The Daily Wrap Up

10 Feb. 2026

[Transcripts edited for clarity, length and flow]

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Hi, and welcome back to Mary Trump Live. I’m Brian Karem, sitting in for Mary today. Thanks for welcoming me into your home once again.

There is nothing quite like the D.C. soup, a noxious mixture of politicians capable of soiling themselves every day and flinging it at the electorate with glee. Donald is always upset if he is not the center of attention doing this, but today he had to take a backseat to Congress, which is facing a partial shutdown and continuing fallout from the Epstein scandal. The president has said we should turn the page on Epstein, but unfortunately Donald is on that page too. So let’s dive in.

I spent the day on Capitol Hill because the White House would not honor my press pass. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

Today, top officials from the Department of Homeland Security faced more than three hours of sharp questioning during a House Committee on Homeland Security oversight hearing on immigration enforcement. Testifying before lawmakers were Todd Lyons, the senior official performing the duties of Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The hearing followed the fatal shootings of Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis last month during encounters involving federal immigration personnel. Democrats pressed DHS officials on accountability, use of force, and whether the department is even capable of reform. Representative Delia Ramirez argued that it is not and called for DHS to be dismantled entirely.

This is all happening as Congress approaches a DHS specific funding deadline. Senator Angus King and others have warned against another short term extension, raising the possibility of a partial shutdown.

Representative Lou Correa of California focused on whether ICE is collecting and storing information on Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. Here is that exchange.

Representative Lou Correa: Those people protesting, practicing their First Amendment right, photos of them, data taken, they are not being placed in any kind of database.

Todd Lyons: There is no database for protesters, sir.

Representative Lou Correa: One of your officers in Maine said to an individual protesting, “We’re going to put your face in a little database.” What does that mean? Do you have a database of Americans?

Todd Lyons: No, sir, we do not.

Representative Lou Correa: Then what do you think your ICE agent was doing when he said that?

Todd Lyons: I can’t speak for that individual, sir, but I can assure you there is no database tracking United States citizens.

So let’s be clear. Either the witness is lying or ICE agents are lying. ICE agents have told me directly that such a database exists. And we have evidence.

ICE Agent: It’s not illegal to record.

Protester: Exactly.

ICE Agent: Why are you taking my information down?

ICE Agent: Because we have a nice little database. And now you’re considered a domestic terrorist. We’re videotaping you.

No, they are not crazy. They are trying to intimidate people for exercising their constitutional rights.

Representative Correa then asked what documentation Americans must carry to avoid being detained by ICE. This is what Correa asked Lyons,

Representative Lou Correa: Young people are asking me, “What do I have to carry so I won’t be deported?” Is a passport enough?

Todd Lyons: An American citizen should not feel the need to carry

Representative Lou Correa: ICE agents pulled over a man in my district, he showed his passport, they threw it aside and detained him. What do Americans have to do to prove they are citizens?

Todd Lyons: No American citizen falls under Title 8. No American citizen will be arrested for being an American citizen.

Representative Lou Correa: Yet you just said no one has been fired for violations of the law, and this is happening in my district. People are terrified. Americans are being detained and held for days.

That is simply false. I know American citizens who have been detained in Minneapolis, California, and elsewhere. Either Lyons does not know what his department is doing, or he is lying, or both.

Representative Eric Swalwell raised another critical issue: how civilians are supposed to identify law enforcement when agents wear masks and operate from unmarked vehicles.

Representative Eric Swalwell: A grocery store cashier told me she is afraid. If someone pulls up in an unmarked van, dressed in black with their face covered, how does she know if they are ICE or criminals?

Todd Lyons: ICE agents have identifiable placards and badges. You will not see ICE snatching people from parking lots. We conduct intelligence driven targeted enforcement.

Representative Eric Swalwell: Mr. Homan has said agents target people based on skin color and accents. That is why people are fleeing factories and fields.

ICE did targeted investigations before Stephen Miller demanded numbers at any cost. That distinction matters.

Swalwell then asked how many ICE agents have been fired for misconduct.

Representative Eric Swalwell: How many ICE agents have been fired under your leadership?

Todd Lyons: I can get you that data.

Representative Eric Swalwell: Can you tell us if even one person has been fired? Two people have been killed. A nurse named Alex Pretti and a mother named Renée Good.

Todd Lyons: Yes, sir.

Two people have been killed.

Swalwell then confronted Lyons over his comparison of deportations to Amazon Prime.

Representative Eric Swalwell: How many times has Amazon Prime shot a mother in the face?

Todd Lyons: None, sir.

Representative Eric Swalwell: That’s a square root of zero.

Representative Dan Goldman then pressed Lyons on whether agents are asking random Americans for proof of citizenship.

Representative Dan Goldman: What guidance have you given your agents about asking people on the street to prove citizenship?

Todd Lyons: We conduct targeted, intelligence driven operations.

Representative Dan Goldman: So all the Americans reporting random stops are lying?

Todd Lyons: If agents are conducting investigations, they may ask nationality.

Representative Dan Goldman: That is not targeted. That includes American citizens and off duty law enforcement.

Goldman closed with this.

Representative Dan Goldman: You said calling ICE the Gestapo encourages threats. You have it backwards. People are observing un-American and fascistic tactics. If you don’t want to be called secret police, stop acting like them.

Later that day, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. The hearing quickly turned to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

Reporter: Why did you keep contact with Jeffrey Epstein after he pled guilty to sex crimes? Will you resign?

Howard Lutnick: I look forward to testifying today.

Lutnick admitted he met Epstein after his conviction, contradicting earlier statements. Senator Jeff Merkley cited multiple DOJ records showing continued contact.

Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed Lutnick about a visit to Epstein’s private island.

Senator Chris Van Hollen: You said you would never associate with him again. Did you visit his island?

Howard Lutnick: I had lunch with him while traveling with my wife, children, and nannies. It was an hour. We left together.

Van Hollen continued.

Senator Chris Van Hollen: Do you know if the nanny on that trip was someone Epstein expressed interest in meeting?

Howard Lutnick: I have no idea.

Senator Chris Van Hollen: He was a convicted sex offender. Not a place for children.

This directly contradicts Lutnick’s own account on Miranda Devine’s podcast.

Howard Lutnick: We saw a massage table and candles. He said he had massages every day. My wife and I decided I would never be in the room with that disgusting person again.

So which is it?

House Oversight Democrats now say the Epstein files review looks like a cover up. Representative Jamie Raskin has warned that members of Congress have been given extremely limited access.

Representative Ro Khanna confirmed names of co conspirators remain redacted.

Representative Ro Khanna: There is no reason the Justice Department should be protecting powerful people.

Representative Melanie Stansbury added this.

Representative Melanie Stansbury: More than three dozen individuals directly associated with Donald are named in those files. Other countries have opened investigations and forced resignations.

The Epstein story is not going away.

At the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell is being considered.

Karoline Leavitt: It is not something the president is considering or focused on.

We will see.

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With that, thank you for joining us. If you want to follow my work, Just Ask the Question is my podcast, Free the Press is the book, and you can find my column every Friday at salon.com.

Thanks for being here.

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