February 18

World Liberty Financial announces tokenized Trump Maldives resort loan interests

On Feb. 18, 2026, World Liberty Financial announced plans to tokenize interests in a construction loan tied to the Trump International Hotel and Resort in the Maldives. Business Insider reported the tokenized loan product would connect a Trump-branded real estate project to blockchain-based investment interests.

Zuckerberg testifies for eight hours in landmark social media addiction trial

Mark Zuckerberg testified for nearly eight hours on February 18, 2026, at the Los Angeles County Superior Court in the first major case testing whether social media platforms are legally liable as defective products for deliberately designing addictive features that harm children. The case was brought by a 20-year-old woman who alleges she became addicted to Instagram at age 9, developing depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. This was Zuckerberg's first time testifying about child safety before a jury. The verdict could shape more than 1,600 similar lawsuits nationwide.

U.S. announces full withdrawal of 1,000 troops from Syria

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had ordered the full withdrawal of approximately 1,000 U.S. troops remaining in northeastern Syria, ending the decade-long U.S. military mission that began in 2014 to combat ISIS. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the primary U.S. partner in defeating the Islamic State, had already reached a separate integration agreement with Syria's new government under Ahmad al-Sharaa. U.S. forces had transferred thousands of ISIS prisoners held in Kurdish-run detention facilities to Iraqi custody before departure.

Vance tours Eli Lilly pharmaceutical plant in Indianapolis

Vice President JD Vance toured an Eli Lilly pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Indianapolis, Indiana on Feb. 18, 2026, highlighting domestic drug production as part of the administration's prescription drug cost agenda. The visit came as the administration's executive order on drug price transparency in Medicare had taken effect; Vance cited Lilly's voluntary insulin price reductions as evidence that market-based reform could lower drug costs without government price setting.

California leads 13-state lawsuit over $1.2B in canceled energy grants

California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a 13-state coalition filing suit in the US District Court for Northern California on February 18, 2026, challenging the Trump administration's termination of energy and infrastructure grants funded by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. California alone lost $1.2 billion, including funding for the ARCHES hydrogen hub program projected to create 200,000 jobs. The lawsuit argued that the administration violated the constitutional separation of powers by impounding congressionally appropriated funds, marking California's 58th lawsuit against the Trump administration.

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Trump invokes Defense Production Act for glyphosate and elemental phosphorus

President Trump signed an executive order on February 18, 2026 invoking the Defense Production Act to designate elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides as defense-critical materials, directing the Department of Agriculture to prioritize and expand domestic production of both chemicals. The order cited China's control of approximately 50 percent of global crop protection products and the US importing more than 6 million kilograms of elemental phosphorus annually with extremely limited domestic production. The DPA invocation granted domestic producers legal immunity from antitrust and liability claims under Section 707 of the act.

Pritzker State of State says Trump has cost Illinois $8.4B

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered his State of the State and FY2027 budget address on February 18, 2026, telling a joint session of the General Assembly that the Trump administration had cost Illinois $8.4 billion by withholding congressionally appropriated federal funds. Pritzker said the state was fighting more than 50 federal court cases to recover illegally withheld money. His $56 billion budget proposal centered on affordability and framed Illinois as a bulwark against federal retrenchment.

Zuckerberg testifies in landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified for nearly eight hours in Los Angeles Superior Court on February 18, 2026, in the first trial from a consolidated group of more than 1,600 cases alleging that Instagram and other social media platforms are designed to addict children. Zuckerberg denied that Meta designed Instagram to be addictive to young users, telling jurors the company continuously works to improve the product. The test case, brought by a 20-year-old plaintiff identified as K.G.M., could determine the outcome of hundreds of pending lawsuits filed by families and school districts across the country.

Immigration judge dismisses deportation case against Columbia activist Mahdawi

Immigration Judge Nina Froes dismissed removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian lawful permanent resident and Columbia University protest organizer, ruling the government failed to properly certify a Secretary of State Marco Rubio memo it sought to use as evidence of a foreign policy threat. The case was dismissed without prejudice on February 13, 2026, allowing refiling. DHS submitted an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals in late February. Mahdawi had been arrested in April 2025 at a citizenship processing meeting the government had staged.

Paxton sues Children's Health and Dallas doctor over trans youth care

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit on February 18, 2026, against Children's Health System of Texas and pediatric gynecologist Dr. Jason Jarin of UT Southwestern Medical Center, alleging violations of Texas SB 14 — the 2023 law banning gender-affirming care for minors — with 19 patients and fraudulent Medicaid billing for banned procedures. Children's Health had previously claimed compliance with the law. The case later settled in May 2026, with Children's Health agreeing to pay the state $10 million and open the nation's first mandatory detransition clinic.

FCC proposes restricting Lifeline phone subsidies to citizens only

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced on February 18, 2026, that the Commission had adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reform the Lifeline program — which subsidizes phone and internet service for low-income households — by codifying it as a federal public benefit available only to citizens and those meeting 1996 welfare reform eligibility requirements. The FCC also proposed using the SAVE immigration verification system to enforce a five-year waiting period and screen out immigrants currently enrolled.

Fourth Circuit reinstates Pentagon ban on HIV-positive military enlistment

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled on February 18, 2026, that the Pentagon's categorical ban on enlisting people with HIV was constitutional, overturning a 2024 district court ruling in Wilkins v. Hegseth. Writing for the three-judge panel, Judge Paul Niemeyer held that the military's judgment was "reasonably related to its military mission" and that courts owed deference to military medical standards even when those standards contradicted modern science. Lambda Legal and Minority Veterans of America, who brought the case, announced their intent to appeal.

Hassett calls New York Fed tariff study worst paper ever and demands researcher discipline

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on February 18, 2026, that New York Federal Reserve researchers who found Americans pay approximately 90% of Trump's tariff costs should be disciplined, calling their paper the worst he had ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve system. The New York Fed study found that U.S. importers and consumers absorbed the vast majority of tariff costs as higher prices, contradicting the White House claim that foreign exporters pay. Hassett's demand that independent government economists be disciplined for their published findings drew immediate criticism from economists and Fed watchers.

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FDA sets single pivotal trial as new default for drug approvals

FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad published a New England Journal of Medicine perspective on February 18 announcing that one adequate and well-controlled trial, combined with confirmatory evidence, would serve as the new default basis for marketing authorization of novel products. The change reversed the two-trial standard from the 1962 Kefauver-Harris Amendment, enacted after the thalidomide crisis. Industry groups welcomed the cost savings while patient safety advocates warned of replication risk.

EPA endangerment finding rescission published in Federal Register

The EPA formal rescission of the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding was published in the Federal Register on February 18, 2026, setting an effective date of April 20, 2026. Publication triggered the 60-day window for legal challenges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Environmental groups and 24 state attorneys general filed petitions for review within days of publication.

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UN panel calls for international Epstein investigation, citing systematic transnational abuse

Following their initial February 17 statement, UN Human Rights experts on February 18, 2026 issued a formal call for an independent international investigation into the Epstein trafficking network, citing the transnational scope of the crimes and the failure of national justice systems to achieve full accountability. The panel emphasized that despite Ghislaine Maxwell's 2021 conviction and Epstein's 2019 death in custody, hundreds of alleged co-conspirators named in the released files had faced no charges. UN experts warned that botched redactions in the DOJ release had re-traumatized survivors by exposing their identities to the public.

NARA retrieves 15 boxes of presidential records Trump took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office

The National Archives and Records Administration announced on February 18, 2022 that it had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate that should have been transferred to the Archives when Trump left office in January 2021. NARA said the boxes contained classified material and that it had been seeking the records for nearly a year. The agency referred the matter to DOJ in February 2022, which opened a criminal investigation, and said Trump representatives were still searching for additional records at the time of the announcement.

Biden sends US Citizenship Act to Congress most comprehensive immigration reform in 35 years

President Biden formally transmits the US Citizenship Act of 2021 to Congress, the most comprehensive immigration reform bill since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The bill would provide an 8-year path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the US, including DACA recipients who would get a 3-year path. It would increase refugee admissions, modernize the immigration system, address root causes of Central American migration, and make major reforms to the visa system. The bill never receives a Senate floor vote, blocked by Republican filibuster. Democrats' attempts to pass immigration provisions through budget reconciliation are ruled out of order by the Senate parliamentarian.

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