博客

Republican ‘wake-up call’: Special election shocker highlights GOP turnout and midterm risks

Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss by 14 points in Fort Worth area district that hasn’t elected a Democrat in 4 decades

By Paul Steinhauser
Fox News
Published February 3, 2026 4:10pm EST

A stunning setback for Republicans at the ballot box in a ruby red part of right-leaning Texas has some saying the defeat was a “wake-up call” for the GOP ahead of this year’s midterm elections, when the party is defending its narrow congressional majorities.

The double-digit shellacking, in a special state Senate election this past weekend in a Fort Worth area district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024, comes amid backlash over the Trump administration’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration and, as the latest polling indicates, the president and his party are well underwater.

The Democrats’ victory, their latest win or over performance in a slew of special elections since Trump returned to power in the White House a year ago, is further energizing them as they work to win back control of the House and possibly the Senate.

“It’s clearly a wake-up call for Republicans,” longtime Texas-based Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser told Fox News Digital.

AFFORDABILITY: THE ISSUE THAT BOOSTED TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS IN 2024 DEFLATED THEM IN 2025

Taylor Rehmet greets a supporter at his Senate District 9 runoff watch party at Nickel City in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.(Eleanor Dearman/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

And he warned that the results in Saturday’s special election to fill a vacant GOP-controlled seat in state Senate District 9 “does show that Democrats are energized and Republicans did not turn out in the numbers they should have.”

“If Democrats can win this seat, it puts a lot of other seats in play,” Steinhauser warned.

But Republican sources involved in midterm messaging tell Fox News Digital that while they’re not discounting the Democrats’ victories, there’s no talk right now of a wholesale revamping of the GOP’s playbook.

2025 SHOCKERS: THE BIGGEST MOMENTS THAT ROCKED THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

In Texas, Machinist and Air Force veteran Taylor Rehmet topped Republican Leigh Wambsganss by roughly 14 points in Saturday’s runoff election, despite Republicans dramatically outspending Democrats in the race, along with support from top Republicans including Gov. Greg Abbott and a last-minute endorsement and a social media push by Trump.

This is the first time the seat, in the northern part of Fort Worth anchored Tarrant County, has been represented by a Democrat in four decades.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) called it a “Shockwave Victory” and highlighted that “Democrats have now flipped 26 state legislative seats since Trump retook office, while Republicans have flipped zero.”

The results of special elections are often over-hyped and are not always the best indicator or barometer of things to come. But regardless, Republicans aren’t trying to sugarcoat the results.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called the defeat “a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas. Our voters cannot take anything for granted.”

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis noted on X, “Special elections are quirky and not necessarily projectable re: a general election. That said, a swing of this magnitude is not something that can be dismissed.”

“Republicans should be clear-eyed about the political environment heading into the midterms,” DeSantis emphasized.

RNC CHAIR BETS ON ‘SECRET WEAPON’ TO DEFY MIDTERM HISTORY, PROTECT GOP MAJORITIES

Thanks in part to their laser focus on the issue of affordability amid persistent inflation, Democrats scored decisive victories in the 2025 elections, and have overperformed at the ballot box in other off-year and special elections since the start of Trump’s second administration. But some of those victories and overperformances came in contests in small state legislative districts, where large swings can take place amid low voter turnout.

That wasn’t the case in Texas, where the 9th state Senate district is home to roughly one million people, more populous than the 800,000 people in a typical congressional district.

Republicans, as the party in power in the nation’s capital, are facing traditional political headwinds in the midterms and a rough climate.

More than half (54%) surveyed in the latest Fox News national poll said the nation was worse off than it was a year ago, when Trump took office, with only 31% saying the U.S. was in a better position.

Only 30% said the economy was in excellent or good shape, and Trump’s overall approval ratings remain in negative territory (44%-56%), according to the poll.

The survey was the latest national poll to spell trouble for the GOP.

Trump’s emphasis on inflation was a key factor in Republicans winning back the White House and Senate and holding on to the House in the 2024 elections. But Trump’s approval on combating inflation stood at just 35% in the Fox News survey.

Border security and immigration were also winning issues for Trump and the GOP in 2024. But in the wake of two fatal shootings by federal agents of U.S. citizens in Minnesota protesting against the administration’s aggressive deportation efforts, the president’s poll numbers on immigration have slipped.

While Trump’s approval ratings on border security stood at 52%-47% in the latest Fox News poll, he was at 45%-55% on how he was handling immigration.

Tarrant County is Texas’ third most populous, and nearly a third of its population is Hispanic.

Trump made major gains with Hispanic voters in Texas and across the county as he won back the White House in 2024.

“I think we might have expected that the support among Hispanic voters in Texas for Trump might translate to all Republicans. That may not be the case,” Steinhauser noted.

And he suggested that “some of the other imagery coming out of Minnesota is giving people pause, especially Hispanic Texans.”

CASH SURGE: HOUSE GOP SMASHES FUNDRAISING RECORDS AS REPUBLICANS GEAR UP TO DEFEND SLIM MAJORITY

Looking ahead to November’s midterms, when the Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to recapture the House majority, DNC Chair Ken Martin said that the results in the Texas special election “prove that no Republican seat is safe.”

Two veteran Republican strategists told Fox News Digital Republicans need to showcase their successes to change the narrative heading into the midterms.

President Donald Trump signs sweeping spending and tax legislation, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” during a picnic with military families to mark Independence Day, at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2025.(Reuters/Ken Cedeno)

Pointing to the GOP’s sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which includes numerous tax cuts that many voters will feel this spring, Lance Trover said “Republicans have passed significant legislation. It’s on us to go out and sell it and remind voters that if Democrats have their way we are on a fast track to socialism.”

And Colin Reed emphasized that “if the economy starts booming on the backs of the One, Big Beautiful Bill’s provisions taking hold, the Republican Party need to remind America that this was a policy uniformly supported by one party and opposed by another. That’s the GOP’s big bet heading into the midterms.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

And back in Texas, Patrick was optimistic as he looked head to the midterms.

“I know the energy and strength the Republican grassroots in Texas possess. We will come out fighting with a new resolve, and we will take this seat back in November,” the lieutenant governor predicted.

Fox News’ Dana Blanton and Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388669662112
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6388686401112

Epstein discussed removing Fed chair Jerome Powell with Steve Bannon | Fox News

By Amanda Macias | Fox News
Published February 3, 2026 3:12pm EST

Buried among the roughly 3 million pages of Justice Department documents is a brief exchange revealing disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein discussing the removal of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell with then–Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

The 2018 emails, bearing the subject line “Re: Trump has discussed firing Fed chief after latest interest rate hike: report,” show Epstein and Bannon weighing who should exit the Trump administration next.

Epstein opened the exchange by endorsing the idea of removing Powell, who Trump had appointed to the role a year prior.

[POWELL REVEALS WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO STEP DOWN FROM THE FED AS PRESSURE MOUNTS]

Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, was tapped by Trump to serve in the role in 2017.

“Should have been done months ago too old!!!!” Epstein wrote.

The exchange took place two days after then–Defense Secretary James Mattis stunned Washington with his resignation, and Epstein dismissed the foreign policy upheaval as secondary to changes at the Fed.

“Getting rid of Powell much more important than Syria/Mattis. I guess Pompeo, only one left,” Epstein wrote in a follow-up email, adding that “Jared and Ivanka need to go,” referencing Trump’s daughter and son-in-law who held positions in the administration.

[INSIDE EPSTEIN’S INFAMOUS ‘BIRTHDAY BOOK’: CLINTON’S NOTE, POOLSIDE CANDIDS AND BIZARRE ANIMAL PICS]

President Donald Trump said the Justice Department will continue its criminal problem of Powell.(Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

Bannon responded by asking whether Powell or then–Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin could be removed.

“Can u get rid of Powell or really get rid of Mnuchin,” Bannon wrote.

Epstein replied that Mnuchin should remain in place.

“No, Mnuchin is ok,” Epstein wrote.

The revelation of the email correspondence underscores a moment years in the making, as President Donald Trump moves forward with a criminal investigation into Powell and names Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the central bank.

Read the email exchanges below:

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP]

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.

More companies are pointing to AI as they lay off employees

2026-02-03T17:44:00-0500 / CBS News

When Pinterest and Dow announced layoffs last month, they attributed the job cuts in part to a shift to artificial intelligence — a sign that some employers are stepping up their investment in AI as they pare their payrolls.

Although economists have generally downplayed the impact to date of generative AI on the broader U.S. workforce, that may offer little comfort to the employees who suddenly find themselves out of work as companies tout their adoption of such tools.

In 2025, companies directly pointed to their use of AI in announcing 55,000 job cuts — more than 12 times the number of layoffs attributed to AI just two years earlier, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Of those job losses, 51,000 were in tech, with most of the cuts concentrated in tech-heavy states such as California and Washington.

After years of pouring money into AI in a bid to boost efficiency and productivity, companies are under pressure to demonstrate the gains, Challenger, chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, told CBS News.

“That means jobs being replaced with artificial intelligence,” he said.

Amazon is one of the tech giants turning to AI. In 2025, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo that he expected the e-commerce giant to shrink its number of white-collar jobs as the company invests in AI “agents” over the next few years in search of efficiency gains.

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said at the time.

Amazon said in January that it was cutting 16,000 jobs, but didn’t explicitly mention its use of AI in a memo to employees.

By contrast, Pinterest framed the cuts as a way to redirect resources toward expanding its AI systems and capabilities.

Other companies haven’t explicitly mentioned AI in their layoffs announcements, but have noted that they are ramping up their use of technology and automation.

A convenient excuse?

---

The flurry of layoff announcements comes as economists try to get a read on how AI will reshape America’s workforce — a fast-moving target given the explosion in AI usage across the economy.

Ben May, director of global macro research at investment advisory firm Oxford Economics, said in a recent report that while some jobs are potentially exposed to AI, most employers don’t appear to be replacing a significant number of workers with AI.

He also suggested something else — that companies could be using AI as a pretext for job cuts.

“We suspect some firms are trying to dress up layoffs as a good news story rather than a bad one — for example, by pointing to technological change instead of past overhiring,” he said.

Lisa Simon, chief economist at Revelio Labs, which collects and analyzes public labor market data, also suspects that some companies are pointing to their use of AI to rationalize layoffs.

“Companies want to get rid of departments that no longer serve them,” she said. “And I think, for now, AI is a little bit of a front and an excuse.”

She posits that the technology is having more of an impact on hiring than layoffs, with companies pulling back as they realize they can do more with less.

Challenger said he expects AI-related layoff notices to keep coming. “This technological innovation, I think, it’s going to affect pretty much every industry,” he said.

Companies that have announced AI-related cuts

---

Pinterest

The San Francisco-based company announced in January that it plans to cut 15% of its workforce, with a spokesperson telling CBS News that the social media company is “making organizational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent.”

Dow
Dow, an American chemical and plastics manufacturer, said last month that it is eliminating roughly 4,500 jobs as it steps up its use of AI and automation.

Indeed and Glassdoor
The career services firms, both owned by Recruit Holdings, announced last year that they were slashing a total of roughly 1,300 jobs. In an email to employees, Recruit Holdings CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba said that “AI is changing the world” and that the company must adapt accordingly.

Chegg
In October 2025, online education assistance platform Chegg said it was eliminating 45% of its workforce as it faces the “new realities of AI” and reduced traffic from Google.

CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike CEO and co-founder George Kurtz said last year that the cybersecurity company was cutting about 500 positions as it leans into AI. “We’re operating in a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry, accelerating threats, and evolving customer needs,” he wrote in a company memo.

HP
In November 2025, HP said in an earnings announcement that the computer and software maker expected to reduce its global headcount by 4,000 to 6,000 employees — part of a wider company initiative to increase productivity by using AI. The company also said the restructuring would net $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal year 2028.

Workday
Workday, which runs a cloud-based platform that helps companies manage HR and finance, said in February 2025 that it would eliminate roughly 1,750 jobs. CEO Carl Eschenbach cited AI in the restructuring announcement.

“Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday,” he wrote. “This creates a massive opportunity for us, but we need to make some changes to better align our resources with our customers’ evolving needs.”

Sheriff says ransom note being investigated in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother

February 3, 2026 / 5:56 PM EST / CBS News

A ransom note was sent to a local Arizona news station following the disappearance of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, the Pima County sheriff told CBS News.

The note, which the station received Monday and agreed not to report on, contained specific details about the home and what Nancy Guthrie was wearing that night, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, although he would not confirm the accuracy of that information or the legitimacy of the note.

Investigators have analyzed the note and are taking it seriously, Nanos said.

He said the FBI reviewed the note and made the decision to share it with Savannah Guthrie. Authorities had hoped to keep the information from becoming public, but the note was obtained by TMZ, which reported on it before contacting the sheriff’s office, Nanos said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had earlier said on social media it was aware of “reports circulating about possible ransom note(s),” adding, “Anything that comes in, goes directly to our detectives who are coordinating with the FBI.”

Surveillance video from a home security system has yielded nothing so far, Nanos told CBS News. He said investigators believe the system may have been set to automatically delete footage after a short period of time, and they are now attempting to recover it through forensic means.

Nanos previously told CBS News that investigators believe the 84-year-old was abducted from her home in the middle of the night over the weekend, and he described it as “a crime scene.” Authorities have been searching for her since Sunday.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home Saturday night, but no one knew she was missing until she didn’t show up for church the next morning, Nanos said.

The sheriff has repeatedly said Guthrie, who lives alone, could not have wandered away from her home because she has no cognitive issues and very limited mobility.

He also expressed concern that she needs access medication that she must take daily, telling CBS News, “The clock is literally ticking.”

The sheriff has said it’s unclear how many people may have been involved in the apparent abduction.

“It could be one, it could’ve been more, I don’t know,” he said.

A little bit of blood was found inside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home, a law enforcement source familiar with the case told CBS News, and what appeared to be a small amount of dried blood was seen next to a doormat outside the front door of the home on Tuesday.

Anna Schecter, Alex Sundby and Pat Milton contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sheriff-received-ransom-note-savannah-guthrie-mom/

US Senate committee to hold hearing with NTSB chair on deadly mid-air collision | Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee plans to hold a February 12 hearing with the head of the National Transportation Safety Board after the agency found a series of systemic failures by the Federal Aviation Administration led to a devastating mid-air collision that killed 67 people last year.

The January 2025 collision between an American Airlines AAL.O regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) was the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since November 2001.

Sign up here.

The panel will hear testimony from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy as lawmakers seek to win approval of an air safety reform bill that has stalled in the U.S. House.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said he believes the House will quickly take up the bill that would require aircraft operators by the end of 2031 to equip their fleets with a key airplane tracking system known as ADS-B that also boosts oversight of commercial jet and helicopter traffic and flight routes near commercial airports.

Separately, the committee on Tuesday voted to advance the nomination of an American Airlines pilot and safety official to serve on the NTSB. John DeLeeuw, managing director of safety and a Boeing 787 captain, was named to fill the seat of Alvin Brown, an appointee of the Biden administration who was dismissed by the White House in May.

The NTSB determined the accident was caused by the FAA’s decision to allow helicopters to travel close to the airport with no safeguards to separate them from airplanes and its failure to review data and act on recommendations to move helicopter traffic away from the airport.

Homendy said the airport’s air traffic control tower personnel repeatedly sought to raise concerns only to get “squashed by management … This was 100% preventable.”

The board also cited failings in the Army safety culture and the Army pilot’s failure to properly see and avoid the passenger airplane. In December, the Justice Department said the federal government was liable in the crash due to the actions of the Army helicopter and the FAA air traffic controller.

The National Transportation Safety Board said last year that since 2021, there were more than 15,200 occurrences between commercial airplanes and helicopters with lateral separation distance of less than 1 nautical mile and vertical separation of less than 400 feet, and 85 close-call incidents during that period.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Commission sues Trump administration over refusal to restore New York tunnel funding | Reuters

By David Shepardson

• Summary

• Gateway Development Commission says witholding funds breached its contractual obligations
• Project halt threatens livelihoods and future viability, commission claims
• Democrats blame Trump for arbitrary freeze, urge funding restoration

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The commission overseeing a massive $16 billion Hudson River tunnel, the linchpin of rail travel between New York and New Jersey, filed suit to force the Trump administration to restore funding just days before construction is set to halt on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in October he had terminated the project and the Transportation Department has refused to release any funding for the project approved during the prior administration.

Sign up here.

The Gateway Development Commission, created by New York and New Jersey in 2019 to oversee the project, filed suit late Monday in the U.S. Court of Claims, saying the U.S. Transportation Department breached its contractual obligations by withholding more than $205 million without any legal basis and was seeking to punish Democrats over last fall’s government shutdown.

The commission’s suit said that, without federal funding this week, it “will be unable to pay its contractors to continue construction activities, causing work on this critical project to grind to a halt—leaving unfinished work sites with massive holes in the ground, threatening the livelihoods of the many hundreds of construction employees working on the project, burdening GDC with astronomical costs in delays and penalties, and putting into question the future viability of the project.”

The White House and USDOT did not immediately comment, but the White House said last week that Democrats “are standing in the way of a deal for the Gateway Tunnel Project by refusing to negotiate with the Trump administration. There is nothing stopping Democrats from prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens and getting this project back on track.”

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said the “lawsuit would be unnecessary if President Trump did the right thing for New York and New Jersey and lifted his arbitrary freeze.”

Trump’s Republican administration has repeatedly targeted major transit and infrastructure projects in Democratic-led states. New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill — both Democrats — praised the lawsuit and urged Trump to relent.

Any failure of the existing Hudson tunnel, which was built in 1910 and heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, would hobble commuting in the metropolitan area that produces 10% of the country’s economic output and is used by 200,000 travelers daily.

Nearly $2 billion has been spent on the project. The initiative, which received about $15 billion in federal support — involves repairs to an existing tunnel and the construction of a new one for passenger railroad Amtrak and state commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan.

Gateway said it told USDOT that it was in compliance with federal law.

Trump, a former New York City real estate developer, refused to approve funding for the project in his first term. The Trump administration is also trying to kill Manhattan’s congestion pricing program introduced last year, designed to reduce traffic and raise billions in funds for mass transit.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Michael Perry

Iran pushes for Friday nuclear talks in Oman amid rising tensions with US forces: source

Request follows renewed nuclear outreach as US-Iran tensions escalate in Strait of Hormuz

Iran has requested that nuclear talks with the United States be held in Oman on Friday, a source familiar with the discussions told Fox News, as Tehran pushes for changes to the structure of renewed negotiations.

The request comes as Axios reported that Iranian officials are also pressing to limit the talks to a bilateral U.S.-Iran format, excluding other Arab and regional countries — a move that could complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts in the region.

The State Department has not publicly confirmed whether any talks are scheduled or what format they would take.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN ALREADY HAS US TERMS AS MILITARY STRIKE CLOCK TICKS

The USS Abraham Lincoln is shown at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California, on Aug. 11, 2025.(Mike Blake/Reuters)

Reuters reported Monday that Tehran is examining the possibility of renewed nuclear talks with the United States, with Turkey emerging as a potential venue and regional mediators, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, playing an active role, after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful a deal could be reached to avert military action against Iran.

Trump has reportedly been weighing his options on a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and violent crackdowns inside the country. Trump announced last week that a “massive Armada is heading to Iran,” led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that talks between the U.S. and Iran are still scheduled, confirming special envoy Steve Witkoff remains engaged in diplomatic discussions.

IRANIAN GUNBOATS UNSUCCESSFULLY ATTEMPT TO BOARD OIL TANKER AS TRUMP BUILDS MILITARY PRESENCE

Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has been engaged in diplomatic discussions, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.(Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Oh, look, I just spoke with special envoy Witkoff. And, these talks as of right now are still scheduled. President Trump is always wanting to pursue diplomacy first, but obviously it takes two to tango. You need a willing partner to achieve diplomacy. And that’s something that special envoy Witkoff is intent on exploring and discussing,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt added that Trump continues to keep military options on the table.

“As always, though, of course, the president has a range of options on the table with respect to Iran. As commander in chief, I think they learned that quite well last year with the strike in Operation Midnight Hammer, which was wildly successful and obliterated their nuclear capabilities. But those talks will continue later this week as far as we’re concerned. Right now,” she said.

The news comes after six Iranian gunboats unsuccessfully attempted to halt a U.S.-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

President Donald Trump has reportedly been weighing his options on a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and violent crackdowns inside the country.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo; MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The security firm Vanguard Tech told its clients on Tuesday that the Iranian vessels were armed with .50-caliber guns, and they ordered the oil tanker to turn off its engines and prepare to be boarded. Instead, the tanker sped up and was ultimately escorted to safety by a U.S. Navy vessel, according to the Journal.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

In addition, the U.S. military shot down an unmanned Iranian drone Tuesday after it “aggressively approached a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier with unclear intent,” a U.S. Central Command spokesman told Fox News. No U.S. service members were injured and no U.S. equipment was damaged during the incident.

Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Boat crew tosses 115 kilos of cocaine in Pacific while fleeing navy, Colombia says

February 3, 2026 / 2:30 PM EST / CBS News

The crew of a speedboat tossed more than 100 packages of cocaine into the Pacific Ocean while fleeing the Colombian navy, authorities said Tuesday, as the leader of the country was visiting President Trump in Washington amid mounting pressure from the U.S. to curb drug trafficking. Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine-producing nation.

Authorities seized 115.7 kilograms of cocaine that was being transported on a “go-fast” vessel 55 nautical miles from Colombia’s Pacific coast during an operation against international drug trafficking, the country’s navy said in a statement.

As authorities approached, the crew on board the speedboat fled, throwing rectangular packages containing the drugs into the sea, naval officials said. Officers proceeded to recover 116 packages from the ocean.

The haul of cocaine amounted to 289,000 doses of narcotics worth $5.6 million, the navy said. Authorities released multiple images of the operation, showing packages of the alleged cocaine floating in the sea.

The crew of a speedboat tossed more than 100 packages of cocaine into the Pacific Ocean while fleeing the Colombian navy, authorities said Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Colombia Navy

The seizure was announced on the same day that Colombian President Gustavo Petro met with President Trump at the White House.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the meeting hadn’t yet wrapped and she couldn’t provide a readout, but said Mr. Trump was in a “positive headspace” beforehand and had been looking forward to it. Petro previously told CBS News he hoped dialogue with Mr. Trump would “stop a world war.”

The Trump administration has continued a military campaign against alleged drug-ferrying boats off South America in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Those strikes, which started in September, have killed more than 100 people.

Relations between Washington and Bogota have been strained, with the U.S. accusing the Colombian government of failing to contain a spike in cocaine production. Last October, Mr. Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader,” and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions on Petro and his family. The U.S. also removed Colombia from the list of allies in the war on drugs.

However, Colombia has announced several major drug busts recently.

Last month, the Colombian Navy seized over two tons of cocaine after chasing down a speedboat packed with drugs and fuel in the South Pacific Ocean. In November, the nation announced its largest cocaine bust in a decade, with 14 tons confiscated at its main Pacific port.

New York to monitor Trump’s deportation efforts with new legal observers | Reuters

NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) – New York is creating a team of legal observers that will don purple vests to monitor and record the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement officers as they seek to detain and deport migrants, the state’s attorney general said on Tuesday.

The announcement follows weeks of sometimes violent tumult in Minneapolis, where U.S. President Donald Trump has deployed thousands of armed, masked agents as he tries to deport more migrants than any of his predecessors.

Sign up here.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state’s new legal observers would be volunteer employees from her office, trained to observe, without interfering, whether Trump’s immigration enforcement “remains within the bounds of the law.”

“I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said James was putting New Yorkers in danger by not working with ICE.

“ICE law enforcement wouldn’t have to be in the field in New York if we had state and local cooperation,” Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said in a statement.

TRUMP LINKS DEPORTATIONS WITH CRIME REDUCTION

Trump, a Republican, has reserved his most aggressive surges in immigration enforcement for states governed by his political opponents, particularly California, Illinois and Minnesota. New York is home to one of the biggest and busiest DHS field offices, but Trump has not announced any major enforcement surge in the state.

He says the deportations of many migrants, including some who were legally admitted into the U.S., are necessary to reduce crime, although his argument is often contradicted by crime data.

In Minneapolis, residents have come out in protest, many blowing whistles and recording video as immigration agents in military-style gear roam the streets. Twice in January, immigration agents fatally shot U.S. citizens who had come out to protest or observe: Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Minnesota’s leaders have accused the Trump administration of going too far and violating the constitutional rights of both migrants and U.S. citizens, including their rights to observe and protest government actions.

In New York, small groups of legal observers are common at street protests, sometimes wearing the bright green hats of the National Lawyers Guild, focused on whether local police are violating rights or laws that protect freedom of speech.

But a formal state-organized effort to deploy legal observers to monitor federal law enforcement appears to be new. James, an outspoken foe of Trump who successfully sued him and his real estate firm for financial fraud, says she will use information gathered by the observers to decide whether to bring legal challenges.

Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson Editing by Rod Nickel and Nia Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Trump signs bill ending government shutdown, starting clock on ICE talks

2026-02-03T19:11:41.977Z / CNN

By [Sarah Ferris]

Updated 1 hr 20 min ago

Updated Feb 3, 2026, 4:48 PM ET

PUBLISHED Feb 3, 2026, 2:11 PM ET

House Speaker Mike Johnson arrives at the start of a press conference with members of the House Republican leadership at the US Capitol February 3, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Donald Trump swiftly signed a sprawling spending package into law Tuesday, ending the partial government shutdown after just three days but creating another funding cliff for the Department of Homeland Security in two weeks.

Trump and GOP leaders had pushed hard for their members to fall in line despite their own private grumblings about the bill, eager to avoid a debilitating shutdown like the one that paralyzed Washington for 43 days last fall.

The House earlier Tuesday passed the package in a hard-fought victory for both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had to cajole the fractious GOP conference to back a deal that only temporarily funds DHS and excludes certain conservative priorities.

Both GOP leaders spent the last several days furiously trying to quash a last-minute conservative rebellion, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, over demands for stricter voter ID laws. Luna and others had demanded that a voter ID bill be attached to the funding package — ignoring their party leaders who wanted to punt the issue and avoid a dragged-out funding fight.

Trump personally spoke with Luna and others at the White House, in addition to phoning individual members and dispatching his team to Capitol Hill to help lock down the votes for a swift end to the partial shutdown. GOP leaders have privately tried to assuage conservative holdouts that they would find another way to push for the stricter voter ID bill, while acknowledging it doesn’t have the votes in the Senate.

Rep. Andy Ogles, who withheld his votes because of the voter ID bill, said he didn’t get any commitments from leadership but added, “I think we’re working on a plan.”

For many government agencies, Congress’ spending bill now provides long-awaited certainty after months of contentious funding talks, as well as that lengthy fall shutdown. The bill — which funds three-quarters of government agencies — would slightly reduce Congress’ spending overall, but rejects cuts to programs like the NIH, Pell Grants, and election security grants.

It also funds Trump priorities like a military pay raise and new investments in air safety. And it slashes funding for international aid programs, following the White House’s decision to shutter USAID last year.

But Congress could not agree on a budget for one key department: the Department of Homeland Security.

“The real fight begins over the Homeland bill,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday, previewing the bruising political fight that lies ahead with Democrats over changes to federal immigration enforcement.

Trump had privately agreed to the DHS funding stopgap with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as a way to diffuse the escalating national debate over ICE after the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Trump and Democrats now have two weeks to strike an agreement on how to rein in federal law enforcement, specifically Immigration and Customs Enforcement — or face another shutdown for the department that includes agencies from TSA to FEMA.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.