Stay up to date with live coverage of the Trump administration and national politics Tuesday as the president is set to deliver his State of the Union address later in the evening.
During the US men’s Olympic hockey team’s visit to the White House Tuesday, winger Matthew Tkachuk let President Trump don his gold medal.
“I’m not giving it back,” Trump joked as he put on the medal, which was met with laughter from Tkachuk’s teammates.
Trump invited the Olympic champion men and women's hockey teams to his State of the Union address. The women's team declined the invitation.
Due to the last-minute invite, house speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that they were racing to figure out the logistics.
“There’s no way to have special guests on the floor because it’s a literal session of Congress,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday. “But we’re going to work and do what we can to accommodate.”
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday that he was "not going to resign" after the emergence of "sexual" text messages with a congressional aide who fatally lit herself on fire in September 2025.
The Texas Republican's primary campaign has been roiled by allegations that he had an extramarital affair with the staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, in May 2024 — before her husband discovered the messages between Gonzales and his spouse.
"What you've seen is not all the facts," Gonzales told CNN reporter Manu Raju, dodging questions about whether the texts were real or the extent of the alleged affair.
News — Tony Gonzales, facing scandal, told me: “I will not resign.”
I asked him if the texts are authentic and if he had carried on an affair with a staffer. He would not directly say.
The gold medal-winning US men's Olympic hockey team has landed at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC, ahead of their trip to President Trump's State of the Union address.
After touching down, the players walked over to greet well-wishers waiting behind a fence along the tarmac.
The team departed Miami on board an Air Force plane a couple of hours ago and videos from their Instagram accounts show them taking the phrase "traveling party" literally.
🚨 NOW: Team USA is LIVING IT UP aboard the Air Force plane sent by President Trump, even cracking open brews at 35,000 feet
The Olympic champions arrived back in South Florida from Milan on Monday afternoon and celebrated their achievement with a steak dinner, followed by partying the night away at famed Miami nightclub E11even.
Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, will be among President Trump's guests at tonight's State of the Union address.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt retweeted a Daily Wire story about the invitation, including the quote: "The president will call on Congress to 'firmly reject political violence against our fellow citizens' with Charlie Kirk's widow in the chamber."
Erika Kirk took over the leadership of Turning Point USA after her husband was shot and killed during a speaking event at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.
Trump was among the nearly 100,000 who attended a blockbuster memorial service for the 31-year-old at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Erika Kirk will attend tonight's State of the Union. AP
President Trump will deliver his State of the Union address, focusing on the affordability crisis and celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. He will share stories of Americans benefiting from his policies and outline an ambitious agenda to make the nation more prosperous and secure.
The State of the Union will be held at the US Capitol on Tuesday evening. AP
French authorities have banned US Ambassador Charles Kushner — the father of Jared Kushner and father-in-law of Ivanka Trump — from meeting with government officials as tensions rise between Paris and Washington.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barro claimed Tuesday Kushner failed to show up for a meeting to explain comments made by the Trump administration that Emmanuel Macron's government objected to.
"It will, naturally, affect his capacity to exercise his mission in our country," Barro told broadcaster France Info.
Kushner was summoned to explain a critique by the State Department of the rise of "violent radical leftism" after far-right activist Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries Feb. 14, two days after a clash with far-left gang members in Lyon earlier this month.
Deranque's death was caught on video, showing him being kicked and punched. Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin likened Deranque's murder to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in America.
In response to the killing, the State Department's bureau of counter-terrorism posted online: “Violent radical leftism is on the rise and its role in Quentin Deranque's death demonstrates the threat it poses to public safety.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.
President Trump nominated Kushner as his ambassador to France shortly after winning a second term. At the end of his first term, he pardoned Kushner for federal crimes tied to tax evasion and witness tampering.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are due to attend Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night, a source close to the couple tells The Post.
US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner delivers a speech for the official launch of America 250, to celebrate the 250th birthday of the US in 2026, at the US ambassy. AFP via Getty Images
DOJ lawyers accused Sherrill, a former congresswoman and federal prosecutor, of “aiming to intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement” with her executive order No. 12, which she signed Feb. 11.
“Federal agents are risking their lives to keep New Jersey citizens safe, and yet New Jersey’s leaders are enacting policies designed to obstruct and endanger law enforcement,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Tuesday.
Mikie Sherrill, governor of New Jersey, displays a signed bill during an inauguration ceremony at Prudential Hall at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. Bloomberg via Getty Images
FedEx has sued the US government for a “full refund” of tariffs it paid after last week’s historic Supreme Court ruling deemed President Trump’s main import taxes illegal.
The suit appeared to be the first of its kind from a major American company following Friday’s ruling, which found that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority and overturned tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
“Plaintiffs seek for themselves a full refund from Defendants of all IEEPA duties Plaintiffs have paid to the United States,” Federal Express Corp and FedEx Logistics said in an 11-page complaint filed at the US Court of International Trade in New York on Monday.
FedEx on Monday sued the US government for the "full refund" of President Trump's tariffs. REUTERS
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leaves an oath of enlistment ceremony, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, held on the base of the Washington Monument in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) AP
WASHINGTON -- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt briefly spoke to reporters Tuesday morning as she headed back to the West Wing after a Fox News hit.
Leavitt insisted that Iran's nuclear capabilities were destroyed by US airstrikes this past June, despite special envoy Steve Witkoff stating over the weekend Tehran was "probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material."
According to Leavitt, the success of Operation Midnight Hammer "does not mean that Iran may never try again to establish a nuclear program that could directly threaten the United States and our allies abroad, and that's what the president wants to ensure can never happen again."
Leavitt also criticized a recent spate of stories speculating on when or whether Trump would order an attack in the Middle East.
“The president is always the final decision-maker around here,” she said. “And I've seen a lot of sensationalist reporting over the past day that is just completely untrue, and anyone speculating to the media, hiding behind an anonymous source, pretending to know what President Trump is thinking or a decision he will make with respect to action against Iran has no idea what they're talking about.”
WASHINGTON - Melania Trump will host two young women in her guest box for Tuesday’s State of the Union address who represent the issues she champions as first lady.
Seated with her in the House chamber will be Sierra Burns, 24, who was a beneficiary of Trump’s Foster Youth to Independence program, and Everest Nevraumont, a 10-year-old student from Austin, Texas, who attends Alpha School, which offers a hybrid learning curriculum that includes AI.
has been a longtime advocate for foster children, an issue that is particularly close to her heart.
“Fostering the Future has positioned the first lady as a leader as it relates to empowering children with education and technology,” a source close to her told The Post.
US First Lady Melania Trump during an executive order signing in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. Bloomberg via Getty Images
