February 6

OPM publishes final Schedule Policy/Career rule reclassifying up to 50,000 federal positions

The Office of Personnel Management publishes the final rule implementing Schedule Policy/Career (Federal Register document 2026-02375), converting employees in policy-related roles to at-will status. The rule affects up to 50,000 positions across the executive branch and clears the legal path for dismissing reclassified employees without civil service protections.

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U.S. and Iran hold indirect nuclear talks in Oman

The United States and Iran held indirect nuclear talks in Muscat, Oman on February 6, 2026, mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi. The US delegation included Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper, while Iran was represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. The two sides did not meet face-to-face; all communication was relayed through Oman's foreign minister. Both sides agreed to continue negotiations, setting the stage for a second round.

Trump refuses to apologize after posting racist AI video depicting Obamas as apes

President Trump posted a video on Truth Social late on February 5, 2026, containing AI-generated imagery depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as primates — invoking the longstanding racist trope of comparing Black people to animals. The post remained online for nearly 12 hours before the White House deleted it amid bipartisan backlash. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended it as an internet meme; Trump said on February 6 that he did not make a mistake and declined to apologize.

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Pentagon rejects USS Cole plea deal, setting first Guantánamo death-penalty trial for June 2026

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg rejected a plea agreement in the USS Cole bombing case on February 6, 2026, voiding a deal that would have spared Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri the death penalty in exchange for a full confession and a sentence of 20 years to life. The rejection set the stage for the first death-penalty trial in the Guantánamo Bay military commissions, with jury selection scheduled to begin June 1, 2026. Al-Nashiri, 61, has been in US custody since 2002 and is accused of masterminding the October 2000 Al-Qaeda attack that killed 17 US sailors.

Medicaid-ICE data sharing agreement forces hospitals to warn immigrant patients

A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services agreement gave ICE direct access to Medicaid enrollment databases including enrollees addresses, citizenship status, and dates of birth. Twenty-two states sued to block the agreement. A preliminary injunction barred HHS from sharing Medicaid data from plaintiff states with ICE, but a partial ruling permitted limited sharing of undocumented enrollees basic information. Hospitals largely declined to directly warn patients that their data could be used for deportation enforcement, leaving communities to navigate the risk without institutional guidance.

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DHS seeks expedited deportation of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his family

The Trump administration filed for expedited deportation proceedings against 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his family days after a federal judge ordered them released from 11 days of detention at the Dilley family detention center in Texas. Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, had been detained in Columbia Heights, Minnesota on January 20 while returning home from school. Rep. Joaquin Castro publicly disclosed the expedited removal filing, calling it retaliatory. At the February 6 hearing, the immigration judge granted the family a continuance, postponing the case.

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Democratic lawmakers Slotkin and Houlahan refuse DOJ interviews over illegal orders video

Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Representative Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania announced on February 6, 2026 that they would not cooperate with a Department of Justice investigation into a video they helped produce warning military personnel that they may legally refuse unlawful orders. The video, which also featured Senator Mark Kelly, Rep. Jason Crow, and others, stated: "Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders." Slotkin said she was refusing to "legitimize" what she characterized as political intimidation, while Houlahan said the video stated protected First Amendment speech.

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DOJ hires 33 new immigration judges after firing more than 100 experienced jurists

The Department of Justice hired 33 new immigration judges — six permanent and 27 temporary military lawyers on Pentagon assignment — while the Trump administration had previously fired over 100 immigration judges, reducing the bench by roughly one quarter. New hires were drawn primarily from ICE and DHS backgrounds rather than independent legal practice. The immigration court backlog had grown to nearly 4 million pending cases, and DOJ also lost over 400 legal assistants and attorney advisers from the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

January jobs report delayed indefinitely as government shutdown halts BLS operations

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on February 2, 2026 that the January Employment Situation report — typically released the first Friday of February — would not be published on its scheduled February 6 date due to a partial government shutdown that began January 31. The shutdown resulted from a congressional impasse over Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement funding. The BLS was among the agencies forced to suspend operations. The delayed report was ultimately released February 11, after the shutdown ended February 3.

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Black unemployment rises to 7.7% as DOGE cuts and manufacturing losses compound

Bureau of Labor Statistics data published in February 2026 showed Black unemployment rose to 7.7 percent, with Black women at 7.1 percent. Researchers at the National Employment Law Project attributed the increase to DOGE-ordered federal workforce reductions concentrated in agencies where Black workers were disproportionately represented, including the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. The federal sector announced over 308,000 job cuts in 2025 — a 703 percent increase over 2024 — alongside manufacturing losses from tariff disruptions.

OPM finalizes Schedule Policy/Career rule stripping civil service protections from 50,000 workers

The Office of Personnel Management finalized its Schedule Policy/Career rule on February 6, 2026, reclassifying approximately 50,000 federal positions — about 2% of the federal workforce — and removing their long-standing civil service appeal rights to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The rule, effective 30 days after Federal Register publication, revived the Trump administration's Schedule F initiative under a new name and transferred whistleblower retaliation investigations from the independent Office of Special Counsel to individual agencies. OPM received over 40,000 public comments, of which 94% opposed the regulation.

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Trump sanctions 15 entities and 14 vessels for Iranian oil shadow fleet

The State Department and Treasury OFAC designated 15 entities, two individuals, and 14 shadow-fleet vessels on February 6, 2026, for facilitating illicit trade in Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products. The designations were made under Executive Order 13846 and Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, part of his renewed maximum pressure campaign. The action ran concurrently with indirect US-Iran nuclear talks in Muscat, Oman, on the same day.

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Vance booed at Milan Olympics opening as thousands protest ICE presence

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance were audibly booed and jeered at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony when their image appeared on stadium screens, in a reaction broadcast on international television. Thousands of Italians had protested in Milan's streets in the days before the ceremony after it was confirmed that ICE staff were embedded in U.S. Olympic security planning. The IOC publicly praised "diplomacy" after the incident, and the CBC broadcast captured the extent of the crowd's reaction that American networks muted.

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4th Circuit vacates injunction blocking Trump anti-DEI executive orders

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled on February 6, 2026, in NADOHE v. Trump that facial challenges to President Trump's anti-DEI executive orders were unlikely to succeed, vacating a nationwide preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement. The court held the plain text of the orders did not provide sufficient basis for an injunction while preserving the right to challenge specific enforcement actions. The ruling allowed federal agencies and contractors to begin implementing requirements to certify they do not operate illegal DEI programs.

Census Bureau tests citizenship question in Alabama and South Carolina for 2030

The Census Bureau disclosed on February 5-6, 2026, that its 2026 Census Test pilot program in Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina would use American Community Survey forms that include a citizenship question — omitted from the decennial census for 75 years. The test is designed to evaluate methodology for the 2030 census. Democratic House Oversight members urged the Bureau to use standard questionnaires instead, warning the citizenship question would cause an undercount by deterring immigrant and mixed-status households from participating.

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Pentagon ends military fellowships and graduate programs at Harvard over ideology

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on February 6, 2026, that the Pentagon would end all graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs at Harvard University effective with the 2026-27 academic year, citing woke ideology, alleged antisemitism, $560 million in Chinese funding, and globalist influences. Undergraduate ROTC programs were unaffected. Hegseth directed the Army, Navy, and Air Force to review similar university partnerships; the Pentagon subsequently cancelled programs at 13 institutions including Brown, Columbia, and Princeton.

U.S. accuses China of secret nuclear tests as New START expires

U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno told the UN Conference on Disarmament on Feb. 6, 2026 that China conducted a secret nuclear test on June 22, 2020, using seismic decoupling to conceal the blast. China's Ambassador Shen Jian denied the charge and called the U.S. "the culprit for the aggravation of the arms race." The accusation came one day after New START expired, leaving no binding limits on U.S. or Russian warheads for the first time since 1972. China holds at least 600 warheads — up 20% in a single year — with the Pentagon projecting China will exceed 1,000 by 2030.

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DOJ says it removed about 9,500 Epstein files for redaction review

The Justice Department told federal judges that it removed about 9,500 Epstein-related documents from its public website for additional redaction review after victims and their lawyers identified privacy problems. The department said the takedowns were temporary and that documents would be reposted after further review.

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DOJ gives lawmakers reading-room access to unredacted Epstein files

The Justice Department told lawmakers they could review unredacted versions of released Epstein files in a controlled reading-room process beginning February 9. Members had to give advance notice, could not use staff assistance, and could not make electronic copies. The arrangement created a controlled oversight channel separate from the public release.

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