Supreme Court vacates Steve Bannon contempt-of-Congress charges
Steve Bannon, former adviser to Donald Trump, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Grapevine, Texas, US, on Friday, March 27, 2026. (Photographer: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Monday vacated contempt-of-Congress charges against ex-Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who had refused to honor a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 , 2021, attack, and later served a four-month sentence.
The Court did not explain its decision. There were no noted dissents.
In a brief order, the Court noted that the Trump Justice Department has moved to drop the indictment against Bannon and returned the case to a lower court for dismissal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun departs Naval Station Norfolk, Feb. 3, 2026. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Derek Co/US Navy)
(NEW YORK) — A rare collision at sea between two U.S. Navy ships occurred in the Caribbean on Wednesday, leaving two personnel with minor injuries, according to U.S. Southern Command.
“Yesterday afternoon, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG103) and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) collided during a replenishment-at-sea,” Col. Emmanuel Ortiz, a U.S. Southern Command spokesman, said in a statement.
He added that “two personnel reported minor injuries and are in stable condition.”
“Both ships have reported sailing safely. The incident is currently under investigation,” Ortiz said.
It is unclear if the two injured were aboard the destroyer, the supply ship or both ships.
During a replenishment at sea, two ships sail side-by-side at a close distance and supplies are transferred to the receiving ships via a cable fired from one ship to the other.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report that a collision had occurred between the two ships.
Collisions at sea are very rare for U.S. Navy ships with the most recent one before Wednesday’s incident taking place on Feb. 12, 2025, in the Mediterranean Sea when the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a merchant ship off of Port Said, Egypt. The collision caused enough damage to the carrier that it had to make a port of call to receive repairs.
While no injuries occurred in that collision, a subsequent Navy investigation determined that a slight adjustment in the course of either ship could have led to a mass-casualty event.
A damage assessment for the Wednesday collision is being made that will help determine whether the ships will proceed with their deployments or will return to port, according to a U.S. official.
The Truxtun had just left its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 6 to begin its deployment to the Caribbean as part of the large U.S. Naval presence built up over the last couple of months and that has remained in place following the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
There are currently 11 U.S. Navy ships operating in the Caribbean including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
President Donald Trump answers questions during a press briefing held at the White House February 20, 2026, in Washington, DC. The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled against Trump’s use of emergency powers to implement international trade tariffs, a central portion of the administration’s core economic policy. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has ordered U.S. government agencies to stop using Anthropic’s products, just hours before the deadline the Pentagon set for the AI company to agree to its terms.
“I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow,” Trump added.
ABC News has reached out to Anthropic for comment.
The AI company’s CEO has made clear that despite threats from the Pentagon, they refuse to drop their two key demands: no use of its artificial intelligence for fully autonomous weapons — meaning AI, not humans, making final battlefield targeting decisions — and no mass domestic surveillance.
Anthropic told ABC News that amid negotiations, the latest contract language from the Pentagon does not fully commit that the military will not use their technology for those two use cases.
In fact, Anthropic said the “new language” added into the contract by the department would allow their safeguards to be “disregarded at will.”
“The contract language we received from the Department of War made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons,” Anthropic told ABC News.
The company added, “New language framed as compromise was paired with legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will. Despite DOW’s recent public statements, these narrow safeguards have been the crux of our negotiations for months.”
Top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have sent a private letter to Anthropic and the Pentagon, urging them to resolve their fight.
The Senate leaders are urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the CEO of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, to extend their negotiations and work with Congress to find a solution, according to the letter obtained by ABC News.
The Pentagon claims it has no intention of using Anthropic’s AI for cases that involve mass domestic surveillance or autonomous kinetic operations. However, it says Anthropic’s guardrails could jeopardize military operations.
The Pentagon said that if Anthropic does not agree to its demands by 5:00 p.m. ET Friday, they will terminate the partnership with Anthropic and label the company a “supply chain risk” – a designation usually reserved for foreign adversaries.
“The Department has stated that it does not intend to conduct mass surveillance or use autonomous weapons without humans on the loop — positions that we in Congress endorse,” the letter from the Senate leaders reads. “It is clear, however, that the issue of ‘lawful use’ requires additional work by all stakeholders. We must determine whether additional legislative or regulatory language is required, and, if so, what that law and regulation should entail.”
“By Friday, February 27, the DOD could essentially declare war not on a foreign nation but on one of America’s most successful frontier AI companies if it does not bow to its demands,” Adam Conner, the vice president for technology policy at American Progress, wrote in an article on their website.
“This would be an unprecedented and unnecessary peacetime move that sends the signal to other private companies that they must do the Trump administration’s bidding or face existential consequences,” Conner wrote.
Donald Trump delivers remarks during a working breakfast with governors in the State Dining Room at the White House on February 20, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — When President Donald Trump delivers the first State of the Union address of his second term Tuesday night — it will be a chance to make the case for his sweeping policy goals directly to millions of Americans — ahead of November’s midterm elections where control of Congress is at stake.
One year ago, Trump proclaimed “America is back” as he addressed a joint session of Congress shortly after taking office, laying out novel plans to make good on issues he campaigned on, including lowering prices while imposing worldwide tariffs, the mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally, and a promise to keep America out of foreign wars.
Since then, he has taken unprecedented, often highly controversial, steps to reshape the federal government and achieve those goals, testing the limits of presidential power on both the domestic and foreign policy fronts. But he’s done so at a political cost – with polls showing a growing number of Americans displeased or opposed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday morning that the president will contend that he and Republicans are the best choice to “continue tackling the affordability crisis” and that he’ll feature a Pennsylvania waitress who benefitted from his “no tax on tips” policy.
Earlier, she posted on X that “In one year, President Trump has turned our country around from the brink of disaster, and he will rightly declare the State of Our Union is strong, prosperous and respected.”
He could also use his speech to shore up support from lawmakers and the American people on two major, immediate issues: the current showdown with Iran that could end up with Trump ordering the U.S. military into war — and his tariff policy — much of which was struck down as illegal last week by the Supreme Court.
At least some of the justices are expected to attend, possibly including the conservatives ones he picked and who joined in that ruling. By tradition, they will be seated just in front of him, and the presence of justices he has railed against, even personally attacked, could bring fireworks to the House chamber.
The economy and tariffs
After months of blaming former President Joe Biden for leaving what he repeatedly called an economic “mess,” Trump has now taken full responsibility for the economy, even declaring last week that he “won affordability.” While he is sure to tout the relative taming of inflation in recent months – down to 2.4% now from 3% when he took office – that hasn’t translated into lower prices across the board for many Americans.
Prices for some key household goods such as eggs and gas are down, but his tariffs and other factors have increased the prices of many household goods such as produce, beef and coffee.
The ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll shows that almost half of Americans, 48%, say the economy has gotten worse since Trump took office — although that number is down slightly from 52%, who said the same in October.
Given that, he faces an uphill battle to persuade Americans they are better off. According to that recent ABC/Post/Ipsos poll, 65% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling inflation and 57% disapprove of how he’s handling the economy overall.
“We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had,” Trump said Monday. “We have the most activity we’ve ever had. I’m making a speech tomorrow night, and you’ll be hearing me say that. I mean it’s — it’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about.”
As Democrats make the rising cost of health care a major message for their candidates to run on in this fall – after many Americans saw their premiums skyrocket when Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the start of the year – Trump will likely need to counter that by citing what he says he’s done to make health care more affordable.
He will surely point to his Most Favored Nation policy that lowered the cost of some pharmaceuticals and the TrumpRx platform aimed at making those lower prices for some medications more transparent.
Foreign policy
Trump will also have the chance to make the case for some of the ambitious foreign policy moves he’s made during his first year in office. His reshaping of America’s role in the global order comes as even some Republicans have criticized Trump for focusing too much on foreign policy rather than on domestic issues.
At his orders, the U.S. has amassed a major military force near Iran as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program between American and Iranian officials are likely to continue on Thursday. Even so, critics say Trump and his administration have not made publicly clear exactly what objectives they are seeking in Iran.
At the same time, he has made clear the possibility of military action — either limited or more prolonged — is not out of the question, even as polls show Americans are hesitant about the U.S. getting involved in another war to make changes in another country.
More than half of Americans, 54%, oppose Trump using the U.S. military to force changes in other countries, while only 20% support it (and 26% say they have no opinion or did not respond to the question), according to the ABC/Post/Ipsos poll.
Trump will also have the chance to lay out his view that America has supremacy over the Western Hemisphere, what he has coined the “Don-roe Doctrine.”
That view was evident in the military operation that put American boots on the ground in Venezuela to capture then-President Nicolas Maduro and the ongoing strikes he’s authorized on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed more than 150 people.
That ideology was also a cornerstone in his repeated calls for the U.S. to “own” Greenland, something that alarmed many of America’s closest European allies. The president said that a deal with Denmark was in the works for ownership of the territory during his trip to Switzerland in January, but since then no other information has come from the White House about the status of those talks.
Immigration
The president will also likely tout success on the border and immigration, even as some public opinion has turned on the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the immigration crackdown he’s ordered.
The Department of Homeland Security said in December that 2.5 million undocumented migrants were removed from the U.S. and the president has celebrated the reduction in crossings as the southern border, both of which were major campaign promises.
However, as ICE operations have ramped up, public opinion has started turning against them in the wake of the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota by federal law enforcement.
The ABC/Post/Ipsos poll found that the president’s approval ratings on immigration are also at a low for his second term — with 58% disapproving of his handling of immigration and 40% approving.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
