🗞️Ghislaine Maxwell pleads the Fifth

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February 9th, 2026

What happened today 🇺🇸,

• Ghislaine Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment rights during a virtual deposition with the House Oversight Committee today, refusing to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein's crimes or potential co-conspirators…her attorney stated she would testify fully if granted clemency by President Trump

• Republican Congressman Thomas Massie and other Democratic lawmakers have called for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, to resign after newly released Epstein files revealed post-2008 business dealings like a 2012 AdFin investment and emails hinting at an island visit, contradicting Lutnick's claims of cutting ties in 2005

• NYC nurses have reached tentative agreements with Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospital systems to end a nearly month-long strike

• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the U.S. federal budget deficit reached $696 billion in the first four months of fiscal year 2026, this figure is $143 billion lower than the deficit for the same period in fiscal year 2025

• MrBeast's company Beast Industries has agreed to acquire Step, which is a digital banking app targeted at Gen Z users…Step provides FDIC-insured savings accounts, credit-building Visa cards, and cash advances via partner Evolve Bank & Trust, with the deal aiming to blend MrBeast's 460M+ audience and financial education content (like "MrBeast Financial") to boost young users' money management

• Novo Nordisk has filed a lawsuit against Hims & Hers, alleging the telehealth company infringed its semaglutide patents by marketing “copycat” versions of Wegovy in both pill and injectable form

• Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s CEO and publisher, Will Lewis, resigned after roughly two years in the role, just days after the company laid off about one-third of its staff in a major cost-cutting move

• Eddie Bauer LLC, the operator of about 180 Eddie Bauer stores in the U.S. and Canada under Catalyst Brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court…stores will stay open for now with liquidation sales underway while seeking a buyer to potentially save operations

• OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT today for adult users in the U.S. on free and Go tiers, displaying clearly labeled sponsored content below responses

• Apollo Global Management is close to finalizing a $3.4 billion lending deal to finance Nvidia chips leased to Elon Musk's xAI

• DOW up .04% / S&P up .47%

• Politico reported that President Trump plans to visit Beijing in the first week of April to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping

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