The Daily Brief - Feb. 24, 2026
The latest on the Epstein files, Iran, the State of the Union, and more
These are today’s top stories, delivered straight to your inbox. Read below to catch up on all the news you might’ve missed.
Trump Epstein Files
Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, says the DOJ appears to have “illegally withheld FBI interviews” with a survivor who accused President Trump of “heinous crimes.”
He said he reviewed unredacted files at the Justice Department yesterday, where he saw interviews that weren’t in the recent Epstein files that were released to the public. The interviews were related to allegations Donald Trump sexually abused a minor.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee will open a “parallel investigation,” Garcia said.
An NPR investigation also found the DOJ withheld files related to the same claim. According to NPR, it found dozens of pages “catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly.” They reviewed unique serial numbers from the documents that appeared before and after what appear to be 53 missing pages.
NPR said other files were removed as well including ones related to a woman who was a witness in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.
According to files handed over to Maxwell and her attorneys as she prepared for her trial, the FBI interviewed a woman four times who specifically named Trump as her abuser. But only one of those interviews were included in the tranche of Epstein files released publicly.
A DOJ powerpoint presentation lists the claim from the woman, who said Trump abused her sometime between 1983 and 1985, when she was 13 to 15 years old. She said Trump “forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to NPR about the missing pages, saying, “Just as President Trump has said, he’s been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein.”
Iran Update
Multiple news outlets, including Axios and The Washington Post, reported that Pentagon officials, including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, have expressed serious reservations about striking Iran, warning it could draw the US into a prolonged regional conflict involving Iranian proxy militia groups that carry out acts of terror.
Trump called the reports “fake news” in a lengthy Truth Social post, saying Caine believes a conflict with Iran would be “easily won.” He wrote that Caine “has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about,” adding: “He knows only one thing, how to win.”
Meanwhile, the US continues a massive military buildup near Iran — among the largest in the region in a generation. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar last week, where another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, is already positioned. Military experts say the buildup gives the US far more capability than it had for last June’s airstrikes on Iran or the operation to capture Venezuelan President Maduro in January.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet Iranian negotiators in Geneva this week. President Trump wrote, “I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people.”
ICE Whistleblower
A former ICE instructor told a congressional group yesterday that the agency is training thousands of new officers to violate constitutional rights, including Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Ryan Schwank, who resigned from ICE on Feb. 13 after joining as legal counsel in 2021, testified that the agency has drastically cut training programs that teach agents what a legal search is, what are appropriate uses of force, and what the limits on officer authority are. A two-hour program was condensed to 10 minutes, according to Schwank, and he was ordered to teach recruits they could apprehend people using only administrative removal orders rather than a judge’s warrant.
“Never in my career had I received such a blatant or unlawful order,” Schwank said. He called ICE “broken” and said the agency “is lying to Congress and the American people about the steps it is taking to ensure its 10,000 new officers faithfully uphold the Constitution.”
DHS denied the allegations. Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said officers receive “comprehensive instruction” on constitutional rights and that “no training hours have been cut.” However, a congressional committee obtained internal ICE records, and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations say these records show that new recruits are receiving significantly less training than previous officers, and taking fewer exams. According to the memo, one exam that was cut related to “judgment pistol shooting.”
State of the Union
President Trump is slated to give the annual State of the Union address this evening, and he told reporters to expect a “long speech.” The speech, which is mandated by the Constitution, takes place annually before a joint session of Congress.
Trump’s remarks are expected to focus on affordability, defend his tariff policy — especially in the wake of a rebuke by the Supreme Court declaring the tariffs unlawful — and expand upon his “peace through strength” approach to foreign policy. Trump is also expected to tout several accomplishments from the first year of his second term, including tax cuts and his efforts to lower prescription drug prices.
President Trump heads into tonight’s address facing an American public that largely disapproves of his job performance. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that only 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, and he faces sharp disapproval on many subjects that were signature issues in his reelection campaign, including immigration, tariffs, and inflation. Overall, only 38% of poll respondents said Trump is moving the country in the right direction.
More than a dozen House Democrats plan to bring survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to the State of the Union as their guests. Dozens of others have decided to boycott the speech entirely, with several planning instead to participate in alternative programming such as the “People’s State of the Union” on the National Mall in Washington, and the “State of the Swamp” at the National Press Club.
After the speech, Governor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia will deliver the Democratic response, and will reportedly focus on affordability.
Mexico Travel
The State Department has updated its security advisory for Mexico, saying Americans are no longer being told to shelter in place after the killing of a cartel boss over the weekend.
Two airports that had been closed — Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara — have now reopened, and flight schedules have returned to normal. Still, US government staff in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, Tijuana, and Jalisco have a curfew during nighttime hours.
With spring break trips coming up, many people are wondering if they should adjust their travel.
Right now, Mexico has a level two advisory country-wide, but it’s a level four in certain areas. Level two means travelers should exercise caution. A level three advisory means you should reconsider travel, and four means do not travel. The level four advisory is for areas that aren’t traditionally tourist destinations, and have heavy cartel activity.
Go here for more information from the State Department, including travel advisories for your destination. Right now, most areas are still considered safe to travel to, including Cancun and surrounding areas (Cozumel, Tulum, Playa del Carmen), Mexico City, and Cabo San Lucas.
But if you have travel plans to Puerto Vallarta over the next few weeks, you might want to consider canceling or changing your plans, says Robert Bunker, a security specialist who spoke to The New York Times.
He said cartels don’t generally target tourists, because the response from the government would be swift, but the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is a “wild card.” The beach destinations on Mexico’s Gulf coast, though, are outside of the operating area of the cartel.
If you have travel plans to Mexico, or anywhere else, you can enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler program, so the US government can update you of any ongoing security issues quickly.
Nancy Guthrie
TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, has now been missing for 24 days. A potential suspect was seen on video through the Nest camera outside Nancy’s Tucson, Arizona, home wearing a face mask and backpack the night of her disappearance, and a source has now told the press that some of the images of the suspect were from a different day, suggesting that the person scouted the house more than once. The Pima County sheriff says that anyone suggesting they were taken on a different day is speculating, as there is no timestamp on the images.
Savannah Guthrie posted a video to Instagram today, again pleading for her mother’s return or any information about her whereabouts, while acknowledging the possibility that she may have died.
“Every hour and minute and second, and every long night has been agony… of worrying about her, fearing for her, aching for her, and most of all just missing her,” said Guthrie. “We still believe in a miracle, we still believe she can come home… We also know that she may be lost, she may already be gone, she may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves… If this is what is to be, then we will accept it. But we need to know where she is.”
Guthrie announced that the family is offering a reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads to Nancy’s recovery, which is in addition to the $100,000 reward being offered by the FBI. Guthrie also shared that the family is donating $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the hope of drawing attention to other families suffering through similar circumstances.
“Someone out there knows something that can bring her home,” she said. “Somebody knows, and we are begging you to please come forward now.”
Thank you for these daily news updates. Could really use some precedented times right about now.
Great update! Hoping for more updates on the ICE training story. As a learning designer, the details make me feel very concerned. Maybe it’s foolish to hope there could be some reigns on the agents, but hope is all I got.