{"id":198968,"date":"2026-02-02T14:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-kennedy-center-to-close-epstein-case-over-says-deputy-us-attorney-general-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:47:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:47:18","slug":"trump-news-at-a-glance-kennedy-center-to-close-epstein-case-over-says-deputy-us-attorney-general-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-news-at-a-glance-kennedy-center-to-close-epstein-case-over-says-deputy-us-attorney-general-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump news at a glance: Kennedy Center to close; Epstein case \u2018over\u2019, says deputy US attorney general – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump announces two-year closure of Kennedy Center, citing construction needs \u2013 key US politics stories from 1 February 2026
Donald Trump, who remains embroiled in tensions surrounding ICE\u2019s presence in Minnesota, as well as scrutiny over the justice department\u2019s latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, has made another announcement on Sunday evening: the temporary closure of the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
Trump, who overhauled the center\u2019s leadership at the start of his second term and renamed it to include his own name, described the center as \u201ctired, broken, and dilapidated,\u201d adding that it has been in \u201cbad condition, both financially and structurally for many years\u201d.
The center\u2019s closure comes as a growing number of performers cancel their shows in response to Trump\u2019s shakeup. Last week, Philip Glass, the celebrated US composer, announced <\/a>his withdrawal of the world premiere of his latest symphony, Lincoln, at the center, explaining that the \u201cvalues of the Kennedy Center today are in direct conflict with the message of the symphony.\u201d
Here are today\u2019s top stories:
Trump announced a two-year closure of the Kennedy Center, citing construction needs to make the \u201cfinest performing arts facility of its kind, anywhere in the world\u201d.
Writing on Truth Social on Sunday evening, Trump added that the center\u2019s closure will pave way for a \u201cnew and spectacular entertainment complex\u201d. The announcement comes as a slew of cancellations from performers in recent months, as well as record low ticket sales amid backlash towards Trump\u2019s overhaul of the center\u2019s leadership.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, the point person on the Trump administration\u2019s Epstein files release, told ABC News on Sunday that prosecutors\u2019 review of the Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>-Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> sex-trafficking case \u201cis over\u201d. While Blanche acknowledged \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr Epstein or by people around him \u2026 that doesn\u2019t allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody\u201d.
Blanche\u2019s comments took aim at survivors who met Friday\u2019s release with calls demanding further accountability for the alleged clients of Epstein and Maxwell.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Government documents have identified the two federal officers who fatally shot Alex Pretti<\/a> in Minneapolis<\/a> as Jesus Ochoa, a border patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to ProPublica<\/a>.
According to those records, Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, were the agents who fired their weapons during the confrontation last weekend that resulted in Pretti\u2019s death. The shooting sparked widespread<\/a> demonstrations<\/a> and renewed demands for criminal inquiries into federal immigration enforcement actions. Immediately following Pretti\u2019s killing, the Trump administration<\/a> repeatedly pushed<\/a> false claims<\/a> about the shooting.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
A five-year-old boy and his father were back in Minneapolis on Sunday after being released from a Texas immigration detention center where they were held for more than a week, according to US House representative Joaquin Castro.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Trump said his administration was in talks with Cuban leadership over a potential deal, following his earlier threats to stop the country from importing oil.
\u201cCuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time but now it doesn\u2019t have Venezuela<\/a> to prop it up. So we\u2019re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens,\u201d Trump told reporters on Sunday.
\u201cI think we\u2019re going to make a deal with Cuba<\/a>,\u201d he added without disclosing details of a potential deal would include.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
The ongoing partial US government shutdown<\/a> is expected to continue into early next week, with no reopening likely before Tuesday, if what federal officials on both sides of the country\u2019s political aisle are saying is any indication.
House Democrats<\/a> have so far said they are refusing to guarantee the votes needed to speed passage of a funding measure that would restore government operations.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
All vaccine recommendations are being reconsidered by the US\u2019s vaccines<\/a> committee, according to its top adviser, who in recent interviews slammed the requirements for attending school and said vaccines should be taken on the advice of an individual\u2019s doctor.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state senate on Saturday, flipping a reliably Republican district that Donald Trump<\/a> won by 17 points when he clinched a second presidency in 2024.
Read the full story<\/sub><\/a>
Recently demoted border patrol official Gregory Bovino<\/a><\/strong>, who served as the face of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown in several US cities, was compared to a Confederate general in an email sent to him by a colleague in 2018, according to multiple<\/a> reports<\/a>.
Amazon\u2019s Melania Trump documentary<\/a><\/strong> has reportedly beaten box office expectations and recorded the strongest start of any documentary in over a decade, taking more than $8m at the US box office during its lavishly-promoted opening weekend. Simultaneously, though, Melania fell substantially short of turning a profit because it cost $40m to make and $35m to promote.
A bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US<\/a><\/strong> from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas.
A man identified in court filings as having an affair with former senator Kyrsten Sinema<\/a><\/strong> reportedly received almost $9,000 from Sinema\u2019s former campaign committee in October, according to newly filed documents. The filings come just weeks after the man\u2019s estranged wife accused Sinema of wrecking their marriage.
Catching up? Here\u2019s what happened on 31 January 2026<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump announces two-year closure of Kennedy Center, citing construction needs \u2013 key US politics stories from 1 February 2026Donald Trump, who remains embroiled in tensions surrounding ICE\u2019s presence in Minnesota, as well as scrutiny over the justice department\u2019s latest release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, has made another announcement on Sunday evening: the temporary closure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-198968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}