Good afternoon everyone. We are just hours away from a State of the Union address now expected to stretch two to three hours. Ahead of tonight’s speech, Epstein survivors are forcefully condemning Trump, making clear that while he may want to move on from the Epstein files, they never will. At the same time, several members of Team USA’s men’s hockey team are declining to attend, and we are learning that the Pentagon is pressing an AI company to permit mass surveillance of American citizens without human oversight.
I am feeling a little better but am still staying home tonight to recover from the flu. It has been especially brutal this year. I will send you another email after the State of the Union with a full recap. It may be late, so feel free to read it in the morning.
If you are able, please consider subscribing ahead of what is shaping up to be an intense night. Subscriptions are not just support. They power the investigations, the accountability, and the reporting we will continue delivering all year.
Here’s the news:
At a pre-State of the Union lunch with news anchors, NBC News reported that Trump previewed that he will tout what he calls the start of the best three economic years in U.S. history, advocate for new mostly personal tax cuts, announce an agreement requiring major AI and tech companies to pay their own data center electricity costs, and address Iran by saying it wants a deal but has not pledged to forgo building nuclear weapons.
PBS News reports that Trump’s State of the Union address is expected to last over two hours, with one source saying it could extend up to three hours.
Ahead of his State of the Union address, Trump is confronting significantly weakened public trust on the economy, with polls showing approval ratings in the high 30s to low 40s and clear majority disapproval, marking a sharp reversal from previous elections when economic confidence was a core political strength and raising concerns for Republicans heading into the 2026 midterms.
Hakeem Jeffries said, ahead of the State of the Union,: “These poll numbers for Donald Trump are like an extinction-level event.”
Amanda Roberts, sister in law of Jeffrey Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, issued a warning to Trump ahead of the State of the Union, saying survivors will not “move on” and accusing his administration of treating them with disgrace, contempt and dismissal.
Annie Farmer, an Epstein survivor, said the names of many powerful individuals remain redacted while victims’ names, personal information and even nude images were released, accusing the administration of responding with denial and distraction.
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky, speaking about attending Trump’s State of the Union, questioned how anyone can feel safe if the president shows sympathy toward Prince Andrew instead of survivors and demanded immediate action by asking where the remaining files are, why more investigations have not been launched, and why the FBI director is not focused on probing what she called a vast criminal enterprise, concluding with a call to “release the damn files.”
After Trump phoned the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team following their gold medal win and joked that he would be “impeached” if he did not also invite the women’s team, the locker room reaction sparked online backlash and a broader culture war, with the women’s team declining the State of the Union invitation due to prior commitments, some players facing criticism for laughing at Trump’s remark, conservatives praising the men’s patriotism, and the controversy overshadowing both teams’ historic victories.
Twenty members of the U.S. men’s hockey team visited the White House and are expected to attend Trump’s State of the Union address, with five players not present: Brock Nelson, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Oettinger, Jake Guentzel, and Kyle Connor.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., plan to sit together during the State of the Union, highlighting their bipartisan work on legislation compelling the DOJ to release Jeffrey Epstein files, despite the tradition of members sitting by party affiliation.
This afternoon, Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, who the Trump Administration indicted for conducting oversight of an ICE detention facility, released the following State of the Union “pre-buttal” address”
Trump has invited the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, the 20 year old National Guard member who was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., last year, to attend the State of the Union.
At a high-stakes meeting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a Friday deadline to drop the company’s AI guardrails — including restrictions on autonomous lethal systems and mass domestic surveillance — or potentially lose its roughly $200 million Pentagon contract, face being labeled a “supply-chain risk,” or be compelled under measures like the Defense Production Act to allow unrestricted military use of its Claude AI model, as the Pentagon pushes for broader access while Anthropic insists on maintaining ethical limits.
After a classified briefing on Iran, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the situation “is serious” and criticized the Trump administration for not clearly explaining its objectives or strategy to Congress and the American people, urging greater transparency and justification for any potential actions regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
Rep. Tony Gonzales said he will not resign despite reports that he sent sexual messages to a staffer with whom he allegedly had an affair, declining to address the details while emphasizing his work for constituents as he faces a competitive March 3 Republican primary challenge from Brandon Herrera.
According to NBC News, four people were killed in a stabbing at a home in Key Peninsula, Washington, and a 32 year old male suspect was fatally shot by a deputy responding to a report of a no contact order violation, with authorities saying the relationship between the suspect and victims remains unknown and the investigation is ongoing.
Today, the House failed to pass the bipartisan ROTOR Act aviation safety bill, which would mandate expanded aircraft tracking technology, after the Pentagon withdrew support citing budgetary and national security concerns, leaving the measure short of the two thirds majority required under suspension of the rules despite majority backing and emotional appeals from families of the January 2025 DCA crash victims.
According to CNN, the Trump administration is considering requiring banks to verify the citizenship status of current and future customers as part of its immigration crackdown, a move that could involve an executive order and has alarmed the financial industry over concerns about feasibility and banks being drawn into immigration enforcement.
Trump is expected to call for new corporate and personal tax cuts in his State of the Union address, including proposing an unconventional tax-cut idea for both individuals and businesses that he says could potentially be implemented without Congressional approval, according to reports from media anchors and outlets including Fox and Bloomberg News.
See you tonight.
— Aaron
