The Paper Trail: February 10, 2026

The Paper Trail

Top stories for February 10, 2026

NSA detected foreign intelligence phone call about a person close to Trump: According to a whistleblower’s attorney, last year NSA flagged an unusual phone call between two members of foreign intelligence who discussed “someone close to the Trump White House.” But when the information was brought to the attention of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, rather than allowing NSA officials to distribute the information further, Gabbard took a paper copy of the intelligence directly to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. For eight months, the information has been kept under lock and key, even after the whistleblower pushed to disclose details to Congress. (Cate Brown, The Guardian)

Demanding support for Trump, Justice Dept. struggles to recruit prosecutors: The intermingling of law enforcement and the requirement to “zealously advance, protect and defend” the president’s interests has made the DOJ an unappealing landing spot. Several federal prosecutors’ offices have suffered debilitating losses from firings and resignations. (Glenn Thrush et al., New York Times)

DHS warned its independent watchdog that Noem can kill its investigations, senator says: According to Senator Tammy Duckworth, DHS’s general counsel repeatedly warned the agency’s inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has the power to unilaterally kill the IG office’s investigations. Duckworth said she also learned Noem recently asked Cuffari to disclose “every active audit, inspection and criminal investigation” undertaken by his office. (Laura Strickler, NBC News)

🔎 See Also: Democrats ask watchdog marked by past controversy to expedite reviews of ICE, CBP (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

When Trump officials’ claims about shootings unravel in court: Before the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, assault allegations against four others shot at by federal immigration agents failed to withstand scrutiny. Legal experts say that consistently filing charges against people who are shot by officers can be a sign of abusive practices. (Alexandra Berzon and Allison McCann, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: “a smear campaign” (Sam Levin, The Guardian)

🔎 See Also: Identified: the El Paso BORTAC crew rampaging through the Midwest (Steve Held, Unraveled)

🔎 See Also: Judge strikes down California’s ban on masks for federal agents (Laurel Rosenhall, New York Times)

OPM seeks to consolidate power over employee appeals in new regulations: The OPM proposed new regulations that would grant itself the authority to adjudicate the appeals of some federal workers’ firings, wresting control from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Critics say the proposals, coupled with the Trump administration’s re-implementation of Schedule F (renamed Schedule Policy/Career), will make it easier to remove federal employees and narrow their avenues for recourse. (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

EEOC quietly hired lawyer who crusaded for cases of discrimination against men — including his own: Benjamin North, who faced a rape accusation in college and went on to become an attorney who took public stances against what he characterized as the excesses of Title IX, is now an assistant general counsel at the EEOC. North isn’t the first Trump EEOC hire who has raised concerns. (Bryce Covert, The Intercept)

Democrats call on McMahon to explain civil rights complaints backlog: A letter from 70 House Democrats to Education Secretary Linda McMahon expressed concern at the number of Office of Civil Rights employees fired in the last year while the office faces a backlog of thousands of cases. The letter notes the department hasn’t resolved a racial harassment or discrimination investigation since Trump took office. (Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill)

“Setting this agency up for failure:” Amid staffing crunch, IRS taps employees with no relevant experience to assist during filing season: The IRS is asking employees without any direct tax experience to process tax returns. The IRS dramatically slashed its workforce last year, cutting more than 20,000 employees — more than 20% of total staff. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Social Security is directing employees who normally process benefits to answer phones instead: The Social Security Administration is shifting more employees to its phone line, a move that employees say risks adding to backlogs and processing times. SSA pushed out over 7,400 employees last year. (Natalie Alms, Government Executive)

A thinning roster at Indian Affairs leaves tribes wondering who’s left to help, watchdog reports: The GAO found that job cuts at Interior Department’s Indian Affairs bureaus have left critical vacancies, causing concern among tribal leaders about the future of programs that support law enforcement, schools, and natural resource management. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Federal data is disappearing:The Trump administration has cut access to previously public data and stopped collecting some data altogether. This overhaul has left significant holes in data on such issues as homeland security, maternal mortality, hunger, drug use, education, disaster preparation, and the economy. (Shifra Dayak and Anna Kramer, NOTUS)

Senators’ stock trades directly overlapped with their committee work, CNN analysis finds: At least nine U.S. senators reported stock trades last year in industries overseen by the committees they serve on. At least one Democrat and one Republican who have supported congressional stock-trading bans — Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper and GOP Senator Ashley Moody — are among the lawmakers who disclosed trades in recent months involving companies affected by their committee work. (Annie Grayer and Marshall Cohen, CNN)

For $1 million, donors to U.S.A. birthday group offered access to Trump: President Trump’s allies are offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1 million to Freedom 250, a new group supporting initiatives Trump is planning around the nation’s 250th birthday. (Kenneth P. Vogel, Lisa Friedman, and David A. Fahrenthold, New York Times)

Tensions in the Twin Cities

Prosecutors began investigating Renee Good’s killing. Washington told them to stop: Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Ms. Good’s vehicle, but senior officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, ordered them to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have left the Minnesota U.S. attorney’s office. (Ernesto Londoño, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: ICE attorney who said “this job sucks” removed from detail (Sara Braun, The Guardian)

“Uptick in abductions”: ICE ramps up targeting of Minneapolis legal observers: A community group tracking federal immigration operations warned Minnesota residents of an “uptick in abductions,” or arrests of both immigrant community members and legal observers. In one 30-minute stretch last week, three legal observers were arrested. (Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept)

Epstein Files

Justice Department under scrutiny for revealing victim info and concealing possible enablers in Epstein files: The DOJ failed to redact identifying information about many of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and redacted the details of individuals who may have aided him, prompting an outcry from survivors who accuse DOJ of botching the release of what the department said was the last of the Epstein files it was required to disclose. Lawmakers argue there are still millions of files that must be released. (Jeremy Herb, MJ Lee, and Nicky Robertson, CNN)

🔎 See Also: Naked images remained in Epstein files despite outcry (Becky Dale and Matt Murphy, BBC)

Epstein files show financial ties to DOD Deputy Secretary Feinberg: Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is referenced in 20 documents in the Epstein files, while the company he founded and led until last year, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, appears in 360 documents. Whistleblower emails in the files allege Feinberg and Cerberus were part of a “massive fraud” and money laundering scheme. (René Kladzyk, Project On Government Oversight)

Navy Secretary John Phelan listed in Epstein flight logs: The documents indicate that Phelan was a passenger on Epstein’s Boeing 727 for two transatlantic flights in 2006. At the time, Phelan was working as an investment adviser for Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell. (Dan Lamothe, Washington Post)

Files detail Epstein’s dealings with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: The files show Lutnick interacted with Epstein regularly over at least 13 years, contradicting Lutnick’s claims of having distanced himself from Epstein long ago. (Michael Rothfeld, New York Times)

Epstein’s lawyers asked CIA for records that could show affiliation with agency: The documents have added to suspicions that Epstein worked with or was targeted by intelligence agencies because of his personal ties to international elites. (Maegan Vazquez, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Epstein built ties to Russians and sought to meet Putin, files show (Mary Ilyushina and Catherine Belton, Washington Post)

Other Epstein Files News:

→ Ghislaine Maxwell refuses to answer questions about Epstein in congressional hearing

→ Woody Allen, a Florida mansion rulebook, and a Paris “wife hunt”: Stories you may have missed from the Epstein files

→ How Jeffrey Epstein sought to help Steve Bannon build a global populist movement

→ Brad Karp resigns as Paul Weiss chairman amid Epstein fallout

→ Melinda French Gates reacts to new details about Bill Gates in the Epstein files

→ Epstein files reveal frequent communication between Steve Tisch and Epstein

→ Epstein files reveal deeper ties to scientists than previously known

→ Nine more higher ed names in the Epstein files

→ Even more higher ed names in the Epstein files

Insurrection

Trump’s “Stop the Steal” lawyer probing 2020 election fraud has access to sensitive U.S. intel: President Trump directed the spy agencies to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with his former campaign lawyer Kurt Olsen, who is now a temporary government employee in the White House and has pushed debunked theories of electoral fraud. Olsen also has no known experience working with the U.S. spy community. (John Sakellariadis, Politico)

🔎 See Also: The conservative researcher being linked to the FBI’s seizure of election records in Georgia (Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica)

Weaponization of the Government

Trump administration directs rescission of $1.5B from blue states on health, transportation: The OMB directed the Transportation Department to rescind $943 million from Colorado, Illinois, California, and Minnesota, and the CDC to rescind $602 million from those states. A White House spokesperson said the rescissions are targeting “states fraught with waste and mismanagement.” (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)

🔎 See Also: Illinois appeal for summer storm disaster relief denied by Trump administration (Tina Sfondeles, Chicago Sun-Times)

Pentagon cuts academic ties with “woke” Harvard to focus on training “warriors”: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who earned a master’s degree in 2013 from the Harvard Kennedy School, said his department will cut academic ties with Harvard, claiming it is no longer the right place to develop military personnel. (Victoria Craw and Susan Svrluga, Washington Post)

White House Ballroom

Legality of Trump’s $400M in private funding for White House ballroom at issue: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has said he may rule this month on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s challenge to the project. Watchdog groups argue that the administration’s fundraising effort exploits gaps in federal disclosure rules that Congress should tighten. (Dan Diamond, Aaron Schaffer, and Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post)

Natural Disasters

Turmoil at FEMA adds to the revolt against Kristi Noem: Lawmakers, disaster response experts, and disaster survivors say Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s policies have slowed emergency response and delayed recovery funding. When Noem took office, she throttled that funding by, among other things, requiring her personal sign-off on all expenses over $100,000. The pace of disbursements has since slowed to a trickle. (Jake Bittle, Government Executive)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Some Army civilians worked during the shutdown — and were told to say they didn’t: Civilian employees of the Army who were supposed to be furloughed during the recent shutdown went to work anyway, then were instructed to fill out timecards showing they were still furloughed. The workers fear they were forced to break the law. (Eric Katz and Thomas Novelly, Government Executive)

Religious freedom group says U.S. military members were “pressured” by commanders to see “Melania”: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation said it received reports from eight bases around the world that service members were being “pressured” by their superiors to see the documentary on the first lady. (Jason Guerrasio, Business Insider)

Pentagon holds off on naming and shaming defense contractors: The Pentagon completed its initial review of defense contractor companies to determine whether they were investing in their own production capacity or engaging in dividend payments and stock buybacks. The Pentagon notified contractors that it has now kicked off an “extended review period” in which it will make “noncompliance determinations.” (Filip Timotija, The Hill)

Army looks to lease out land on 4 military installations for new commercial data centers: Businesses could soon build out and host commercial data centers on Army installations as part of a broader administration push to expand the nation’s AI and technological infrastructure. In addition to the typical concerns with data centers — they consume vast amounts of electricity and water, often leading to high emissions, resource scarcity, and strained power grids — there is also concern with the public-private arrangement of the program. (Brandi Vincent, DefenseScoop)

Veteran suicide rate slightly increased, latest report finds: Fewer veterans took their own lives in 2023 than 2022, but the rate of veteran suicides continues to be twice that of the U.S. non-veteran population. (Patricia Kime, Military Times)

Business and Finance

The dramatic rise of farm labor contractors has led to rampant abuses. Here’s why regulators have failed to stop them: Experts say there aren’t enough state and federal inspectors to adequately vet whether labor contractors who oversee farmworkers are following the rules. Nor is there broad political support to invest more resources to protect foreign workers. (Max Blau, ProPublica)

Professors are being watched: “We’ve never seen this much surveillance”: Increasingly, college professors are being watched by state officials, senior administrators, and students. In several states, professors are now required to publicly post their syllabuses and set up student complaint tip lines. Conservative groups applaud the moves. Professors and free-expression groups fear it will lead to censorship and self-censorship and will ultimately curb academic freedom and learning. (Vimal Patel, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump’s assault on DEI halts universities’ progress on diverse faculties (Laura Meckler, Lydia Sidhom, and Eric Lau, Washington Post)

Nike investigated for discriminating against White people in DEI probe: The EEOC launched an investigation into Nike’s DEI program, alleging the company may have discriminated against White employees and applicants. The investigation is one of the first announced by the EEOC, which put out a call in December seeking discrimination complaints from White men. (Jessica Guynn, USA Today)

Tech

The AI boom is so huge it’s causing shortages everywhere else: Electricians are getting harder to find. Some construction projects are on hold. Smartphones and personal computers are expected to get pricier for years to come. Promising innovations are being starved of investment funding. These are just some of the domino effects from the tech industry’s insatiable spending on AI, which is diverting resources and attention from other sectors of the economy. (Shira Ovide, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Trump set off a surge of AI in the federal government. See what happened (Ian Duncan et al., Washington Post)

Health Care

With ICE using Medicaid data, hospitals and states are in a bind over warning immigrant patients: The Trump administration’s move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is putting hospitals and states in a bind as they weigh whether to alert immigrant patients that their personal information, including home addresses, could be used in efforts to remove them from the country. (Phil Galewitz and Amanda Seitz, KFF Health News)

Obamacare sign-ups drop, but the extent won't be clear for months: More Americans than expected enrolled in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans for this year, after premium subsidies were dramatically cut. But it remains to be seen whether they'll keep the coverage as their costs mount. (Julie Appleby, CBS News)

Hospitals are posting prices for patients. It’s mostly industry using the data: Amid low compliance and other struggles implementing the policy since it took effect in 2021, the available price data is sparse and often confusing. And instead of patients shopping for medical services, it’s mostly health systems and insurers using the little data there is. (Darius Tahir, NPR)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Appeals court lets Trump revoke deportation protections for 60,000 more migrants

→ Trump’s migrant detention pipeline extends from Minnesota to El Paso

→ Trump’s new “prison camp” threat unleashes fury even in MAGA country

→ Maine residents arrested in ICE operation transferred as far as Louisiana, Missouri

→ The children detained at the detention center in Dilley, Texas

Other News:

→ U.S. military strikes another alleged drug vessel; search launched for 1 survivor

→ Trump allies near “total victory” in wiping out U.S. climate regulation

→ Grant guidelines for libraries and museums take “chilling” political turn under Trump

→ Justice Department seeks to wipe out Bannon conviction for defying Jan. 6 committee

On The Lighter Side

These are the troops competing in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: Several active-duty soldiers and airmen are a part of Team USA as coaches and athletes, competing in everything from figure skating to bobsled. (Nicholas Slayton, Task & Purpose)

Upcoming Events

📌 Examining Fraud and Foreign Influence in State and Federal Programs. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census. Tuesday, February 10, 2:30 p.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the U.S Department of Justice. House Committee on the Judiciary. Wednesday, February 11, 10:00 a.m., 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 VIRTUAL EVENT: Inside the Destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development. ProPublica. Wednesday, February 11, 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST.

📌 Breaking Government: How DOGE and Trump Damaged Federal Workers and Public Services, and How We Fix It: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Thursday, February 12, 2:00 p.m. ET, Fairfax County Government Center, Fairfax, VA.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds: 2025 Annual Report. February 5, 2026 (PDF)

🔥📃 American Economic Liberties Project: Making Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share: How Private Jet Travel Congests America’s Airports. February 2026 (PDF)

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Michael McDonald - Chairperson, National Endowment for the Humanities