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CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem said the investigation into the fatal Brown University shooting is already in disarray, highlighting an unusual public rift between local police and the FBI. After a person of interest promoted by FBI Director Kash Patel was released for lack of evidence, Kayyem said authorities don’t even know who they’re looking for and criticized local officials for openly blaming an FBI-led lead, as students report feeling unsafe with the shooter still at large.

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Donald Trump ignited outrage Monday after turning a brief condolence for the deaths of actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, into a vicious Truth Social attack blaming Reiner’s passing on “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a move that stunned observers and alienated even loyal fans. Within hours of the couple being found dead in their Los Angeles home, Trump mocked Reiner as “tortured” and obsessed with him, prompting a wave of criticism from supporters who called the post “heartless,” “tacky,” and “insane,” with many urging the president to delete it and warning that his cruelty was doing political damage.

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Vice President JD Vance arranged a White House lunch with conservative pollster Mark Mitchell to warn Donald Trump about looming 2026 midterm losses, but the message failed to land. The Washington Post reports that after briefly engaging with data on declining support, Trump lost interest and shifted the conversation to golf and fundraising.

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President Donald Trump is keeping a controversy-ridden Cabinet in place, not because it’s working, but because he refuses to admit he made bad hires, according to a Washington Post analysis. Unlike his first term’s revolving door of firings, Trump’s second administration has stayed intact despite scandals involving figures like Kristi Noem, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard. The Post cites Trump’s reliance on loyalists, his aversion to acknowledging mistakes, and razor-thin Senate confirmations as key reasons the shake-ups never come.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) revealed Sunday that her son was pulled over by ICE agents for speeding and asked to prove his citizenship, an encounter that ignited a wave of online fury toward the Trump administration. Omar said her son was released after producing a U.S. passport, but critics noted the stop came amid weeks of Trump’s hostile rhetoric toward Somali Americans, raising alarms about racial profiling and abuse of power.

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A legal analyst said the Justice Department’s prosecution of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) is unraveling after newly released texts showed DOJ officials knew she did not assault a federal officer during a protest against immigration enforcement in Newark. On her podcast The Breakdown, Allison Gill said the department’s failure to turn over exculpatory evidence — including video that contradicts the charging document — amounts to a damaging cover-up that could sink the case. Gill called the withheld evidence a “case killer,” arguing the facts now undercut the Trump DOJ’s claims stemming from McIver’s arrest.

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Actor-director Rob Reiner warned of mounting threats to free speech and democracy during a CNN appearance in September — just three months before he and his wife, Michelle Singer, were found dead with stab wounds in their Los Angeles home, in a homicide now under investigation. There is no indication the deaths are connected to his remarks, which followed ABC and Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after comments about a right-wing activist. Reiner said speaking out against President Donald Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr carried risks, describing the moment as a “war for our democracy” and accusing Trump of trampling constitutional norms.

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Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, faced an emotional and pointed question during a CBS News town hall on Saturday night when a Utah student urged her to condemn violent political rhetoric from President Donald Trump. The question came from Hunter Kozak, the last person to speak to Kirk before his assassination at a campus event. Kozak acknowledged Erika Kirk’s calls for peace but pressed her to use her platform to urge Trump — whom he described as “the most powerful and influential person on earth” — to lower the temperature surrounding political violence.

Asked directly whether she would condemn Trump’s rhetoric, Erika Kirk declined to single out the president, instead emphasizing her personal opposition to violence and shifting the focus to family and individual responsibility. “No, I will never agree with political violence,” she said, adding that what people absorb from the outside world can influence behavior. Her response, while reiterating a rejection of violence, stopped short of addressing Trump’s specific statements, highlighting the ongoing tension over political rhetoric in the aftermath of her husband’s killing.

A leaked Veterans Affairs memo reveals plans for major staffing reductions that could further strain an already overburdened health care system serving millions of veterans. Under the leadership of VA Secretary Doug Collins, the department is preparing to cut as many as 35,000 positions, many of them currently vacant, according to reporting by The Washington Post. The Veterans Health Administration has instructed managers to cancel thousands of job openings, including roles for doctors, nurses, and support staff — a move employees warn will worsen wait times and limit access to care for former service members.

The proposed cuts come on top of roughly 30,000 positions already eliminated and could shrink the VA health care workforce by about 10 percent, reducing staffing levels to as few as 372,000 employees. Union officials and frontline workers say the reductions risk pushing the system past its breaking point. “The VA has been chronically understaffed for years,” said Thomas Dargon Jr. of the American Federation of Government Employees, while Colorado VA nurse Sharda Fornarino warned staff are being asked to “do more with less.” The staffing overhaul is expected to coincide with a broader reorganization that may also reduce the VA’s regional office structure overseeing hospitals and medical centers nationwide.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, may be positioning herself for a presidential pardon after receiving what critics describe as preferential treatment in federal prison. Maxwell was recently transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas following an unusual interview with the Justice Department in which she reportedly sought to distance President Donald Trump from Epstein’s crimes. The move has raised eyebrows among legal observers and advocates for Epstein’s victims, particularly as no administration officials have ruled out the possibility of a sentence commutation or pardon.

Speaking with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown said Maxwell appears to be calculating her next steps carefully. Brown suggested Maxwell is acutely aware of the sensitive information she possesses about Epstein’s network and those who enabled his crimes. If a pardon does not materialize, Brown speculated that Maxwell could begin leaking damaging details as leverage, signaling to powerful figures that she “knows where the skeletons are buried.” According to Brown, Maxwell may be waiting to see how the political and legal landscape evolves before making her most aggressive move.

Newly leaked emails show Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign repeatedly sent messages to Jeffrey Epstein’s account — which, after Epstein’s death, was addressed using the shocking nickname “Pedophiles.” The emails add to mounting evidence of Epstein’s long-running fixation on Trump, including buying exposés, coordinating travel around him, and maintaining ties that stretched back decades.

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Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan warns that Trump’s once-loyal base is eroding in his second term. Plummeting poll numbers, vulgar attacks on perceived enemies, and public mood swings are pushing voters and congressional supporters away. Even high-profile allies like Marjorie Taylor Greene are distancing themselves, signaling cracks in Trump’s influence. Noonan suggests the upcoming State of the Union may be his last chance to stabilize support amid political fatigue and rising discontent.

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