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Judge orders Abrego Garcia free from ICE custody, citing lack of gov’t action | Fox News

By Breanne Deppisch, Jake Gibson | Fox News
Published February 17, 2026 2:55pm EST | Updated February 17, 2026 6:39pm EST

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody — an update that comes just days before he is slated to appear in Nashville for a key court date in a separate criminal case.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to convert her previous emergency order blocking ICE from immediately re-detaining Abrego Garcia into a longer-term form of injunctive relief sought by his lawyers.

She said Tuesday that the Trump administration failed to provide the court with any “good reason to believe” that they plan to remove him to a third country in the “reasonably foreseeable future.” Instead, she said, they “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success.”

The order clears the way for Abrego Garcia to participate in a key hearing in Nashville next week on whether a separate federal judge should dismiss his criminal case on the grounds of “vindictive” and selective prosecution. Abrego Garcia was accused in court records of repeated domestic violence against his wife, who alleged multiple incidents of physical abuse in protective order filings. She later withdrew the protective order request and has defended her husband publicly. The Department of Homeland Security has also said he was living in the U.S. illegally and has alleged ties to MS-13, disputing portrayals of him as simply a “Maryland man.” His attorneys have denied the gang allegations.

[ABREGO GARCIA REMAINS IN US FOR NOW AS JUDGE TAKES CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT]

President Donald Trump and a protester holding a sign urging the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.(Getty Images)

Xinis also said the government has “done nothing” to show the court that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is “consistent with due process.”

“Respondents have done nothing to show that Abrego Garcia’s continued detention in ICE custody is consistent with due process,” Xinis said Tuesday.

She ticked through a list of the Trump administration’s efforts to remove Abrego Garcia to a list of four African nations it had identified as so-called “third countries” of removal in the months between August, when Abrego was re-detained by ICE, and December, when Xinis ultimately ordered his release.

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Senior DHS and Justice Department officials previously suggested they would appeal Xinis’ orders. Trump officials have been sharply critical of Xinis and other federal judges presiding over deportation cages, whom they have repeatedly accused of overstepping their authority as a district judge.

“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to the court’s earlier emergency order.

Xinis said Tuesday that the administration “refused to procure Abrego Garcia’s immediate removal to Costa Rica,” the location he had identified as his preferred third country of removal, in favor of what she said was attempted “phantom removals” by the government to send Abrego to “three (maybe four) African countries.”

“Indeed, since Abrego Garcia secured his release from criminal custody in August 2025, respondents have made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” Xinis said.

[ABREGO GARCIA LAWYERS ASK US JUDGE TO ORDER RETURN TO MARYLAND AMID ONGOING CRIMINAL CASE]

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025.(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The Trump administration previously tried and failed to remove Abrego Garcia to the African countries of Liberia, Eswatini, Uganda and briefly, Ghana.

Xinis noted in late November that the government could not take any of those steps without the final notice of removal order, which she reiterated Tuesday in the memo order that the government had not obtained.

“Thus, he must remain on the stringent release conditions already imposed by ICE and in the Tennessee Criminal Matter,” Xinis said.

[US JUDGE VOWS TO RULE ‘SOON’ ON ABREGO GARCIA’S FATE AFTER MARATHON HEARING]

Abrego Garcia’s status has been at the center of a legal and political maelstrom since March, when he was deported to his home country of El Salvador, in violation of a 2019 court order and in what Trump officials acknowledge was an “administrative error.” Xinis ordered then that Abrego Garcia be “immediately” returned to the U.S.

He was eventually returned to the U.S. in June, where he was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop.

The Justice Department later told Xinis it had opened the criminal investigation and presented it to a grand jury at the same time that Abrego Garcia was detained in a Salvadoran prison, and at the same time as government lawyers were telling the court that the U.S. was powerless to order his return.

A woman holds a photo of Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. A judge ordered Trump officials to testify in court in January to weigh Abrego’s motion to dismiss on the grounds of “vindictive” prosecution.(Getty Images)

Next week’s hearing in Nashville will be centered on a motion to dismiss Abrego Garcia’s criminal case for “vindictive” and selective prosecution.

[CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP]

The judge overseeing that case, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, had ruled in October that Abrego Garcia had established a “reasonable likelihood” that the criminal case against him was the result of vindictive prosecution by the Justice Department.

Crenshaw had ordered the Trump administration to produce for the court internal documents and government witnesses to testify about its decision to bring the case.

Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI and other national news. She previously covered national politics at the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post, with additional bylines in Politico Magazine, the Colorado Gazette and others. You can send tips to Breanne at Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com, or follow her on X at @breanne_dep.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6386341201112

Immigration judge rejects Trump effort to deport Palestinian student

By Nate Raymond
February 17, 2026 9:08 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

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Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi poses for a portrait on the Columbia University campus in New York City, New York, U.S., May 18, 2025. REUTERS/Ryan Murphy Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Feb 17 (Reuters) – A U.S. immigration judge has rejected efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested last year following his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Lawyers for Mahdawi detailed the immigration judge’s decision in a court filing on Tuesday with a federal appeals court in New York, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to his release from immigration custody in April.

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It was the latest case in which an immigration judge rejected a case brought as part of the broader effort by Trump’s administration to detain and deport non-citizen students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views who engaged in campus activism.

Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based Immigration Judge Nina Froes wrote in a February 13 decision that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security failed to meet its burden of proving he was removable, which it sought to do using an unauthenticated document signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice,” Mahdawi said in a statement.

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The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration has the option of challenging the judge’s decision before the Board of Immigration Appeals, part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was arrested in April 2025 upon arriving for an interview for his U.S. citizenship petition. A judge swiftly ordered Trump’s administration not to deport him from the U.S. or take him out of the state of Vermont.

After two weeks in detention, Mahdawi walked out of the federal courthouse in Burlington, Vermont, after U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered that he be released.

In another case, an immigration judge on January 29 terminated removal proceedings the administration initiated against Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was targeted after co-authoring an editorial that criticized her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Last month, a federal judge in Boston ruled that the administration had adopted an unlawful policy of detaining and deporting scholars like Ozturk and Mahdawi that chilled the free speech of non-citizen academics at universities. The Justice Department is appealing that decision.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio

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Supreme Court adopts automated recusal software to avoid ethics conflicts

PUBLISHED Feb 17, 2026, 3:23 PM ET / CNN Politics

By

[Tierney Sneed]

3 hr ago

Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on February 2.

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will start using software to assist in justices’ decisions to recuse themselves from cases that present a potential conflict of interest.

A brief press release issued by the court described an electronic matching process already used by some lower courts to compare a case’s parties to lists judges assemble of individuals and organizations they have ties to. A 2023 code of conduct statement from the justices said they were considering adopting such a tool themselves.

“This software will be used to run automated recusal checks by comparing information about parties and attorneys in a case with lists created by each Justice’s chambers,” the press release said. “The system was designed and created by the Court’s Office of Information Technology in cooperation with the Court’s Legal Office and Clerk’s Office.”

Spokespeople for the high court declined to answer follow up questions from CNN. The court announced it was embracing the software as it rolled out tweaks to its rules that instructed parties to include their stock ticker symbols in filings to be used by the new software.

Gabe Roth, who heads the court reform organization Fix the Court, said Tuesday’s announcement was a positive step, but noted that lower courts have been using similar software since 2007 and questioned why it took more than two years for the justices to embrace the tool they said they were considering in 2023.

The Supreme Court’s approach to ethics is notoriously opaque, and the 2023 statement came only after an unprecedented scrutiny of lavish trips taken by members of the court — and particularly, Justice Clarence Thomas — that went unreported on financial disclosure forms, despite being subsidized by others. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch have also been criticized for not recusing in cases that involved the publishing companies that financed their book deals.

The justices police their own obligations to judicial ethics, with no outside body holding them accountable to the rules that govern the rest of the judiciary.

While justices will publicly indicate that they have recused from a case, only some will also give any sort of reason for why they’re doing so.

It was notable during the confirmation process for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who then served on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, when she released the list of people, organizations or companies that would present potential conflicts that the appeals court ran against its recusal software.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the only justice confirmed since, also released the list she had assembled for her former post on the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals. In their confirmation submissions, both jurists had committed to continuing to use their recusal lists to avoid conflicts.

CNN’s Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., has confirmed he will “seriously consider” a run for president in 2028, opening the door to a potential White House bid.

Kelly’s comments to the BBC Feb. 16 came as he remains locked in a legal and political battle with the Trump administration.

In an interview, the retired Navy captain and former astronaut made clear he has not yet decided whether to launch a campaign but confirmed the idea is under consideration.

“I have people talk to me about it all the time, but we have an election in 2026 that I’m really worried about. We’ve got to get through that first. I will make a decision.”

Kelly emphasized that any choice would involve discussions with his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, their daughters and his identical twin brother, also a former astronaut.

“You know, with my wife, Gabby, with my two daughters, and my brother, I have a twin [brother who was also an astronaut]. Think about for a second how this would affect him. We’re identical twins,” he said.

“So you know, I’ll seriously consider this, because we are in some seriously challenging times right now,” Kelly added.

Kelly’s comments came within days of two major developments in his standoff with the administration.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, a federal judge blocked the Pentagon from demoting him Feb. 12 over a controversial video about “illegal orders.”

A grand jury declined to indict him and five other Democratic lawmakers on seditious conspiracy charges.

The dispute is over a 90-second video Kelly recorded with fellow Democratic lawmakers reminding U.S. service members that they are not obligated to follow “illegal” commands.

“Our laws are clear,” Kelly said in the clip. “You can refuse illegal orders.”

President Donald Trump had labeled the video “seditious behavior” and suggested the lawmakers be arrested.

The Justice Department sought indictments, but a grand jury refused to bring charges.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth had also moved to initiate retirement-grade determination proceedings against Kelly, potentially reducing his rank as a retired Navy captain and cutting his retirement pay.

Kelly sued, arguing the action was unconstitutional retaliation for protected speech.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon agreed to temporarily block the demotion, writing that the administration had likely violated Kelly’s First Amendment rights and warning against “shrinking the First Amendment liberties of retired service members.” Hegseth has vowed to appeal.

“This will be immediately appealed,” Hesgeth wrote in the post. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’”

In the Feb. 17 interview with the BBC, Kelly also reflected on his career.

“I don’t know if I would be the best person in this job. I am a lot different than [most of these other 100 senators] there are,” he said.

“I’m one of the very few engineers. I’m the only person with a graduate degree in engineering in the United States Senate. I’ve got combat experience that’s kind of rare,” Kelly explained.

“I spent 25 years in the military. I didn’t start out in some state legislature somewhere. I don’t think of myself as a politician. I’m a Navy pilot who was so fortunate and so lucky, in fact, that I had the opportunity to [fly this incredible spaceship], you know, four times and back.”

Kelly also struck a note of humility about a possible White House run.

“I never thought I’d find myself here. So I will obviously think about this. It’s a serious decision. I just haven’t made it yet,” he added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Kelly’s office for comment.

Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.

Colbert says CBS scrapped interview after Trump FCC’s threats | CNN Politics

Published 6:01 PM EST, Tue February 17, 2026

CNN’s Jake Tapper reports.

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Man arrested after running toward US capitol with loaded shotgun, say police

By Reuters
February 17, 2026 8:53 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

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A view of the dome of the U.S. Capitol building, during a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on a stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin October 1, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. U.S., September 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Feb 17 (Reuters) – An 18-year-old man ran toward the U.S. Capitol with a loaded shotgun on Tuesday before police arrested him without incident, said U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan.

The motive of the man, who police said was wearing a tactical vest and tactical gloves, was not immediately known. He also had a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask in his vehicle, police said.

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Sullivan said the man arrived in a white Mercedes SUV just after noon and parked near the Capitol, before getting out and running toward the building that houses the U.S. Congress.

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Police challenged the man and ordered him to drop the weapon, which he did, Sullivan told reporters.

The incident took place less than three months after a National Guard member was killed and another wounded in an ambush shooting near the White House.

President Donald Trump is due to deliver the State of the Union address at the Capitol next week.

“We take the State of the Union very, very seriously, and this doesn’t change our posture. We will be prepared on State of the Union night,” Sullivan said.

Reporting by Ismail Shakil; editing by Michelle Nichols and Nia Williams

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马克龙用中文拜年：愿马年带来动力 | 联合早报

发布/2026年2月18日 07:17

法国总统马克龙星期二（2月17日）通过社交平台用中文拜年，祝愿马年能带来力量与动力。 （马克龙X账号）

法国总统马克龙在大年初一通过社交平台用中文拜年，祝愿马年能带来力量与动力。

马克龙星期二（2月17日）在X（前称推特）写道：“我向所有庆祝农历新年的朋友们致以最诚挚、最温暖的祝福。”

他也说：“愿这马年带来力量与动力，让我们携手努力，造福众人。”

马克龙也用法文、越南文和韩文拜年。

The many claims by Trump’s DHS that have fallen apart

Analysis by Aaron Blake
2 hr ago
PUBLISHED Feb 17, 2026, 4:42 PM ET

Federal agencies National security Terrorism Donald Trump

The imminent exit of Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin from the agency is the latest sign of a reset in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy, which has fallen sharply out of favor with the American people.

And it’s difficult to overstate how big a role the department’s overly aggressive, poor and often bizarre messaging played in that.

The administration and McLaughlin, who’s set to leave next week, seemed to think they could say whatever they wanted about episodes such as the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents, regardless of the evidence. But there proved to be political consequences to that approach.

A Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month showed registered voters said by more than a 2-to-1 margin (61%-25%) that they did not think the administration had given an “honest account” of Pretti’s shooting in Minneapolis in late January.

Even among Republicans, 4 in 10 declined to vouch for the administration. (About half were neutral, while half distrusted it.)

And that reputation was more than earned — if not just via the administration’s botched handling of Pretti’s shooting, but by its handling of many other high-profile incidents.

Over and over again in recent months, DHS has made claims that were later undermined by video, other evidence, local police and/or judges. Its legal cases against people it accused of targeting federal agents repeatedly fell apart.

And while Pretti’s killing was perhaps the most shocking example of the department’s botched messaging, it was of-a-piece with plenty of other examples – including some we learned more about in recent days, shortly before McLaughlin’s exit was reported. (CNN reports that she started to plan her exit in December but stayed on in the aftermath of those Minneapolis shootings.)

Let’s review some examples of big DHS claims that fell apart.

Renee Good (January 7)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, on January 24.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP/File

The claims: McLaughlin said Good had “weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement.” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called it “an act of domestic terrorism.” And President Donald Trump said Good “willfully and viciously ran over” the agent.

The evidence:Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross was not run over. There is some question about whether the vehicle made contact with him. But there remains no evidence that Good aimed to run over the agent; indeed, Good was turning away from the agent as she drove away and was shot. And video evidence shows Ross continuing to shoot her even from the side of the vehicle.

Alex Pretti (January 24)

A picture of Renee Good is covered with flowers at a memorial in Minneapolis on January 29.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

The claims:McLaughlin said it looked like Pretti had aimed to “massacre law enforcement.” Noem again invoked “domestic terrorism.” White House adviser Stephen Miller called Pretti an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.”

The evidence: The video contradicted these claims even more strongly than with Good. There is no evidence that Pretti targeted the agents. He was legally armed but did not draw his gun, and he was disarmed before he was shot and killed. The administration has since backed off of these claims.

Marimar Martinez (October 4, 2025)

A picture of Alex Pretti on January 25 at a memorial in the area where he was killed in Minneapolis.
Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images

The claims: Good and Pretti were not the first US citizens to be accused of terrorism. After a Border Patrol agent shot Marimar Martinez several times in Chicago, a DHS statement said the agents involved were “ambushed by domestic terrorists that rammed federal agents with their vehicles.” It said the shots were “defensive.” McLaughlin added: “We will not allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement.”

The evidence:Video evidence released last week bolsters Martinez’s claim that it was her vehicle that was rammed, not the agent’s. And the prosecution of Martinez previously fell apart amid numerous problems, including the fact that the agent’s vehicle — which was due to be evidence — was driven more than 1,000 miles away after the incident.

Attacking agents with shovels and brooms (January 14)

The claims:DHS claimed in a statement that three migrants, including one who was shot in the leg in Minneapolis, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, “violently assaulted law enforcement with a shovel and broom.” Noem described an “attempted murder of federal law enforcement.”

The evidence: ICE admitted last week that its agents made “false statements” under oath, and Justice Department prosecutors moved to drop criminal charges against two of the men. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the claims were contradicted by video evidence.

Threats to assassinate Trump (May 2025)

The claims: DHS accused Milwaukee resident Ramón Morales Reyes of writing a letter in which he “threatened to assassinate President Trump.” Noem urged Trump’s critics to tone down their rhetoric.

The evidence: Last month, another man admitted in court that the letter was a ruse, and was actually written by him. The man had allegedly stabbed Morales Reyes and wanted to get him deported before he could testify. DHS’ claim remains online, with no indication that it falsely accused Morales Reyes. (It instead says he was “no longer under investigation.”)

Greg Bovino and tear gas (October 23, 2025)

Marimar Martinez sits for a photograph in Chicago on November 21, 2025.
Leonel Mendez/CNN

The claims: Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol official who formerly led the Minneapolis operation, claimed he deployed tear gas after being struck in the helmet by a rock in Chicago. DHS also said a rock “struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head.”

The evidence: In a case involving limits on federal agents’ use of force, a judge said Bovino “admitted in his deposition that he lied multiple times” about the incident. The judge said Bovino’s claims shifted repeatedly, and he finally admitted no rock had been thrown at him before he deployed the tear gas.

The aggressive apprehension of a teenager (October 10, 2025)

The claims:After video emerged of an aggressive apprehension of a teenager in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, McLaughlin claimed it was old video and didn’t involve ICE. She called it “a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago.”

The evidence:PolitiFact determined McLaughlin’s claims were false. The scene involved agents wearing uniforms that identified them as tied to ICE, and it would make no sense for the arrest to involve Chicago police, given it was in a suburb 30 miles away. The teenager’s family also spoke out.

Another shooting by an agent, in Maryland (December 24, 2025)

The claims: DHS claimed that two men were in a van that one of them drove “directly at ICE officers,” in Glen Burnie, Maryland. One of them was shot by an agent.

The evidence:Anne Arundel County police later said one of the two men was “already in custody” at the time. DHS later amended its claims to reflect that only one person was in the van.

A 13-year-old and a gun (October 9, 2025)

Greg Bovino leaves a courthouse in Chicago, on October 28, 2025.
Leah Millis/Reuters

The claims: McLaughlin said that a 13-year-old who was arrested and detained by ICE in Massachusetts “was in possession of a firearm and 5-7 inch knife when arrested.”

The evidence: Everett, Massachusetts, Mayor Carlo DeMaria strongly denied the teen had a gun, saying, “No guns were found.” (DeMaria confirmed the knife.) Asked by CNN for further comment, DHS did not respond.

The tear-gassed family (January 14)

Arthur Berto, a 13-year-old living in Everett, Massachusetts, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Courtesy Josiele Berto

The claims: After two children were hospitalized after being tear-gassed as their family drove near a protest in Minneapolis, DHS suggested their parents were “agitators.” DHS wrote in a post: “It is horrific to see radical agitators bring children to their violent riots.”

The evidence: DHS soon deleted the post, with McLaughlin acknowledging the people were not agitators but instead “victims.”

Rümeysa Öztürk (March 25, 2025)

A family trying to get home from their son’s basketball game found themselves trapped in a protest and tear gassed in their car, resulting in the mother having to administer CPR to her infant.
Yaakov Strasberg/@YaakovStras

The claims: After the Tufts University PhD student was detained by masked federal agents last spring, McLaughlin told CNN that Rümeysa Öztürk had been found by investigators to be “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization.”

The evidence: Last month, a newly released State Department memo said the investigators did not find that Öztürk had “made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization.” It said DHS found no grounds to remove her for “material support to foreign terrorist organization or terrorist activity.”

Federal agencies National security Terrorism Donald Trump

House GOP’s razor-thin majority threatens to grind Trump’s Capitol Hill agenda to halt

Johnson navigates 1-seat majority as rebellious House Republicans team up with Democrats to inflict procedural defeats

By Elizabeth Elkind
Fox News

Published February 17, 2026 4:00pm EST | Updated February 17, 2026 4:18pm EST

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6 min

With less than nine months before a politically bruising battle in the November midterm elections, the realities of a one-seat majority are bearing down on the House GOP.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — and by extension, President Donald Trump — faced back-to-back losses on the House floor last week after a small group of GOP rebels joined Democrats in an effort to curb Trump’s unilateral tariff authority.

It’s part of a growing trend that comes with a razor-thin House majority, and moderates making a choice between appealing to their battleground district voters and following the president in a year when history dictates the opposing party will fare better in the coming elections.

“Getting things done in Washington can be tough enough as it is,” veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told Fox News Digital. “Add to that a super slim majority and the shortened legislative calendar of an election year, and it’s tough to see much happening legislatively through the rest of the year.”

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP REBELS DEFY TRUMP AS CONGRESSIONAL GRIP CONTINUES TO WEAKEN ACROSS MULTIPLE VOTES

Last Tuesday, House GOP leaders tried to insert language into an unrelated procedural vote aimed at blocking Democrats from forcing consideration of a bill aimed at limiting Trump’s ability to levy tariffs on Canada without consent from Congress.

That failed, however, after three Republicans joined Democrats in sinking that procedural vote — Reps. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

“I think it was not unexpected, and certainly we’ve got to find a new course to chart now,” one House Republican granted anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital.

“This is going to change the dynamics of the type of legislation we’re going to see, and the type of political posturing the Democrats are going to do the next nine months. So we’ve got to come up with a better strategy.”

But Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital largely did not blame Johnson, arguing he was doing his best with the circumstances in front of him. Instead, much frustration was aimed at their fellow GOP lawmakers who dissented.

The move not only paved the way for a vote on Trump’s Canada tariffs, but opened the door to allowing Democrats to force a vote on tariffs targeting other countries as well.

HOUSE GOP MAJORITY ON THE BRINK AS ALL-DEMOCRAT TEXAS SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION UNDERWAY

“A lot of people were disappointed with how that went, with the actors who voted no” rather than House leadership, a second House Republican said.

They pointed out that the following day would bring a vote on Trump’s tariffs themselves — a politically tricky situation for people in vulnerable seats.

“I get the overall idea about tariffs. That’s not the vehicle to vote no on and put a lot of our moderates in jeopardy, and that’s exactly what happened,” the second GOP lawmaker said.

A third House Republican said there was “frustration that they aren’t playing team ball like they used to, and we need them to.”

But not everyone agreed. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital, “I actually like when they put bills on the floor, even if they don’t have the votes…it gives the American people a chance to see where their representatives stand. And far too often, the calculus is, well, we’re not gonna put it on the floor if we don’t think it has the votes.”

“A lot of the American people don’t even know where their reps stand, because this whole place is designed to shield members from taking votes,” Crane said.

He added of Johnson’s leadership, “I think it’s one of the hardest jobs you can have. I’ve been critical of the speaker in the past, but what he’s working with, I think he’s doing a good job.”

Democrats did successfully force a vote on ending Trump’s emergency at the northern border the following day, which if passed in the Senate and signed into law would effectively roll back his Canada tariffs.

Three more Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash. — joined the original trio in voting to pass the measure, even despite Trump vowing political “consequences” for those who dissented.

GOP CALLS TRUMP ITS ‘SECRET WEAPON’ — BUT POLLS SHOW WARNING SIGNS HEADING INTO MIDTERMS

It’s almost certain that Trump would veto the resolution if it gets to his desk, but it’s an example of a situation that is increasingly likely to happen as the midterms draw closer.

Bacon and Newhouse, for example, are not running for re-election. Fitzpatrick and Hurd are running in battleground districts where their independence from the party line could be critical to their survival — and Republicans’ overall chances of keeping the House.

Trump is already targeting Massie with a primary challenge, and Kiley has not yet said what his plans are for November after California Democrats badly disadvantaged him with a new congressional map.

HOUSE GOP MAJORITY SHRINKS TO JUST ONE VOTE AS JOHNSON SWEARS IN NEW HOUSE DEMOCRAT

“I think you’re going to see some moderate Republicans try to distinguish themselves as being independent voters or independent thinkers … and this is a way to do it,” John Feehery of EFB Advocacy, who served as press secretary to former Republican House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert, told Fox News Digital.

“And the tariffs are not uniformly popular amongst the Republican conference. I mean, most Republicans would probably want to vote with those guys. But they don’t want to undermine the president as he’s negotiating.”

Republicans are currently dealing with a one-seat majority until mid-March, when a special election for the seat vacated by former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is likely to get another GOP lawmaker into the House.

But the April race for a blue-leaning seat to replace New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherill could bring the margin back down. Republicans would then not likely see relief until August, when a special election will be held to replace late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.

And Feehery said Democrats’ unwillingness to work with Trump will likely keep much of the president’s agenda from succeeding in Congress this year.

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“It doesn’t look to me like the Democrats have any interest in giving Trump any kind of legislative victory, so that makes it very difficult. I mean, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., he doesn’t really want to work with Trump at all, and so it’s going to pretty much scale back the ability for Republicans to get much done for the rest of the year,” he said.

“And the other situation is that the Senate, they’re not going to get 60 votes for a lot of things, so it just makes the agenda itself pretty slim.”

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

Man arrested running toward Capitol with shotgun and wearing tactical vest, police say

Updated on: February 17, 2026 / 3:24 PM EST / CBS News

Washington — An 18-year-old man allegedly carrying a shotgun and running toward the Capitol was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday, the head of the police force said.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the man parked a white Mercedes SUV near the Capitol just after noon and exited the vehicle with the shotgun. He then began running toward the West Front of the Capitol, the side that is adjacent to the National Mall.

“This individual was challenged by United States Capitol Police officers in order to drop the weapon, which he did comply with,” Sullivan said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “He laid down the weapon and then laid down on the ground and was taken into custody by our United States Capitol Police officers.”

Sullivan said the man, whom he did not name, was wearing a tactical vest and had tactical gloves. He said the shotgun was loaded, and the man was carrying additional rounds. Officers found a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask in his vehicle, Sullivan said.

The police chief said the suspect was not previously known to Capitol Police. He said the individual is an 18-year-old “who does not live in the area.” He said the vehicle was not registered to the individual and he had multiple addresses, “so we’re trying to chase down where he actually came from.”

Asked by a reporter about the suspect’s motive, Sullivan said police were unaware of a motive and that the investigation is ongoing.

U.S. Capitol Police noted earlier Tuesday that the individual was in custody and that there did not appear to be other suspects or an ongoing threat.

Sullivan commended the officers who apprehended the man.

“Who knows what could have happened if we wouldn’t have had officers here standing guard like they do every single day,” he said.