House attempts to advance funding bills to end partial government shutdown as battle over DHS spending continues – live

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A rightwing Brazilian influencer who claimed Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown only targeted “crooks” has been arrested by ICE agents in New Jersey.

Júnior Pena, whose full name is Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, declared his support for the US president in a recent video message to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

“I [support] Donald Trump – I like the guy,” announced the South American TikToker and Instagrammer whose account purports to show “the reality of the United States” from a migrant’s perspective.

In a previous video, Pena reportedly urged Brazilians to stay calm and not “despair” after reports that ICE agents were rounding up migrants, including Brazilians. “But they’re all crooks. The lot of them,” he falsely claimed of the migrants being seized.

On Saturday, Pena was himself reportedly detained and sent to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. One friend told the local newspaper the Brazilian Times that Pena had been taken into custody after missing a court hearing. The detainee’s lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, was reportedly trying to resolve the situation and prevent him being transferred to another state.

The Brazilian influencer has reportedly lived in the US since 2009 and hails from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, a state long known as a major exporter of migrants to the US and Europe.

Johnson to swear in Houston Democrat

House speaker Mike Johnson is set to swear in Christian Menefee, a Democrat who recently won a runoff election for a reliably blue seat in Texas.

Menefee’s victory, however, means the margin in the House is even more slim: 218 Republicans to 214 Democrats. His current term will end at the end of the year, and he’ll have to start campaigning almost immediately for the 2026 midterms. But this time, it will be for a new district, after the GOP-controlled legislature successfully gerrymandered the state’s congressional map.

Texas congressional candidate Christian Menefee speaks to supporters during his watch party on 31 January 2026. Photograph: Karen Warren/AP

House tries to advance outstanding funding bills for floor vote, as partial shutdown continues

The House will try and advance a five-bill funding package, as well as a continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today.

Late last week, the Senate voted to pass the final bundle of appropriations bills, but separated legislation that funds the DHS, amid widespread backlash over the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. While the House prepares to vote, a partial shutdown is under way.

Instead, lawmakers in the upper chamber voted to pass a stopgap measure to keep the DHS operating for two weeks while Democrats hammer out negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of federal immigration enforcement.

Republican House speaker Mike Johnson has signalled to GOP representatives that this path is White House-sanctioned, and urging them to get on board. But he can only afford to lose one member of his own party to pass the funding bills, and he’ll also need to shore up support across the aisle.

Early reports show there are already cracks among Democrats, with some stating they’ll support the legislation that the Senate passed, while others don’t feel any negotiations with the president will be in good faith. On Sunday, Johnson even said that Democrats’ current demands – to require federal immigration officers to show their faces and to obtain judicial warrants for any raids – are futile.

One quick note, Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’ll take part in signing time today, but that’s not open to the press. We’ll let you know if that changes.

At present, we’re not expecting to hear from the president today.

Beloved groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is said to be predicting six more weeks of wintry weather after he saw his shadow earlier today.

His annual prediction was translated by his handlers at Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club says that when Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that means there will be an early spring. When he does see it, it’s six more weeks of winter.

Phil tends to predict a longer winter far more often than an early spring.

Last year, Groundhog Club handler AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 139th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Barry Reeger/AP

Tens of thousands of people were on hand at Gobbler’s Knob for the annual ritual that goes back more than a century, with ties to ancient farming traditions in Europe.

Punxsutawney’s festivities have grown considerably since the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray.

Crowds at the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney. Photograph: Barry Reeger/AP

Hilary Beaumont

Construction has resumed on four offshore wind mega-projects after they survived a near-fatal attack by Donald Trump’s administration thanks to rulings by federal judges. These are being seen as victories for clean energy amid a wider war being waged on it by the Trump administration.

The windfarms are considered critical by grid planners as America faces an energy affordability crisis. Together, the four projects will contribute nearly five gigawatts of energy to the east coast, enough to power 3.5m homes.

In December, the Trump administration issued an order halting the construction of five offshore wind projects along the east coast, citing “reasons of national security”. On 9 January, during a White House meeting with oil and gas executives, the president said: “My goal is to not let any windmill be built. They’re losers.”

But in mid-January, federal judges rejected the administration’s claims and allowed construction to resume on four of the five projects. Work began immediately on Vineyard Wind, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Empire Wind 1 and Revolution Wind. A fifth project, Sunrise Wind, is also fighting the stop work order and has a court hearing on Monday that industry experts believe will have a positive outcome.

Judges across different jurisdictions ruled against the Trump administration. “This is a broad rejection of the administration’s arguments,” said John Carlson, the senior north-east regional policy manager for the climate non-profit Clean Air Task Force.

The stop-work order argued that wind turbines could interfere with military radar, but Carlson said it was a pretext to undermine wind power. “All these projects already went through very significant national security reviews,” he said.

“He’s losing in court, and I think he will continue losing in court. But that’s not the entire playing field,” Carlson noted.

To the wind industry, the court rulings are bittersweet. Trump may be losing the court battle against offshore projects already under construction, but he has succeeded in causing a nosedive in new projects, leaving the industry and its allies longing for the day he leaves office.

Melody Schreiber

A public health crisis is unfolding in Minnesota as people targeted by federal agents are afraid to seek healthcare while some healthcare staff are also fearful for their safety at work.

Community organizations and health providers are now arranging home visits, telehealth appointments and other alternate care.

“We’re seeing residents not wanting to leave their homes, not go to work, not go to their doctor appointments, not going to their regularly scheduled checkups, postponing surgeries, postponing care,” said Angela Conley, Hennepin county commissioner for district 4, where Renee Good was killed.

People who have been targeted by federal agents because of the color of their skin, their accent or their immigration status are now avoiding leaving their homes to seek routine or even emergency healthcare. They fear unfamiliar cars idling outside clinics and in hospital parking garages. Pregnant patients are laboring at home; diabetic patients are diluting or forgoing their insulin; injured and sick people are avoiding the hospital and postponing surgeries.

“They are afraid of being pulled out of their car and taken to the Whipple building and sent on a flight to Texas, even our legal permanent residents, United States citizens. Everybody is afraid,” Conley added.

Munira Maalimisaq, founder and CEO of the Inspire Change Clinic in Minneapolis, noted that “even people who are documented are not going to their doctor’s appointments People who have their citizenship are not coming in.”

“It is a health issue. When people are too afraid to seek care, diseases worsen and emergencies increase and people die unnecessarily,” Maalimisaq said.

Washington is negotiating with Havana’s leadership to strike a deal, Donald Trump has said, days after threatening Cuba’s reeling economy with a virtual oil blockade.

“Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time but now it doesn’t have Venezuela to prop it up. So we’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

“I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba.”

Trump gave no indication what such a deal might entail.

The US president had said on Saturday: “It doesn’t have to be a humanitarian crisis. I think they probably would come to us and want to make a deal … They have a situation that’s very bad for Cuba. They have no money. They have no oil. They lived off Venezuelan money and oil, and none of that’s coming now.”

Trump’s second administration has been ratcheting up pressure on the communist-run island nation off south Florida since it ousted the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, whose country was a close ally of Havana and a crucial source for oil exports to Cuba.

Yohannes Lowe

The Reuters news agency is reporting that the US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Israel for meetings with the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its military chief, Eyal Zamir, citing two senior Israeli officials.

Witkoff’s visit will reportedly begin tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what will be discussed but the trip comes as the Gaza ceasefire agreement edges forward despite Israel’s frequent killing of Palestinian people in violation of its terms.

The next phases of Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza require governance to be handed to Palestinian technocrats, Hamas to lay down its weapons and Israeli troops to withdraw from the territory while Gaza is rebuilt.

New Epstein files reveal he may have trafficked girls to others despite official denials

Victoria Bekiempis

The disclosure of more than 3m files related to Jeffrey Epstein suggests that other men were involved in his sexual abuse, prompting questions about officials’ contentions that there isn’t evidence to investigate third parties for potential involvement in the late financier’s crimes.

Some newly released documents contain allegations that Epstein provided victims to other men. Documents released in prior disclosures, as well as court documents, also point to others’ possible criminal involvement with Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

One accuser said that Maxwell told her that Epstein had to leave his house but that there was a friend staying who she could massage. During this encounter, this associate allegedly offered her money if she engaged in sex.

The woman alleged that she did so and that this friend paid her money. A “prosecution memorandum” dated 26 January 2021 and signed by assistant US attorneys from the southern district of New York described this encounter and said that when the woman’s lawyers showed her a photo of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, she identified him as this man. The names of the US attorneys are redacted.

It’s not clear to what extent authorities investigated these allegations. Weinstein was never charged for any conduct related to Epstein.

One document, and FBI presentation that appears to have been created sometime after late July 2025, described an allegation that Epstein “told [an accuser] to give [Harvey] Weinstein a massage, during which Weinstein tells her to take off her shirt, she refuses and then Weinstein threatens to get women to come force her too.”

Weinstein, who is in jail after being convicted of sexual assault and was one of the most prominent targets of the MeToo movement, rejects misconduct claims.

Trump threatens to sue comedian Trevor Noah over Grammys Epstein joke

President Donald Trump is once again in the mood for litigation. This morning he has threatened to sue Grammys host Trevor Noah after a joke he made about Jeffrey Epstein on stage.

Joking that this will be his last year as host, Noah quipped:

Song of the Year - that is a Grammy that every artist wants almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense because Epstein’s island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton.

In repsonse, the US president said the comedian, who hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central in the US for seven years, was a “total loser”, adding:

It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty.

Trump criticised South African-born Noah‘s joke, made after the song of the year gong was handed out.

Writing on Truth Social, in his usual frenetic, rambling style, Trump said:

Noah said, INCORRECTLY about me, that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton spent time on Epstein Island. WRONG!!!

I can’t speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island, nor anywhere close, and until tonight’s false and defamatory statement, have never been accused of being there, not even by the Fake News Media.

Noah, a total loser, better get his facts straight, and get them straight fast.

He added:

Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!

In recent years, Trump has resorted to legal action against a slew of media outlets including the BBC, the New York Times, the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.

Last July, US media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump $16m to settle a lawsuit over a CBS interview with Kamala Harris, the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

In other developments:

• Trump announced a two-year closure of the Kennedy Center, citing construction needs to make the “finest performing arts facility of its kind, anywhere in the world”. Writing on Truth Social on Sunday evening, Trump added that the center’s closure will pave way for a “new and spectacular entertainment complex”.

• The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration’s Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors’ review of the Jeffrey Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking case “is over”. While Blanche acknowledged “there’s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or by people around him … that doesn’t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody”.

• Government documents have identified the two federal officers who fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis as Jesus Ochoa, a border patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to ProPublica. According to those records, Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, were the agents who fired their weapons during the confrontation last weekend that resulted in Pretti’s death.

• A five-year-old boy and his father were back in Minneapolis on Sunday after being released from a Texas immigration detention center where they were held for more than a week, according to US House representative Joaquin Castro.

• Trump said his administration was in talks with Cuban leadership over a potential deal, following his earlier threats to stop the country from importing oil.

• The ongoing partial US government shutdown is expected to continue into early next week, with no reopening likely before Tuesday, if what federal officials on both sides of the country’s political aisle are saying is any indication.

• All vaccine recommendations are being reconsidered by the US’s vaccines committee, according to its top adviser, who in recent interviews slammed the requirements for attending school and said vaccines should be taken on the advice of an individual’s doctor.

Welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.