Today's Top Stories from NBC News

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2026

In today's newsletter: Venezuela's acting president tells NBC News that Nicolás Maduro is the country's legitimate leader. The House passes the SAVE America Act and votes to terminate Trump's Canada tariffs in a symbolic rebuke. And speedskating star Jordan Stolz wins his first Olympic medal.

Here's what to know today.

▼ The Lead

Maduro is the 'legitimate president' of Venezuela, acting leader tells NBC News

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said that Nicolás Maduro is the legitimate president of the country in an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker, her first interview with an American journalist since taking office in Caracas.

Maduro, ousted in a Jan. 3 U.S. raid, "is the legitimate president," Rodríguez told Welker, who was reporting from inside Venezuela. "I will tell you this as a lawyer, that I am. Both President Maduro and Cilia Flores, the first lady, are both innocent," she added.

In the days following Maduro's capture, Rodríguez was highly critical of the U.S. military action against him. But she has since softened her tone and relented to American pressure and demands, raising the possibility of a visit to the U.S. after two phone calls with President Donald Trump.

In a sign that she is seemingly being welcomed back into the diplomatic fold by Trump, Energy Secretary Chris Wright was in Caracas yesterday as the two countries hammered out details of how Venezuela's vast oil reserves are to be distributed.

Speaking to Welker in an exclusive interview in Caracas, Wright said of Venezuela's acting president: "She's delivered information. Everything we know so far has turned out to be true. She's made enormous positive changes, including already changing the hydrocarbon law in the country in the first few weeks. So I would say that cooperation is off to a tremendous start."

Still, the current government has not entirely shed the authoritarian ways of Maduro or his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chávez, who largely established the infrastructure of the current security state. After being released from prison on Sunday, prominent opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipa was rearrested and is currently under house arrest, according to a post on X by his son.

Some Venezuelans are testing the limits of the interim government, with the families of political prisoners protesting outside jails.

Read the full interview with Delcy Rodríguez.

✱ FOR SUBSCRIBERS

A mixed picture of the U.S. job market

A new labor report shows that job growth last year was particularly weak. Senior business correspondent Christine Romans breaks down the main takeaways.

Become an NBC News subscriber to access this exclusive video briefing →

The GOP-controlled House passed the SAVE America Act, a sweeping elections bill that would require people registering to vote in a federal election to provide documentary proof-of-citizenship, like an American passport or birth certificate, in person. It also requires voters to show photo ID while casting a ballot in person, and requires voters to submit a copy of their identification when requesting and casting a mail-in ballot.

Democrats say the legislation is designed to disenfranchise Americans, noting that voting by noncitizens is already illegal and very rare. Current law requires voters to attest to their citizenship under oath, with criminal penalties for violators.

The bill comes in wake of Trump saying he wants to "nationalize elections" and "take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places." FBI agents also recently seized ballots and voter records from an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, as Trump continues to make false claims that he won the 2020 election.

The House also voted to terminate Trump's tariffs on Canada, with six Republicans joining Democrats in a largely symbolic rebuke of the administration's trade policy. The president subsequently threatened political retribution for any Republicans who opposed his tariff policies — and can still veto the legislation should the Senate pass it as well.

Read the full story.

More politics news:

Attorney General Pam Bondi's appearance at a House Judiciary hearing devolved into several shouting matches with Democrats over the Epstein files and Justice Department prosecutions.

After the hearing, six Epstein survivors said they felt "degraded" and a "lack of empathy" from Bondi after she refused to face them and apologize. The survivors and relatives were on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers grilled Bondi for over five hours about several matters, including the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein case. She was specifically questioned about why released files were heavily redacted and why several survivors' names were not.

The Trump administration is dramatically expanding an effort to revoke U.S. citizenship for foreign-born Americans as it works to curb immigration.

The president faces growing blowback from his own party on issues ranging from immigration to his social media posts.

Trump says all Democratic governors except Wes Moore and Jared Polis are invited to a typically bipartisan White House meeting next week.

Nebraska will hand over sensitive voter data to the DOJ. A watchdog group had previously sought to prevent the state from releasing the dates of birth, addresses and partial Social Security numbers of all registered voters.

GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell has been discharged from the hospital after spending more than a week there for "flu-like symptoms."

Olympics recap: What you missed and what to watch

Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed silver at yesterday's free dance for their Spanish-themed program, adding an individual medal to the golds they won in the team event at both this Olympics and last. The couple were clearly emotional as they left the rink after finishing behind France's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.

U.S. speedskating star Jordan Stolz won his first Olympic medal yesterday, earning gold and setting an Olympic record in the 1,000-meter event. He is expected to contend for gold in three other events in Milan. If he wins at least three, Stolz will join speed skater Eric Heiden as the only American in any sport to win that many at a single Winter Games.

A Ukrainian medal hopeful was disqualified over his insistence on wearing a helmet honoring people killed in his country's war with Russia while ski star Breezy Johnson got engaged after her boyfriend proposed at the finish line. Johnson, 30, was proposed to after her run in Thursday's super-G final ended in a crash.

Coming up today, snowboarder Chloe Kim will chase a historic Olympic three-peat in the women's half-pipe final after topping the qualification boards yesterday. Alpine skier Breezy Johnson is looking for a second medal in the women's super-G after winning the downhill title on Sunday. And the men's ice hockey team will also start their campaign today.

Keep track of Team USA's medal count in our table. Follow live updates on our blog, see today's full schedule here, and sign up for The Sports Desk newsletter to get dispatches from Milan and Cortino, along with profiles capturing athletes' amazing stories.

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▼ Read All About It

A man detained for questioning by authorities in the Nancy Guthrie investigation has been released. Follow our live coverage on our blog. Here's what we know about the search so far.

James Van Der Beek, star of "Dawson's Creek" and "Varsity Blues," died at 48. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in November 2024.

British police said they had spoken with criminal prosecutors as part of an ongoing assessment of allegations that former Prince Andrew shared confidential documents with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Idaho families are suing over an October immigration raid that swept up hundreds of people, including U.S. citizens.

Google says attackers used over 100,000 prompts to try to clone AI chatbot Gemini by prompting it questions designed to reveal its inner workings.

Middle-class Americans are selling their plasma to make ends meet.

The release of body camera videos and texts revealed details of a Border Patrol agent's shooting of a Chicago woman last year.

Low-fat or low-carb diet — which is better for lowering risk of coronary heart disease?

▼ Staff Pick

Patients face disrupted care as hospital and insurer disputes grow

Contract disputes between hospitals and health insurers are often framed as corporate fights over money. But the real impact can be far more personal.

During my reporting, I found a growing national trend of negotiations between hospital and insurer spilling into public view — leading patients to suddenly lose in-network access, face higher bills or be forced to switch doctors in the middle of care. One patient I spoke with, a breast cancer survivor in New York City, said she may need a special insurance exception or an entirely new team of specialists after Mount Sinai Health System in New York City left the network of health insurance plan provider Anthem.

Experts told me these disputes are accelerating, in part because rising health care costs have made insurers less willing to agree to higher payments, while new transparency rules have raised the stakes for hospitals. The result is a system where patients can end up dealing with the fallout of negotiations they have no control over.

— Berkeley Lovelace Jr., health and medical reporter