Trump Says Republicans Should ‘Take Over’ Elections, and Clintons Agree to Testify in Epstein Inquiry

by · NY Times

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Trump Says Republicans Should ‘Take Over’ Elections, and Clintons Agree to Testify in Epstein Inquiry

Plus, a conservative group plans an alternate Super Bowl halftime show.

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions.

tracy mumford

From “The New York Times,” it’s “The Headlines.” I’m Tracy Mumford. Today’s Tuesday, February 3. Here’s what we’re covering.

president donald trump

We have states that are so crooked and they’re counting votes. We have states that I won that show I didn’t win. Now, you’re going to see —

tracy mumford

President Trump is stepping up his rhetoric around American elections, saying in an interview yesterday, that they should be overhauled and that the Republican Party should, quote, “nationalize voting.”

president donald trump

The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places.

tracy mumford

Trump’s call for a political party to seize control of voting mechanisms is at odds with the Constitution, which says that elections are primarily run by the States. The president has repeatedly said that changes in the election system are needed, pointing to debunked claims about his defeat in 2020. Citing those claims, his administration has been taking a number of steps to exert more control over American elections.

He signed an executive order trying to, among other things, demand proof of citizenship before voting — an effort that’s largely been blocked by the courts. And the Justice Department has been demanding that numerous states turn over their voter rolls, containing personal and private information. Just last month, the attorney general sent a letter to Minnesota, specifically, demanding that data and calling it a necessary step to, quote, “bring back law and order.” Election officials have expressed concern that the data could be misused or manipulated.

And lastly, “The Times” has learned that in a remarkable moment, Trump talked directly to the FBI agents who were sent to search an election center in Georgia last week. The agents seized truckloads of ballots from 2020 from Fulton County, which Biden won by a wide margin.

A former senior Justice Department official, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, said Trump’s interaction with the agents was a major departure from past practice, calling it, quote, “extremely dangerous to our democracy for the president to be directly involved in how a criminal investigation is carried out, especially one that the president has a personal stake in.” In response to questions, a White House spokesman said President Trump pledged to secure America’s elections, and he has tasked the most talented team of patriots to do just that.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

Now, two quick updates on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Today marks the fourth day and counting of a partial government shutdown, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill clash over funding for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill that provided only temporary funding for DHS in order to allow for negotiations on guardrails for federal agents, like ending indiscriminate sweeps.

But it’s not clear how quickly the House will move to pass the bill, since a number of Republicans there are opposed to the compromise. In the meantime, $800 billion in military spending is frozen, as well as money for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Transportation, among other agencies.

And hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti have been given a temporary reprieve after a federal judge hit pause on the administration’s effort to end their legal protection. Many Haitians have been allowed to live and work in the US under what’s known as TPS, Temporary Protected Status, due to a humanitarian crisis and widespread unrest in their country. The Trump administration, however, had moved to end those protections, arguing that keeping Haitians in the US wasn’t in the national interest. But in a scathing ruling, the judge said the administration was motivated, at least in part, by racial animus and that it had ignored the billions of dollars that Haitians contribute to the US economy.

Notably, Haitians play a crucial role in America’s health care system, working in large numbers in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. The head of one senior care center in Boca Raton, Florida, for example, said she would have to let go of 30 Haitian employees if their status changed. Haitians are not the only group of TPS holders the administration has targeted. In the past month or so, federal judges have blocked the government from ending TPS status for people from Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and South Sudan. The administration has signaled it will appeal all of those rulings.

Last night, after a months-long battle, Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The Clintons had been facing the threat of criminal contempt charges if they refused, a push that had been supported by Republicans and a handful of Democrats. Getting the couple to testify is a major victory for James Comer, the Republican chair of the Oversight Committee.

He has tried to shift the focus of his panel’s Epstein investigation away from President Trump and his administration’s handling of the matter and toward prominent Democrats who also had ties to the convicted sex offender. Bill Clinton took four trips on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s, though he says he never visited Epstein’s private island and cut off contact with him two decades ago. Hillary Clinton has said she never met or spoke to Epstein. The details of when and where the Clintons will testify are still being worked out, but it is nearly unprecedented for a former president to appear before Congress.

[WISTFUL MUSIC]

[CHATTER IN ARABIC]

[CAR HORNS HONKING]

In Gaza yesterday, the border crossing into Egypt reopened after being largely closed since the spring of 2024. The hope is that it can be a lifeline for people who need to be evacuated for medical care. But it had a faltering start. Only a small number of Palestinians appeared to get clearance to leave yesterday.

speaker 1

[SPEAKING ARABIC]

tracy mumford

“The Times” visited hospitals in Gaza and talked with Palestinians who are anxiously waiting to get approval to go. One father said he was nervous that his son, who has acute liver failure, wouldn’t get out in time. The reopening is also letting a limited number of Gazans, who fled earlier in the war, return home for the first time. And eventually, humanitarian groups hope the crossing can be used to move truckloads of aid into the territory. For now, that is not allowed.

[CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC]

And finally —

turning point host

This is a major, major announcement. This is the first announcement about the All-American Halftime Show. It’s happening right here.

tracy mumford

— the conservative group, Turning Point USA, says it’s going to put on its own concert during the Super Bowl this Sunday, as an alternative to the official halftime show. Bad Bunny, who has been a very vocal critic of the Trump administration, is the NFL’s headliner. But Turning Point has chosen Kid Rock.

kid rock

What we’re going to do is go out there and just try to play some great music for people who love this country. It’s that simple.

tracy mumford

Kid Rock has played at political events for President Trump in the past. He joined in for the announcement, during which he accused the crowd at the Grammys, where Bad Bunny just won Album of the Year, of having a woke mind virus. Turning Point USA plans to stream its concert at the same time as the halftime show, which is generally the world’s most viewed concert every year. More than 130 million people tuned in last year.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

Those are the headlines. I’m Tracy Mumford. We’ll be back tomorrow.

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President Trump called in a podcast interview for the Republican Party to “nationalize” voting in the United States. He has long been fixated on the false claim that voter fraud is rampant.
Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

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