Listen to On NOTUS: Mike Lawler talks about how to get deals done in Congress.

Final NOTUS Newsletter

‘NO CHANGES’

President Donald Trump

Alex Brandon/AP file photo

By Tim Grieve

February 2, 2026 04:53 PM

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for February 2, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

The Latest

The House is back, but the shutdown isn’t over. Mike Johnson will have to navigate resistance from Rules Committee conservatives today in order to get a floor vote tomorrow. And even then, it won’t be easy: He’s got a one-vote majority if he can get every Republican in town and on board, and Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is already demanding that he add a voter ID bill that would be DOA in the Senate.

  • Donald Trump just told Republicans to get in line. “There can be NO CHANGES at this time,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

The president said he’s struck a trade deal with India. Trump said India will eliminate its tariffs on U.S. imports in exchange for the United States reducing its tariffs on Indian imports from 25% to 18%.

  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed the deal, saying: “When two large economies and the world’s largest democracies work together, it benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Trump said Republicans should ‘nationalize’ elections. As Politico notes, the idea “runs contrary to the Constitution’s delegation of election administration to state governments”

  • Trump said “some interesting things” will come out of the FBI’s raid of a Georgia election office last week. The New York Times says Tulsi Gabbard put the president on the phone to talk directly with the agents who conducted the raid.

The Hill

James Comer rejected Bill Clinton’s offer to sit for a four-hour deposition on Jeffrey Epstein — in part because, the House Oversight chair said, Clinton has “an established track record of being a loquacious individual” who can run out the clock on his inquisitors. A House contempt vote is slated for Wednesday.

Kristi Noem can’t block members of Congress from visiting ICE facilities under a temporary restraining order issued today by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb.

The Administration

Special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Iran’s foreign minister Friday to discuss a nuclear deal, Axios reports. Pete Hegseth said today that the United States is “more than prepared” to attack Iran if needed.

The Interior Department in December blocked work on five wind farms. As of today, federal judges have unblocked all five of them.

The Justice Department has taken down some of the Epstein files it posted Friday. Pam Bondi said the documents “may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information due to various factors, including technical or human error.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics won’t release the January jobs report on time. The BLS is blaming the partial shutdown, but it isn’t the first time that federal data has gone missing lately.

Politics

Meta has poured $65 million into PACs whose goal is electing AI- and tech-friendly state-level candidates in California and elsewhere.Turning Point USA announced its Super Bowl half-time show. It includes Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett. Combined, they have three fewer Grammys than Bad Bunny won last night.

Put Him In, Coach

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Kate Nocera and Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.