Thursday Evening Briefing
The robots misfire.
The fourth day of this experiment revealed both the astonishing capabilities of AI—and its puzzling limitations. I was impressed by some of the insights Claude surfaced while helping me produce the newsletter below. I was equally baffled by the mistakes it made.
I threw a lot at it. At a certain point, it started cutting corners. The more I asked it to do, the more it looked for shortcuts—until it began making things up.
To its credit, Claude was also able to identify its own errors, explain clearly why it made them, and correct them quickly. But overall, it was a good day for the AI skeptics in the comments. Under pressure, Claude broke down and failed a basic test of the news business: don’t make things up!
Read the finished product below and let me know what you think. (The mistakes were corrected and the other bugs were worked out.) And please remember: this isn’t an experiment to produce a newsletter for Telos News. It’s an experiment to help identify what parts of the news industry may be vulnerable to disruption in the very near term.
—Ryan
☀️ Evening Briefing — Thursday, February 12, 2026
A 9-minute read on a day when the Trump associate in the Iran intercept was revealed to be Jared Kushner, a DHS shutdown became virtually certain, the EPA repealed the legal basis for all federal climate regulation, and Trump’s approval crashed to 36% in a new poll.
🔴 It was Kushner. The New York Times reported Thursday that a whistleblower has accused Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard of blocking distribution of a report that Jared Kushner’s name appeared in an intercepted communication between two foreign nationals discussing Iran. The intercept was collected by a foreign spy service and shared with the U.S. Kushner’s name was masked in the original NSA report but identifiable. The whistleblower complaint was drafted last May — while the administration was deliberating a strike on Iran. Kushner has subsequently helped lead negotiations with Tehran and has business interests across the Middle East. The episode raises questions about whether Gabbard improperly shielded the intelligence from wider distribution within the spy agencies. New York Times
🔴 Trump defends Obama ape video at White House presser. Asked Thursday whether the staffer who posted a video depicting the Obamas as apes had been disciplined, Trump said no — and called it “a very strong piece” about voter fraud. Mediaite
🚨 The Lead: DOJ Spied on Lawmakers’ Epstein Searches — Now Faces Watchdog Investigation
The fallout from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s combative Wednesday hearing escalated sharply Thursday when Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, formally asked the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate what he called “spying” on members of Congress. The referral came after photographs showed Bondi holding a binder page labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History” — a printout tracking which Epstein documents a Democratic congresswoman had reviewed at a DOJ facility. CBS News
The DOJ didn’t just fumble the Epstein file release — it appears to have weaponized congressional access to the files as an intelligence-gathering operation against the lawmakers reviewing them, then used that intelligence as ammunition at a public hearing. The surveillance crossed partisan lines: Republican Rep. Nancy Mace confirmed the tracking system logs “every file that we open, and when we open it. They’re tracking everything” and called it “creepy.” House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that” — a significant rebuke from Trump’s most powerful congressional ally. Axios reports Democrats are now eyeing legal action beyond the IG referral. CNN The Daily Beast Mediaite Axios
“They’ve been utterly incompetent. Incompetent to the point that it almost seems like you’d have to be doing this on purpose to be this incompetent.” — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
What changed: Wednesday’s hearing revealed the surveillance; Thursday brought the institutional response. Raskin’s IG referral and Jayapal’s demand for “a full accounting” transform this from a hearing-day spectacle into a separation-of-powers confrontation. Meanwhile, President Trump posted a full-throated defense of Bondi on Truth Social, calling Massie — the Republican who caught the redaction errors — a “Republican Loser” in “‘Wacky’ Liz Cheney territory” and threatening a primary challenge. (Bondi herself called Massie a “failed politician” during the hearing.)
What to watch: Whether the IG opens a formal investigation (ha!); whether more lawmakers’ search histories surface; and whether this pattern of government retaliation intensifies. On the same day, a federal judge blocked Defense Secretary Hegseth from punishing Sen. Mark Kelly over the “illegal orders” video (see below), and Bloomberg Law reported that a DOJ official is soliciting “examples of perceived judicial activism” from U.S. attorneys’ offices to inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress — meaning the DOJ is now targeting lawmakers, judges, and congressional oversight simultaneously. Jayapal told MS NOW she confronted Speaker Johnson directly, saying “we need an investigation.” Democrats are already framing this as a 2026 issue: POLITICO reports House Democrats think Bondi “just helped them.” POLITICO Mediaite
🗳️ The Tariff Rebellion — and Its Limits
Six House Republicans defied direct presidential threats Wednesday to join Democrats in voting to disapprove Trump’s tariffs on Canada — a rare open break with the White House on a signature policy.
“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” — President Trump
The rebels — Reps. Thomas Massie, Don Bacon, Jeff Hurd, Brian Fitzpatrick, Dan Newhouse, and Kevin Kiley — acted despite a Truth Social post from Trump hours earlier warning that “any Republican… that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” The six were undaunted. Bacon told reporters, “I’m not planning on negotiating.” The vote was part of a Democratic procedural strategy to force rolling referendums on individual tariff actions — Mexico, Brazil, and “Liberation Day” tariffs are all expected to receive separate votes. POLITICO Truth Social
To be sure: A WaPo analysis cautioned that “a little Republican rebellion against Trump only goes so far.” The vote was largely symbolic — it cannot override a presidential veto, and six out of 220 Republicans is not a governing majority. Bacon told CNN that colleagues “feel like they’re in between a rock or a hard place because they don’t want to get on the bad side of the president.” The rebellion is real, but it’s constrained by a primary calendar that gives Trump maximum leverage. Washington Post POLITICO
The economic data doesn’t help Trump’s case. A New York Federal Reserve report released Thursday found that Americans are shouldering almost all of Trump’s tariffs — 90% of the import taxes are borne by U.S. consumers and companies, not foreign exporters. The CBO reached a similar conclusion Wednesday. The NYT reports the legal challenges to tariffs remain in a “waiting game” as courts consider multiple cases that could constrain the president’s authority. Reuters
The connection to the Bondi story: Trump’s Truth Social responses to both the tariff rebellion and the Epstein hearing used the same weapon — primary threats. He attacked Massie as a “Republican Loser” being “crushed in the polls” by a “military hero opponent.” The president is fighting on two fronts with the same tool: threatening the political survival of any Republican who defies him, whether on trade or accountability.
🚔 Immigration: Retreat, Entrenchment, and a Collapsing Political Advantage
The administration announced the end of the Minnesota immigration surge Thursday — but three developments suggest the pullback is less a de-escalation than a strategic withdrawal.
The pullback. White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday that the surge of thousands of immigration officers into Minneapolis “will soon come to an end”: “I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude. A significant drawdown has already been underway this week.” He framed it as mission accomplished: “We have greatly reduced the number of targets for enforcement action.” AP reports 4,000+ arrested in Minnesota alone, but “many people with no criminal records, including children and U.S. citizens, have also been detained.” Meanwhile, the NYT reports that National Guard troops have now fully withdrawn from Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles — ending months of tension between the administration and city leaders. Bloomberg AP News New York Times
“Most agree the status quo with ICE cannot continue. What ICE has been doing in Minneapolis and other cities is the antithesis of law enforcement — it’s intimidation, coercion, and puts people in danger.” — Sen. Chuck Schumer
The accountability blockade. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told the Senate Homeland Security Committee Thursday that federal agencies are still blocking state investigators from examining the shootings of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good, 37, and Alex Pretti — by immigration agents. Ellison said state officials still have no access to Good’s car or the bullet casings. Federal officials are not investigating the shootings. In the immediate aftermath of Good’s killing, federal prosecutors began investigating Good’s widow — not the officers — though that probe stopped after federal prosecutors resigned in protest. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the evidence blockade “in fact, amounts to a cover-up.” In one of the hearing’s most dramatic moments, Sen. Rand Paul played the video of the Pretti shooting and told administration officials there was “not even a hint” of aggression on Pretti’s part. Reuters reports senators from both parties “sharply questioned” whether the use of force was appropriate. Reuters Mediaite
The judicial pushback. Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — with a long history of sparring with the Trump administration over immigration — ordered the administration Thursday to facilitate the return of some deported Venezuelans, with fiery comments from the bench. Separately, David French’s NYT column flags what may be the most consequential development of the week: the Fifth Circuit ruled that immigrants can be detained indefinitely without bond hearings, breaking what French calls 30 years of bipartisan legal consensus. Over 360 judges had rejected this theory across 3,000+ cases, but a three-judge panel adopted it (2-1). Judge Douglas dissented, writing that Congress “would be surprised to learn it had also required the detention without bond of two million people.” Washington Post New York Times
The political cost. New polls released Thursday quantify the damage. An AP-NORC poll found the Republican advantage on immigration has shrunk from 13 points to 4 points since October. One-third of Americans now trust the GOP more on the issue (down from 39%), while 28% trust neither party. The same AP survey found Trump’s overall approval has crashed to 36% — his lowest mark yet — with the deportation crackdown driving the decline. An NBC News poll found Trump’s immigration approval has dropped to 40% — converging with his overall approval for the first time. Among independents, “strongly disapprove” on immigration rose 15 points since August. And 72% of Americans want changes to ICE: 43% want reform, 29% want abolition, and only 29% want it to continue as-is. New York Times NBC News Mediaite
The surveillance infrastructure expands. Even as the physical surge ends, a court filing revealed Thursday that thousands of taxpayer records were wrongly shared with DHS under a data-sharing agreement signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The agreement allows ICE to submit names and addresses of undocumented immigrants to the IRS for cross-verification — but PBS reports the data of thousands of taxpayers was improperly included. PBS
The next front: stripping citizenship. NBC News reports the administration is working to expand efforts to revoke citizenship from foreign-born Americans — a quiet escalation that, combined with the taxpayer data-sharing and indefinite detention ruling, signals the enforcement apparatus is being built to outlast the street-level surges. NBC News
💰 The Fiscal Squeeze: DHS Shutdown Now All But Certain
A partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown will begin at midnight Saturday after Senate Democrats voted Thursday afternoon to block funding — then left Washington for a 10-day recess.
The vote. The Senate rejected the DHS funding bill 52-47, short of the 60 votes needed. Democrats held the line: they want ICE reforms — particularly a judicial warrant requirement for home entries, a new code of conduct, and better identification for agents — as their price for any funding deal. Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged the sides remain “a long ways” apart. The sticking point, per Thune: “The issue of warrants is going to be very hard for the White House or for Republicans.” AP News Reuters
What shuts down. TSA, FEMA, the Secret Service, and Customs and Border Protection will all be affected — though immigration arrests are expected to continue. Lawmakers in both chambers were told to be on standby to return to Washington if a deal emerges, but there is no scheduled vote and no negotiations underway. Schumer explicitly rejected the administration’s latest offer, saying that even the Minnesota pullback isn’t enough: the actions “could be reversed tomorrow on a whim.” AP News PBS
The market impact. Bloomberg reports the funding fight is already hitting DHS contractor shares — companies that run prisons, IT systems, and detention facilities are selling off on shutdown risk. Bloomberg.com
The fiscal backdrop. The CBO’s revised projections show the federal deficit at $1.85 trillion, with immigration crackdowns themselves worsening the fiscal picture: CBO estimates the reduced population (5.3 million fewer people through 2035) will cut tax revenue by ~$500 billion. And the BLS revised 2025 job creation sharply downward — the economy added just 181,000 jobs all year, not the 584,000 originally reported. New York Times
Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics benchmark revision, February 2026
To be sure: A last-minute deal is technically possible — lawmakers are on standby — but with the Senate in recess and no active negotiations, the shutdown is the most likely outcome. Democrats are betting the polling collapse on immigration gives them leverage to hold the line. The question is how long the shutdown lasts, not whether it happens.
🤖 AI Boom Meets Insider Anxiety
The tension between record capital inflows and record anxiety from insiders is the defining story of the AI boom — and this week both sides got louder.
The safety alarm. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei issued a safety brief — covered by the NYT under the headline “Is Claude Coding Us Into Irrelevance?” — sharing both “utopian and dystopian predictions for the near-term future of artificial intelligence.” The timing matters: Anthropic’s own product launches triggered a broad software selloff last week that is still reverberating across sectors. New York Times
“I think there are definitely going to be things that go wrong, particularly if we go quickly… This is happening over low single-digit numbers of years. And maybe that’s my concern: How do we get people to adapt fast enough?” — Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO
The capital keeps coming. Hours after the NYT published Amodei’s warnings, Anthropic announced it had finalized a $30 billion funding round at a $350–380 billion valuation — roughly doubling its prior valuation and making it one of the world’s most valuable private companies. Separately, FT reports that Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman predicts white-collar work could be automated within 18 months. Meanwhile, the sectoral selloffs continue — Bloomberg reports the “AI scare trade” has hit real estate stocks hard today on fears that AI will reduce office demand, and wealth management, insurance, and enterprise software companies remain under pressure. Bloomberg Financial Times Bloomberg
To be sure: Insider warnings about transformative technology are as old as Silicon Valley itself, and many have proven premature. Amodei has a commercial interest in the perception that AI is powerful enough to require safety guardrails — it’s also an argument for his company’s products. But the dissonance has never been this sharp: a CEO warning about societal disruption on the same day his company closes a $30 billion raise at a valuation that exceeds most Fortune 500 companies.
🌍 The Iran Channel: Second Carrier, Continuing Talks
The military and diplomatic tracks of the Iran confrontation both accelerated Thursday.
Trump shared a WSJ article on Truth Social announcing the Pentagon is preparing to deploy a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East — a deliberate signal amplification suggesting the military pressure track remains active. In a separate post Wednesday, Trump said he told Netanyahu he “insisted that negotiations with Iran continue” but warned that without a deal, “we will just have to see what the outcome will be.” Truth Social
Steve Witkoff, the Board of Peace member whose son Zach is deeply involved in Trump’s crypto ventures, continues to serve as the primary diplomatic channel. The Board of Peace meets Feb. 19 — its first formal session since creation. WSJ CNN
📺 The Press Under Pressure — From Multiple Directions
A week’s worth of media news, taken together, describes an information ecosystem being reshaped by government action, ownership upheaval, and corporate pressure simultaneously.
FTC targets Apple News. The FT reports that FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson warned Apple of a potential federal law violation regarding Apple News — specifically, complaints that the platform doesn’t sufficiently link to right-wing outlets. FCC Chair Brendan Carr praised the move, saying Apple has “no right to suppress conservative viewpoints.” There is no precedent for a federal agency threatening legal action against a news aggregator for insufficient promotion of ideologically favored outlets. Financial Times
CBS and the Bari Weiss transformation. A CBS Evening News producer’s resignation letter criticized the network’s “sweeping new vision” and “shifting set of ideological expectations” under Bari Weiss, invoking Walter Cronkite’s legacy. Roughly one-quarter of Evening News staff have accepted buyout offers. TheWrap
“Stories may instead be evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations — a dynamic that pressures producers and reporters to self-censor.” — Alicia Hastey, CBS Evening News producer, resignation letter
Trump, Ellison, and Paramount. CNN reports that Trump met with Oracle’s Larry Ellison — then publicly said he was “not involved” in the Paramount acquisition saga. The gap between the meeting and the denial is the story. WSJ
Also developing: A BBC/Trump defamation trial is set for 2027 in Florida — a $10B lawsuit that could set new precedent. Activist investor Ancora is pushing Warner to walk away from a Netflix deal. And Gallup is ending its 88-year presidential approval tracking. the Guardian WSJ The Daily Beast
The through-line is a media environment where government, ownership, legal risk, and corporate pressure all push in the same direction: toward less independent journalism.
💡 Worth Knowing
🌡️ EPA repeals endangerment finding — the legal foundation for all climate regulation. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed what he called the “single largest deregulatory action” in history Thursday, repealing the 2009 scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The endangerment finding, established under the Obama administration, was the legal basis for regulating emissions from cars, trucks, power plants, and oil and gas operations. Without it, the federal government has no legal authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. States are expected to challenge the repeal immediately. Zeldin claimed the action will save $1.3 trillion. Washington Post
⚖️ Judge blocks Hegseth from punishing Sen. Kelly — U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled Thursday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s attempt to censure and demote Sen. Mark Kelly over the “illegal orders” video is unconstitutionally retaliatory. Leon wrote in a 29-page ruling that “Senator Kelly was reprimanded for exercising his First Amendment right to speak on matters of public concern.” The ruling landed two days after a grand jury declined to indict all six “Seditious Six” lawmakers. Together, these represent major defeats for the administration’s retaliation campaign — and arrive the same week that the DOJ began soliciting “judicial activism” examples for potential impeachment referrals against judges. AP News
“Senator Kelly was reprimanded for exercising his First Amendment right to speak on matters of public concern.” — Judge Richard Leon (George W. Bush appointee), 29-page ruling
🌡️ Munich Security Conference — European leaders are calling Trump “the most prominent demolition man” in a 120-page report ahead of this week’s gathering. AOC will offer a “working class” perspective on foreign policy; Rubio will present the administration’s vision. NBC News
🏴 U.S. forces leave Syria base — American troops have left the Al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria, used for years in the fight against ISIS. Some soldiers will relocate to a base in Jordan. About 1,000 U.S. troops remain in Syria. New York Times
🚢 Two Navy ships collide — Two U.S. Navy ships collided in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in minor injuries. Reuters
🧼 Palette Cleanse
🐘 Elephants’ most sensitive secret. Scientists have discovered that the hundreds of whiskers covering an elephant’s trunk aren’t just decorative — they’re exquisitely sensitive touch sensors that help elephants navigate their world with a precision researchers are only now beginning to understand. Washington Post
🤖 Waymo’s most human problem. Self-driving cars can navigate city streets without a driver, but they can’t shut their own doors. Bloomberg reports Waymo is now recruiting DoorDash drivers to serve as on-call door-closers for its robotaxis — a delightfully absurd reminder that the future is unevenly distributed. Bloomberg
Sources: AP, Reuters, NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg, WaPo, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, POLITICO, Mediaite, TheWrap, FT, PBS, the Guardian.
This is an experiment. Let me know what you think!
Well that was a lot, too much info in one post for me. I understand the experiment and look forward to your summary.
Ryan, you should be writing novels. Crime and scandal novels. Your first installments of the Nuzzi affair were genuinely smart and entertaining in ways you don’t get on Substack. But this is just crap. No, it’s not even crap, it’s crapola.