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President Donald Trump has long been posturing toward military action in Iran — but one of his top generals pumped the brakes on the whole thing, enraging him, Slate reported on Tuesday."The military warning — first reported in the Washington Post, then confirmed in the New York Times — must be particularly rankling," wrote Fred Kaplan. "According to the reports, in a recent White House meeting with many top officials present, Gen. Dan Caine — whom Trump selected, and has since highly lauded, as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — said that a shortage of munitions and the absence of any allies would make a prolonged war with Iran very difficult.""It is unusual for Trump’s advisers to dampen his fantasies of easy wins, and it is less common still for high-level discussions of military plans to be leaked," the report continued. "The fact that Caine confronted Trump on this plan, and that someone spilled this to the public, suggests a growing concern among some inside players that the president’s increasingly casual adventurism could engulf the armed forces, the region, and the nation in danger."Trump, for his part, has said that Caine “has not spoken of not doing Iran” in response to the article — but, Kaplan notes, the original reports never actually said Caine told Trump not to attack Iran, but simply explained why it would be extremely difficult.Caine, for his part, did oversee the Trump administration's strike on Iran's nuclear facilities last year, which, while controversial, did not come at a great cost to the United States.However, said the report, "Operation Midnight Hammer, as the attack was known, was a speedy one-off venture where three B-2 bombers dropped bunker-busting bombs, watched them hit their targets, and sped back home, the end ... A larger attack on Iran — whether to wipe out more of its nuclear infrastructure, destroy its ballistic-missile fleet, or overthrow the regime — would be a much more elaborate, time-consuming business."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held an unusual briefing on Tuesday that raised concerns among intel lawmakers over whether the U.S. may launch military attacks on Iran. Rubio's private meeting was held virtually just hours before President Donald Trump's State of the Union address and included both Senate and House lawmakers, including high-ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, Politico reported. The move has raised questions over the Trump administration's decision to take military action in the Middle East. Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) expressed alarm over Rubio's comments. "Rep. Jim Himes, top Intel Committee Dem, on Trump and Iran: 'I'm very concerned. Wars in the Middle East don't go well for presidents, for the country, and we have not heard articulated a single good reason for why now is the moment to launch yet another war in the Middle East,'" Sahil Kapur, senior national political reporter for NBC News, wrote on X.House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) shared his apprehension about Trump's previous statements on Iran and what could happen next. Last year Trump had claimed that U.S. military strikes in Iran had dismantled the country's nuclear program. "What happened to Iran's nuclear program being 'completely and totally obliterated'?... Donald Trump's words, not our words. Clearly he was lying to the American people or he's lying right now," Jeffries said in an interview with reporters that was shared by journalist Aaron Rupar on X.

President Donald Trump hosted the US men's Olympic hockey team in the Oval Office on Tuesday, joking that he would take one of the players' gold medals. Trump has taken other people's awards in the past, including the Nobel Peace Prize, which was presented by Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. He teased the Olympic gold medalists visiting the White House that he would put on one of the medals. "Absolutely, I'll put it on. I'm not giving it back," Trump joked to winger Matthew Tkachuk. Trump and the men's hockey team have come under fire after comments made following the men's hockey team's win, which came after the US Women's hockey team secured their own gold medals at the Winter Olympics in Milan. Following the men's team victory, the president lamented during a phone call with the team about having to invite the women's team to the White House, which also won gold at the Olympics."And we have to — I must tell you — we're going to have to bring the women's team," Trump told the men's hockey team during a phone call. "[If I don't] do that, I do believe I probably would be impeached, OK?"The women's team later rejected the president's invitation. Trump putting on Gold Medal: Absolutely, I'll put it on. I'm not giving it back. pic.twitter.com/hIumVxFyxy— Acyn (@Acyn) February 24, 2026

A MAGA lawmaker and staunch ally of President Donald Trump clashed with a CNN anchor Tuesday over his claims that the economy is growing as Americans express their affordability concerns just hours before the president was set to give his State of the Union address.CNN anchor Erica Hill asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) to respond after sharing comments from Sarah Wells, founder and CEO of Sarah Wells Bags, who described the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's tariffs as "a win" for small business owners feeling the weight of the president's levies. Wells explained that in the last year, she has had to lay employees off as a result of the president's trade policy and the difficulties she's faced, estimating up to $500,000 in business losses. "Do you hear what she's saying?" Hill asked Donalds, who continued to argue that tariffs would benefit middle-class families on their upcoming tax returns and blamed former President Joe Biden for the economy. "I absolutely hear what she's saying, and I know that President Trump does as well, and this is part of the work that has to be undone from previous administrations," Donalds said. That's when Hill jumped in, and the two started arguing. "This is not about previous administrations; this is specifically about the tariffs that the president himself put into place," Hill interjected. "Hold on, this is important — don't cut me off!" Donalds said. "We're having a nice conversation and now you're cutting me off."

Late financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reportedly had six secret lockers that have never been searched, according to reports Monday. A report from The Telegraph found that Epstein apparently paid private investigators to remove computers and photographs from his Florida home, including computers from his private island in the Caribbean, and hide the items in an attempt to obstruct investigators. Credit card payments for the storage units continued through 2019, the year he died while awaiting trial on federal charges related to his exploitation of underage girls. "Search warrants reviewed by The Telegraph suggest US authorities never raided the lockers, raising the possibility that they may contain unseen evidence relating to Epstein and his associates, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord [Peter] Mandelson," the outlet explained. Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson have been arrested and questioned by UK law enforcement. Mountbatten-Windsor, who was arrested last week on his 66th birthday, could have to undergo a judge-led inquiry. Mandelson was arrested Monday by UK authorities amid the ongoing Epstein probe. "However, while Epstein has long been suspected of collecting compromising material on his associates, relatively few such photographs or videos have emerged," The Telegraph reported. "That has fueled claims that the DoJ is seeking to shield powerful figures from scrutiny, although authorities have repeatedly denied this. The emails the DoJ released, along with the financial records The Telegraph has unearthed revealing the secret storage units, raise the possibility that they housed compromising material."The news could increase the pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been criticized over her handling of the Department of Justice's public release of the more than 3 million documents, The Daily Beast reported. Bondi's DOJ has been accused of redacting some names in an attempt to protect Epstein's conspirators instead of protecting the survivors of his abuse.

Donald Trump's long-term plan for Iran may not be as achievable as the president wants it to be, according to a political analyst. Professor Anthony Glees believes the Trump administration is looking to topple the Iranian government and bring about a friendlier relationship between Iran and the US as a result. This would be a tall order for the president's team, though, as Glees notes that finding a suitable replacement for ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the military action would be hard. Speaking to Raw Story, Glees said, "It is not at all clear what would happen if Trump decided to take on the Islamist rulers of Iran. By toppling Maduro but replacing him with someone from his side of the political divide in Venezuela, Trump showed a canniness of some quality."However, he can't do this in Iran. There are no US-friendly ayatollahs. It is, however, perfectly possible that he will run out of road and be forced into military action. "This is because on the one hand the ayatollahs are fanatics but can count on fairly hefty support if they say 'no' to Trump's demands, but on the other no one can assemble the sort of armed might that Trump is now displaying with either proceeding into war, or standing them down and looking as if Iran has won."The US may have the military capacity to take down Khamenei's regime, though a lack of clarity over who would replace the current ayatollah would be a problem for Trump's team, he said.Glees added, "The US military build-up in the area (Trump has called it an 'armada') is now complete with the arrival of a second massive aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, to join the USS Gerald R Ford. "This is a far larger strike force than was used by the US to arrest former president Maduro of Venezuela. It can sustain a prolonged attack on Iran, which could topple the regime of the ayatollahs within a few days."Of course, one always has to add: Trump is unpredictable. He'd love the ayatollahs to wake up and find US Marines in control of Tehran. But he knows that this is going to be impossible to achieve. They were able to put down a revolt and kill some 30,000 of their own people."

An 'unknown' nuclear industry company with ties to Trump donors — that has never completed a nuclear energy project — has been under consideration for a $25 billion contract in a trade deal orchestrated between President Donald Trump and Japan, Politico reported Monday.It's "a prospect that’s raising red flags among some U.S. investors" as the three-year-old company Entra1 Energy — with apparently less than five employees and a headquarters at a Houston WeWork — could be a finalist to develop new energy infrastructure with some of the $550 billion Japan's government promised to steer clear of Trump's tariffs, Politico reported. "Japan’s pledge has been held up by Trump as an example of how his trade threats are securing foreign investments in strategic sectors, with the U.S. taking a financial stake in the projects — money the White House started rolling out in the past week in other areas," according to Politico. Entra1 was selected in partnership with NuScale, a nuclear energy company that's worth more than $4 billion and publicly traded, to collaborate on the “supply of large-scale baseload power infrastructure,” the White House said in a press release in October 2025. "The Japanese government said those power projects could include 'power generation (gas-thermal, nuclear) for AI.'”The Trump administration could be avoiding using taxpayer funding for Trump's investment in nuclear energy for the large payout, Politico reported. The industry has often struggled to meet deadlines and stay within budget. "It also renews questions about the administration’s oversight of billions of dollars in foreign funds from Japan as well as South Korea, Taiwan and other countries, which Trump’s Commerce Department is looking to funnel to select industries, including those that have struggled to attract private capital," Politico reported.

During an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” conservative journalist David Drucker suggested that, unless the Donald Trump White House makes a radical U-turn on some of his least popular policies, the Republican caucus can expect an apocalypse in November when voters go to the polls.After co-host Jonathan Lemire reported the GOP lawmakers are likely “slamming their heads on their desks” after the president insisted he will bring back his unpopular tariffs after Friday’s Supreme Court 6-3 smack-down, Drucker agreed and cited a new Washington Post/ABC News/ IPSOS poll that shows the president’s approval numbers are in a death spiral.Speaking with the hosts, Drucker pointed to the meager 32 percent of voters who think Trump is “focused on the right priorities,” Drucker stated, “That's a killer.”“The other problem he has is independents,” he added. “And in midterm elections, especially in all elections, but particularly in midterm elections, we've talked about this at this table, Independents are the whole ballgame. And so unless things change and they probably have a good five, five and a half months before the cake is really baked, they're in for a world of hurt.”“And you go from just monitoring the House of Representatives to see how many seats are going to flip, to watch, and to see if the Senate will follow the House with it,” he warned. - YouTube youtu.be