Hillary Clinton accuses Trump administration of Epstein files cover-up – US politics live

2026-02-17 - 11:25

‘Get the files out’, says former secretary of state, adding that she and Bill Clinton have ‘nothing to hide’ Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next couple of hours. We begin with the news that the former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accused president Donald Trump of orchestrating a “cover-up” over files related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to an interview with the BBC published on Monday. Donald Trump has piled pressure on Ukraine to reach a deal with Russia “fast” before US-brokered talks in Geneva on Tuesday. “Ukraine better come to the table, fast,” the US president told reporters onboard Air Force One while en route to Washington. Trump is pushing to end the conflict, which began when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but two previous rounds of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi did not yield any signs of a breakthrough. Donald Trump has vented his fury against a green energy deal between the British government and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a likely future Democratic presidential candidate. “The UK’s got enough trouble without getting involved with Gavin Newscum,” Trump said in an interview with Politico, using the derogatory nickname he reserves for Newsom. “Gavin is a loser. Everything he’s touched turns to garbage. His state has gone to hell, and his environmental work is a disaster.” Trump’s most unbridled critics at this weekend’s Munich Security Conference were not Europeans but Americans – and not just Democratic politicians. A few Republicans, out of earshot of the US president’s favoured Fox News, have had the courage to challenge Trump’s diet of tariffs and unpredictability. Trump is committed to the success of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, because his leadership is crucial for US national interests, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said. “President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success,” Rubio said, standing next to Orbán at a joint press conference in Budapest. John Paulson, a hedge fund billionaire and one of Donald Trump’s earliest Wall Street backers, is planning to move an Ohio manufacturing plant to China despite heavy pushback from employees. Workers at the plant have called the relocation “a slap in our face”, after Paulson vocally defended domestic manufacturing, and are fighting to keep the plant open. Continue reading...