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The House Oversight Committee this week released video of President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answering questions related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door depositions spanned two days and each lasted more than six hours. Both Clintons testified that they did not know about Epstein's crimes. Neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing connected to Epstein's crimes. PBS News' Ali Rogin has more on what was said in their depositions. #news #pbsnews #jeffreyepstein #epstein #epsteinisland #clinton #billclinton #hillaryclinton #epsteinfiles

Sen. Markwayne Mullin said he "misspoke" when he called the United States operation in Iran a "war." While speaking to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Mullin, R-Okla., said, "This is war, and we’re taking out the threat," when asked if measures are being taken not to eliminate more Iranian leadership officials. Later, after he was pressed on his phrasing and, specifically, his use of the word "war," Mullin said that it "was a misspoke." "What I was saying [was] that they've declared war on us, but war is ugly," he said. "It always has been ugly." "We haven't declared war," Mullin later added. "So if we haven't declared war, then I don't see that. The president hasn't asked us to declare war yet, but they have declared war on us." On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told tech leaders shortly before he left a roundtable event that he had to "go back and look at the war." #news #pbsnews #iran #us #israel #donaldtrump #trumpnews

U.S. says it will strike deeper into Iran, saying war has 'only just begun' On Wednesday, the U.S. said that its war with Iran has only just begun. The war expanded again as Iran fired a drone into NATO territory, and the U.S. used a torpedo fired by a submarine to sink a warship for the first time since World War II. The U.S. says it has struck more than 2,000 targets and Iran’s health ministry says more than 920 people there have been killed. Nick Schifrin reports. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #iran #nato #news

As the United States and Israel escalate their attacks on Iran, the Islamic Republic has expanded its attacks throughout the Middle East, hitting American diplomatic targets. The State Department said Tuesday that the U.S. is working on providing military and charter flights to evacuate Americans who wish to leave the region. Nick Schifrin reports. #iran #war #Tehran #Netanyahu #Israel #News

Iran experienced a fourth day of airstrikes on Tuesday from U.S. and Israeli forces. Special correspondent Reza Sayah, reporting from the Iranian capital city of Tehran, called the strikes "intense," "unnerving" and "frightening." As President Donald Trump announced the start of U.S. strikes against Iran early Saturday, he told Iranians to "take over your government." While there have been reports of people celebrating in the streets, "at this point, we're not" seeing indications of larger protests, Sayah told PBS News' Amna Nawaz. #pbs #pbsnewshour #pbsnews #international #foriegn #donaldtrump #trumpadministration #iran #airstrike #tehran

Democratic and some Republican senators pressed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week over what they described as overly aggressive immigration enforcement. Noem’s testimony before the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday comes as Congress remains deadlocked over DHS funding, raising concerns about national security at a moment of escalating conflict in the Middle East. Lisa Desjardins reports.#news #pbsnews #trumpnews #kristinoem #dhs #pretti #reneegood #ice

Officials in Pakistan say Afghan forces attacked its military positions along the border Tuesday, though there are conflicting reports on casualties. Pakistani authorities say at least 67 Afghan troops were killed, with local hospitals treating residents who were caught up in the fighting. Afghanistan's Defense Ministry rejected those figures, instead saying that Afghan troops repelled the attacks and killed four Pakistani soldiers. The conflicting reports come on a fifth day of violence, which started with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, launching attacks last week as a response to earlier Pakistan airstrikes. An Afghani defense ministry spokesperson said that "the Pakistani military regime has repeatedly violated our territory and martyred our civilians. As a result, no other option remained." Pakistan says it does not target civilians and instead accuses Kabul of providing a safe haven to the militants who target the Pakistani government. For its part, Afghanistan's government denies those claims. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #afghanistan #pakistan #kabul #worldnews

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defended his decision on an all-staff call to allow defense officials to use the company's A.I. tools for classified work. It comes after he announced a revision to the deal to make sure OpenAI's technology would not be used for mass surveillance. Monday night Altman posted on social media that announcing Friday's deal so quickly was "opportunistic and sloppy." OpenAI's agreement with the Pentagon came shortly on the heels of a federal ban on rival Anthropic's A.I. tools. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #dod #pentagon #artificialintelligence #ai #openai #samaltman #anthropic

California's governor is criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to temporarily block a state law banning public schools from outing transgender students to their parents. A spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom said teachers should be focused on teaching, not forced to be gender cops. The law bans automatic parental notification if students change their gender identity or pronouns. California officials had argued that it gave students privacy, especially if they feared rejection from their families, but the Supreme Court sided with Christian groups who say it allowed schools to mislead parents. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #scotus #supremecourt #california #transgender #lgbtq

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will voluntarily testify in the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That's according to the committee's chairman, though no date has been set. Lutnick told Axios, "I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong, and I want to set the record straight." He used to be Epstein's neighbor in Manhattan and has admitted to visiting Epstein's private island back in 2012. Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #trumpadministration #howardlutnick #jeffreyepstein #epstein #congress #epsteinfiles

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday walked back his comments that the United States attacked Iran because of Israel, saying the U.S. strikes "had to happen anyway." "The president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program, that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ability to conduct these attacks," Rubio told reporters on Tuesday. "This was a question of timing of why this had to happen as a joint operation," he added. "Not the question of the intent." On Monday, Rubio said the U.S. "proactively" hit Iran "in a defensive way" to prevent American casualties because the Trump administration believed an Israeli attack was imminent and that Iran "would immediately come after us" in retaliation. "Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it, but this had to happen no matter what," he said Monday. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #trumpadministration #iran #middleeast #foreignaffairs #marcorubio #rubio #israel

John Bolton was the national security advisor in President Trump's first term. Since then, he has emerged as one of the president’s most vocal critics. He has also maintained that eliminating the Iranian regime is the only way to end the nuclear threat. Bolton joined Geoff Bennett to discuss Trump's decision to strike Iran. #pbsnews #pbsnewshour #newshour #news #donaldtrump #trump #trumpadministration #worldnews #war #iran #middleeast #foreignaffairs

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was repeatedly pressed by senators Tuesday to explain, retract or apologize for her response to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security has been roiled by public outcry over its aggressive tactics and the climbing number of shooting deaths — including Renee Good and Alex Pretti, killed weeks apart — at the hands of federal immigration agents. Trump officials, including Noem, accused the victims of committing acts of “domestic terrorism." Bystander videos later countered the administration’s narratives around these shootings and other violent confrontations with agents. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Noem if she would like to retract her characterization of Good and Pretti's actions as “domestic terrorism.” Noem said she had gotten her information from agents on the ground. “It was a chaotic scene,” she said. But senators on both sides of the aisle wanted more information and acknowledgement that her characterization was a mistake. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., read aloud a quote from an Axios story in which Noem blamed Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller for her remarks. “No one has heard me say that,” Noem said, adding that the story hinged on anonymous sources. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., asked Noem whether she had anything to say to Pretti's parents, who were distraught by the way their son was portrayed in the aftermath of his death. "I did not call him a domestic terrorist,” Noem said. “I said it appeared to be an incident of domestic terrorism.” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., asked if Noem wanted to apologize for her characterization of the victims. Noem, as she had done throughout the hearing, offered her condolences and didn’t apologize. She promised to “work hard to give everybody factual information.” #news #pbsnews #trumpnews #kristinoem #dhs #pretti #reneegood #ice

Are you an American stuck in the Middle East? The U.S. State Department has urged American citizens to evacuate in the wake of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. If you are an American stranded in the Middle East, PBS News wants to hear from you. Your responses will be shared with PBS News staff, and we may use them on broadcasts of the PBS News Hour and on PBS News' online and social media platforms. A producer or reporter from our team may be in touch with you. #americans #iran #iranwar #us #middleeast #pbsnews #callout

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., blasted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for her leadership decisions in the immigration enforcement ramp-up in Minneapolis in an oversight hearing Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tillis said the lack of accountability over the Department of Homeland Security's actions, including the agency's response to the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents, did not protect law enforcement. “We've got to make it clear when they make a mistake, then they get corrected for it,” Tillis said of agents. “But you don't walk away from it and you've done it too many times.” Tillis, who called for the DHS head's resignation elsewhere in his allotted time, cited Noem’s 2024 memoir in which she recounted killing her 14-month-old dog and likened it to a tough leadership decision. “You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training, and then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices,” Tillis said. Noem’s agency has been roiled by turmoil and public outcry in recent months. The shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis prompted weeks of protests in the Twin Cities area. Trump officials, including Noem, accused the victims of committing acts of “domestic terrorism.” But bystander videos challenged the administration’s narrative of the high-profile deaths. Greater scrutiny by Democrats into the aggressive tactics deployed by DHS to carry out Trump's mass deportation agenda led to a lapse in the agency’s funding and partial government shutdown. Congressional lawmakers have yet to reach a deal to fund the department, though there are areas of bipartisan agreement, such as requiring immigration enforcement agents to wear body cameras. Noem will also field questions Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee. #Noem #HomelandSecurity #Trump #minneapolis #ICE #Immigration