AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

The House Oversight Committee had wanted Maxwell to answer questions during a video call to the federal prison camp in Texas where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, but she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would be self-incriminating. She’s come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.

Amid a reckoning over Epstein's abuse that has spilled into the highest levels of businesses and governments around the globe, lawmakers are searching for anyone who was connected to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. So far, the revelations have shown how both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they have not been credibly accused of wrongdoing.

During the closed-door deposition Monday, Maxwell's attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement to the committee that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

He added that both Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing," but that ”Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation."

Palace says King Charles III will support police assessing former Prince Andrew's Epstein links

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III is ready to “support’’ UK police examining claims that the former Prince Andrew gave confidential information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.

The statement came after Thames Valley Police said Monday that they were“assessing” reports that the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010. The department, which serves an area west of London that includes Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home, previously said it was evaluating allegations that Epstein flew a young woman to Britain to have sex with Andrew, also in 2010.

“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,’’ the palace said in a statement. “While the specific claims in question are for Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.’’

The statement is just the latest effort by the palace to distance the royal family from Mountbatten-Windsor as the U.S. Justice Department’s release of more than 3 million pages of documents from its investigation into Epstein reveal more embarrassing details about the relationship between the two men. Earlier in the day, Prince William and Princess Catherine released their own statement saying they have been “deeply concerned” by recent revelations.

The palace also reiterated Charles and Queen Camilla’s concern for the victims of Epstein’s abuse.

Savannah Guthrie makes new video plea as missing mother's ransom deadline nears

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Savannah Guthrie 's family is “at an hour of desperation” in the search for her missing mother, the “Today” show host said in a video released Monday, just hours before a purported ransom deadline apparently set by Nancy Guthrie ’s abductors.

Savannah Guthrie didn’t mention the deadline in the video, saying her family in Arizona continues to believe their 84-year-old mother is out there and hearing everyone’s prayers.

“She was taken and we don’t know where, and we need your help,” Guthrie said in the video posted on Instagram, which urged people nationwide to be on the lookout. “No matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, if you hear anything.”

The mysterious disappearance and search has riveted the country. — from President Donald Trump, who spoke with Savannah Guthrie last week, to the online sleuths who’ve flooded social media with tips, theories and rumors.

The FBI is now asking for the public’s help on digital billboards up in several major cities in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information.

Landmark trial accusing social media companies of addicting children to their platforms begins

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world's biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Opening statements for the first, in Los Angeles County Superior Court, began on Monday.

Instagram's parent company Meta and Google's YouTube face claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums.

Jurors got their first glimpse into what will be a lengthy trial characterized by dueling narratives from the plaintiffs and the two remaining social media companies named as defendants. Opening arguments in the landmark case began Monday at the Spring Street Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

Mark Lanier delivered the opening statement for the plaintiffs first, in a lively display where he said the case is as “easy as ABC,” which he said stands for “addicting the brains of children.” He called Meta and Google “two of the richest corporations in history” who have “engineered addiction in children’s brains.”

At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

When conflict meets competition: Trump's immigration agenda roils opening days of Winter Olympics

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — As the Winter Olympics opened in Milan, Vice President JD Vance hailed the competition as “one of the few things that unites the entire country.”

That unity didn't last long.

The early days of the Milan Cortina Games have been roiled by the tumultuous political debate in the U.S. American athletes have faced persistent questions about President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement agenda and their comfort in representing a country whose policies are increasingly controversial on the world stage.

“There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren’t,” American freestyle skier Hunter Hess said as he spoke of the “mixed emotions” of representing the U.S. “If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I’m representing it. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

That prompted a fast response from Trump, who said on social media that Hess was a “real loser” who “shouldn't have tried out for the team.”

Officials deny seeking quick end to asylum claims for the Minneapolis family of 5-year-old

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told The New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory."

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal," Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding "there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

Masks emerge as symbol of Trump's ICE crackdown and a flashpoint in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beyond the car windows being smashed, people tackled on city streets — or even a little child with a floppy bunny ears snowcap detained — the images of masked federal officers has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

Not in recent U.S. memory has an American policing operation so consistently masked its thousands of officers from the public, a development that the Department of Homeland Security believes is important to safeguard employees from online harassment. But experts warn masking serves another purpose, inciting fear in communities, and risks shattering norms, accountability and trust between the police and its citizenry.

Whether to ban the masks — or allow the masking to continue — has emerged as a central question in the debate in Congress over funding Homeland Security ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline, when it faces a partial agency shutdown.

“Humans read each others’ faces — that’s how we communicate,” said Justin Smith, a former Colorado sheriff who is executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs' Association.

“When you have a number of federal agents involved in these operations, and they can’t be identified, you can’t see their face, it just tends to make people uncomfortable,” he said. “That’s bringing up some questions.”

Migrants languish in US detention centers facing dire conditions and prolonged waits

MIAMI (AP) — Felipe Hernandez Espinosa spent 45 days at “ Alligator Alcatraz,” an immigration holding center in Florida where detainees have reported worms in their food, toilets that don't flush and overflowing sewage. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere.

For the past five months, the 34-year-old asylum-seeker has been at an immigration detention camp at the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, where two migrants died in January and which has many of the same conditions, according to human rights groups. Hernandez said he asked to be returned to Nicaragua but was told he has to see a judge. After nearly seven months in detention, his hearing was scheduled for Feb. 26.

Prolonged detention has become more common in President Donald Trump's second term, at least partly because a new policy generally prohibits immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases wind through backlogged courts. Many, like Hernandez, are prepared to give up any efforts to stay in the United States.

“I came to this country thinking they would help me, and I’ve been detained for six months without having committed a crime,” he said in a phone interview from Fort Bliss. “It is been too long. I am desperate.”

The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot hold immigrants indefinitely, finding that six months was a reasonable cap.

NYC nurses reach a deal to end a strike at 2 major hospitals while walkout continues at another

NEW YORK (AP) — Nurses and two major hospital systems in New York City have reached a deal to end a nearly monthlong strike over staffing levels, workplace safety, health insurance and other issues.

The tentative agreement announced Monday by the nurses' union involves the Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospital systems. Nurses remain on strike at NewYork-Presbyterian.

The walkout began Jan. 12, prompting the hospitals to scramble to hire legions of temporary nurses to fill in during a demanding flu season.

The three-year proposal affects roughly 10,500 of the some 15,000 nurses on strike at some of the city’s biggest private, nonprofit hospitals.

The union said nurses at Montefiore and Mount Sinai hospitals will vote to ratify their contracts starting Monday. If the tentative deals are ratified, nurses will return to work Saturday.

Lindsey Vonn’s father tells the AP he wants her to retire after her Olympic crash

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn’s father said Monday that the American superstar will no longer race if he has any influence over her decision and that she will not return to the Winter Olympics after breaking her leg in the downhill over the weekend.

“She’s 41 years old and this is the end of her career,” Alan Kildow said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “There will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, as long as I have anything to say about it.”

Kildow and the rest of Vonn’s family — a brother and two sisters, too — have been with Vonn while she is being treated at a hospital in Treviso following her fall and helicopter evacuation from the course in Cortina on Sunday.

The hospital late Sunday released a statement saying Vonn had undergone surgery on her left leg and the U.S. Ski Team said she was in stable condition. There have not been other updates since.

Kildow declined to comment on details of Vonn’s injuries, but he did address how she was doing emotionally.