Monday, Feb. 14

• Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai criticized a White House order to unfreeze $3.5 billion in Afghan assets held in the United States and give the funds to families of 9/11 victims. “We commiserate with [those victims],” Karzai said. “Afghan people are as much victims as those families who lost their lives. Withholding money or seizing money from the people of Afghanistan in their name is unjust and unfair and an atrocity against Afghan people.”

Tuesday, Feb. 15

• Reuters reported that the U.S. is seeking to extradite former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on charges relating to a drug-trafficking scheme between 2004 and 2022 that trafficked 500,000 kilograms of cocaine received in Honduras from Venezuela and Colombia to the U.S.

Wednesday, Feb. 16

• The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative accused China of failing to meet its free trade commitments to the World Trade Organization, arguing that China isn’t keeping its markets open to foreign competition. “China has instead retained and expanded its state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade,’’ said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. “China’s policies and practices challenge the premise of the WTO’s rules and cause serious harm to workers and businesses around the world.’’

· President Joe Biden ordered the release of former President Donald Trump’s White House visitor logs to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, again rejecting former President Donald Trump’s claims of executive privilege. Trump has sought to keep these records private, citing executive privilege. “[Biden] has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified, as to these records and portions of records,” White House counsel Dana Remus wrote.

· Both U.S. and Iranian officials suggested that efforts to revive the Iranian nuclear deal are nearing completion. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said that both parties are “closer than ever” to reaching a deal; State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “Our assessment is that we are in the midst of the very final stages of … a complex negotiation with the key stakeholders here.”

· The Education Department announced that it will cancel federal student loans for at least 1,800 students who attended the for-profit institution DeVry University, because it misled applicants for years with inflated claims about their career prospects.

· The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General released a report saying that former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke broke ethics rules while leading former President Donald Trump’s Interior Department. The report found that Zinke broke federal ethics rules repeatedly by improperly participating in real estate negotiations with Montana land developers.

Thursday, Feb. 17

· The Justice Department named Eun Young Choi, a veteran cybersecurity prosecutor, to be its new cryptocurrency czar as the first director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting illicit cryptocurrency schemes.

· Biden again warned that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine imminently and that there are signs it is carrying out a false flag operation to justify the invasion.

· Russia ejected U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Bart Gorman from the U.S. embassy in Moscow and released a letter accusing the U.S. of ignoring Russian security demands and threatening unspecified “military-technical measures.”

· In lieu of passing a “mother of all sanctions” bill targeting Russia because it did not have bipartisan support, the Senate sent a strongly worded letter to Putin criticizing him for a “provocative and reckless” military buildup on Ukraine’s border.

· The Senate gave final approval to a short-term bill to fund the government through March 11, less than 48 hours before government funding was sent to lapse. The House passed its version of the bill the previous week.

· Steve Dickson, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, announced that he will resign at the end of March. Dickson was appointed by Trump for a five-year term.

Friday, Feb. 18

· The National Archives revealed that classified information was found among the 15 boxes of White House records stored at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Chairwoman of the House oversight committee Carolyn Maloney said “these new revelations deepen my concern about former President Trump’s flagrant disregard for federal records law and the potential impact on our historical record.”

· The Department of Agriculture lifted a ban on imports of Mexican avocados that went into effect a week earlier after a U.S. embassy security official judged that threats made against a USDA health inspector and his supervisor were credible.

• The U.S. Trade Representative’s office placed e-commerce sites operated by China’s Tencent and Alibaba, including the “AliExpress and the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem,” on the U.S.’s “notorious markets” list of entities that allegedly sell or facilitate the sale of counterfeit goods. The list includes 42 online markets and 35 physical markets.

· Biden said he is “convinced” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine. “We have reason to believe that Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” he said.

· Biden said he would extend the national emergency that was first declared in March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which had been set to expire on March 1.

Saturday, Feb. 19

• No news to report.

Sunday, Feb. 20

• The New York Times reported that the Justice Department will announce changes to the China Initiative, the Trump-era effort to combat Chinese national security threats, following advice from civil rights activists, business groups and universities who informed the Biden administration that the program contributes to a rising tide of anti-Asian sentiment.