The Daily Brief - Feb. 26, 2026
The latest on firings at the FBI, Hillary Clinton’s Epstein testimony, the shootout in Cuban waters, 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.
Minnesota Medicaid Funds
The Trump administration announced yesterday it would freeze $259 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota, citing fraud concerns. Vice President JD Vance, who Trump put in charge of a new anti-fraud push during his State of the Union address, said the state has 60 days to respond with a plan showing it takes fraud seriously.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz fired back, calling the move “a campaign of retribution” that “has nothing to do with fraud.” He accused the administration of contradicting itself — pointing to federal agents in Minneapolis who shot protesters and detained a 5-year-old child, a Justice Department that has been firing the prosecutors who handle fraud cases, and Trump’s own pardons of convicted fraudsters.
Today, Walz announced his own anti-fraud legislative package. The plan would create a state inspector general’s office, shut down the state’s Housing Stabilization Services program, increase criminal penalties for stealing public funds, and extend the statute of limitations for fraud. “Any dollar of state money, especially those being used for programs to enhance people’s lives, if that goes to the wrong place, is misspent, or in the case of this, criminals are stealing it, we need to do everything possible to prosecute that,” Walz said.
The freeze is the latest in a pattern. The administration has previously tried to withhold food stamp funding in Minnesota, freeze $10 billion in child care and social service money across five states, and cut public health grants including HIV prevention programs. Federal judges blocked all of those moves, and this action is also expected to face a legal challenge.
Iran Talks
The US and Iran held hours of indirect talks in Switzerland today over Iran’s nuclear program, but did not reach a deal. With a massive American military force positioned near Iran, the threat of conflict remains very high.
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, who served as a go-between for the two sides, said there had been “significant progress” and that more talks would take place next week in Vienna. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called it “one of our most intense and longest rounds of negotiations.” The White House did not comment.
But signs point to a wide gap. Just before the talks ended, Iranian state television reported that Tehran would keep enriching uranium, rejected proposals to send its enriched material out of the country, and wanted sanctions lifted. That’s far from what Trump is demanding.
Trump wants Iran to give up its nuclear capabilities, and believes Tehran is in a weak position after nationwide protests and economic struggles. Iran maintains it has the right to enrich uranium and refuses to discuss its missiles or its backing of armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Back in Washington, House Democratic leaders said they would force a vote next week on a bill requiring Trump to get approval from Congress before launching a military strike on Iran. They called the Iranian government “brutal and destabilizing” but said going to war “without a full understanding of all the attendant risks to our servicemembers and to escalation, is reckless.”
FBI Agents Fired
FBI Director Kash Patel has fired at least 10 agents who were involved in President Trump’s classified documents investigation at Mar-a-Lago, which resulted in criminal charges against Trump and two others.
Patel told Reuters yesterday that the FBI accessed phone records for him and Trump’s current Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in 2022 and 2023. That was during the time Special Counsel Jack Smith was investigating Trump for subverting the 2020 election and hiding classified documents at his home in Florida.
In a statement, Patel said, “It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.”
The phone records did not include any recordings or information on the content of the conversations, they were logs that showed calls placed and received. Accessing phone records through subpoenas during an investigation is routine.
Patel claimed the FBI tried to conceal what they did by using their subpoena power, rather than getting a court order.
Multiple anonymous sources told news organizations like the Associated Press that the firings were related to the phone records being obtained.
Hillary Clinton Epstein Testimony
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave closed door testimony to the House Oversight Committee today as part of the investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The interview took place at Clinton’s home in Chappaqua, New York, where she lives with former President Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton will be interviewed tomorrow.
In an opening statement she shared with the public on X, Clinton criticized the committee for forcing her to participate in its investigation.
“You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,” she said. “A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files.” She also urged the committee to question Trump under oath.
The interview was briefly halted when Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert leaked a photo of Clinton testifying to right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, who shared it on social media. Leaking the photo to the press violated committee protocol and the depositions’ rules, which forbade any press or photography beyond the authorized deposition videographer. When reporters asked Boebert why she’d shared the photo, she replied “Why not?” and then made a sarcastic remark about admiring Clinton’s outfit. Testimony resumed about 30 minutes after the disruption.
The committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August 2025, and they initially refused to be interviewed behind closed doors, volunteering to testify at a public hearing instead. After the committee threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress, the Clintons agreed to participate in the closed-door interviews, which committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) described as standard practice for the committee. Comer said he expected it to be “a long deposition,” and that the transcript and video would be released soon afterward.
Neither Hillary nor Bill Clinton has been accused of any crimes in connection with Epstein, and both have denied wrongdoing. Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t believe she ever met Epstein, but she did know Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with Epstein’s trafficking operation. Both Clintons have denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s and Maxwell’s criminal activity.
Epstein Fallout
Fallout from the release of the Epstein files continued this week, with new revelations and consequences showing up across politics, philanthropy, and academia. First, several major news outlets reported that the files released to the public appear to have omitted materials related to an accusation against President Trump.
The missing FBI memos summarized interviews connected with a woman’s allegation that Trump and Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was a minor. A publicly released index of investigative materials revealed that the memos existed, but only the summary of the woman’s accusation against Epstein was released — the other three were withheld from the public. When questioned, the DOJ initially responded that “the only materials that have been withheld were either privileged or duplicates,” but later issued a statement saying that it was reviewing the files again and would release any documents “found to have been improperly tagged in the review process.”
The chief executive and president of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, announced today that he would resign. Last month, publicly released emails showed that Brende maintained contact with Epstein after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, leading the WEF to launch an independent investigation. Brende is a former foreign minister of Norway, and is among several prominent Norwegians whose connections to Epstein have been exposed in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, it was announced that former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers would resign from his teaching position at Harvard due to his connection with Epstein. Summers has been on leave since November, when his name came up in the Epstein files hundreds of times, including emails where he sought Epstein’s advice on pursuing a relationship with a woman he was tutoring in economics. The emails were exchanged in 2018 and 2019, long after Epstein had been convicted as a sex offender. Summers will officially retire from Harvard at the end of the academic year, and will remain on leave until then.
Meanwhile, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates held a meeting with staff at his charitable foundation where he apologized for his relationship with Epstein, whom he met in 2011. The two spent time together abroad, but Gates denied ever visiting Epstein’s private island. He said it was a “huge mistake to spend time with Epstein,” but said he never had contact with any of Epstein’s victims. Gates also admitted to having affairs with Russian women, and said that Epstein knew about the affairs.
Refugee Found Dead
A nearly blind refugee from Myanmar has been found dead after Border Patrol agents dropped him off at a coffee shop alone in Buffalo more than a week ago and didn’t notify his family.
Nurul Amin Shah Alam came to the US in December 2024 because of the military violence against Arakan Rohingya (a Muslim minority group), which the US has declared a genocide.
Shah Alam used a curtain rod as a walking stick. In February of last year he became lost and ended up on private property. After being confronted by police, Shah Alam was arrested for assault, trespassing, and possession of a weapon. His family said the incident was a misunderstanding because Shah Alam doesn’t speak English and didn’t understand the officers’ instructions.
He’s been in county jail for most of last year, awaiting trial, but recently entered into a plea deal that resulted in a misdemeanor, according to Reuters. Customs and Border Patrol was notified before Shah Alam’s release because the agency had an outstanding immigration detainer on him. That detainer requires law enforcement to hand over a person to immigration officials upon their release.
CBP said in a statement that Shah Alam was “not amenable to removal” so agents “offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept to a coffee shop, determined to be a warm, safe location near his last known address… He showed no signs of distress, mobility issues or disabilities requiring special assistance.”
Shah Alam’s son said nobody told them he had been released, and that his father didn’t read, write, or use any electronic devices. He has been missing since February 19.
The medical examiner said his death was health-related, and not due to exposure or homicide. Buffalo’s mayor says his death was preventable and that CBP “must answer for how and why this happened.”
Cubans Kill Four on Boat
Four people have been killed and six others wounded in a shootout in Cuban waters. The boat was registered in Florida, and a White House official confirmed this afternoon that the shooting involved two US citizens. One is dead, and the other is wounded.
Cuba’s government says the people on the speedboat were armed and trying to infiltrate the island for “terrorist purposes.” They released the names of several of the men killed and detained, saying most had a “known history of criminal and violent activity.” It said the men shot first at Cuban border agents.
Authorities found assault rifles, guns and molotov cocktails on the boat, they said.
Some of the men on the boat had lived in the US for decades. The brother of a man who was killed said his brother had become “obsessive” about Cuban independence.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US is investigating to independently verify the information provided by Cuba and will be “prepared to respond accordingly.”
LA Superintendent
The FBI raided the home of the superintendent of California’s Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Wednesday, and also searched the district’s headquarters. The searches were related to an investigation into a $6 million deal between the school district and a failed AI startup company, AllHere.
LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the US, serving around 400,000 students. The district contracted with AllHere in 2023, and the company developed an AI chatbot named Ed that was intended to help students and parents track assignments and access mental health support. The district rolled out the chatbot in March 2024, but it reportedly didn’t work well, and the same year, AllHere’s CEO was charged with securities fraud. The company has since gone bankrupt.
The FBI did not explain the purpose of the searches, but a spokesperson referred to the existence of a court order and sealed affidavits that describe the alleged crimes being investigated.
The superintendent, Roberto Carvalho, has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement around schools. Last week, the Department of Justice asked to join a lawsuit that accuses LAUSD of discriminating against white students.
The story about Nurul Amin Shah Alam is heartbreaking. To state that they didn't notice disabilities requiring special assistance seems absurd to me considering he was nearly blind and had become lost when he first encountered law enforcement.
Thank you for being here consistently, Preamble team! ♥️