Feb 12, 2026, 02:03 PM EST | Updated 2 minutes ago WASHINGTON ― Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation funding for the Department of Homeland Security, holding firm in their demands for reforms to the conduct of federal immigration agents following the death of two American citizens in Minnesota last month. The failed 52-47 vote, short of the 60 votes needed to advance, means parts of the Department of Homeland Security will shut down Friday at midnight, absent a last-minute d ...

By TY ONEIL Updated 2:03 PM CST, February 12, 2026 Leer en español TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Investigators in Arizona want residents near Nancy Guthrie ‘s home to share surveillance camera footage of suspicious cars or people they may have noticed in the month before she disappeared. The alert went across a 2-mile (3.2 kilometer) radius in neighborhoods close to where the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie went missing 12 days ago, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday. It ...

Updated February 12, 2026 5:10 AM ET LIMA, Peru (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday expressed concern that China was costing Peru its sovereignty in solidifying control over the South American nation's critical infrastructure, a blunt warning after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator's oversight of a Chinese-built mega port. The $1.3 billion deepwater port in Chancay, north of Peru's capital of Lima, has become a symbol of China's foothold in Latin America and a ligh ...

Feb 12th, 2026, 2:23 pm A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate the return from third countries" of Alien Enemies Act deportees who "desire" to come back to the United States as habeas cases proceed, putting the government on the hook for the costs of any flights. Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a thorn in the side of the DOJ, in multiple instances Thursday chided the Trump administration for its "defiance&qu ...

Feb. 12, 2026 Updated 4:06 p.m. ET It was a discussion last year between two foreign nationals about Iran, not an unusual topic for American spies to study. But an intercept of that communication, collected by a foreign spy service and given to the United States, has now become a flashpoint within the intelligence community and between the administration and Congress. The reason is a single name that came up in the discussion: Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law. The previously unrepo ...

(Mediaite) Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) is planning to announce an early retirement next week, according to Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch — an exit that would drag the House Republican majority out the door with him. Dunn, 72, announced last month that he had decided “[a]fter much prayerful consideration and discussion with my family” to not seek re-election. Currently, Republicans have the majority in the House by a very narrow margin, 218 to 214, and three seats vacant, meaning any time Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing a party-line vote, he can only afford to lose a single Republican member’s support.

(Raw Story) President Donald Trump's Justice Department demands that states hand over their unredacted voting rolls got a firm rebuke from an unlikely source this week: the West Virginia Secretary of State. West Virginia is one of the most Trump-supportive states in the entire country, voting for the president by blowout margins three times in a row. But according to the liberal voting rights group Democracy Docket, GOP Secretary Kris Warner believes the DOJ's demand is illegal, and an assault on federalism. “State law is clear: voter lists are available in a redacted format from my office, but I’ll not be turning over any West Virginian’s protected information,” said Warner in a prepared statement.

(Raw Story) With President Donald Trump's Justice Department trying, and failing, to secure a criminal indictment against Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for their roles in a video advising active-duty troops they must refuse illegal orders, Senate Republicans are coming out of the woodwork to condemn the administration having even attempted this in the first place, NOTUS reported on Wednesday evening.

(Washington Post) President Donald Trump has backed down from his decision to exclude Democratic governors from an annual White House meeting that has long been bipartisan, according to the National Governors Association. For decades, the White House meeting between the president and governors — held around the NGA’s annual winter gathering in Washington — has included Republican and Democratic governors. That nearly changed last week when Trump did not extend an invitation to Democrats, sparking concern among governors.

(Political Wire) G. Elliot Morris: “In 2024, the voters who knew the least about politics were some of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters. One pre-election poll found Americans who didn’t consume any news at all said they’d vote for him over Kamala Harris by a 20-point margin, 60% to 40%. Today, the president’s support among low-knowledge voters has cratered to just 43%, according to a new analysis of data from our January Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll. The share of 2024 voters who now disapprove of the president is well over 55%.”