Trump Lobbies for Shutdown Deal; Clintons to Testify in Epstein Inquiry

0:00Hello, I'm Stephen Carroll. I'm in Brussels where many of Europe's biggest decisions get made. And I'm Caroline Hepker in London with the hosts of the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast. We're up early every weekday keeping an eye on what's happening across Europe and around the world. We do it early so the news is fresh, not recycled and so you know what actually matters as the day gets going. From Brussels, I'm following the politics, policy and the people shaping the European Union right now. And from London, I'm looking at what all that means for markets, money and the wider economy. We've got reporters across Europe and around the globe feeding in as stories break.

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1:02Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with efforts to reopen the government four days into a partial shutdown. President Trump is urging House Republicans to pass the measure that would fund the Homeland Security Department for two weeks. That's to allow for more time to negotiate on limits to immigration enforcement. The president says even Democrats want to see this resolved. I spoke with Senator Schumer numerous times, and I don't think they want to see a shutdown either.

1:39President Trump spoke from the Oval Office. A couple of Republican holdouts, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Tennessee's Tim Burchett, dropped their opposition to the bill after speaking with the White House. That clears the way for a vote today. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are pushing for dramatic changes. The American people want to see the masks come off. The American people want to see body cameras turned on. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. Now, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says ICE agents will start wearing body cameras in Minneapolis after the outcry over two American deaths there last month.

2:14But as the shutdown continues, its effects are being felt. The Labor Department says the January jobs report that was due this Friday will be delayed because the agency is closed. Nathan, President Trump says he's seeking$1 billion in damages from Harvard University after the New York Times reported that his administration had backed off demands for$200 million to satisfy accusations of wrongdoing by the Ivy League institution. Trump called the Times article completely wrong. The administration has waged an aggressive campaign against Harvard and other universities over accusations of anti-Semitism linked to campus protests against Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

2:53Karen, there are new developments in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are now agreeing to testify in the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the late sex offender. The full House had planned to vote this week to hold the Clintons in criminal contempt if they continue to defy subpoenas. Now, Republican Congresswoman Virginia Fox says that vote is on hold. However, should there not be substantial compliance and agreement overnight, the committee will return to continue the hearing on the contempt. Republican Virginia Fox spoke at a committee hearing on the contempt vote.

3:32In another development, Nathan, the NFL says it will review emails that have surfaced between Jeffrey Epstein and New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch. Dozens of them were released in the Justice Department's latest batch of millions of Epstein files. Commissioner Roger Goodell says it's too soon to say whether Tish will face punishment. We are going to look at all the facts. We're going to look at the context of those. We're going to try to understand that and we'll look at how that falls under the policy. But I think we take one step at a time. Let's get the facts first. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke at the league's annual pre-Super Bowl news conference.

4:10Tish released a statement saying he had a brief association with Epstein but never took up any of his invitations and never visited his island. Now, Karen, let's turn to the latest on geopolitics. President Trump says he anticipates talks with Iran over a new nuclear deal in the coming days. The president spoke with reporters at the White House. Right now we're talking to them. We're talking to Iran. And if we can work something out, that'd be great. And if we can't, probably bad things would happen. The president spoke after Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned over the weekend of a regional war if his country is attacked.

4:44Nathan, President Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to a surprise deal to slash American tariffs. U.S. levies on Indian goods are being cut from 25 to 18 percent, while an additional 25 percent punitive duty tied to purchases of Russian oil is being scrapped. Writing on social media, the president said India had agreed to buy 500 billion dollars of U.S. goods and halt crude purchases from Russia as part of the deal. Turning to the markets now, Karen, futures are higher following yesterday's gains on Wall Street. Dip buyers are back in precious metals. Gold is up five and a half percent after dropping 13 percent the last two days, and silver is surging more than 12 and a half percent this morning.

5:28That precious metal plunged more than 30 percent since last week. James Steele is chief precious metals analyst at HSBC. Any commodity that has this parabolic rally that gold and silver had and the new entrance into the market, which they were flooding in and have been for many, many months now, it really does invite a volatility and be profit taking stroke liquidation on any news or developments that run counter to gold. HSBC chief precious metals analyst James Steele thinks gold may reach$5 ,500 an ounce this year. Right now, it's trading at 49.19. In company news, Nathan shares a Palantir. They're up more than 10 % this morning.

6:11The analytics company forecast revenue for the year that significantly exceeded Wall Street estimates. Gil Luria covers Palantir for DA Davidson. They exceeded very high expectations. Their growth accelerated from more than 60 % to more than 70%. There's no other software company even close. If you look at software companies 2 through 10, they're happy to grow somewhere between 20 and 30 percent, and they're usually decelerating. NDA Davidson's Galoria. It's been a tough go for Palantir as of late. The stock has dropped 29 percent from its November peak and was down 17 percent to start 2026. Karen, the world's richest man is looking to fuel his increasingly costly ambitions in artificial intelligence and space exploration.

6:58Bloomberg's John Tucker is here with more. John, what is Elon Musk up to? Well, Nate, Musk combining SpaceX and XAI. This is a deal that values the enlarged entity at one and a quarter trillion dollars. The deal brings together two of the largest closely held companies in the world. It all sounds a little Buck Rogers. SpaceX said it acquired XAI to form the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on and off Earth with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications, and the world's foremost real-time information and free speech platform. That's free speech as defined by Elon Musk.

7:40In explaining the rationale for the deal, Musk says in the statement that the least expensive way to do AI computations within two to three years will be in space. SpaceX also requesting permission to launch as many as a million satellites into Earth orbit for this plan. And the company still expected to hold an initial public offering later this year, according to our sources. In New York, I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio.

8:08Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Michael, good morning. Good morning, Karen. President Donald Trump called on Republicans to seize control of election processes from individual states and nationalize it, signaling that he may push for drastic measures to change the dynamics of the midterm elections. President Trump's powers to change election policies are limited. The U.S. Constitution endows state legislatures with the power to set the time, place, and manner of holding elections.

8:42New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani said Monday that the bitter cold claimed two more lives in the city. Sixteen of our fellow New Yorkers have passed away outside during this brutal stretch of cold. In 13 of these cases, preliminary findings indicate that hypothermia played a role, and three of these deaths appear to be overdose deaths. More autopsy results are still coming in from the medical examiner's office. Mamdani says they are continuing to do everything in our power to get every New Yorker into a shelter where they will be warm. Weather-related deaths have also been reported in New Jersey, Long Island, and across the nation.

9:19A dozen Palestinians returned to be allowed into Gaza, and a few medical evacuees exited to Egypt Monday after the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing was marred by delays. Authorities say Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, may have been kidnapped while she slept. She's been missing since Saturday night when she was in her home. They say if she does not receive her regular medication soon, her life could be at risk. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon answered questions about his arrest over coverage of an anti-Ice protest at a Minnesota church. Lemon spoke with ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

10:03I'm not a protester. I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and document and record. Lemon also says he was arrested during the pre-Grammy coverage in Los Angeles, although he had offered days earlier to surrender to federal agents. Lemon is charged under the FACE Act, making it illegal to obstruct or prevent people from exercising religious freedoms in places of worship. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it. With the Bloomberg News Now, I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg. Karen. Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer.

10:39Thanks, Karen. College basketball doubleheader in the ACC. North Carolina beats Syracuse 87-77. The Big 12 Kansas won 64-61 at Texas Tech. NBA trade deadline Thursday, 3 o 'clock. Does Milwaukee trade Giannis Antetokounmpo? The team said to be most interested, the Knicks, Miami, Golden State, and Minnesota. At the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says work needs to be done on improving diversity. Ten coaches were just hired, none of them African-American. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. As markets move and headlines break, what matters most is context.

11:20A Bloomberg subscription gives you unmatched reporting, sharp analysis, and powerful tools that help you connect the dots. Visit Bloomberg.com slash podcast offer to learn more. coast to coast on bloomberg radio nationwide on sirius xm and around the world on bloomberg.com and the bloomberg business app this is bloomberg daybreak good morning i'm nathan hager diplomacy may be taking a front seat between the u.s and iran president trump says he expects new talks on a new nuclear deal in the coming days even as he continues to warn of a big armada in the Persian Gulf. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

12:02They can either negotiate on that front or we have other options. That's why the War Department exists. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke on a tarmac in Florida. This morning, we're joined by Bloomberg News national security reporter Nick Wadham. So, Nick, the president says talks are coming while he's still warning of these big ships in the Gulf. Where do things stand this morning? That's a great question, Nathan. The administration is not saying, but what we do know is that there's the possibility, at least, of an off-ramp. U.S. officials are expected to meet face-to-face with Iranian officials in the coming days.

12:42Though, you know, the terms of those discussions are not clear, given that Trump has said earlier the Iranian nuclear program had been completely obliterated by those airstrikes last June. So what exactly they would negotiate over is one big question. And then, of course, the other is, you know, the president, as we saw from Venezuela, he deploys a big military force in the region. It's going to take something pretty big for him not to feel the compulsion to use it. So we've got a lot of a lot of questions swirling around what exactly these talks will look like. Is there still the question about what the ultimate goals are here?

13:20Because last month, the president was talking about potentially attacking Iran over the protest crackdown in that country. Now, it seems there's been a pivot to putting nuclear talks back in the discussion. Right. So this has been one of the issues that's been a little bit confusing to try to discern what the administration strategy actually is. Because as you mentioned, President Trump had indicated earlier that he was sending these military forces there essentially as a way to get Iran to stop cracking down on these protests that have rocked the country in recent weeks. But then he came out with this sort of surprise social media post last week where he said his big demand was no nuclear weapon.

14:01We've since learned that it seems the U.S. officials want to expand those discussions to put limits on Iran's ballistic missile program and also so that it doesn't fund proxy groups in the Middle East. So that's a pretty expansive list of demands that Iran's going to have a hard time agreeing to, especially on the ballistic missiles. But again, we have not really gotten precise clarity on what President Trump actually wants the Iranians to do. Of course, we heard over the weekend from Iran's Supreme Leader the Ayatollah warning of a regional war if the country's attacked. At the same time, Iran's been holding regional discussions.

14:39Do we have a sense of where Iran's stance is right now? Well, you know, they have a very tricky line to walk because, you know, on the one hand, the U.S. has launched airstrikes against them directly under President Trump last June. And that was pretty devastating. And there was this 12-day war with Israel, where Israel also essentially gained total dominance over their skies. So they have to be careful there while also trying to retain their own legitimacy and project a sense of control. So they have said, listen, we are willing to have these conversations with the U.S., but we are not going to do so under threat.

15:18Now, obviously, if you have an aircraft carrier off of Iran, it does appear they're not going to have much choice but to do those conversations under threat. But I think what you're seeing is they are looking for the U.S., at least for now, whether this is unrealistic or not, to try to tone down the rhetoric a little bit so they can do these talks and save some face heading into them. What the outcome will be and what they're actually going to be forced to agree to is another thing entirely. This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond.

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16:32I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

16:44Thank you.