Democratic Underground: Forums for U.S. Liberals and Democrats

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump

(NPR) The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump. Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appears to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, and notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.

BumRushDaShow

Christian leaders denounce Trump actions, warn of 'crisis of faith'

(USA Today) Hundreds of Christian leaders and scholars nationwide are denouncing President Donald Trump’s administration and urging more active resistance among the faithful to “the injustices and anti-democratic danger sweeping across the nation.” “We are facing a cruel and oppressive government,” their collective statement begins. “In moments like this, silence is not neutrality — it is an active choice to permit harm.”

douglas9

Most Americans say Trump is growing erratic with age, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

(Reuters) Six in ten Americans including a significant slice of Republicans think President Donald Trump has become erratic as he ages, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. The six-day poll concluded on Monday, the day before the 79-year-old president gives his annual State of the Union address to Congress following a month of angry reprimands of lawmakers and judges. Overall, 61% of respondents in the poll said they would describe Trump as having "become erratic with age."

Dulcinea

Trump's State of the Union will seek to calm voters' economic concerns ahead of midterm elections

(AP) President Donald Trump will use Tuesday’s State of the Union to champion his immigration crackdowns, his slashing of the federal government, his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down and his ability to direct quick-hit military actions around the world, including in Iran and Venezuela. The Republican hopes he can convince increasingly wary Americans that his policies have improved their lives while ensuring that the U.S. economy is stronger than many believe — and that they should vote for more of the same in November.

KS Toronado

Tuesday's Condensed News Cartoons

BumRushDaShow

Newly unearthed DEA document from Epstein files raises question: Did Epstein facilitate drug trafficking?

(CBS News) Jeffrey Epstein was the subject of a previously undisclosed U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency investigation — a five-year-plus probe targeting him and 14 other individuals for suspicious money transfers possibly linked to illegal narcotics, a newly uncovered document in the Department of Justice's Epstein files reveals.

dalton99a

'Too far boss': Texts show Tony Gonzales pressed female staffer for 'sexy pic'

(San Antonio Express-News) In the spring of 2024, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales was in the midst of a bruising primary campaign, fighting to hang onto his congressional seat. But politics was not on his mind when he began trading text messages with a staff member at 12:15 a.m. on May 9. "Send me a sexy pic,” he texted Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, then director of his regional district office in Uvalde, according to messages obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

BumRushDaShow

Tennessee Republicans propose bill that would allow the death penalty for women who have an abortion

(The Independent) Republicans in Tennessee have proposed a bill that would allow women who have had an abortion to be sentenced to death. House Bill 570 allows for the death penalty to be imposed on women who have abortions, as well as charging women “involved in the homicide of her own unborn child” with homicide. It was co-sponsored by state Rep. Jody Barrett and Senator Mark Pody, who sponsored the bill, though it is not yet on the calendar for consideration, according to The Tennessean.

BumRushDaShow

South Carolina seeks non-CDC reinforcements to contain growing measles outbreak

(Reuters) A dozen public health experts are arriving in South Carolina to help the state contain the largest U.S. measles outbreak in more than 30 years, but they're not coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The South Carolina Department of Public Health told Reuters it has requested personnel from the nonprofit CDC Foundation instead. The foundation is an independent entity created by Congress to support the CDC through charitable contributions and grants from individuals, corporations and other organizations.

douglas9

US farmers are rejecting multimillion-dollar datacenter bids for their land: 'I'm not for sale'

(The Guardian) When two men knocked on Ida Huddleston’s door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries. According to Huddleston, the men’s client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company”, sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Expand Featured Stories

Region Forums

Latest Breaking News

Paramount escalates Warner Bros. Discovery fight with new $31-per-share bid

13 min ago - PUBLISHED Feb 24, 2026, 4:56 PM ET New York - Paramount has officially raised its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, to $31 per share, and now the WBD board says it is extending the window for talks with Paramount about a p ... (CNN Business)

Kash Patel's use of jet delayed FBI team's mass shooting response, whistleblower tells top senator

44 min ago - Agents with the FBI’s elite evidence response team were delayed in reaching the scene of a mass shooting at Brown University in December because there was no FBI plane available to take them to Rhode Island, according to three sources and a whis ... (MS Now)

Senate Democrats investigate CBS over blocked Colbert interview

54 min ago - Tue 24 Feb 2026 11.26 EST Last modified on Tue 24 Feb 2026 11.41 EST US Senate Democrats are launching an investigation into whether the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the CBS parent company, Paramount, prevented Stephen Colbert, the net ... (The Guardian)

Plan for ICE detention center in Merrimack has been scrapped, governor says

1 hr ago - Updated: 2:32 PM EST Feb 24, 2026 MERRIMACK, N.H. - After two months of speculation, protests and public debate, the Department of Homeland Security is moving on from plans for an immigrant detention facility in Merrimack, WMUR was first to report o ... (WMUR-TV Manchester, NH)

Exclusive: Iran nears deal to buy supersonic anti-ship missiles from China

1 hr ago - LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti‑ship cruise missiles, according to six people with knowledge of the negotiations, just as the United States deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead o ... (Reuters)

Trump administration sues New Jersey over restrictions on immigration arrests

2 hrs ago - February 24, 2026, 12:28 PM TRENTON, N.J. -- The Trump administration is suing New Jersey over a state order that prohibits federal immigration agents from making arrests in nonpublic areas of state property, such as correctional facilities and court ... (ABC News/AP)

5 dead including suspect after stabbing outside Pierce County, WA home

2 hrs ago - What they're saying: Around 8:47 a.m., deputies were on their way to serve a no-contact order to the suspect. While deputies were en route, multiple witnesses reported that the suspect was stabbing people outside the home, officials said. A deputy ar ... (Fox 13 Local)

Louvre Museum director resigns in the wake of October's brazen French crown jewels heist

2 hrs ago - Louvre Museum director resigns in the wake of October’s brazen French crown jewels heist The Associated Press February 24, 2026, 3:26 PM PARIS (AP) — The Louvre Museum’s director resigned Tuesday after months of pressure following the ... (Associated Press, via WTOP)

Supreme Court rules the Postal Service can't be sued, even when mail is intentionally not delivered

2 hrs ago - Updated 12:56 PM EST, February 24, 2026 WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Americans can’t sue the U.S. Postal Service, even when employees deliberately refuse to deliver mail. By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled ... (AP)

Senate Democrats unveil proposal to discourage private equity ownership of homes

2 hrs ago - 02/24/26 8:21 AM ET Senate Democrats, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.), unveiled a bill to rein in private equity ownership of housing at a time when the country is facing an estimated shortage of more than 7 million affo ... (The Hill)

Democratic state AGs announce lawsuit against Trump administration over US vaccine policy

3 hrs ago - February 24, 2026 2:02 PM EST Updated 1 hour ago NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Two Democratic state attorneys general announced a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday over recent changes to the federal government's childhood ... (Reuters)

Missing Epstein files include interviews with alleged Trump accuser

3 hrs ago - The Justice Department has withheld notes and memos reflecting FBI interviews from its release of the Epstein files, including interviews with a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor, MS NOW has confirm ... (MS NOW)

Trump administration considers requiring banks to collect citizenship information

3 hrs ago - 50m The Trump administration is weighing a possible executive order or other action that would require banks to collect citizenship information from customers, a new front in the administration’s crackdown on immigrants living in the U.S. illega ... (msn/WSJ)

Exclusive: Hegseth gives Anthropic until Friday to back down on AI safeguards

4 hrs ago - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei until Friday evening to give the military unfettered access to its AI model or face harsh penalties, Axios has learned. The big picture: Hegseth told Amodei in a tense meeting on Tuesday ... (Axios)

Camp Mystic families sue Texas officials after deadly 2025 flood

4 hrs ago - Feb. 23, 2026 Updated Feb. 24, 2026, 11:46 a.m. ET Families of nine campers and counselors at Camp Mystic who died after destructive flooding swept across Central Texas in 2025 are suing health officials, claiming they failed to enforce an evacuation ... (USA Today)

Kennedy Center Honors to be renamed as Trump-era changes continue

4 hrs ago - Kennedy Center Honors to be renamed as Trump-era changes continue Jimmy Alexander jimmy.alexander@wtop.com February 24, 2026, 10:28 AM One of D.C.'s most well-known arts traditions is moving forward with a new name. ... Kennedy Center Interim Presid ... (WTOP)

GOP lawmaker quietly questioned 'disturbing' East Wing demolition

5 hrs ago - GOP lawmaker quietly questioned 'disturbing' East Wing demolition Rep. Michael Turner, co-chair of the congressional Historic Preservation Caucus, wrote to a top White House aide about his "substantial concerns" as party leaders publicly backed Trump ... (Washington Post)

Trump facing pressure to restore Global Entry program

5 hrs ago - 02/24/26 12:02 PM ET The U.S. Travel Association on Tuesday called on the Trump administration to restore the Global Entry program after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suspended it following a federal funding lapse. The travel group said o ... (The Hill)

'Unprecedented decision': The Boston Globe decides to ax printed paper for first time in over a century amid blizzard

6 hrs ago - Tuesday 24 February 2026 04:52 EST Through rain, snow, wars and lockdowns, The Boston Globe's daily editions have been a point of continuity for more than 153 years. But on Monday the paper's publisher made the "unprecedented decision" to let the pre ... (The Independent)

Over 150 U.S. aircraft sweep into Europe, Middle East as Trump mulls strikes

6 hrs ago - Visual Forensics Over 150 U.S. aircraft sweep into Europe, Middle East as Trump mulls strikes The buildup comes after a round of nuclear talks between the two nations concluded last week without a deal. Today at 5:00 a.m. EST A U.S. military F-22 Rap ... (Washington Post)