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Friday, February 6, 2026

Today: Kushner, Witkoff Represent US in Talks With Iran in Oman

The meeting was originally scheduled for Turkey. Then, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen at all. Now: Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will lead U.S.-Iran talks in Oman on Friday, days after a U.S. fighter pilot shot down an Iranian drone. After much back and forth and escalating tension, Witkoff and Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, will sit down with Iranian officials, primarily to negotiate the terms of Iran’s nuclear program. The meeting comes after several Arab nations put pressure on the Trump administration to continue talks as Trump ramped up threats of a military strike and deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group to the Arabian Sea (MS Now). Mario Nawfal: Trump dropped a strong warning to Iran’s supreme leader during an interview: “[Khamenei] should be very worried.” U.S.-Iran nuclear talks kick off Friday in Oman. It’s the first formal round since the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites last year (Nawfal).

House to Put Save America Act on Schedule Next Week

The legislation is an updated version of the SAVE Act. It would require proof of citizenship in order to register and valid identification in order to vote on Election Day. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has been among the most passionate proponents who senses how grave it would be if we don’t pass this bill. Roy: Last week, I joined with my friend, Senator Mike Lee in the Senate Chamber to introduce a bill that we call the Save America Act. This legislation builds upon bills that we introduced last Congress, the SAVE Act. Legislation that was focused on a simple idea of requiring demonstration of citizenship and for states to guarantee that their voter rolls are matched to guarantee citizenship to be able to have an election in that state. We had a simple bill to guarantee that only citizens are voting in American elections. Now we have added another simple concept, voter identification. Under the Save America Act, individuals will be required to provide that proof of citizenship in order to register and on election day required to demonstrate voter identification in accordance, by the way, with a majority of American states…. We will have voter ID. We will send it to the Senate. And if the Senate does its job, if Senate Republicans put this on the floor on the Senate, then we can force action and force Democrats to stand up on the Senate floor and oppose the will of over three quarters of the American people (Roy).

Trump Administration Moves to Make it Easier to Fire Federal Employees

The Hill: The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that gives it the power to more easily fire an estimated 50,000 federal workers who focus on policy, striking many civil service safeguards while also gutting their whistleblower protections. The rule, dubbed Schedule Policy/Career, converts a wide swath of federal workers into a status similar to that of political appointees who can be fired at will (The Hill). Jeff Charles at Townhall: Supporters of the rule contend that the shift is about accountability. They highlight complaints that it is too difficult to discipline or fire federal workers who work against elected officials’ policies. Michael Rigas, a former OPM director, said the policy is “an attempt to address one of the chief concerns that federal employees themselves have articulated year after year” (Townhall). Ed Morrissey explains: Unlike the mass layoffs that Russ Vought attempted during the Schumer Shutdown, some of which snarled necessary operations in the executive branch, this narrowly focuses only on those federal employees with actual authority to interpret and implement policy. Those are expressly political functions and rely on the executive authority granted to the president under Article II of the US Constitution. Those positions shouldn’t have been covered by civil-service protections in the first place (Hot Air).

Suffering Cuba Ready to Talk With US

President Trump’s economic warfare is forcing change. Wall Street Journal: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said his government is willing to engage with the Trump administration as the Communist island braces for severe fuel shortages after the U.S. threatened to impose trade sanctions on countries shipping oil to the Communist island. Díaz-Canel said at a hastily convened news conference on Thursday that any dialogue should come without prior conditions, and as equals, respecting Cuba’s sovereignty. “To surrender isn’t an option for Cuba,” he said, framed by an image of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. His rare press conference, which lasted two hours, comes days after the U.S. identified the Cuban government as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” due to its alliance with Russia, China and Iran. Since last month’s raid in Venezuela to capture strongman Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has moved to choke off Cuba’s fuel lifeline…. Cubans are now facing increasingly severe blackouts, and the situation is expected to deteriorate in coming weeks as fuel reserves run out under sustained U.S. pressure. Basic goods, food and medicines are hard to find. Unable to afford insecticide, Cuba has been plagued by mosquito-born diseases, overwhelming medical facilities…. Oil experts say Cuba could run out of oil in a matter of weeks, bringing the island’s economy to a stop, from public transport to hospitals, schools and factories (Wall Street Journal).

Irishman Who Was Arrested Over ‘Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports’ Activism Speaks Before Congressional Committee

A brief recap: Irish comedian Graham Linehan was living in Arizona and had become a vocal advocate of women-only and men-only spaces. When he returned to the U.K. in September last year, he was arrested: on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to his posts on X (BBC). His story is another powerful exhibit of freedom of expression eroding quickly under threat of arrest. Linehan before House Judiciary Committee Wednesday: For a decade, the British police have harassed me for expressing views that the majority of the public share. In 10 years, not one person, not the police who arrested me, not the colleagues who condemned me, not the friends who turned away has told any of us what we did wrong. Our accusers do not deal in arguments. No one is able to point to flaws in our analysis. We have simply been punished for objecting to fashionable, yet incoherent orthodoxies…. I want everyone to understand that gender, ideology and free speech cannot coexist. You can hear the lie in the very language. “Trans woman” meaning man, “trans man,” meaning woman, “trans healthcare” meaning the opposite of healthcare, “trans rights,” meaning men’s demands. An ideology that tells lesbians they’re bigoted for not accepting male partners is not progressive. It is homophobic, and I will bring this home to Washington for a second. Right now, a man named Hobby Bingham, who calls himself Princess Zoe Andromeda Love is a registered sex offender in this country. He raped a 12-year-old girl. He was transferred to the Washington Correction Center for women where he raped a development, a developmentally disabled female inmate. This is not happening in Britain. This is happening here (Judiciary).

UK Arresting More People for Online Activity Than Russia

That news ought to chill all in the West, given our historical claim to valuing free expression. ADF International lawyer Lorcan Price on GBN News (UK): In our own country, in the United Kingdom, we’re seeing a situation where more people are being arrested for their online Twitter activity for their online posting than in Russia. So we call ourselves a democracy. We have the ancient tradition of Magna Carta and the rights that are enshrined there. And yet again and again, we’ve fallen short on this (ADF). Lorcan Price testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, warning about the draconian Digital Services Act: There can be no doubt that the European Digital Services Act is the tip of a massive censorship industrial complex. The enormous fines levied on X corporation by the European Commission since the last hearing has proved beyond all doubt that the European Union means to strangle free speech by a systemic assault on US companies. The EU has a multi-pronged strategy to open multiple investigations, to add more and more regulations, and to impose crippling fines. And ultimately, I fear to attempt to break up or ban companies such as X who are pro- free speech. But it goes deeper. This censorship campaign is not just aimed at destroying free speech in Europe. It’s about imposing European laws globally. Make no mistake that Europe’s draconian speech laws are being imposed on your citizens via global content moderation rules, as indeed this committee’s investigation has so amply pointed out (Judiciary).

Treasury Secretary Bessent Delivers Blunt Message to Elizabeth Warren on ‘Affordability Crisis’

Yesterday, he spoke before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on the annual report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which he leads. Nick Arama at RedState: He had a little fun with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), where he laid out that the “hoax” that President Donald Trump was talking about was the media trying to blame his administration for the problem that the Biden administration caused, a problem that Warren was “front and center” in. Bessent: Senator, it may be a bit nuanced for you, but what @POTUS is referring to is the media saying that the affordability crisis was generated by this administration, when it was you and President Biden who destroyed the buying power of the American people. So there is an affordability crisis — and you were front and center in it.” He’s absolutely right. They weren’t talking about an “affordability crisis” when Joe Biden was driving inflation up to nine percent, but they are now that Trump has it down to 2.7 percent? … This pretty much encapsulates Bessent: “polite savage.” He’s just completely calm and civil…while he cuts them to ribbons (RedState).

LA Mayor Karen Bass Watered Down After-Action Report on Palisades Fire

And the LA Times and southern California’s ABC News are covering it. Notably: They’re not defending Bass. Los Angeles Times: For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze. But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened…. One Bass confidant told one of the sources that “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.” The source said the confidant advised Bass that altering the report “was a bad idea” because it would hurt her politically (Los Angeles Times). Florida Senator Rick Scott: We now have confirmation that @MayorOfLA Bass was involved in altering the Palisades after-action report, after denying it Victims need transparency. @SenRonJohnson and I are fighting for answers (Scott). The ABC report: (X).

Trump, Speaker Johnson Participate in National Prayer Breakfast

The bipartisan event yesterday was co-chaired this year by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS). NewsNation: President Donald Trump addressed lawmakers and faith leaders Thursday at the 74th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., proclaiming, “Religion is back now, hotter than ever before.” The event, which began in 1953, is billed as an opportunity to pray for the nation, the president and other national and international leaders. Trump took the opportunity to describe the impact he believes he has had on religion in the United States over the past year. “This prayer breakfast comes at a special time for this country, as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence,” Trump said. “Some major politicians refuse to say the word, ‘God.’ They don’t want to say it. But I say it. That we are endowed with our sacred rights to life, liberty and not by government, but by God Almighty himself” (News Nation). Speaker Johnson addressed the gathering (and prayed): After he served as our sixth president, John Quincy Adams ran for Congress. No one had done it before and haven’t since, but he ran for Congress with a mission: He wanted to eradicate slavery. He brought the resolution to accomplish that mission over and over, but the nation sadly was not yet ready for it. And on about the 13th try, as the story goes, a young member of Congress went up to him on the floor, on the house floor and said, “Mr. President, why are you doing it again?” And he said, “young man, listen. Duty is ours, results for God’s.” And it’s a great and liberating way for us to live. We believe that as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the greatest nation in the history of the world, we’re so blessed to be here. We understand that it is a spiritual battle to keep it and to keep freedom, and we don’t take that lightly. Let’s pray together, shall we? (You Tube).

10.

Trump Announces Event to Rededicate USA as ‘One Nation Under God’

From Trump at the Prayer Breakfast yesterday: I’m pleased to announce that on May 17th, 2026, that we’re inviting Americans from all across the country to come to together on our National Mall to pray, to give thanks and to we are going to do something that everyone said, “like, that’s tough.” We’re going to rededicate America as “one nation under God.” [applause] A lot of people Thank you very much. That’s what I mean by the spirit. So incredible to see it. I see it so much. I’ve never seen anything like it…. There’s such great spirit. It’s all spirit and it includes religion. I’ve always said, you just can’t have a great country if you don’t have religion. You have to believe in something. You have to believe that what we’re doing, there’s a reason for it. There has to be a reason for it (Rapid Response). EWTN: Earlier this year, Trump launched the “America Prays” initiative ahead of the anniversary, asking Americans to pray for the country and its citizens. The White House published a 22-page document at the time to highlight the Christian roots of the country, which contained historical prayers, sermons, and presidential proclamations (EWTN). Video from the White House: (White House).

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