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Top U.S. & World Headlines — February 26, 2026

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Democracy Now Video • Feb 26, 2026

Top U.S. & World Headlines — February 26, 2026

New Republic • Feb 26, 2026

Marco Rubio Accidentally Undercuts Trump’s Main Argument on Iran

Trump administration officials just can’t seem to decide whether Iran is actually enriching uranium, as the president threatens to launch a major military strike there.Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that Iran was not currently enriching uranium, while speaking to reporters Wednesday at St. Kitts and Nevis. “They are in possession—first and foremost, after their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, and here they are. You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it,” he said. “They’re not enriching right now, but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.”Rubio’s statement directly contradicted the Trump administration’s main justification to attack Iran—and statements from other U.S. officials. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff claimed on Fox News Saturday that Iran’s enrichment level had reached “60 percent.” “They’re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material,” Witkoff warned. Most nuclear reactors that produce electricity only require uranium that is enriched to between 3 percent and 5 percent. Highly enriched uranium is anything above 20 percent, and weapons-grade uranium is enriched above 90 percent, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. After Donald Trump launched a massive bombing campaign on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the White House insisted that the United States had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear capabilities. Nine months later, and even MAGA Republicans are struggling to sell the administration’s story that Iran was once again a threat. Top U.S. military officials, meanwhile, have reportedly warned the White House against dragging the country into war with Iran, arguing that it could entangle America in a prolonged conflict.

Semafor • Feb 26, 2026

World Economic Forum head resigns over Epstein ties

The Swiss organization launched an investigation earlier this month into Børge Brende’s links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

New Republic • Feb 26, 2026

How Jeffrey Epstein Worked the South Florida Legal System

It seems that a key provision in the 2008 sweetheart plea deal that gave Jeffrey Epstein his light sentence was proposed by a former federal prosecutor who later regularly corresponded with the sexual predator.Among the revelations in an extensive report by The Miami Herald is that while insisting on a minimum two-year sentence and a felony conviction for Epstein as part of a plea agreement, former chief federal criminal prosecutor Matthew Menchel also reportedly proposed that Epstein be allowed to enter a plea in state rather than federal court. The ultimate entry of Epstein’s highly favorable plea in state court enabled Epstein to obtain the work release that got him out of jail for periods at a time. According to the Herald, Menchel initially discussed this matter not with the lead prosecutor on the case, Marie Villafana, but rather with Epstein’s defense lawyer Lily Ann Sanchez (whom Menchel had once dated). A 2020 report from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility stated that Menchel failed to tell his supervisors about his prior relationship with Sanchez, but the OPR concluded that there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct by Menchel or any of the federal prosecutors. “I told Lily [sic] that a state plea with jail time and sex offender status may satisfy the USA,” Menchel wrote to Villafana in July 2007.Villafana was incensed, as she had already prepared an 82-page prosecution memo directed to U.S. attorney Alex Acosta and Menchel that suggested a 60-count federal indictment for Epstein, the Herald reported. “[I]t is inappropriate for you to enter into plea negotiations without consulting with me or the investigative agencies, and it is more inappropriate to make a plea offer that you know is completely unacceptable to the FBI, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], the victims and me,” she wrote to Menchel. Menchel wrote back: “If the U.S. Attorney [Acosta] or the First Assistant [Sloman] desire to meet with you, they will let you know. Nor will I direct Epstein’s lawyers to communicate only with you. If you want to work major cases in the district you must understand and accept the fact that there is a chain of command — something you disregard with great regularity.”Menchel left the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office in August 2007, one month before Epstein’s non-prosecution deal was finished, and was not involved in final negotiations. A few years later, and just months after Epstein had completed his state sentence, he and Menchel began to correspond regularly and “met often for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners,” according to the Herald. Menchel’s lawyers asserted to the Herald that their correspondence was only “in the context of potential representation and referrals, none of which ever materialized into any business.” The full report reveals just how powerful—and how insidious—Epstein was, and how the system lacked the collective will to mete out a punishment commensurate to his despicable crimes.UPDATE: Menchel’s attorney, Erica Wolff, wrote to The New Republic to clarify that: Menchel was not responsible for the plea deal; the eventual plea deal agreed to by Acosta was more lenient than the one Menchel recommended; and Menchel did not insist on a state plea.  