a nearby data center. The pledge is intended to keep those large-scale power demands from showing up in your monthly bill.

Think your devices and data are truly protected? Take this quick quiz to see where your digital habits stand. From passwords to Wi-Fi settings, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of what you’re doing right and what needs improvement. Take my Quiz here: Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways

The Rate Payer Protection Pledge highlights an important turning point. AI is no longer only about innovation and speed. It is also about energy and accountability. If tech companies truly absorb the cost of their expanding power needs, households may avoid some of the financial strain tied to rapid AI growth. If not, utility bills could become an unexpected front line in the AI era.

As AI tools become part of daily life, how much extra power are you willing to support to keep them running? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.

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Former President Bill Clinton suggested he could not recall President Donald Trump ever implicating himself in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, one of the Republicans deposing him said Friday.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., briefly updated reporters during Clinton’s deposition in the panel’s Epstein probe. The deposition began a little after 11 a.m. and is expected to continue into early Friday evening.

‘I know there’s a lot of obsession about President Trump from the media, a lot of curiosity about President Trump from media. I want to make a statement because they’ll probably not mention this when they come out here,’ Comer said, referring to Democrats on the committee.

He said the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., asked Clinton if Trump should be called before the committee like he was.

‘That’s for you to decide,’ Clinton said, according to Comer.

‘The president went on to say that the president, Trump, ‘has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved,’ and he meant with Epstein,’ Comer said. ‘I thought that was an interesting thing that President Clinton said.’

His deposition, and that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before him, are taking place in the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, N.Y.

The Clintons have claimed the New York City suburb as their permanent residence since leaving the White House in early 2000.

Democrats who emerged from the performing arts center minutes later to update reporters signaled they did not agree with Comer’s account but would not go into details on their own.

Garcia suggested there was an agreement between all parties not to discuss details of the deposition as it was happening.

‘I think the best response with that is for you to view the complete record what actually he said, which, look, we’re not going to disclose what was said because that’s not in the rules. But Republicans keep breaking the rules,’ the California Democrat told reporters.

‘President Clinton did bring up some additional information about discussions with President Trump. I think that the way Chairman Comer described it, I don’t think it’s a complete, accurate description of what actually was said. 

‘So, let’s release the full transcript, and you can all get a full record of what actually was said, which brings up some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.’

Trump has been a main topic in the increasingly partisan divide in the House Oversight Committee’s probe.

Democrats have accused the GOP side of covering up for Trump at the expense of Epstein’s victims, while Republicans have accused Democrats of using the pedophile and his heinous crimes as a tool for attacking the commander in chief.

Trump told reporters Friday when asked about Clinton, ‘I don’t like seeing him deposed.’

The deposition is ongoing behind closed doors, but the committee is expected to release a video and transcript of the entire sit-down within days of its conclusion. The same is true for Hillary Clinton’s deposition, the video for which could be released as early as this weekend.

The only portion of Clinton’s testimony that is public so far is his opening statement in which he denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes.

‘Now, let me say what you’re going to hear from me. First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos,’ Clinton said, according to his prepared opening remarks.

‘I know what I saw and, more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did and, more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.’

Neither Trump nor Clinton have been implicated in any wrongdoing associated with Epstein or his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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At least two more allies of President Donald Trump have said the Biden-era FBI secretly sought their records, in addition to the records of FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Republican operative Corey Lewandowski, who currently serves as a Department of Homeland Security aide, said Thursday he received the same type of notice that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino disclosed last year regarding records seizures. Both men said they were notified in 2024 that Google had complied with FBI legal demands for information tied to their accounts, underscoring how broadly the bureau’s investigation into Trump extended and fueling Republicans’ claims that President Joe Biden ‘weaponized’ law enforcement to target his political opponents.

‘Funny – I received the same notice,’ Lewandowski wrote on X. ‘Where is the media outcry. Right, they don’t care when it happens to Trump people.’

Lewandowski and Scavino both said the notices they received indicated that Google had been under a court-authorized gag order and could not notify them sooner about the demands for their records. Prosecutors commonly obtain such gag orders as part of their investigations.

Patel, meanwhile, confirmed the existence of the subpoenas for his and Wiles’ phone records in a statement to Fox News this week and said the subpoenas were difficult to access because the files for them had added layers of protection.

‘It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,’ Patel said.

Fox News was told that the subpoenas sought Patel’s and Wiles’ toll records, which include dates and times and phone numbers related to messages and calls but do not include the contents of them. The subpoenas themselves have not been made public, so the details about what they sought remain unconfirmed.

Two FBI officials told Fox News that in 2023, agents also recorded a phone call between Wiles and her lawyer. The officials said the lawyer was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not.

The claim about the lawyer has however been disputed. An unnamed lawyer representing Wiles at the time of the phone call in question denied to Axios that he knew of the FBI recording a phone call between him and his client.

‘If I ever pulled a stunt like that I wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — have a license to practice law. I’m as shocked as Susie,’ the lawyer told the outlet.

While it is unclear exactly what the FBI was investigating, the timing and targets signal the subpoenas could be related to the bureau’s probe into President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. Patel and Wiles, both private citizens during the Biden administration, were known witnesses in the classified documents case, in which special counsel Jack Smith alleged Trump violated the Espionage Act by hoarding national security-related documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

It has previously been widely reported that Patel was summoned to give grand jury testimony in exchange for immunity in 2022 as part of the same probe.

The FBI investigated Trump over both his alleged retention of classified documents and his alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election. Documents released by Congress show that the FBI — and later Smith, after he became special counsel — issued hundreds of subpoenas targeting Republican entities and figures, including the phone records of several GOP lawmakers. Republican targets have characterized Smith’s actions as an egregious abuse of power and hyper-politicized, while Smith has repeatedly defended his work as by-the-book and apolitical.

In line with his claims of a weaponized FBI, Patel fired at least 10 bureau employees around the same time he revealed the subpoenas. The move drew condemnation from the FBI Agents Association, which represents thousands of employees and has maintained that agents’ actions are typically the result of following orders within the chain of command.

‘The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,’ the FBIAA said. ‘These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.’

Former U.S. Attorney John Fishwick of Virginia told Fox News the firings could keep Patel ‘in good stead with President Trump,’ saying Patel did not ‘look like a prototypical G-man’ during his viral and widely reported on celebration at the Olympics in the Team USA men’s ice hockey team’s locker room.

The White House referred Fox News to the FBI when asked for comment. The FBI gave no additional comment. A representative for Smith had no comment.

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report.

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At least a dozen FBI employees were fired this week after revelations that the bureau under the Biden administration allegedly subpoenaed Kash Patel and Susie Wiles’ phone records in 2022 and 2023 as part of a federal probe into then-former President Donald Trump.

More than 10 FBI employees were fired Wednesday, with at least two additional FBI personnel terminated Friday, Fox News has learned.

The FBI allegedly subpoenaed Patel’s and Wiles’ records in 2022 and 2023 while they were private citizens.

Patel now serves as the director of the FBI and Wiles serves as the White House chief of staff.

The names of the fired bureau employees were not shared due to privacy reasons, with the FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) criticizing the firings earlier in the week. 

‘The FBIAA condemns today’s unlawful termination of FBI Special Agents, which—like other firings by Director Patel—violates the due process rights of those who risk their lives to protect our country,’ the organization said in a statement.

‘These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals—ultimately putting the nation at greater risk.’

Reuters first disclosed the subpoenas, which were issued during the Biden administration, while Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. 

Smith ended up charging Trump in 2023 with multiple felony offenses related to alleged efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of the documents after he left office.

A federal judge later dismissed the election interference case after Smith moved to drop it following Trump’s re-election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. 

Smith also dropped the Justice Department’s appeal of a separate ruling that dismissed the classified documents case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both matters.

In a statement to Fox News Wednesday, Patel called the move to seize the phone records ‘outrageous and deeply alarming.’ 

‘It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight,’ he said.

The FBI said it discovered the information in the bureau’s newly discovered ‘prohibited case file.’

Patel also said he recently ended the FBI’s ability to categorize files as ‘prohibited.’

Fox News also learned from two FBI officials that in 2023, FBI agents allegedly recorded a phone call between Wiles and her attorney.

According to those officials, Wiles’ attorney was aware the call was being recorded and consented, but Wiles was not informed.

Wiles’ 2023 attorney disputes those claims. 

‘If I ever pulled a stunt like that I wouldn’t — and shouldn’t — have a license to practice law,’ the unidentified attorney said, according to Axios. ‘I’m as shocked as Susie.’ 

Smith testified in 2025 that records of members’ calls helped investigators verify the timeline of events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

He said prosecutors ‘followed all legal requirements in getting those records’ and told a House panel the records obtained from lawmakers did not include the content of conversations. 

Fox News’ Emma Bussey and Emma Colton contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that he is ‘not happy’ with the way Iran is negotiating.

‘I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have. So I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens, we’re talking later. We’ll have some additional talks today. But, no, I’m not happy with the way they’re going,’ Trump said.

The president also told reporters that he had yet to make a final decision on striking Iran, something that many have speculated could occur in the near future.

When answering a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy, Trump acknowledged that if the U.S. strikes Iran, there is a possibility of a long-term conflict sparking in the Middle East.

‘I guess you could say there’s always a risk. You know, when there’s war, there’s a risk in anything both good and bad,’ Trump said. 

The president then spoke about operations against Iran under his first and second terms, such as the assassination of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, and last summer’s Operation Midnight Hammer. He said that ‘everything’s worked out’ so far.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated, even as the two sides take part in indirect nuclear negotiations. The president on Feb. 19 gave Iran a deadline of roughly 10 to 15 days to reach an agreement, and during his State of the Union address, he underscored that his urgency to make a deal was backed by force.

‘I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror… to have a nuclear weapon,’ he said on Tuesday.

‘We are in negotiations with them,’ Trump added. ‘They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened major consequences in the event that the U.S. and Iran are unable to strike a deal.

While the president said he had not made a decision on the strikes, the State Department appeared to be acting out of caution on Friday as it authorized all non-essential employees at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem to leave Israel. While the warning issued by the embassy did not mention Iran by name, it referenced ‘increased regional tensions.’

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., claimed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was ‘unhinged’ during part of her closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee on Thursday.

‘I asked her a very pointed question, and you’ll see that in the transcript and the video that comes out, and you’ll see how she responded as well, screaming,’ Mace told reporters on Friday morning.

Asked to elaborate, she repeated the word again when telling reporters, ‘I hope that President Clinton is less unhinged today than his wife was yesterday. You’ll see it.’

Democrats, however, swiftly disputed Mace’s account.

‘I hope that the Republicans release the actual video unedited immediately, because to say that the secretary was screaming, I think, is beyond mischaracterization,’ Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said shortly afterward.

He said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., should release the unedited video ‘right now.’

But Mace dug in on her account with a new statement sent to media on Friday morning.

‘Yesterday’s deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be public soon, and you are not going to want to miss it,’ she said. ‘We asked very pointed questions and got three rounds with her. She was screaming. Unhinged and combative every time we brought up Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Not exactly the reaction you’d expect from someone claiming she ‘barely knew them.”

She continued, ‘Today, former President Bill Clinton sits down with the Oversight Committee. We have just as many questions for him, maybe more. Let’s see if he can keep it together better than his wife did.’

Hillary Clinton’s spokesman Nick Merrill pushed back on the characterization, according to CNN.

‘Was she appalled that Congresswoman Mace wouldn’t let her answer a question about her work as a senator after the murder of 3,000 Americans on 9/11? Absolutely,’ Merrill added, the outlet reported.

Fox News Digital reached out to Merrill for comment but did not immediately hear back.

It’s not immediately clear what Mace questioned Clinton on in any of her three rounds.

The former secretary of state’s deposition came just a day before her husband, President Bill Clinton, is sharing his own testimony before the committee.

Hillary Clinton told the committee she could not recall ever meeting Epstein and that she only knew his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as an ‘acquaintance.’

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The ongoing standoff over Homeland Security funding is raising concerns about the potential impact on Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the agency that has helped bring cases against high-profile figures, including Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.

HSI is one of several agencies under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threatened by the ongoing government shutdown.

That branch of DHS acts as the investigative arm for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — the agency that Democrats want to rein in and reform — and handles investigations into human and sex trafficking, drug trafficking, immigration-related crimes, child exploitation and several other areas.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who was anointed the lead negotiator for Senate Republicans in the ongoing DHS funding back-and-forth, told Fox News Digital the agency’s work is ‘critically important.’

‘When you think about interior enforcement, I mean, HSI is a critical component of that,’ Britt said. ‘You look at what they’ve done, you look at the bad actors they’ve been able to hunt down and hold accountable for human trafficking, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, child pornography, trafficking, all kinds of things.’

Other big names whom HSI has played a role in investigating or indicting include R. Kelly, Josh Duggar, Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, and Jared Fogle.

While ICE and other immigration enforcement operations like HSI were funded in part through Republicans’ ‘big, beautiful bill,’ the lapse in ongoing appropriations could threaten supplies in the field and travel, hampering investigations already underway.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that HSI was continuing to function during the shutdown, with arrests and investigations still happening. But as the current 14-day shutdown continues, delays in supply procurement and travel for ‘critical personnel to move around the country’ could be impacted.

‘Our national security and ability to get criminals, including pedophiles and other public safety threats, off the streets could be impacted the longer this Democratic shutdown continues,’ they said.

Senate Democrats and the White House have so far tried and failed to reach a deal to fund DHS after trading offers and counteroffers in a slow back-and-forth over the last two weeks.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., charged that ICE had been ‘unleashed without guardrails’ throughout the country.  

‘This is not border security, this is not law and order, this is chaos — created at the top and felt in so many of our neighborhoods,’ Schumer said.

And with lawmakers gone from Washington, D.C., for the weekend, the shutdown is guaranteed to stretch into its third week. Senate Democrats want stringent reforms to ICE, including requiring agents to obtain judicial warrants, unmask and provide thorough identification — all demands that are red lines for the Republicans and the White House, who fear that doing so would increase the chances of ICE agents being doxxed.

While Republicans and the administration raised concerns about HSI and other ICE functions, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., countered that from his understanding, ‘most everybody at HSI is gone.’

‘They’ve all been deployed to the interior,’ he told Fox News Digital. ‘Not many, if not most, redeployed to interior enforcement. So the administration has gutted HSI.’

‘My impression is that HSI has been one of the agencies that has been essentially turned into ICE Junior,’ Murphy said.

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A man was arrested after a statue of late United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill was defaced with red graffiti in London, the Metropolitan Police noted in a post on X.

Photos show the statue and its base defaced with messages such as ‘NEVER AGAIN IS NOW,’ ‘ZIONIST WAR CRIMINAL’ AND ‘GLOBALISE THE INTIFADA!’

‘Overnight, the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square was graffitied with red paint,’ the police noted in the post on Friday.

‘Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am. A 38-yr-old man is in custody having been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage,’ the police added.

A Dutch activist group claimed credit for the graffiti. 

‘On the morning of 27th February, the statue of Winston Churchill at Parliament Square was defaced with red paint. This protest was organised and executed by @freethefilton24nl,’ a post on Instagram claims.

The post features a pre-recorded statement in which a man says, ‘My name is Olax Outis. I am a citizen of the Netherlands.’ 

He identifies himself as ‘part of a Dutch action group called Free the Filton 24 NL,’ explaining, ‘I’ve come to the United Kingdom to deface statue of one of history’s most well-known war criminals, Winston Churchill.’

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President Donald Trump has lost his tariff case in the Supreme Court. However, with careful and prudent use of the tariff powers he does have, he can turn this into a win for his policies and for America.

The Supreme Court has just ruled in Learning Services v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. While the act unquestionably gives him the power to regulate imports in the event of unusual and extraordinary emergencies, the dispute was whether tariffs – a kind of tax – are legally and constitutionally ‘regulation.’

While there were reasonable arguments on both sides, six of the nine justices ruled they are not, and that the IEEPA does not empower the president to impose tariffs. What are the likely economic consequences of this ruling, and what should it imply for future Trump trade policy?

First, note that as economic policy, tariffs are a bad idea. International trade raises incomes and promotes economic growth in every country that trades. Trade is mutually beneficial, win-win for all trading parties. It is a popular myth that trade destroyed American manufacturing. American manufacturing has steadily increased since 1970, more than doubling, as shown by data collected by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

On the other hand, roughly 90% of the costs of the ‘liberation day’ tariffs have been borne by American businesses and consumers, as shown in analysis by economists at the New York Federal Reserve. The American economy has had solid growth and low unemployment under Trump, but this is owing to his excellent energy and deregulation policies, which have reduced regulatory burdens. Tariff costs are another burden on the economy. Removing this drag should further encourage economic growth and employment.

It is also a popular myth that a trade deficit is a loss for a country. The trade deficit, or current account, is balanced the capital and financial accounts, that is, foreigners investing in America. There are two reasons why foreign investment flows into America. One is that America’s security and dynamism make it an attractive place to invest, a good thing. The other is the Federal government’s growing appetite for borrowing to cover its burgeoning deficits, a bad thing. Tariffs and trade restrictions make America’s economy less dynamic and do nothing to curb the government’s fiscal irresponsibility. There is no good economic argument for tariffs.

However, for foreign policy and national security purposes, tariffs can have an important role. Numerous other laws authorize the president to impose such tariffs. For example, the Trade Act of 1974, Section 122 (under which Trump has now imposed 10% tariffs) authorizes tariffs in the event of severe balance-of-payments deficits. The Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 232, authorizes tariffs on goods for national security purposes.

Numerous other laws authorize the president to impose tariffs. However, all of these include various reasonable conditions and limits. For example, if the president imposes a national security tariff, Section 232 gives the administration 270 days to develop a study justifying the tariff. Trump still holds broad power to impose tariffs, but now it is more constrained and requires transparent reasons for any particular exercise of this power.

While this constrains Trump somewhat, he can turn this into a win for his presidency. Tariff power can be useful as a foreign policy tool, and by using a more nuanced and targeted approach to tariff policy, he can accomplish a lot of good for the American economy.

For example, the European Union is attempting to impose its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards on American firms doing business in Europe, via the EU’s Corporate Due Diligence and Sustainability Mandates. EU mandates would apply to all of a firm’s activities everywhere, not just those in Europe.

Similarly, the EU has attempted to impose its Digital Services Act on American media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Meta. This would require firms to monitor and censor free speech, despite America’s First Amendment protections. Targeted tariffs could be a very useful tool for punching back at this, protecting free commerce and defending American firms from such attacks. This would have the effect of strengthening America’s economy and position in the world.

President Trump has lost a round in the Supreme Court and his ability to impose tariffs is constrained. But with judicious use of the powers he retains, he can turn this into an opportunity to make America stronger and his presidency a greater success.

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