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Bill Gates, Elon Musk among big names in Epstein files. Here’s what the latest documents show.

2026-02-02T15:39:00-0500 / CBS News

A slew of notable individuals appear in the latest Justice Department release of Jeffrey Epstein files, and the documents reveal new details about Epstein’s ties to figures including Bill Gates, Elon Musk and former Prince Andrew.

The documents were released on Friday, more than 40 days after the Dec. 19 legal deadline for the Justice Department to release all files in line with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed in November.

Earlier batches of files included emails and photos of prominent figures, including President Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Woody Allen, Larry Summers and others. They have not been accused of wrongdoing.

CBS News is still reviewing the documents independently and in collaboration with journalists from NBC, Versant and The Associated Press.

Here is a look at some of the notable figures who appear in the latest files:

Former Prince Andrew

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The latest materials include photos of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was formerly known as Prince Andrew, on all fours over an unidentified woman on the floor. No context for the photos is provided, and it is unclear when and where they were taken.

In one of the photos, in which they are fully clothed, he is touching her abdomen. In another, he stares directly into the camera while crouching over her.

Images from an undated and redacted document released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Jan. 30, 2026, show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, leaning over an unidentified person. Justice Department/AP/CBS News

Andrew, the brother of King Charles and son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing, but he has been stripped of his royal titles and duties in the wake of the scandal.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday suggested that Mountbatten-Windsor should tell U.S. investigators what he knows about Epstein’s activities.

“In terms of testifying, I’ve always said anybody who’s got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they’re asked to do that, because you can’t be victim-centered if you’re not prepared to do that,” Starmer said.

Mountbatten-Windsor has ignored a request from House Oversight Committee members for a “transcribed interview” about his “long-standing friendship” with Epstein.

CBS News has reached out to his representatives for comment.

Elon Musk

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Emails exchanged between Elon Musk and Epstein more than a decade ago indicate they sometimes spent time around the holidays together in the Caribbean, and may have visited Epstein’s island at least once.

In a Nov. 25, 2012 email, Epstein asked Musk how many people he would be bringing for the helicopter ride to the island. Musk responded, “Probably just Talulah and me.” Talulah Riley was Musk’s wife at the time.

Musk then asked, “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”

On Christmas Day, he sent another note, again asking about parties: “Do you have any parties planned? I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year, and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St. Barts or elsewhere and let loose. The invitation is much appreciated, but a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I’m looking for.”

The next year, in a November 2013 email, Epstein asked Musk if he would come to the Caribbean for Christmas. He said Woody Allen was with him and that Musk “might enjoy” the trip.

“Yes,” Musk responded.

Although CBS News has not independently verified that Musk attended, the following year, in a September 2014 email, Epstein asked Musk if he would join for Christmas “again” in St. Barts.

“Don’t know,” Musk responded.

At the end of October, Epstein’s assistant, Lesley Groff, sent a schedule reminder to Epstein that noted Musk “is to go to the island on Dec. 6th,” although a subsequent email on Dec. 5, 2014, had a schedule note saying, “Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)”

Musk wrote on X Saturday that he “had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island or fly on his ‘Lolita Express,’ but was well aware that some email correspondence with him could be misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.”

CBS News has reached out to Musk for comment.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick

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Former Wall Street executive and now Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his family spent time on Epstein’s island, Little Saint James, in 2012, emails show.

Lutnick’s wife, Allison, planned a visit with their four children and another family around the end of that year and emailed with Lesley Groff, Epstein’s then assistant, to coordinate their travel.

Howard Lutnick was invited for lunch with Epstein on his island, and that appears to have taken place. On Dec. 24, 2012, a person whose name was redacted wrote to Lutnick on behalf of Epstein to tell him “it was nice seeing you.”

But Lutnick claimed in an interview last October with the New York Post that he and his wife had cut ties with Epstein in 2005, after taking a tour of his New York townhouse. They had moved in next door to Epstein.

Lutnick told the New York Post that Epstein had shown them his massage room and commented on the massages he received there. Lutnick said he and his wife quickly left, “and in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”

A Commerce Department spokesperson, in a statement to CBS News, said that Lutnick “had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”

New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch

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In a 2013 email exchange between New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch and Epstein, the two men discussed multiple women.

In one email, Tisch asked for details about a “Ukrainian Girl” who had lunch with him after meeting at Epstein’s house. He called her a “very sweet girl.”

Epstein replied that the woman had “a 10 ass” and is a “character,” adding he would get “all info” on her.

Tisch responded that he was “curious to know about” the woman, and asked Epstein if she is a “pro or civilian?” prompting Epstein to reply that he doesn’t “like records of these conversations.”

Regarding a different woman, Tisch asked Epstein, “Is she fun?”

Epstein replied that the woman is “a civilian, but russian, and rarely tells the full truth, but fun.”

In a separate email, after it appears Tisch met with a woman, Epstein told Tisch that a “report” was “just in” from their encounter, and he told the Giants owner that “you did very well… she is a little freaked by the age difference but go slow…”

In another email from the same year, Tisch appeared to be emailing with a woman that Epstein had introduced him to, writing to her, “Jeffrey Epstein is very excited about you and I meeting each other… I like that idea… do you?”

Epstein then appeared to give him tips about the woman’s life, suggesting she was still in college and could not travel during the week to meet Tisch.

“Never heard back from her,” Tisch wrote to Epstein in a reply. “Oh well…”

Other emails show Tisch inviting Epstein to a Giants football game and Epstein inviting Tisch to his private island.

Tisch said in a statement to CBS News: “We had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy, and investments. I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”

CBS News has reached out to the NFL and the Giants for comment.

Bill Gates

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Two emails Epstein sent to himself on July 18, 2013, contain unverified allegations that Bill Gates had extramarital “sex with Russian girls” that resulted in a sexually transmitted infection requiring antibiotics.In one email, Epstein claimed Gates also sought to “surreptitiously give” the antibiotics to his then wife Melinda Gates.

In another, which Epstein drafted as a resignation letter from the perspective of someone named “Boris,” he said, “I have been asked and wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate, to the ethically unsound and have been repeatedly asked to do thing (sic) that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal…From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with russian girls, to facilitating his illicit trusts, with married women, to being asked to provide adderall fro (sic) bridge touramnts (sic), as I am a medial (sic) doctor, but have no presriptions (sic) writing ability.”

The emails appear to have been written by Epstein on behalf of an aggrieved employee of Bill Gates who was resigning. The Daily Mail and other outlets have suggested Epstein may have been drafting a resignation letter for Boris Nikolic, a physician and a former employee of Bill Gates.

A spokesperson for Bill Gates told CBS News: “These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Epstein tried to threaten Gates after discovering he had an affair with a Russian bridge player named Mila Antonova, whom Gates had met in 2010. Neither Gates nor Antonova have confirmed the affair.

President Trump

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President Trump consistently has said he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club and ended their friendship two decades ago, and while there are hundreds of references to Mr. Trump in the trove of newly released documents, the president claimed they further exonerate him.

Among the documents is a September 2009 deposition in which Epstein’s former house manager, Juan Alessi, said Mr. Trump “never” stayed over at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, and also never got a massage while there.

There is also a message sent Sept. 28, 2012, asking: “what does JE think of going to Mar-a-Lago after xmas instead of his island?” “JE” apparently refers to Epstein; the names of the sender and the recipient are redacted. It’s unclear whether there was any response.

The Justice Department said in a press release that some of the material in the Epstein-related documents contains untrue information about Mr. Trump.

“I didn’t see it myself but I was told by some very important people that not only does it absolve me, it’s the opposite of what people were hoping, you know, the radical left,” the president said on Saturday as he flew to Florida.

Steve Bannon

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Among the files released on Friday is nearly two hours of video from an interview Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief White House strategist during his first administration, conducted with Epstein.

Earlier Epstein document releases showed Bannon and Epstein often corresponded, and that Epstein sought to revive his shattered reputation through a documentary with Bannon.

The file and video do not make clear when the interview was recorded. In the interview, Bannon asked Epstein, “What are you, class three sexual predator?”

“Tier one,” Epstein replied.

Bannon asked, “You’re tier — what is — tier one’s the highest and worst?”

Epstein responded that no, “I’m the lowest.”

“You’re the lowest. Okay, tier one, you’re the lowest, but a criminal,” said Bannon.

“Yes,” Epstein replied.

Epstein also told Bannon, “I don’t know why I’m attracted to somebody. I don’t know people are attracted to each other.”

Emails from November and December 2018 also indicate Steve Bannon and his son, Sean Bannon, received Hermes Apple watches, priced at $1,499 at the time, from Epstein. They were identical models — “44 mm, space gray, stainless steel case, space black,” — the email said.

Lesley Groff, who was Epstein’s assistant, wrote, “Jeffrey will give to Steve when he sees him next.” In January 2019, there was another email from a redacted name sent to Epstein that read, “Steve has been given his Apple Watch!”

CBS News has reached out to Bannon by phone and email.

Brett Ratner

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The files release includes photos showing filmmaker Brett Ratner with Epstein and two females.

The photos show Ratner with his arms around a female in a white top. They are on a couch next to Epstein, who is shoulder-to-shoulder with another female.

CBS News has reached out to Ratner’s production company, Ratpac Entertainment, for comment.

In 2017, multiple women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct and he was dropped from a number of film projects. He denied any wrongdoing.

Ratner recently directed “Melania,” a documentary that offers an inside look at the life of first lady Melania Trump in the days after the president’s 2024 election victory.

Dr. Mehmet Oz

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A transaction report shows that in 2004, Jeffrey Epstein paid for the travel of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor and talk show host who now heads the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The report shows $1,592 was billed to Shoppers Travel, Inc.

Epstein was also invited to an event in 2014 in which Oz was a guest speaker, but Epstein wrote in an email that he was unavailable to attend.

Additionally, in 2016, Oz sent an email to Epstein, but the message is redacted.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where Oz has served as administrator since 2025, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kathryn Ruemmler

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Kathryn Ruemmler, who was White House counsel under former President Obama from 2011 to 2014, said in a December 2015 email that she adores Epstein.

“I adore him. It’s like having another older brother!” Ruemmler said to a redacted recipient, according to the emails released by the Justice Department. Ruemmler made the comment after Epstein offered to buy her a first-class ticket to Europe.

Ruemmler also served as associate White House counsel to former President Bill Clinton. She is now the chief legal officer and general counsel at Goldman Sachs.

In 2023, she told the Wall Street Journal, “I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein.”

Woody Allen

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In a May 2015 text message exchange, Epstein asks filmmaker Woody Allen if he wants to have a “day museum White House trip” the next week. That would have been when former President Barack Obama was in office.

Allen replied, “With my rap sheet I’ll never get past security.”

It’s unclear if they were referring to visiting someone at the White House or simply a tourist trip. Another person appears to be included in the text exchange, but the name is redacted.

Allen has not been charged with any crimes, and he has denied accusations by Mia Farrow that he molested their adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.

Bill Clinton and Jeff Bezos

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In an October 2009 email to Epstein from Peggy Siegal, a publicist and New York socialite, said she just left Ghislaine Maxwell’s house, where an after-party for an unnamed film was being held.

“Bill Clinton and Jeff Bezos were there,” she wrote.

Clinton’s name and photos surfaced in previous sets of documents related to Epstein.

A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019, after Epstein was indicted on federal charges, that the former president took four trips on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003, traveling to Europe, Asia and Africa. Angel Ureña, the spokesperson, said the trips included stops in connection with the Clinton Foundation, and staff, foundation supporters, and Clinton’s Secret Service detail were on every leg of every trip.

“President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago or those with which he has been recently charged in New York,” he said.

Graham Kates, Daniel Ruetenik, Emma Nicholson, Ibrahim Aksoy, Sheena Samu, Zak Hudak, Kathryn Watson, Kristin Brown and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Jeffrey Epstein

‘The President of the United States needs to read the Constitution’: Fmr judge rebuffs Trump call to ‘nationalize’ elections | CNN Politics

By Blake McGill, CNN
Published 3:36 PM EST, Mon February 2, 2026

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‘The President of the United States needs to read the Constitution’: Fmr judge rebuffs Trump call to ‘nationalize’ elections

President Donald Trump called on Republicans to “nationalize the voting” in an interview with Dan Bongino, the former deputy director of the FBI. Former US District Judge John E. Jones III joins CNN’s Brianna Keilar to react.

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Ed Martin: Trump’s one-time weaponization chief is expected to depart Justice Department in coming weeks

Published Feb 2, 2026, 2:15 PM ET / Updated Feb 2, 2026, 4:11 PM ET / CNN

Ed Martin, who has been working inside the Trump Justice Department for over nine months after failing to secure a confirmation as US Attorney in Washington, DC, is expected to leave the department in the coming weeks, according to a source familiar with his plans.

Martin had been previously described as President Donald “Trump’s favorite US Attorney,” but sources say his imminent departure is the result of moves made by another one of Trump’s favorite Justice officials — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“President Trump appointed Ed Martin as Pardon Attorney and Ed continues to a great job in that role,” a Justice Department spokesperson told CNN Monday.

Martin, a Missouri Republican, burnished his MAGA credentials following the 2021 US Capitol attack, becoming a vocal defender of Trump’s voter fraud claims in the 2020 election and of January 6 rioters — some of whom he represented as an attorney.

Trump appointed Martin to serve at the interim US attorney for Washington, DC, shortly after taking office in January 2025. Martin immediately started working on Trump’s agenda, including demoting senior prosecutors who worked on cases related to January 6 and vowing to protect employees of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

He ultimately failed to receive enough support from the Senate and Trump pulled his nomination for the position in May 2025.

Trump then put Martin in serval new positions within the Justice Department, including the director of the Working Weaponization Group and pardon attorney.

Martin urged for the prosecution of Trump’s political adversaries and, this summer, posed for photos outside the Brooklyn home of New York Attorney General Letitia James while he was also conducting investigations into her conduct.

Sources familiar with the situation say that once Martin was installed in his office inside Justice Department headquarters in Washington, Blanche – one of Trump’s former personal lawyers – made moves to significantly limit Martin’s ability to wield power.

Even though he was tapped to the lead the Department’s Weaponization Working Group, a source tells CNN Martin was “layered” by the deputy attorney general and was not really in charge of that effort.

As deputy attorney general, Blanche is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the agency. He previously served as Trump’s personal attorney. He has taken on a more public-facing role as Attorney General Pam Bondi faced a series of missteps. Last week, Blanche led the press conference alone on the release of Epstein documents.

“The fact is that Ed was given all opportunity to lead this group and deliver on its mission, but he did nothing,” a person familiar with the efforts of the Weaponization Working Group said. “Others across the Department have since been making great progress and doing the work that should have been happening under Ed’s leadership.”

CNN reported Monday that the Weaponization Working Group was expected to begin meeting every day to deliver on those issues that are a priority for the president. It was unclear if Martin was even invited to that meeting.

Martin appears to have more power in his role as pardon attorney, according to sources familiar. He has been actively involved in reviewing clemency applications, but the final decision on pardons in the Trump Administration, as in other administrations, are largely made inside the White House.

Martin’s office is currently located inside the pardon office. It is unclear where Martin is headed after he departs the Justice Department, but a source familiar with his plan says he spent most of last week at the White House.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Homeland Security officers in Minneapolis will be issued body cameras, Noem says

Updated Feb 2, 2026, 5:39 PM ET | PUBLISHED Feb 2, 2026, 5:24 PM ET | CNN Politics

By [Holmes Lybrand]

US Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 8.

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images/File

All Homeland Security officers on the ground in Minneapolis will be issued body cameras, Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday.

“Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem wrote in a social media post. “As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide. We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”

Advocates and critics of the administration’s immigration operations have long called for Department of Homeland Security officers — including from ICE and Customs and Border Protection — to wear body cameras. DHS officers themselves have resorted, at times, to filming tense interactions with protestors on their own personal devices.

One of the most well-known instances was when the officer who shot and killed Renee Good filmed the incident on his cellphone.

After two officers shot and killed Alex Pretti in late January, investigators began reviewing over 30 body cameras worn by officers that day to piece together what had taken place in the moments before his death.

[Related article Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 8, 2026, Protest at the Whipple Federal building in response to the shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who killed the woman. Police agent taking video of the protesters on his phone. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images ICE shunned body cams in Minnesota. So why are agents using phone cameras? 11 min read]

Customs and Border Protection’s internal investigation found in it’s initial report, which included a review of the body worn camera footage, that only the two officers had fired their own weapons.

CNN’s Alayna Treene pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt last week on why the administration had not required DHS officers to wear body cameras in the wake of the shooting of Pretti, an ICU nurse.

Leavitt said conversations were ongoing. “I’ll leave it to them and the president to make that decision,” she added.

President Donald Trump on Monday said he was leaving decisions regarding the use of body cameras to Noem.

“Well, it wasn’t my decision. I would have, you know — I leave it to her,” the president said. “They generally tend to be good for law enforcement, because people can’t lie about what’s happening … But if she wants to do that, I’m OK with it,” Trump said.

Noem’s announcement also comes after Senate Democrats and Trump brokered a deal to temporarily extend DHS funding for two weeks as Republicans and Democrats negotiations over demands on the left to rein in ICE tactics continue.

The funding bill has cleared the Senate, with pressure now on House Republicans.

As Democrats continue to outline their demands on reforming or curbing the tactics of DHS immigration officers, some Republicans — even staunch backers of the administration’s immigration enforcement — have voiced support for mandating body worn cameras.

“I don’t have a problem with that personally,” Republican Senator and member of the Senate’s homeland security committee Ron Johnson told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.

Johnson said he opposes other efforts by Democrats, including to mandate judicial warrants in immigration cases.

“We have got millions of cases backlogged,” he said. “So demanding judicial warrants is their sneaky way of basically neutering our ability to enforce any immigration laws.”

Minnesota school board chair provides an update on 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos | CNN Politics

By Blake McGill, CNN
Published 3:55 PM EST, Mon February 2, 2026

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Judge wipes away order requiring feds to preserve evidence gathered at Alex Pretti shooting scene

PUBLISHED Feb 2, 2026, 4:55 PM ET / By Devan Cole

An image of Alex Pretti is seen at a makeshift memorial in the area where Alex Pretti was shot dead by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on January 26.

Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

A Minnesota judge has wiped away an order he issued last month that required federal investigators to preserve evidence gathered at the scene of Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting by immigration officers.

US District Judge Alex Tostrud said he was lifting the emergency order he issued the day of Pretti’s shooting that barred various federal investigatory offices from destroying or altering any evidence related to the incident because he had gotten assurances from federal officials that evidence would be properly maintained.

The judge, an appointee of President Donald Trump, had imposed the requirement at the behest of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office after they raised concerns in court that their own investigative efforts into the incident could be undermined absent his intervention.

“Though the record is not one-sided, the greater weight of the evidence shows Defendants are not likely to destroy or improperly alter evidence related to Mr. Pretti’s shooting during the life of this case, and other relevant considerations do not on balance favor a continuing preservation order,” Tostrud wrote in an 18-page decision.

“The temporary restraining order’s terms are not meaningfully different from defendants’ preservation policies,” the judge wrote. “An ongoing preservation order – and the contempt power that accompanies it – would overlay, not just defendants’ preservation polices, but any investigative measures that might alter evidence.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension told CNN that talks with federal investigators on sharing evidence in the case are ongoing, adding that they are “hopeful” an agreement can be reached. Thus far, however, the FBI and Homeland Security Invesdtigations have not shared information with local investigators.

In his ruling, Tostrud went on to say that “examination and testing often leave evidence in a different condition after testing than it was before” and that such potential changes occurring under his now-dissolved order would have forced him to play what he described as an improper role in the government’s investigation into the shooting.

“Legitimate concerns over whether those types of investigative measures comply with a preservation order might reasonably prompt defendants to seek judicial direction,” Tostrud wrote. “That, in turn, would inject the court into Defendants’ investigation, not just their evidence preservation.”

The BCA had been iced out of an earlier federal probe into a different fatal shooting of a US citizen, Renee Good, by federal agents in Minnesota and the lawsuit before Tostrud represented a frenzied effort by the state investigators to ensure they’d later have access to the evidence for their own inspection.

An FBI official swore in court papers last month that “evidence was packaged by trained evidence collectors” who wore the correct personal equipment and packaged the evidence in tamper-proof evidence tape. The evidence the FBI collected is in a secure evidence room with controlled access in the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office.

CNN’s Holmes Lybrand and Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.

Trump strikes deal to lower tariffs on India, saying Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil

Updated on: February 2, 2026 / 2:15 PM EST / CBS News

Washington— President Trump announced Monday that he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to a trade deal that will lower tariffs on products from India to 18% and halt India’s purchase of Russian oil.

In a post on Truth Social, the president said Modi also committed to buy American products at a much higher level and purchase more than $500 billion in U.S. energy, technology, agriculture, coal and other goods. The president said India will buy more oil from the U.S. and “potentially” Venezuela.

“He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela,” Mr. Trump wrote. “This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine, which is taking place right now, with thousands of people dying each and every week! Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%. They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO.”

Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on products from India of as high as 50% last year in a bid to pressure the country from buying Russian oil. India is one of Russia’s largest crude oil customers, and the country’s continued trade with Moscow during the war in Ukraine has strained the U.S.-India relationship.

Modi later confirmed the reduced tariff rate on X.

“Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%,” Modi wrote. “Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement. When two large economies and the world’s largest democracies work together, it benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.”

India struck a landmark trade agreement with the European Union last week, with some leaders saying that Mr. Trump’s trade policies spurred the two sides to finalize a deal that had been years in the making.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-indian-prime-minister-agreed-to-stop-buying-russian-oil/

Ed Martin removed from role as weaponization czar at Justice Dept., sources say

February 2, 2026 / 4:08 PM EST / CBS News

Ed Martin has been removed from his role as the head of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Weaponization Working Group, multiple sources told CBS News.

Martin, a close ally to President Trump, was tapped to lead the working group after he failed to garner enough support from the Republican-controlled Senate to win confirmation as D.C.’s U.S. attorney, largely due to his history of political advocacy in supporting the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Martin was also named pardon attorney — an advisory role to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that entails reviewing clemency applications and making recommendations. Later, he was separately deputized as a special assistant U.S. attorney who was tasked with helping to investigate mortgage fraud cases involving public officials.

He remains on staff as pardon attorney, according to a Justice Department spokesperson. CNN first reported Martin’s removal as weaponization czar.

Behind the scenes, Martin was involved in the mortgage-related investigations into Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California, New York Attorney General Letitica James and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, sources familiar told CBS News, though his exact role remains unclear.

All of those probes were initially referred to the Justice Department by William Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and a staunch Trump ally.

CBS News could not immediately determine why Martin is no longer involved with the Weaponization Working Group. One source told CBS he was informed of the change in December, and it took effect in early January.

Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martin has at times clashed with officials inside Blanche’s office since he started working there last year over his lack of productivity on the working group and his controversial social media posts, several sources told CBS News.

In late 2025, the Justice Department began scrutinizing Martin and Pulte’s role in the Schiff investigation, after prosecutors issued a grand jury subpoena to a key witness in the case.

The witness, California politician and real estate agent Christine Bash, was asked to provide information about her communications with Martin, Pulte and anyone who might have been acting at their behest — including Robert Bowes and Scott Strauss, according to a copy of the subpoena seen by CBS News.

Bondi in mid-December denied in a post on X that Pulte was being investigated, calling it “Fake news.”

Bowes previously served in the first Trump administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and also held positions at Chase Manhattan Bank and Fannie Mae.

One source briefed on the matter told CBS News that prosecutors were trying to ascertain whether Pulte and Martin had improperly deputized Bowes and Strauss to assist on the Schiff investigation.

CBS News could not determine the status of that investigation. Schiff, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been charged in the case.

Martin’s brief tenure as interim U.S. attorney in Washington was fraught with controversy. Career lawyers blocked him from opening a criminal investigation into Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer over political comments he made in 2020 in which Schumer said that several conservative Supreme Court justices would “pay the price” over actions that scaled back abortion rights.

He also drew scrutiny for a series of threatening letters he sent to a variety of Mr. Trump’s political enemies, for his omission on Senate committee paperwork about his prior paid appearances on Russia state-owned media outlets and his prior public praise for a Nazi sympathizer who was prosecuted for storming the Capitol.

Shortly before Martin started his new role as the head of the Weaponization Working Group, he disclosed to lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s office that he was facing a professional ethics investigation by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. CBS News could not immediately determine the status of that probe.

The weaponization working group was tasked with reviewing a variety of cases that were brought during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, including the Jan. 6 prosecutions, the FACE Act prosecutions against people who tried to obstruct abortion clinics and alleged retaliation against whistleblowers.

Although the group is required to issue reports to the White House, little has been accomplished since it formed last year, several sources say.

Jennifer Jacobs contributed to this report.

All immigration officers in Minneapolis will start wearing body cameras, Noem says

February 2, 2026 / 5:34 PM EST / CBS News

All federal immigration agents in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Monday, as the department faces intense scrutiny over a pair of fatal shootings by federal agents in the Twin Cities.

“Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem said in a post on X, writing that she had discussed the move with the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

She added that the policy will be “expanded nationwide” as funding becomes available, writing: “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”

President Trump expressed support for the decision on Monday, saying body cameras “generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening.”

The Department of Homeland Security has deployed some 3,000 agents to the Minneapolis area, part of a monthslong crackdown on people accused of being in the U.S. illegally and amid an ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota.

But the department has faced bipartisan criticism and questions about its tactics since the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by two CBP agents in Minneapolis late last month, which came weeks after Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent. White House border czar Tom Homan, who was dispatched to Minnesota after Pretti’s death, said last week that he’s preparing for a “drawdown” of forces in the state, but the timeline is not clear.

Federal agents already wear body cameras in certain cases. DHS has body camera footage from multiple federal agents who were on the scene for Pretti’s death, CBS News previously reported. The footage was referenced in a preliminary report to Congress by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

A federal judge last year ordered federal agents to wear body cameras during all “law enforcement activities” in an earlier immigration surge in Chicago. The judge later told federal officials the order “wasn’t a suggestion” and was “not up for debate.”

Senate Democrats are pressing for all immigration agents to be required by law to wear body cameras, part of a litany of reforms sought by the party in exchange for their votes to fund DHS for the rest of the fiscal year. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the demand last week as a “masks off, body cameras on” policy.

A previously negotiated bill to fund DHS until September included $20 million for ICE and CBP to purchase body cameras. But since Pretti’s shooting, Democratic senators have said they will not vote for any DHS funding legislation that doesn’t include deeper reforms. The Senate voted late last week to extend DHS funding for two weeks to buy Congress time to hash out a longer-term deal. The House is expected to vote on that temporary funding measure this week.

Former President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 setting the stage for requiring all federal agents to wear body cameras in “all appropriate circumstances,” part of a broader set of changes to federal law enforcement. That order was rescinded by Mr. Trump shortly after his second inauguration last year.

Clintons’ latest offer to avoid contempt vote rebuffed by Republican chairman

By Annie Grayer
3 hr ago
PUBLISHED Feb 2, 2026, 2:01 PM ET

Committee Chairman James Comer, flanked by images of former President Bill Clinton, during a House Oversight Committee meeting on January 21, 2026.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP/File

Attorneys representing Bill and Hillary Clinton made a last-ditch offer to avoid a House contempt of Congress vote in the congressional Jeffrey Epstein probe, but were rejected by Oversight Chair James Comer.

“It has been nearly six months since your clients first received the Committee’s subpoena, more than three months since the original date of their depositions, and nearly three weeks since they failed to appear for their depositions commensurate with the Committee’s lawful subpoenas,”Comer wrote. “Your clients’ desire for special treatment is both frustrating and an affront to the American people’s desire for transparency.”

The correspondence, obtained by CNN, reveals that the Clintons’ team has been in search of an off-ramp for days. Attorneys for the former president and former secretary of state have been in discussion with the Republican-led committee multiple times since lawmakers from both parties voted in January to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to appear for in-person depositions as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein.

By rejecting the Clintons’ most recent offer, Comer has all but ensured that the House will hold a final vote this week on the contempt resolutions.

According to the letter dated January 31, the Clintons’ lawyers laid out the terms under which the former president would sit for a voluntary, transcribed interview. He would sit for four hours in New York City for an interview limited to the scope of the Epstein probe, they said. Lawmakers from both parties and their staff could ask questions, and the lawyers said both the Clintons and the committee could have their own transcriber present, according to the letter.

Even though the lawyers continued to push for the panel to drop its subpoena for Hillary Clinton’s testimony, they said she could submit a second sworn declaration or appear for an in-person interview in a similar format to her husband.

In exchange, Clinton attorneys Ashley Callen and David E. Kendall asked Comer to withdraw the subpoenas and contempt resolutions against them.

Bill Clinton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing related the Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.

Comer rejected the offer from the Clintons’ attorneys as “unreasonable” and said he could not accept such terms.

He could not agree, he said, to changing the interview from a sworn deposition to a voluntary interview, and rejected the way in which the attorneys sought to limit the interview’s scope. Comer noted if the attorneys had offered a voluntary interview when the former president first received his subpoena for testimony in August, the situation could have played out differently.

“But given that he has already failed to appear for a deposition and has refused for several months to provide the Committee with in-person testimony, the Committee cannot simply have faith that President Clinton will not refuse to answer questions at a transcribed interview, resulting in the Committee being right back where it is today,” the Kentucky Republican wrote.

Clinton, he added, would have incentive to attempt to “run out the clock” if the committee agreed to a firm, four-hour time limit for an interview. And the Republican chairman questioned why the Clintons wanted their own transcriber, if an official court reporter provided by the panel would be present.

In his letter, Comer referenced how the process played out for former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who agreed to sit for an in-person deposition, not a voluntary transcribed interview, following a committee vote to hold him in contempt.

Ultimately, Comer also rejected the proposals laid out for Hillary Clinton.