The Latest: Bill Clinton’s testimony about Epstein ties concludes after more than 6 hours

The deposition in Chappaqua, New York, marked the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress.

It came a day after Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat for her own deposition, where she told lawmakers that she had no knowledge of how Epstein had sexually abused underage girls and had no recollection of even meeting him.

Neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing.

The Latest:

Parents of Renee Good, who was killed during immigration crackdown in Minnesota, remember her love and laughter in AP interview

Good loved sparkles and laughter and any excuse for a celebration. She loved pretty much everyone she met and was late for pretty much everything.

“She had this way of making you feel special and loved that I didn’t even understand that until we lost her,” Donna Ganger said of her daughter, who was shot and killed by an immigration officer Jan. 7.

She was “slow to anger, quick to love, quick to care,” said her father, Tim Ganger. “That’s the essence of who she was.”

Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was killed Jan. 7 as immigration agents surged through the Minneapolis area, sparking protests. Her death and that of another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, weeks later sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement.

Good’s parents and two of her brothers, Brent and Luke Ganger, met AP journalists Friday in Denver for a long interview.

▶ Read more from the interview with Good’s loved ones

Treasury Department terminates union contracts for IRS and Bureau of the Fiscal Service workers

The department said Friday that it has ended its collective bargaining agreement with unionized workers employed at the Internal Revenue Service.

Agency leaders told employees they were using a Trump executive order signed last March to make the change. Workers at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service are also affected.

The National Treasury Employees Union says the IRS cannot end the contract on its own. The union sued the federal government last year over the executive order, but an appeals court decision this week cleared the way for the order to proceed.

The Trump administration is detaining and questioning refugees already admitted to the US

In a break from tradition, refugees admitted after extensive interviews and vetting are being detained and questioned again.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in November that the Biden administration’s evaluation of roughly 200,000 refugees was inadequate. DHS says it is reviewing cases, starting with about 5,600 refugees who settled in Minnesota.

Some have been handcuffed, shackled and flown to Texas for questioning. After being released, they have had to find their own way home. One was asked to sign documents saying she would voluntarily leave the U.S. She refused as part of a larger legal fight.

▶ Read more about the change in policy

A golden sweep by Team USA in Olympic hockey led to celebrations that got complicated and political

The United States swept both Olympic hockey gold medals only to see the celebrations turn into a political flashpoint.

The men took a locker room call from Trump, who joked that he would need to also invite the women’s team to the White House.

Later a doctored White House TikTok upset American player Brady Tkachuk.

Both teams stressed that they back each other’s runs to gold.

▶ Read more on what to know about the political hullaballoo surrounding U.S. Olympic hockey gold

Trump visits a Whataburger in Texas

The president stopped at the burger joint after addressing a crowd at the Port of Corpus Christi.

“I’m going to get some stuff for Air Force One, and I’m going to get the hell out of here,” he said before greeting workers and patrons.

Trump also suggested that he would buy food for everyone in the restaurant, saying: “Can you handle it? Hamburgers for all!”

Federal judge extends order protecting refugees in Minnesota from being arrested and deported

The order covers refugees in the state who are lawfully in the country. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted a motion by refugees’ advocates to convert a temporary restraining order that he issued in January into a more permanent preliminary injunction.

The order applies only in Minnesota. But the implications of a new national policy on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security announced Feb. 19 were a major part of the discussion at a hearing held by the judge the next day.

The Trump administration asserts that it has the right to arrest potentially tens of thousands of refugees nationwide who entered legally but do not yet have green cards. A new Homeland Security memo interprets immigration laws to say that refugees applying for green cards must return to federal custody one year after they were admitted so their applications can be reviewed.

Trump says

any deal with Iran has to be ‘meaningful’

The president told a crowd in Corpus Christi, Texas, that he would rather handle Tehran “the peaceful way,” saying he laid out his terms for an agreement with the country to the Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn as they flew together on Air Force One on Friday.

Trump said Iran wants to make a deal it has to be “meaningful” in stopping the possibility of the country developing enough enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

He called it “a very big decision,” as he criticized Iran for human rights abuses.

Bill Clinton deposition on Epstein concludes

The Democratic former president’s closed-door deposition ended after more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers who said he answered every question posed to him.

Clinton told members of Congress that he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of Epstein’s sexual abuse. Lawmakers questioned him over his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in an opening statement he shared on social media at the outset of the deposition.

Actor Dennis Quaid speaks at Trump rally

Quaid, who played President Ronald Reagan in a 2024 biopic, got a lift on the real Air Force One and a speaking role behind the presidential seal. Trump invited him on stage briefly during his rally in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“I love Corpus Christi, and I love Donald Trump,” Quaid said.

Earlier in the day, Sen. Ted Cruz posted a 14-second video of Quaid, dressed in a suit, seated next to Trump at a conference table aboard the Air Force One.

In addition to playing the 40th president in “Reagan,” Quaid also appeared as President Bill Clinton in “The Special Relationship,” a 2010 film about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s relationship with his U.S. counterpart.

Trump recognizes Texas Republican Senate candidates but stops short of any endorsement

“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Hi Ken,” the president said.

“And we have a great senator, John Cornyn,” he added, looking at the seated officials from the stage. “You’re in a little bit of a race.”

The primary is Tuesday, and Cornyn is trying to survive a challenge from Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, who was also at the event in Corpus Christi.

Trump (backslash)mentioned Hunt, too, after running through the long list of Texas U.S. House members present.

“And another friend of mine who is doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Wesley Hunt, what a good job,” the president said.

In a nod to the competitive primary, Trump noted, “You do have an interesting election.”

Asked by reporters, Trump said he has “pretty much” decided whom to endorse but declined to specify.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he is designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk

That could prevent U.S. military vendors from working with the company. Hegseth spoke a little more than an hour after Trump said he was ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology Friday.

Hegseth’s comments, delivered in a social media post, came shortly after the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology or face consequences — and nearly 24 hours after CEO Dario Amodei said his company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Defense Department’s demands.

Leader of Scouting America says transgender youth still welcome

Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone says the organization’s agreement with the Pentagon does not change its existing policies regarding transgender youth and they remain welcome.

“We have transgender people in our program, and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” Krone told The Associated Press.

The Pentagon made the deal with Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, to maintain their century-old partnership.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the agreement refocuses the organization away from “woke” policies he accused it of embracing and put heavy emphasis on the group’s acceptance of transgender youth.

‘Tony Gonzales is here’

The embattled House Republican, who is fending off calls to resign after reports of an affair with a former aide who later set herself on fire, made his way to Trump’s Corpus Christi event.

The president made mention of his presence, saying: “Congressman Tony Gonzales is here.”

Corpus Christi is not in Gonzales’ district.

As Trump gave his shoutout to Gonzales, he added, “Tony, congratulations.” It was unclear what Trump was congratulating him for.

Trump has endorsed Gonzales in his primary.

Trump says he is ‘entitled’ to a third term

The president again floated the idea of running for a third term during an address at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Maybe we do one more term, should we do one more?” he asked the crowd, which responded with cheers.

The president added that “we’re entitled to it, because they cheated like hell,” in reference to the 2020 election.

Allegations from Trump of massive voting fraud have previously been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department.

Trump hints at endorsement in Texas Senate race

He says he’s “pretty much” decided whom to endorse in the competitive three-way GOP race.

But he’s not ready to give it away, telling reporters “no, not yet,” when asked if he would say.

Trump is visiting Corpus Christi to promote U.S. energy production just four days before the primary.

Joining him is four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn and the two Republicans challenging him in the Tuesday primary, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and two-term Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Rubio says US may invalidate passports for travel to Iran

The secretary of state declared Iran to be a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” ramping up pressure on the country as tensions rise over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on the Islamic republic.

In a statement, Rubio said the move was due to Iran’s continued arrests and imprisonment of “innocent Americans” and citizens of other countries for use as political leverage.

“This abhorrent practice must end,” he said.

The move does not automatically carry any penalties, but Rubio said if Iran doesn’t stop, he could make it illegal for a U.S. passport to be used for travel to or from Iran. That restriction currently only applies to North Korea.

Top Democrat on Senate Intelligence Committee raises concerns over Anthropic decision

Sen Mark Warner said Trump’s move to cut all government ties with the AI company Anthropic, “combined with inflammatory rhetoric attacking that company, raises serious concerns about whether national security decisions are being driven by careful analysis or political considerations.”

Warner also noted that “Hegseth’s loud insistence on the sufficiency of an ‘all lawful purposes’ standard provides cold comfort against the backdrop of Pentagon leadership that has routinely sidelined career military attorneys and challenged longstanding norms and rules regarding lethal force.”

Energy secretary approves export expansion at Texas LNG terminal

Ahead of Trump’s visit, Energy Secretary Chris Wright authorized a 12% expansion in liquefied natural gas exports at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi terminal.

The order, signed Thursday as Wright toured the site, makes the terminal the second largest LNG export project in the U.S.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first export cargo of U.S. LNG gas produced from the lower 48 states. The U.S. is now the world’s largest LNG exporter.

Wright said he was proud to be in Corpus Christi, “standing alongside the American workers responsible for unleashing American energy dominance.”

Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental group that opposes LNG exports, said the Trump administration was “doubling down on a harmful energy source at exactly the moment when we should be full speed ahead on safe, clean and reliable renewable energy.”

Trump orders all federal agencies to phase out use of Anthropic technology

Trump’s comments came just over an hour before the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to allow unrestricted military use of its AI technology or face consequences — and nearly 24 hours after CEO Dario Amodei said his company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Defense Department’s demands.

Anthropic didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment to Trump’s remarks.

At issue in the defense contract was a clash over AI’s role in national security and concerns about how increasingly capable machines could be used in high-stakes situations involving lethal force, sensitive information or government surveillance.

Democrats are ‘closely’ reviewing White House offer on DHS

Aides to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, confirmed that the lawmakers have received the White House’s latest offer on ending the ongoing DHS shutdown.

Earlier Friday, a White House official said the administration had sent a new proposal to Schumer and Jeffries on Thursday, calling the offer “serious.”

In a joint statement to reporters, aides to Schumer and Jeffries said their offices are reviewing the White House proposal “closely” and that Democrats are continuing to push for “real reforms” on the conduct of federal immigration agents.

Democrats on House panel say they’re treating Bill Clinton seriously, putting ‘survivors first’

California Rep. Ro Khanna, a leading advocate to release all Epstein documents, said Democratic members and their lawyers put “survivors first” by asking “difficult questions” and establishing “basic facts” from Bill Clinton.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., described the former president as an important witness.

“It is very well established that President Clinton had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and we are treating this investigation extraordinarily seriously,” she said.

She emphasized that “there are not public files available that accuse (Clinton) of a crime, whereas there are publicly available documents that do allege a crime of President Trump.”

But she described Clinton as being among the figures who can shed light on “why there was a culture around (Epstein) where the rich and powerful turned a blind eye.”

There’s a partisan split on what Bill Clinton testified about Trump

Comer told reporters that Bill Clinton said Trump “has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved.”

The chairman said that came in response to a question from Garcia, the ranking Democrat, about whether Trump should testify before the committee.

Garcia countered that Comer’s account was not “a complete accurate description of what actually was said.”

He said Clinton “did bring up some additional information about some discussions with President Trump” and argued that raises “some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.”

That’s another reason to compel Trump to testify, Garcia added.

He declined to go into further details Clinton’s testimony, citing committee rules against disclosure -- which he noted with a barb that “Republicans keep breaking the rules.”

Bill Clinton has not invoked the Fifth Amendment, House Democrat says

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, says the former president has answered questions willingly so far in his testimony and “has not taken a pass” by pleading the Fifth Amendment that witnesses use to decline answering in a way that could incriminate them.

Comer: Bill Clinton has taken about two hours of questions

Republicans in the House Oversight Committee majority asked Clinton questions for about an hour, followed by an hour from the Democratic minority, chairman James Comer told reporters outside.

Comer said Republicans would get another hour before a break. He said the day would be at about “the halfway point” by then, suggesting Clinton will spend at least six hours with lawmakers.

Trump misquotes Calvin Coolidge

Trump on Friday put himself among the many who have misquoted a famous sentiment from the 30th U.S. president.

“President Calvin Coolidge: ‘The Business of America is BUSINESS!’” he wrote in a Truth Social post as he headed to Texas aboard Air Force One.

However, this isn’t exactly what Coolidge said. His actual words, said during an address in Washington to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on Jan. 17, 1925, were: “After all, the chief business of the American people is business.”

Coolidge was talking about the “double purpose” of American newspapers -- providing readers with information while also having their own business interests. He concluded that this dual role did not “seem to be cause for alarm.”

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee warns against war with Iran

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said Trump has failed to explain the rationale or the risks involved in military action.

“President Trump’s saber-rattling for war with Iran is taking the country down a dangerous path without a clear strategy or endgame and putting U.S. national security at considerable risk,” Reed said in a statement.

As the House and Senate prepare for votes next week on war powers resolutions, he said Congress has received “no real briefings” on the administration’s plans.

“The administration has not presented Congress or the American people with any coherent legal or strategic justification for preemptive strikes,” Reed said. “The president is the Commander-In-Chief, but Congress alone holds the constitutional authority to authorize war.”

Congress prepares for war powers votes to block strikes on Iran

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday a bipartisan coalition is working to force a vote as soon as next week on a war powers resolution that would attempt to prevent any U.S. action against Iran without approval from Congress.

“The American people don’t want another failed forever foreign war, particularly in the Middle East, when we know the outcome is likely to be disastrous,” Jeffries said on MSNow.

“What we’ve got to do right now, of course, is to do everything we can to prevent that from happening,” he said. “It would be reckless. It would be dangerous. It would be harmful to America’s national security interests.”

White House sends another DHS offer to Democrats

As the Department of Homeland Security remains shut down, the White House and Democratic leaders are continuing to exchange proposals to end the impasse.

A White House official said Friday that the administration sent another counteroffer to Democrats on Thursday. The official, granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations, called the offer “serious.”

Federal funding for DHS lapsed Jan. 30, with Democrats calling for more restrictions on the behavior of federal immigration agents in the aftermath of the death of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

But most of DHS provides critical governments, which means that federal employees are working -- but not getting paid.

— Seung Min Kim

Attorney general announces indictments against 30 more people who protested at a Minnesota church

Pam Bondi says federal prosecutors have indicted 30 more people tied to a protest at a Minnesota church over an immigration enforcement crackdown.

Bondi says 25 of those people are already under arrest. The protest on Jan. 18 also led to the arrests of independent journalist Don Lemon and local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. Both have pleaded not guilty to civil rights charges.

Trump officials have strongly condemned the protest for interrupting a church service. Protesters took the action after learning a pastor there is also an immigration enforcement official.

Trump suggests the U.S. could have a ‘friendly takeover of Cuba’

In comments to reporters as he left the White House, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was negotiating at a high level with the Cuban government.

“The Cuban government is talking with us” the president said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now.” He added: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

After his administration ousted Cuban ally and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump for weeks suggested Cuba was on the brink of collapse economically.

He did not say what he meant by a “friendly takeover” but suggested that after decades “of dealing with Cuba” something could happen that would be “very positive” for Cuban exiles living in the U.S.

Trump says he's ‘not happy’ with the way Iran talks are going

“I’m not happy with the fact that they’re not willing to give us what we have to have. I’m not thrilled with that. We’ll see what happens. We’re talking later,” Trump said to reporters as he left the White House.

Trump said it would be “wonderful” if Iran negotiated “in good faith and conscience,” but said, “They are not getting there.”

Trump was asked about the risks of the U.S. getting involved in a drawn-out conflict in the Middle East if it launches strikes on Iran.

“I guess you could say there’s always a risk,” Trump replied. “You know, when there’s war, there’s a risk of anything, both good and bad.”

Trump comments on Clinton deposition

Trump said on Friday that he is not pleased with the deposition of former President Bill Clinton in the House Epstein investigation.

“I like Bill Clinton and I don’t like seeing him deposed,” the president told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Corpus Christi, Texas.