Ahead of State of the Union, Trump's approval falls to new low of 37%  —  The new Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll finds Democrats leading on the generic ballot by 10 points among registered voters, and Trump approval on immigration falling to -15 … Tonight, Donald Trump will deliver …

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump  —  The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds.  It also removed some documents from the public database …

Trump to Sell the Economy During State of the Union Address  —  The president is expected to argue that the country is ‘strong, prosperous and respected’ as it enters its 250th year  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump will use his State of the Union address to sell the public on the economy …

‘Crisis of his own making’: Donald Trump weighs another war with Iran  —  The US military build-up was designed to coerce Tehran — but has failed  —  After weeks of urging Iran to make a deal, Donald Trump on Monday posted a video from Fox News host Mark Levin, making the case that negotiating with Iran was now pointless.

U.S. has breached trade deal and Europe is ready to retaliate, top trade lawmaker tells CNBC … The U.S. has breached the terms of its trade deal with the European Union and the bloc is ready to retaliate if necessary, a top EU trade lawmaker told CNBC.  —  “We wanted to have really stability and predictability.

Jeanine Pirro's office shelves pursuit of Democrats over social video, sources say  —  A federal grand jury in D.C. unanimously rejected the attempt to indict six lawmakers who told military and intelligence community members on social media not to obey unlawful orders.

Meddling with private business need not spiral after Trump  —  Susan Rice wants Democrats to go after companies that supposedly played nice with the president.  —  Interfering with the free market by jawboning private businesses to advance his personal and political interests …

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored … Federal officials have for years tried to wean Silicon Valley from its dependence on Taiwan, an island democracy roughly the size of Maryland that makes 90 percent of the world's high-end computer chips.

Texts show Rep. Tony Gonzales sent sexually explicit messages to staffer  —  Ahead of his March 3 primary, the Texas Republican faced an Office of Congressional Conduct investigation into an alleged affair with a staff member, who died by suicide in September.

Kash Patel's Olympic outing sparks scrutiny  —  12:30 Report is The Hill's midday newsletter.  Subscribe here.  —  It's Monday.  I have never been more ready for a winter to end.  The groundhog sure wasn't joking around this year.  —     —  In today's issue:

US women's gold medal-winning team declines invitation from Trump to attend State of Union address  —  The U.S. women's hockey gold medal-winning team has politely declined an invitation from President Donald Trump to attend his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

U.S. strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean kills 3  —  The attack by the military comes less than a week after the head of U.S. Southern Command visited Caracas, Venezuela.  —  The U.S. struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, the military announced Monday afternoon.

Trump's Latest Deportation Tactic: Targeting Immigrants With Minor Family Court Cases  —  Should a person be deported because once, a decade and a half ago, they left their toddlers home alone for a half hour to buy them pajamas at Walmart?  That's what the Trump administration is arguing …

Liberals at war with each other (and BBC) over the Tourette's sufferer who yelled N-word at black stars  —  The evening was just beginning, the atmosphere was warming up, the guests had all been seated without any major hiccups - and everyone was looking forward to a night celebrating the stars of British film and the wider industry.

Ex-ICE instructor testifies that agency slashed officer training, lied to Congress  —  A former instructor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told congressional Democrats the agency has cut “vital classes” from mandatory training for recruits.  —  A former instructor for U.S. Immigration …

Exclusive: Iran nears deal to buy supersonic anti-ship missiles from China  —  Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti-ship cruise missiles, according to six people with knowledge of the negotiations, just as the United States deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead …

AI Added ‘Basically Zero’ to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says  —  Imported chips and hardware mean the AI investments are translating into US GDP growth.  —  Meta, Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and other tech companies spent billions last year investing in AI.

The State of the Union for Small Business Is Dismal  —  Donald Trump's State of the Union is unlike any of the President's preceding him because America isn't working the way it used to.  —  Small businesses, which have fewer than 500 employees and account for almost half of private sector payrolls …

France curtails US Ambassador Kushner's government access after he fails to obey summons  —  US Ambassador Charles Kushner “did not appear” after being formally summoned over comments the Trump administration made about the killing of a far-right activist in France, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

Why The State Of The Union Boycotters Have It Right  —  And what they can teach the rest of the party about winning friends and influencing people.  —  Don't look now, but Democrats are divided again—this time over whether to dignify Donald Trump's State of the Union address with their attendance.

UK announces biggest sanctions package against Russia four years on from full-scale invasion of Ukraine  —  The UK has announced a landmark sanctions package, cutting off critical oil revenues and further degrading the Kremlin's ability to wage its illegal war.  —  From:

Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude  —  The allegations mirror those of OpenAI, which told House lawmakers that DeepSeek used ‘distillation’ to improve models  —  U.S. artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic said three Chinese AI companies set …

Coast Guard investigating swastika found at recruit training center  —  The incident in New Jersey follows a controversy last year when officials temporarily downgraded the hate symbol to “potentially divisive” in the service's workplace harassment manual.  —  The U.S. Coast Guard has opened …

Trump Supporter Learns Hard Way ICE Doesn't Just Target ‘Worst of the Worst’  —  LEOPARDS EATING FACES  —  A New Jersey couple can't believe “we were MAGA” after their immigration ordeal.  —  A Donald Trump supporter is regretting voting for the president after her husband was swept up in the administration's immigration clampdown.