Unlike their January 26 interview with our friend and conservative talk radio host Dana Loesch, Monday’s CBS Mornings brought on House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) for what became seven minutes of hits from the left on the Epstein files, voter integrity, and demands for Republicans “compromis[ing]” to the Democratic position on Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) “reforms.” Featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers also did the Loesch segment, but this time he came loaded for bear, first arguing “Congress appears to be in no hurry to end the latest partial government shutdown” with Republican refusing to acquiesce to Democrat proposals for “major changes” to ICE. His first question to Emmer was asking what point(s) are Republicans willing to give to Democrats: “Democrats are asking for ICE agents to show I.D.s, to wear body cameras and stop wearing masks, among other reforms. What are Republicans willing to compromise on?” Along with dispatching with the body cameras demand by noting it’s already been funded, Emmer addressed the demands for officers to be identified by acknowledging Democrats want ICE agents to be found out, “but they don’t think people should show an ID to vote.” WATCH: Today's example of how CBS News has yet to really change under Bari Weiss. Here was seven minutes on 'CBS Mornings' of GOP House Whip Tom Emmer (MN) being berated about Epstein, voting, and demanding the GOP "compromise" to the Democratic position on warrants to arrest… pic.twitter.com/bzvB6CjZCP — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 16, 2026 Not said by Emmer was also the fact that being able to identify officers without masks and adding names would allow lefty protesters (i.e. CBS viewers) to search for ICE agents and protest outside their homes, harass their families, or worse. Duthiers defended this ask because “when [Democrats are] asking for IDs they don’t mean identification in the way that we as ordinary Americans carry them” and instead want “badge number that a police officer would have, not wearing a mask, because there is no way to know an officer who is arresting you who they are, just if they are showing a face.” Duthiers next wondered what Republicans are doing to get Democrats to negotiate, again framing the shutdown as belonging to Republicans and Democrats not needing to budge (click “expand”): DUTHIERS: So do you know what was in the White House’s proposal that the Democrats have rejected? And are you part of the meetings to work through this with the Democrats? Is The White House telling you what is in the bill? EMMER: Vlad, the House did our job. We have an agreement. My position is the Senate should pass the bill that we already passed. The federal law enforcement issue involving Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, they are already funded based on the bill that was signed into law last July through 2029. All the Democrats are doing right now is trying to shut down TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, disaster relief. DUTHIERS: Are you talking to them? It sounds like you’re not talking to them? EMMER: Are — the White House? DUTHIERS: To the Democrats. EMMER: The President is the chief negotiator and is working directly with Senate Democrats. DUTHIERS: So, you’re not talking to Democrats. EMMER: We’ve done our job, Vlad. DUTHIERS: Okay. EMMER: I mean, that would suggest that there’s more to do on the House side. Again, this was an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on the House side that the Senate Democrats decided they were not going to honor. DUTHIERS: Right. EMMER: So, that’s an issue that the President and the Senate Democrats have been negotiating. The CBS liberal shifted to the Epstein files which, through Saturday, CBS’s flagship newscasts have spent 309 minutes obsessing over since July. Here again, Duthiers set up the discussion on Democratic terms by wondering if he’s “satisfied with” the release of the files and if “enough has been done by the Justice Department.” When Emmer replied this level of focus was nowhere to be found in the first Trump administration or the Biden administration, Duthiers discounted that by citing Epstein files cheerleader Ro Khana (D-CA) having expressed regret. Emmer then continued: [W]ell, if you let me finish on this, so if this is the only administration that has been pushing to release it all, this is the ultimate transparency. All of these documents that have been put out, I think millions of documents the DOJ has been doing their best job to make sure that victims are protected, while at the same time, the American public have access to everything that’s in those. I think everybody agrees, regardless of your political persuasion, that Jeffrey Epstein was an awful human being and that these victims deserve to be — they need to be verified. Duthiers predictably cited Republican Thomas Massie (R-KY) as suggesting “more investigations” must be done “into people whose names were protected in...redactions,” but Emmer wasn’t having any of it by demanding Massie be specific and not continue to be vague. Duthiers’s final two topics concerned voter integrity and blaming the lack of faith in government on the operations of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Minneapolis (click “expand”): The President has spoken about elections being nationalized, meaning moving control of elections from the states to the federal government. Do you think that that is a constitutional policy? And where do you stand on that? (....) Last question, you and I were talking backstage a little before we came on the air, the President’s claims, the false claims about fraud in America, the tragic deaths of two Americans at the hands of federal agents, the questions about using the Justice Department for personal retaliation. We were talking about, is there a point where you can see this country coming together again the way that perhaps we were? Do you feel that the general public is losing faith in our government institutions? While bringing Emmer on could be cited as proof of diversity amongst guests, the response would be there’s a long way to go on that and, if that were to be achieved, perhaps the Bari Weiss-led network would be well deserved to press Democrats in the same way Republicans like Emmer are as opposed to tripping over themselves to sing the praises of liberals (like last week with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson). To see the relevant CBS transcript from February 17, click here.