ReportWire

Tag: political news

  • Trump’s Aggressive Tactics Force a Reckoning Between Local Leaders and Washington

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston regularly games out responses to threats like destructive tornadoes or hazardous waste leaks. He’s added a new potential menace: the federal government.

    When President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to some U.S. cities last year over the objection of local leaders, Johnston said his tabletop exercises expanded to consider what might happen if federal officials took aim at Denver, which the Trump administration has sued for limiting cooperation on deportations. The city now prepares for the impact of federal activity on everything from access to schools and hospitals to interference with elections.

    “We used to prepare for natural disasters,” Johnston, a Democrat, said in an interview. “Now we prepare for our own federal government.”

    A half-dozen state and local officials from both major political parties over the past week described an increasingly hostile relationship with Washington. While there’s inherent tension between city, state and federal governments over power, politics and money, the current dynamic is unlike anything they’ve experienced, particularly after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last month.

    While partnerships are still in place, the officials said the Minneapolis killings have hardened opposition to excessive federal power.

    “This is unprecedented,” said Jerry Dyer, the Republican mayor of Fresno, California, and a former police chief. “I’ve never seen federal law enforcement come to the cities, whether it’s National Guard or ICE, and police cities without a level of cooperation from local police.”


    GOP long sought to empower local governments

    The tensions have upended longtime Republican arguments that the federal government should leave local governance to the states under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Now a Republican president is articulating a muscular federal approach over the protest of Democrats.

    “There’s no question that the Trump administration has repeatedly violated the Constitution and how it deals with states,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said in an interview.

    “My hope,” he added, “is that we are quickly approaching our McCarthyism moment where even Donald Trump’s supporters are going to recognize this has gone too far.”

    Trump has expressed frustration at reflexive resistance from Democratic mayors and governors, insisting this week that he doesn’t want to force federal law enforcement on communities. He prefers to work with officials like Louisiana GOP Gov. Jeff Landry, who requested National Guard troops to patrol New Orleans.

    The president’s willingness to use federal power is often issue-based, favoring states in areas like abortion or education while embracing a strong federal role on immigration and elections.

    Trump said this week that Republicans should “nationalize” elections, a power the Constitution expressly gives to states. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he was referring to a push that voters prove they are U.S. citizens, though Trump still described states as an “agent for the federal government.”

    “That’s not what the Constitution says about elections,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told MS NOW.

    Beshear and the 23 other Democratic governors released a statement Thursday objecting to “interference from the federal government.” In the interview, Beshear pointed to Paul’s comments as an example of bipartisan agreement.

    “Rand and I don’t agree on a lot,” he said.

    Paul and some other Republicans, including Govs. Phil Scott of Vermont and Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, have also expressed concern about the immigration operation in Minnesota.


    Preliminary steps to ease tensions

    Trump has taken preliminary steps to ease tensions, replacing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security leaders in Minneapolis with Tom Homan, the administration’s border czar. Homan is withdrawing 700 of the roughly 3,000 federal officers deployed around Minneapolis, though Trump and Vice President JD Vance reject any suggestion of a federal drawdown.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the continued presence in the Twin Cities of thousands of federal officers contradicts his demand that the administration end its operation there. In a sign of the frustration between local and federal officials there, the rhetoric has taken on militaristic tones.

    Trump has referred to federal law enforcement in Minneapolis as “soldiers.” Homan has described agents as being “in theater,” a military phrase typically used in reference to a conflict zone. During a quick trip to Washington last week to address fellow mayors, Frey spoke of an “invasion” and “occupation” in his city.

    “We are on the front lines of a very important battle,” he said.

    At the same event, Elizabeth Kautz, the Republican mayor of suburban Burnsville, Minnesota, said she now carries her passport around the city she’s led since 1995.

    “With the introduction of ICE, our cities are no longer safe,” she said.

    That’s also how it feels to leaders in places far from Minneapolis, even if they haven’t been targeted by ICE.

    “What I can’t tolerate is the approach to immigration operations in a place like Minneapolis that are causing people to look over their shoulder in cities like Allentown,” said Matt Tuerk, the Democratic mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, which has a large Latino population. “Even though you’re not in Allentown, you’re having an impact.”


    Reshaping Washington’s priorities

    The immigration crackdown is one element of Trump’s work to dramatically reshape the U.S. government’s priorities and operations at home and abroad. Trump and his supporters describe a need to strictly enforce immigration laws in the U.S. and end social safety net programs they say are prone to fraud. The president’s foreign policy has shown little patience for longstanding alliances or diplomatic niceties that are seen as out of step with U.S. interests.

    For some local leaders in the U.S., that sense of a seismic shift felt familiar.

    “It’s profoundly changed,” Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, a Democrat, said of his views toward the federal government. “Given that the administration has used partisan politics and used the power of the federal government and its various agencies to put pressure on mayors and local officials not to follow the law but to follow their politics is absolutely new and it’s absolutely affecting trust at every level.”

    While foreign leaders can explore a shift in alliances, as some are actively considering, that’s nearly impossible for local leaders in the U.S., whose budgets are tied to federal funding. Those funds have been unstable during Trump’s second term as Washington has canceled grants that he considered wasteful or out of line with the administration’s priorities, prompting some mayors to turn to philanthropy for help.

    But nothing can replace the power of the federal government, said Tuerk, who described defending grants by connecting the money to the administration’s priorities, including job creation.

    “When we’re like, ‘Hey, don’t take away this grant that is designed to get people to work,’ I hope that message is getting through,” he said.

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the federal shift “absolutely historic.” Trump has fiercely criticized her, issuing an executive order last month deriding her wildfire response and pressing to “cut through bureaucratic red tape” to speed up reconstruction.

    In an interview, Bass, a former member of Congress, said she turns to administration officials she knew from her time in Washington.

    “I’m fortunate,” she said. “I have an ability to have a relationship.”

    But as January came to a close, local officials in Minnesota seemed exhausted.

    “You think about, ‘Why us?’” said Jim Hovland, the nonpartisan mayor of the Minneapolis suburb Edina. “We’ve had a historically really good relationship with the federal government, and it’s really sad to see it fray.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Trump Willing to Discuss Democrats’ Demands on Immigration, White House Says

    WASHINGTON, ‌Feb ​5 (Reuters) – White ‌House spokeswoman ​Karoline ‍Leavitt ​on ​Thursday said ⁠President Donald Trump is ‌willing to negotiate ​with top ‌congressional ‍Democrats on ⁠immigration enforcement reforms, but ​added that some of the Democrats’ requests were non-starters.

    (Reporting by Nandita Bose ​and Bo Erickson; Editing ​by Katharine Jackson)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Brothers of Renee Good, Woman Killed by Immigration Officer, Call for Action in Congress

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The brothers of Renee Good, one of two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, called on Congress to do something about the violence on American streets as a result of immigration operations, warning Tuesday that the scenes playing out are “changing many lives, including ours, forever.”

    Brothers Luke and Brett Ganger spoke during a hearing held Tuesday by congressional Democrats to highlight use-of-force incidents by officers from the Department of Homeland Security as they arrest and deport immigrants. The mood was somber as the brothers spoke, often comforting each other as they talked and listened to others speaking.

    Luke Ganger, speaking of the “deep distress” the family felt at losing their sister in “such a violent and unnecessary way,” didn’t specify what they wanted from Congress but painted his sister’s death as a turning point that should inspire change in operations such as those going on in Minneapolis.

    “The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation. This is not just a bad day, or a rough week, or isolated incidents,” he said. “These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever.”

    The forum was put on by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., to spotlight use-of-force complaints against Homeland Security officers tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

    Trump administration officials said Good tried to run over an officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis, as well as protesters, have rejected that characterization.

    The two brothers didn’t delve into the details of their sister’s death or what the administration has said about her. Instead, they spoke about her life.

    Luke Ganger said the most important thing the brothers could do was to explain to those listening “what a beautiful American we have lost. A sister. A daughter. A mother. A partner and a friend.”

    Brett Ganger shared some of the eulogy he had written for his sister’s funeral service. He compared her to dandelions that grow and bring beauty in unexpected places.

    “She believed tomorrow could be better than today. She believed that kindness mattered. And she lived that belief,” he said.

    The panel also heard from three other U.S. citizens who detailed their treatment by Homeland Security officers.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Complaint Accuses Gabbard of Playing Politics With Intelligence, Which Spy Agency Rejects

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A complaint made about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard months ago relates to an allegation that she withheld access to classified information for political reasons, according to a memo sent to lawmakers by the inspector general’s office and obtained by The Associated Press.

    That allegation in the complaint filed in May appeared to not be credible, according to the former watchdog for the intelligence community that initially reviewed it. It has become a flashpoint for Gabbard’s critics, who accuse her of withholding information from members of Congress tasked with providing oversight of the intelligence services.

    Copies of the top-secret complaint are being hand-delivered this week to the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers — a group comprised of the House and Senate leaders from both parties as well as the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

    Gabbard’s office has denied the allegations and disputed that it withheld the complaint, saying the delay in getting it to lawmakers was due to an extensive legal review necessitated by the complaint’s many classified details, as well as last year’s government shutdown.

    Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told reporters that he had not seen the complaint as of Tuesday but that he expected to see it within a couple days, following what he called a protracted effort by lawmakers from both parties to pressure Gabbard to send the report as required by law.

    “It took the Gang of Eight six months of negotiation with the director of national intelligence to share that whistleblower complaint,” Warner said. “This is in direct contradiction to what Gabbard testified during her confirmation hearings — that she would protect whistleblowers and share the information of timely matter.”

    The author of the complaint, in a second allegation, accused Gabbard’s office of general counsel of failing to report a potential crime to the Department of Justice. The IG’s memo, which contains redactions, does not offer further details of either allegation.

    In June, then-inspector general Tamara Johnson found that the claim Gabbard distributed classified information along political lines did not appear to be credible, according to the current watchdog, Christopher Fox, in the memo to lawmakers. Johnson was “unable to assess the apparent credibility” of the accusation about the general counsel’s office, Fox wrote.

    Federal law allows whistleblowers in the intelligence services to refer their complaints to the Gang of Eight lawmakers even if they have been found non-credible, as long as their complaint is determined to raise urgent concerns.

    In his memo, Fox wrote that he would have deemed the complaint non-urgent, meaning it never would have been referred to lawmakers.

    “If the same or similar matter came before me today, I would likely determine that the allegations do not meet the statutory definition of “’urgent concern,’” Fox wrote.

    Andrew Bakaj, attorney for the person who made the complaint, said Monday that while he cannot discuss the details of the report, there is no justification for keeping it from Congress since last spring.

    The referral of the complaint to lawmakers isn’t simple because it contains classified details that necessitate it being hand-delivered, resulting in a process that is likely to take a few days.

    The inspector general’s office confirmed that some lawmakers and their staff were allowed to read copies of the complaint on Monday. Representatives for the inspector general plan to meet with the remaining lawmakers who had not seen it on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the office said.

    Gabbard coordinates the work of the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies. She has recently drawn attention for another matter — appearing on site last week when the FBI served a search warrant on election offices in Georgia that are central to Trump’s disproven claims about fraud in the 2020 election.

    That unusual role for a spy chief raised additional questions from Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

    Gabbard said Trump asked her to be present at the search. She defended her role in a letter to lawmakers, arguing that she regularly works with the FBI and is authorized to investigate any threat to election security.

    Warner said Tuesday that he doesn’t accept Gabbard’s explanation and that her actions are eroding longstanding barriers separating intelligence work from domestic law enforcement. He said he wants Gabbard to address his questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee soon.

    “The director of national intelligence does not conduct criminal investigations,” Warner said. “She has no role in executing search warrants. And she does not belong on the scene of a domestic FBI search.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • FACT FOCUS: Images of NYC Mayor With Jeffrey Epstein Are AI-Generated. Here’s How We Know

    Multiple AI-generated photos falsely claiming to show New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a child and his mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, along with other high-profile public figures, were shared widely on social media Monday.

    The images originated on an X account labeled as parody after a huge tranche of new Epstein files was released by the Justice Department on Friday. They are clearly watermarked as AI and other elements they contain do not add up.

    Here’s a closer look at the facts.

    CLAIM: Images show Mamdani as a child and his mother with Jeffrey Epstein and other public figures linked to the disgraced financier.

    THE FACTS: The images were created with artificial intelligence. They all contain a digital watermark identifying them as such and first appeared on a parody X account that says it creates “high quality AI videos and memes.”

    In one of the images, Mamdani and Nair appear in the front of a group photo with Maxwell, Epstein, former President Bill Clinton, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. They seem to be posing at night on a crowded city street. Mamdani looks to be a preteen or young teenager.

    Another supposedly shows the same group of people, minus Nair, in what appears to be a tropical setting. Epstein is pictured holding Clinton sitting in his arms, while Maxwell has her arm around Mamdani, who appears slightly younger.

    Other AI-generated images circulating online depict Mamdani as a baby being held by Nair while she poses with Epstein, Clinton, Maxwell and Bezos. None of Epstein’s victims have publicly accused Clinton, Gates or Bezos of being involved in his crimes.

    Google’s Gemini app detected SynthID, a digital watermarking tool for identifying content that has been generated or altered with AI, in all the images described above. This means they were created or edited, either entirely or in part, by Google’s AI models.

    The X account that first posted the images describes itself as “an AI-powered meme engine” that uses “AI to create memes, songs, stories, and visuals that call things exactly how they are — fast, loud, and impossible to ignore.”

    An inquiry sent to the account went unanswered. However, a post by the account seems to acknowledge that it created the images.

    “Damn you guys failed,” it reads. “I purposely made him a baby which would technically make this pic 34 years old. Yikes.”

    The photos began circulating after an email emerged in which a publicist, Peggy Siegal, wrote to Epstein about seeing a variety of luminaries, including Clinton, Bezos and Nair, an award-winning Indian filmmaker, at 2009 afterparty for a film held at Maxwell’s townhouse.

    While Mamdani appears as a baby or young child in all of the images, he was 18 in 2009, when Nair is said to have attended the party.

    The images have led to related falsehoods that have spread online in their wake. For example, one claims that Epstein is Mamdani’s father. This is not true — Mamdani’s father is Mahmood Mamdani, an anthropology professor at Columbia University.

    The NYC Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Trump Administration to Create a Strategic Reserve for Rare Earths Elements

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration plans to deploy nearly $12 billion to create a strategic reserve of rare earth elements, a stockpile that could counter China’s ability to use its dominance of these hard to process metals as leverage in trade talks.

    The White House confirmed on Monday the start of “Project Vault,” which would initially be funded by a $10 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital. The minerals kept in the reserve would help to shield the manufacturers of autos, electronics and other goods from any supply chain disruptions.

    During trade talks last year spurred by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Chinese government restricted the exporting of rare earths that are needed for jet engines, radar systems, electric vehicles, laptops and phones.

    China represents about 70% of the world’s rare earths mining and 90% of global rare earths processing. That gave it a chokehold on the sector that has caused the U.S. to nurture alternative sources of the elements, creating a stockpile similar to the national reserve for petroleum.

    The loan would be for a period of 15 years. The U.S. government has previously taken stakes in the rare earths miner MP Materials, as well as providing financial backing to the companies Vulcan Elements and USA Rare Earth.

    Bloomberg News was the first to report the creation of the rare earths strategic reserve.

    Trump is scheduled on Monday to meet with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and mining industry billionaire Robert Friedland.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • In Minneapolis, All-Encompassing Immigration Story Tests a Newsroom in Midst of Digital Transition

    With the eyes of a nation fixed on the unrest in Minneapolis, the events haven’t left local journalists overmatched.

    Over the past month, the Minnesota Star Tribune has broken stories, including the identity of the immigration enforcement officer who shot Renee Good, and produced a variety of informative and instructive pieces. Richard Tsong-Taatarii’s photo of a prone demonstrator sprayed point-blank with a chemical irritant quickly became a defining image. The ICE actions have changed how the outlet presents the news.

    At a time when many regional newspapers have become hollowed-out shells due to the decline in journalism as a business, the Star Tribune has kept staffing relatively steady under billionaire Glen Taylor, who has owned it since 2014. It rebranded itself from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and committed itself to a digital transformation.

    It was ready for its moment.

    “If you hadn’t invested in the newsroom, you wouldn’t be able to react in that way,” said Steve Grove, publisher and chief executive.


    Minnesota’s robust journalism tradition

    The Star Tribune hasn’t operated in a vacuum. Minneapolis has a robust journalism tradition, particularly on public radio and television. Sahan Journal, a digital newsroom focusing on immigrants and diverse communities, has also distinguished itself covering President Donald Trump’s immigration efforts and the public response.

    “The whole ecosystem is pretty darn good,” said Kathleen Hennessey, senior vice president and editor of the Star Tribune, “and I think people are seeing that now.”

    While national outlets have made their presence felt, strong local teams offer advantages in such stories. The Star Tribune’s Josie Albertson-Grove was one of the first journalists on the scene after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead on Jan. 24. She lives about a block away, and her knowledge of the neighborhood and its people helped to reconstruct what happened.

    Journalists with kids in school learned about ICE efforts to target areas where children gather by hearing chatter among friends. While covering a beat like public safety can carry baggage, Star Tribune reporter Liz Sawyer developed sources that helped her, along with colleagues Andy Mannix and Sarah Nelson, report on who shot Good.

    Besides those contacts, the staff simply knows Minnesota better than outsiders, Hennessey said.

    “This is a place with a really, really long and entrenched tradition of activism, and a place with really deep social networks and neighborhood networks,” she said. “People mobilize quickly and passionately, and they’re noisy about it. That’s definitely been part of the story.”

    A Signal chat tipped Tsong-Taatarii about a demonstration growing raucous on Jan. 21. Upon arriving, he focused his lens on one protester knocked to the ground, leaving the photographer perfectly placed for his richly-detailed shot. Two officers hold the man face-down with arms on his back, while a third unleashes a chemical from a canister inches from his face. The bright yellow liquid streams onto his cheek and splatters onto the pavement.

    What some have called the sadistic cruelty involved in the episode outraged many who saw the photo. “I was just trying to document and present the evidence and let people decide for themselves,” Tsong-Taatarii said.


    ‘A badge to prove I belong’

    In one enterprising story, the Star Tribune’s Christopher Magan and Jeff Hargarten identified 240 of an estimated 3,000 immigrants rounded up in Minnesota, finding 80% had felony convictions but nearly all had been through the court system, been punished and were no longer sought by police. Hargarten and Jake Steinberg collaborated on a study of how the size of the federal force compared with that of local police.

    Columnist Laura Yuen wrote that her 80-year-old parents have begun carrying their passports when they leave their suburban townhouse, part of the “quiet, pervasive fear” in the Twin Cities. Yuen downloaded her own passport to carry on her phone. “A document that once made me proud of all the places I’ve traveled is now a badge to prove I belong,” she wrote.

    A piece by Kim Hyatt and Louis Krauss detailed the health consequences of chemical irritants used by law enforcement — or thought to be used, since questions about what specifically was deployed went unanswered.

    “I really think they’ve done a commendable job,” said Scott Libin, a veteran television newsman and journalism professor at the University of Minnesota. He praised the Star Tribune’s story about the criminal backgrounds of immigrants as thorough and dispassionate.

    Since Hennessey, a former Associated Press editor, began her job last May, the Star Tribune has experienced a run of big stories, including the shooting of two state lawmakers and a gunman opening fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. And, of course, “we have a newsroom that still has muscle memory from George Floyd ” in 2020, Grove said.

    News compelled fundamental shifts in the way the Star Tribune operates. Like some national outlets, it has rearranged staff to cover the story aggressively through a continuously updated live blog on its website, offered free to readers. There’s also a greater emphasis on video, with the Star Tribune doing forensic studies on footage from the Pretti and Good shootings, something few local newsrooms are equipped to do. Traffic to its website has gone up 50 percent, paid subscriptions have increased and the company is getting thousands of dollars in donations from across the country, Grove said.

    “People have changed the way that they consume news,” Hennessey said. “We see that readers are coming back. You know, they’re not just waking up in the morning, reading the site and then forgetting about us all day long. They’re coming back a couple of times a day to check in on what’s new.”

    Most people in the newsroom are contributing to the story, including the Star Tribune’s food and culture team, and its outdoor reporters. “There are no normal beats anymore,” Albertson-Grove said.


    A rapid transformation to a digital-first newsroom

    Under Grove, a former Google executive, the Star Tribune has attempted a digital-first transition, turning over about 20% of its staff in two years. The paper shut its Minneapolis printing plant in December, laying off 125 people, and moving print operations to Iowa.

    “We face every single headwind that every local news organization in the country does,” Grove said. “But we do feel fortunate that we’re the largest newsroom in the Midwest and it’s part of the reason we’re able to do this now.”

    As a reporter, Sawyer says the public response to the outlet’s work, sharing stories and images, has lifted her spirits. Readers see it as public service journalism. Still, she could use a break. She and her husband, Star Tribune photographer Aaron Lavinsky, have a baby daughter and make sure to stagger their coverage. They can’t both be tear-gassed or arrested at the same time; who makes the daycare pickup?

    “I think both residents and journalists in this town are running on fumes,” she said. “We’re tired of being in the international spotlight and it’s never for something positive. People are trying their best to get through this moment with grace.”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Chicago Mayor Tells Police to Probe Allegations of Illegal Activity by Immigration Agents

    DETROIT, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Chicago ‌Mayor ​Brandon Johnson has signed ‌an executive order directing the city’s police department to ​investigate any alleged illegal activity by federal immigration agents and refer the ‍agents for prosecution if ​necessary, his office said Saturday. 

    “With today’s order, we are putting ​ICE on ⁠notice in our city. Chicago will not sit idly by while Trump floods federal agents into our communities and terrorizes our residents,” Johnson wrote in a statement. 

    The order instructs Chicago police officers to preserve ‌body-camera footage from incidents and identify the federal supervisory officer on ​scene. Chicago ‌officers are also supposed ‍to ⁠complete reports on any state or local laws allegedly violated by federal agents. 

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Federal agents are generally immune from state prosecution for actions taken as part of their official duties. Immunity only applies when an officer’s actions ​were authorized under federal law and were necessary and proper.

    Prominent state and local Democratic leaders around the country have been pushing back against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, especially following the deaths of two U.S. citizens killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.

    Minnesota officials sued the federal government over the surge of immigration officers in that state, but a federal judge on Saturday declined to issue a preliminary injunction that would have ​ended the operation.

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, introduced a bill on Friday aimed at banning local law enforcement from being deputized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take ​part in immigration enforcement operations.  

    (Reporting by Kalea Hall; Editing by Sergio Non, Rod Nickel)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • From Stilettos to Safety Concerns on Inauguration Day: 4 Takeaways From Melania Trump’s New Movie

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The new documentary “Melania” opens on a close-up of the trademark stilettos of first lady Melania Trump as she walks the halls of Mar-a-Lago, her Palm Beach home, in early January 2025, following her as she climbs into a dark SUV for the short drive to the airport and a flight aboard her husband’s personal plane to New York and their Trump Tower penthouse home.

    The movie, which stretches nearly two hours, is a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the first lady’s life during the 20 days before she resumed the role last year. The first lady, who is known to fiercely protect her privacy, had film crews follow her in Palm Beach, Florida; New York City and Washington, during that window to show her transition from a private citizen to public figure to an audience that mostly regards her as kind of a mystery.

    “With this film, I want to show the American people my journey,” she says in the documentary, which opened Friday in theaters in the U.S. and around the world.


    The first lady focuses on getting details just right

    Viewers follow Melania Trump through a variety of meetings — and fittings — where the former fashion model appears keenly focused on the precise fit of her inaugural coat and hat and the gown she plans to wear to the balls. In one of the scenes where she’s wearing the coat, she asks for it to be tightened around her hips. In another, after she comes downstairs in the strapless gown, her request is for the black trim at the top to be fixed straight across and to not flop.

    She reviews the minute arrangements for a pre-inaugural candlelight dinner in Washington for President Donald Trump’s donors, such as the invitations and the caviar served inside a golden egg. And she works on furnishing the family’s private living quarters on the second floor of the White House. She asks her interior designer for a bigger bed for their son, Barron, “because he’s much taller now” than in Trump’s first term.


    She meets with powerful women

    Melania Trump, who was involved in every aspect of the film’s development, includes scenes from meetings with some powerful women before Inauguration Day: a video call with Brigitte Macron, the French president’s wife, to discuss working together on children’s initiatives, and a sit-down with Queen Rania of Jordan.

    She also meets with Aviva Siegel, who had been held hostage by Hamas militants after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and whose husband of 44 years was still in captivity at the time of the meeting. The film’s credits say Melania Trump played a key role in winning the release of Siegel’s husband.


    Melania was concerned about safety on Inauguration Day

    She and President Trump attend a meeting with Secret Service officials to review plans for the day. Told that there will be several points along the parade route where they could get out of the limousine to walk along Pennsylvania Avenue, she asks, “Is it safe?”

    She doesn’t appear reassured by the answer, and says she knows Barron will not get out of the car. Trump had been the target of two assassination attempts during his campaign, including one at a rally in Pennsylvania in which his ear was grazed by a bullet and a supporter standing behind him was fatally shot.

    Trump eventually moved the traditional outdoor inauguration ceremony indoors due to concerns about bitterly cold weather, and the parade was moved indoors to the Capital One Arena.

    Melania Trump, who narrates the documentary, calls it a “practical decision” to move the parade. “But in truth, I was relieved,” she says.


    Melania says she wants to modernize the role of first lady

    She says in the film that she wants to move beyond the traditional “social duties” of first ladies. In some ways, she’s already done so, especially with the documentary.

    Presidents and first ladies generally wait until they leave the White House to pursue such projects to avoid questions about possible conflicts of interest or ethics.

    The film, announced before the Trumps returned to the White House, is the product of a reported $40 million deal with AmazonMGM Studios. Amazon does business with the federal government, and co-founder Jeff Bezos has sought to improve relations with the president.

    Melania Trump also has not been tied to living in the White House. In Trump’s first term, she took the unusual step of living in New York for several months so that Barron, then in elementary school, could finish the school year. In the second term, she spent much of the first year in New York and Florida working on the film.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • US Senator Graham Holds up Spending Bill, Pressing for Right to Sue the Government

    By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

    WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – U.S. ‌Senator ​Lindsey Graham held up a bipartisan ‌deal to avert a government shutdown on Friday as he sought to ​restore a widely panned provision that would allow him to sue the government for damages.

    Several lawmakers have blocked the ‍Senate from acting on the funding ​deal, which would ensure agencies like the Pentagon and the Department of Labor would keep operating when ​current funding ⁠expires at midnight. But he was the most visible.

    Speaking on the Senate floor on Friday, Graham said he would prevent the Senate from voting unless it also voted on a provision that would let him and other lawmakers whose phone records were seized during the Biden administration’s investigation of the January ‌6, 2021 attack on the Capitol sue the Justice Department for damages.

    The provision was tucked into ​a ‌massive spending bill last fall ‍and drew widespread ⁠condemnation from Republicans and Democrats alike as an enrichment scheme for public officials.

    U.S. law generally does not allow individuals to sue the government for damages except in limited circumstances, such as when they were injured by federal employees or had land taken for public use.

    House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said he was shocked and angered by the provision, and the House included its repeal in the massive spending bill that the Senate is now ​considering. 

    Graham expressed frustration with those changes. “You jammed me. Speaker Johnson, I won’t forget this,” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.

    Graham once vowed to sue for “millions of dollars,” but Republican leaders say any proceeds would go back to the government and not benefit lawmakers personally. Graham said Friday he would broaden the provision so outside groups targeted by the January 6 probe could also sue for damages.

    Graham also said he was demanding a commitment to vote on a provision that would require local governments to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. 

    It was not clear how long Graham’s objections would hold up the spending deal, and other lawmakers ​predicted his effort to restore the provision would ultimately fail.

    Voters “may remember that more than a failed procedural vote,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters.

    Separately, President Donald Trump on Thursday sued the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for $10 billion ‌over the disclosure of his ​tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020.

    (Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Cynthia Osterman)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Former Fed Governor Warsh Met With Trump on Thursday

    Jan 29 (Reuters) – ‌Former ​Federal Reserve ‌Governor Kevin Warsh ​came to the ‍White House for ​a ​meeting ⁠with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, according one source familiar with ‌the matter.

    A second source, ​briefed on ‌the ‍discussion, said ⁠the former Fed governor impressed Trump, who is vetting candidates to replace ​Jerome Powell when the current Fed chair’s term is up in May.

    The source added that nothing was final until Trump announced his pick, which ​is expected on Friday.

    (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, writing by ​Ann SaphirEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

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  • Escape From Washington? Senators Look to Start New Chapters as Governors

    WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s increasingly one place that U.S. senators want to be — anywhere but Washington.

    Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota became the fourth sitting senator to seek leadership of a home state in 2026 when she announced her campaign on Thursday. That’s the most in recent history, according to an Associated Press analysis of congressional retirements.

    The increase in senators looking toward statehouses underscores how sharply the balance of political ambition has shifted away from Washington. Although the Senate was once seen as the capstone of a long political career or a premier perch for launching presidential bids, it has become increasingly stagnant and dysfunctional.


    What’s the allure of the governor’s office?

    Governorships now offer what the Senate usually cannot — the ability to govern, build a record and shape a national profile.

    “Everybody asks me, ‘Why are you doing this?’” Tuberville recently told the AP. “Because I think I can do more good in that seat than I can in this one.”

    The four senators who have already announced their campaigns are part of a broader exodus from Congress’ upper chamber. Eleven have announced their intent to retire next year, which includes nine in the final year of their term.

    Bennet has long voiced frustration at glacial progress in Washington, but his decision to run for Colorado governor still surprised many politicos in his home state.

    In an interview, he said there’s no way to address problems like affordability from the Senate.

    “Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. will never be responsive to those challenges,” Bennet said. “He’s literally hanging gold on the walls of the Oval Office.”

    Bennet also noted that Trump, a Republican, has “declared war” on Colorado, vowing to make the state pay for continuing to imprison a county clerk who was convicted of breaking the law while trying to help prove the bogus claim that the 2020 election was mired by fraud. Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, also recently vetoed a water project intended to help the state’s rural areas.

    The concerns reflect how national partisan battles have increasingly defined even state-level politics, which used to revolve around local issues and have less of a partisan tinge. Bennet and his Democratic primary rival, state attorney general Phil Weiser, have each argued they’re best equipped to push back against Trump.

    “It’s very important to have people who understand those national fights and who won’t cower in the face of that,” Bennet said.


    Highest turnover in the Senate in more than a decade

    Tuberville, who was first elected in 2020, said he didn’t think there’s any common denominator among the senators running for governor.

    “You know, the reason I’m going back is, I think I can do more in the short term than I can in the long term up here,” he said. He added that, as governor, “you’re CEO of the state, and your vote counts more,” while in the Senate, “you’re one of 100.”

    Even if no more senators were to retire, this cycle would still have the highest turnover in the Senate in more than a decade. The last time more than a dozen senators left in one year was after the 113th Congress, when — in part due to President Barack Obama tapping senators for positions in his Democratic administration — 13 senators retired, resigned or died.


    Senate becomes ‘a more noxious place for lawmakers’

    “There’s a push and a pull factor,” said Matt Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “The push factor is the Senate in particular has become a more noxious place for lawmakers, because all the downsides to serving in public office and in the Senate are no longer mitigated in a significant way by the upsides of passing legislation.”

    “Being governor, aside from the obvious fact that you’re chief executive as opposed to one of 100, is increasingly alluring,” Dallek said. “At the state level, a lot more can get done. Often states have to balance their budgets, they need to work on bipartisan legislation, and I think that there’s a sense among lawmakers that it’s in the states — these so-called labs of democracy — where governance is possible.”

    He pointed to Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida, both Republicans, as examples of governing templates on topics ranging from immigration to cultural issues.

    According to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, 22 senators have served as governors after leaving the Senate since the direct election of senators began in 1913. Of those, seven moved directly to the governor’s mansion from the U.S. Senate.

    Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Nick Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Federal Troop Deployments to US Cities Cost Taxpayers $496M and Counting

    President Donald Trump has justified sending National Guard troops into U.S. cities as part of an effort to combat crime and support local law enforcement. Critics of the move argue the deployments undermine state and local authority and exceed the president’s authority under the Constitution.

    The CBO published the new data estimating the costs associated with the federal deployments of National Guard and active-duty Marines after a request from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.

    “The American people deserve to know how many hundreds of millions of their hard-earned dollars have been and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and haphazard deployment of National Guard troops to Portland and cities across the country,” Merkley said in a statement about the CBO report.

    Factored into the estimates are troop deployments to Chicago, Memphis, Portland, as well as Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests. The CBO said continued deployments to those cities would cost about $93 million per month.

    The estimate excludes the military’s December deployment to New Orleans.

    For further possible deployments down the road, the CBO estimates deploying 1,000 National Guard personnel to a U.S. city in 2026 would cost $18 million to $21 million per month, depending on the local cost of living.

    National Guard troops are expected to remain deployed in Washington throughout 2026, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press earlier this month.

    The troop deployments have provoked legal challenges from local leaders, and some have been successful. A California federal judge in January ruled that the Trump administration “willfully” broke federal law by sending National Guard units to the Los Angeles area.

    A White House representative did not provide an immediate comment on the estimates.

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  • Rubio Details How the Trump Administration Will Control Venezuela’s Oil Money

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration soon will allow Venezuela to sell oil now subject to U.S. sanctions, with the revenue initially dedicated to basic government services such as policing and health care and subject to Washington’s oversight, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

    “The funds from that will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. Treasury would control the process. Venezuela, he said, “will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”

    The U.S. will not subsidize oil industry investments in Venezuela, Rubio said, and is only overseeing the sale of sanctioned petroleum as an “interim step.”

    “This is simply a way to divide revenue so that there isn’t systemic collapse while we work through this recovery and transition,” Rubio said.

    “You are taking their oil at gunpoint, you are holding and selling that oil … you’re deciding how and for what purposes that money is going to be used in a country of 30 million people,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of us believe that that is destined for failure.”

    Under Maduro, Rubio said Venezuela’s oil industry benefited the country’s corrupt leaders and countries such as China, which purchased Venezuelan oil at a discount. Now, Venezuela’s interim leaders are assisting the U.S. in seizing illegal oil shipments, he said.

    The U.S. will give Venezuela’s current leaders instructions on how the money can and cannot be spent and conduct audits to ensure it is used as intended, Rubio said. He said Venezuela could use the money to pay for policing or to buy medicine.

    The fund was initially set up in Qatar to avoid having the proceeds seized by American creditors and because of other legal complications that stem from the U.S. not considering Maduro’s government legitimate, Rubio said.

    Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been set aside and as much as $3 billion more is anticipated, he said.

    “It’s an account that belongs to Venezuela, but it has U.S. sanctions as a blocking mechanism,” Rubio said. “We only control the dispersal of the money, we don’t control the actual money.”

    Earlier this month, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez said cash from oil sales would flow into two sovereign wealth funds: one to support crisis-stricken health services and a second to bolster public infrastructure, including the electric grid.

    The country’s hospitals are so poorly equipped that patients are asked to provide supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. They also must pay for lab and imaging tests at private hospitals.

    On Tuesday, during a televised event to announce the revamping of various health care facilities, Rodríguez said her government and the U.S. administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication” since Maduro was captured.

    Neither Rodríguez nor her government’s press office immediately comment on Rubio’s remarks Wednesday.

    At Rodríguez’s request, Venezuelan lawmakers last week began debating an overhaul of the country’s energy law. The proposed changes are meant to create conditions to attract much-needed private foreign investment.

    Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela.

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  • US Treasury Chief Says Spoke at Length With Trump About Fed Chair Candidates

    By Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey

    WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary ‌Scott ​Bessent on Wednesday said he had spoken ‌at length with President Donald Trump about the nomination of a successor for ​Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying there were still four “great” candidates in the running.

    Bessent told CNBC he traveled to Iowa with Trump ‍for a rally and then had ​a long discussion with him about the Fed chair nomination on the more than two-hour flight back to Washington.

    Asked ​if he’d made ⁠a recommendation, Bessent said, “I don’t make recommendations. I give the president options and outcomes. It’s going to be the president’s decision.”

    He gave no further details and said it was unclear when Trump would announce a decision, adding, “Only the president knows.” The White House had no immediate comment on the timing of Trump’s decision.

    Bessent, who spoke to CNBC ‌before Wednesday’s Fed meeting to set interest rates, said Trump had not narrowed or expanded the field of ​four ‌candidates, without giving their names.

    Trump ‍has repeatedly said ⁠he expects to announce his pick soon, and last week said he was “down to one in my mind,” while saying he preferred to keep one of the top candidates – his top economic adviser Kevin Hassett – in his current post.

    BlackRock’s chief bond investment manager, Rick Rieder, whose interview Trump described as “very impressive,” is now the clear favorite to succeed Powell when his term ends in May, according to prediction market Kalshi.

    The other two candidates named by Trump and his top aides in recent weeks are ​Fed Governor Christopher Waller and former Fed Governor Kevin ‍Warsh.

    Bessent said Trump was choosing among “four great candidates.”

    He said Stephen Miran, who is on leave from his job as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers to serve on the Fed’s Board of Governors, could stay on in his role for now. His term had been due to end on January 31.

    Miran last month said he would likely remain on the Fed board until the Senate confirms whoever Trump nominates as the next Fed chair. Miran joined the Fed in September to serve the last few months of a 14-year term after the unexpected resignation of Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden.

    Bessent also urged ​the Federal Reserve to have an open mind about interest rates, adding that there were many board members who had “a false narrative” on inflation.

    “I hope that they will have an open mind and see what’s coming over the next couple months,” he said.

    He said strong U.S. economic growth and wage increases did ​not mean inflation would necessarily rise, given substantial decreases in rents.

    (Reporting by Andreal Shalal and Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Deepa Babington)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • What We Know About the Investigations Into the Minneapolis Shooting Death of Alex Pretti

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The fatal shooting over the weekend of a Minneapolis man has prompted calls for a thorough independent investigation into the second death at the hands of federal immigration officers since the Trump administration began its large-scale operation in the city late last year.

    But many of the investigation’s details, including the identities of the officers involved and precisely what evidence is being examined, remain unclear even as tensions soar in Minneapolis over the death of Alex Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse.

    Any investigation into the details of the shooting will likely be highly scrutinized. The Trump administration has been quick to cast Pretti as an armed instigator, although videos emerging from the scene and local officials contradict that claim.

    Here’s a look at what’s known about the investigation into the shooting and what’s not:

    The White House says three federal investigations into the shooting are underway.

    During a briefing Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI were investigating the shooting and U.S. Customs and Border Protection was “conducting their own internal review.”

    “As President (Donald) Trump said yesterday, the administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting, and we will let that investigation play out,” Leavitt added, without providing additional details on the probes.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which normally plays a key role in any case in which a federal law enforcement officer kills a civilian, is instead only lending support in processing physical evidence from the scene, such as Pretti’s gun.

    Historically, the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department investigates shootings of civilians by law enforcement officers for potential criminal violations, but there’s no indication that they intend to do so in Pretti’s case. In the case of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement earlier this month that “there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation.”

    Gil Kerlikowske, who headed Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration, said that when he was at the agency, if a Border Patrol agent used deadly force on the job, it would be “routine” for the FBI to conduct a criminal civil rights investigation, even in cases where the force may have been justified and even if the probe wouldn’t necessarily lead to prosecution.

    Kerlikowske also questioned why Homeland Security Investigations, an arm within DHS that traditionally probes cross-border issues like drug smuggling and human trafficking, would take a lead role in this investigation.

    “This isn’t something that HSI has real expertise or does at all,” said Kerlikowske. “Shooting and use of force and potential criminal liability is not something that would be in their portfolio.”


    Videos, firearms and questions about Pretti’s phone

    FBI Director Kash Patel said Sunday on Fox News that the agency will be assisting HSI by “processing physical evidence.”

    Patel said they’re in possession of “the firearm, which is going to go to our laboratory,” in reference to Pretti’s gun.

    But Patel made no reference to whether the bureau had gathered the firearms of the officers or agents who were on the scene or what other evidence the FBI was processing.

    DHS officials did not respond to questions Monday about whether they are in possession of Pretti’s phone or whether they have recovered the video he was recording when he was killed.

    Pretti’s family told The Associated Press they don’t have the phone and don’t know where it is. Pretti’s father, Michael Pretti, said Monday the family had still not been contacted by or provided any information by federal law enforcement.

    Investigators also have an extensive array of videos to sift through, including multiple videos shot by activists and protesters at the scene.

    Use-of-force experts have said that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm and that a Border Patrol officer opened fire “defensively.” There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to “massacre law enforcement.”

    Investigators have video from at least four Border Patrol agents on the scene who were wearing body cameras, said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. Those videos have not been made public.

    Neither have the identities of the Border Patrol agents involved. The officer who shot the man is an eight-year Border Patrol veteran, federal officials said Saturday.


    State officials say they are being shut out

    The incident has shined a light on the increasing mistrust between officials in the state and the Trump administration over who should take the lead in investigating.

    Drew Evans, superintendent of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates police shootings, told reporters Saturday that federal officers had blocked his agency from the scene of the shooting even after it obtained a signed judicial warrant.

    “We will continue to investigate this case and others that we have recently been involved with. But I would be remiss if I didn’t state that it would be difficult to obtain all of the evidence and information obtained without cooperation,” Evans said Saturday.

    A federal judge has already issued an order blocking the Trump administration from “destroying or altering evidence” related to the shooting after state and county officials sued.

    Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit filed Saturday is meant to preserve evidence collected by federal officials that state authorities have not yet been able to inspect.

    McLaughlin dismissed the lawsuit, saying claims that the federal government would destroy evidence are “a ridiculous attempt to divide the American people and distract from the fact that our law enforcement officers were attacked — and their lives were threatened.”

    Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he called for an impartial investigation in a phone call with Trump Monday.

    Trump, in an earlier social media post, said after their call he and Walz “seemed to be on a similar wavelength,” although he did not mention the investigations. Later, Leavitt said Trump supports the probes that are underway.

    Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker and Eric Tucker contributed.

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  • Texas Governor Bars State Employees From Using Alibaba, Temu Products

    WASHINGTON, Jan ‌26 (Reuters) – ​Texas ‌will bar ​its employees ‍from using Alibaba, ​Temu ​and ⁠TP-Link hardware and software, the governor said ‌in a statement, ​saying ‌his state ‍made the ⁠decision to protect the “privacy of Texans” ​from the Chinese government.The list also includes Shein and CATL, according to the statement from Texas ​Governor Greg Abbott. 

    (Reporting by Courtney Rozen, Editing ​by Franklin Paul)

    Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Columbia Taps University of Wisconsin Chancellor to Lead School After 2 Years of Turmoil

    NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has named Jennifer Mnookin, the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as its next president as it tries to move forward from two years of turmoil that included campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war and President Donald Trump’s subsequent campaign to squelch student activism and force changes at the Ivy League school.

    Mnookin’s appointment was announced Sunday night. She will assume her new post on July 1, becoming Columbia’s fifth leader in the past four years.

    The Trump administration took aim at Columbia shortly after he took office last year, making it his first target in what became a broader campaign to influence how elite U.S. universities dealt with protests, which students they admitted and what they taught in classrooms.

    Immigration enforcement agents imprisoned some Columbia students who had participated in pro-Palestinian protests in 2024. The administration canceled $400 million in research grants at the school and its affiliated hospital system in the name of combating antisemitism on campus, and threatened to withhold billions of dollars more in government support.

    Mnookin’s predecessor, Nemat Shafik, resigned in August 2024 following scrutiny of her handling of the protests and campus divisions. The university named Katrina Armstrong, the chief executive of its medical school, but she resigned last March, days after Columba agreed to the settlement. The board of trustees then appointed their co-chair, Claire Shipman, as acting president while they searched for a permanent leader.

    Mnookin, 58, previously served as the dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law before being named to her current post at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August 2022. She received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, her law degree from Yale Law School, and her doctorate in history and social study of science and technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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  • Network Shutdown Leaves Wisconsin Lawmakers Meeting Outside of Public View

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The shutdown of Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN amid a fundraising shortfall has led to state lawmakers meeting outside of public view, fueling complaints from open government advocates and putting pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal to revive the network.

    WisconsinEye had broadcast every floor session of the state Senate and Assembly since 2007 for free before it went dark in mid-December. Created as a private, independent nonprofit, WisconsinEye also provided live coverage of court hearings, news conferences, legislative committee hearings and numerous other government proceedings.

    “WisconsinEye has become a vital part of our democracy in Wisconsin,” said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. “We’ve lost, at least temporarily, this precious resources for participating and understanding the workings of our democracy.”

    Every state broadcast legislative floor sessions either by video, audio or both, according to a 2022 review by the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, because of constant changes, it’s impossible to say with certainty that Wisconsin is now the only one not routinely broadcasting all floor debates, the NCSL said Thursday.

    Other states primarily rely on public broadcasting, or the state government, to broadcast legislative proceedings.

    When WisconsinEye stopped its free live broadcasts, it also shut down its website that contains more than 30,000 hours of archived footage.

    When the Legislature convened earlier this month, Republicans who control the Senate and Assembly began enforcing rules that predated WisconsinEye prohibiting members of the public from livestreaming or recording proceedings. One Democratic lawmaker tried to livestream committee meetings he was attending, only to be shut down by the Republican committee chair.

    “I’m really baffled that they are doing that,” said Lueders, the open government advocate. “With WisconsinEye sidelined, it’s more important than ever for citizens to be able to broadcast the proceedings.”

    Hearings on issues like regulating data centers and other issues affecting the daily lives of people have come and gone with no recording of what happened without WisconsinEye there to document it, Lueders said.

    WisconsinEye relied on private donations from individuals, foundations, businesses and others to pay for its operations the past 18 years. But faced with increasing competition for donations, and years of losing money since the 2020 pandemic, WisconsinEye turned to the Legislature for help.

    However, there was a catch. In order to access any of the $10 million, WisconsinEye had to match all of it.

    WisconsinEye initially raised just $210,000. The state gave it $250,000 and another year to meet the $10 million match, but WisconsinEye shut down after it failed to raise enough money to cover its $887,000 operating budget for 2026. Last week the network launched a GoFundMe with the goal of raising $250,000 to pay for three months of operations. As of Thursday, it had raised around $49,000.

    Government entities used to having their proceedings broadcast by WisconsinEye have been scrambling to adjust.

    The state Supreme Court, which has had live audio available of oral arguments since 1997, announced this week that it would run its own livestream of arguments set for mid-February.

    The state Senate livestreamed its floor session this week with one stationary camera, a far cry from the multiple WisconsinEye cameras that would broadcast debate from multiple angles, identify the speakers and identify the bill being discussed.

    The Assembly did not broadcast any of its four floor sessions this month.

    Assembly Democrats and Republicans unveiled a proposal on Thursday that could result in the cameras turning back on. It would allow WisconsinEye to access interest accrued from the $10 million endowment, with fundraising paying for the rest of its operating budget.

    But it must also pass the Senate, and it was unclear how much support there was for the proposal.

    Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said that until Republicans can review details about WisconsinEye’s finances and operations, lawmakers “will not commit to blindly giving money to an organization.”

    WisconsinEye CEO Jon Henkes said WisconsinEye was an “open book” and welcomed scrutiny from lawmakers. Henkes said he was “real optimistic” that the bill would become law and make WisconsinEye even stronger going forward than it had been.

    Democratic Gov. Tony Evers earlier this month said he would support a fundraising deal to revive the network as long as the state wasn’t paying for all of WisconsinEye’s budget.

    “I think there has to be some skin in the game,” Evers said.

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  • Takeaways From Jack Smith on His Case Against Trump, ‘So Many Witnesses’ and the Threats Ahead

    “Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith testified.

    Trump, during the hearing, was live-posting his rage against Smith — suggesting the former career prosecutor should himself be prosecuted. In the room sat militant Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and a tense encounter erupted between one audience member and police who had defended the Capitol, reminding how Jan. 6 still divides the Congress, and the country.

    Smith said he believes Trump officials now will do “everything in their power” to prosecute him, but he said he would “not be intimidated” by attacks from the president, adding that investigators gathered proof that Trump committed “serious crimes.”

    “I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me,” Smith said.

    Throughout the session, Republicans highlighted new developments as they seek to sow doubt on Smith’s now defunct-case against Trump, while Democrats warned that Trump’s allies are trying to rewrite history after the defeated president sent his supporters to the Capitol to fight for his failed election against Democrat Joe Biden.

    Far from done, Smith is expected to be called before the Senate, which is planning its own hearing, and he has been unable to discuss the documents case that lawmakers want to probe. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon halted the release of a report by Smith’s team on that case with an injunction that is set to expire next month, but lawyers for Trump have asked to leave it permanently under seal.


    One star witness under scrutiny, but Smith says there are ‘so many’ more

    The young aide recounted having been told that day about Trump lunging for the steering wheel in the presidential limousine as he demanded to join supporters at the Capitol. It’s a story that others said did not happen.

    “Mr. Smith, is Cassidy Hutchinson a liar?” asked Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee chairman.

    Smith explained that Hutchinson’s testimony was “second hand,” and as his team interviewed other witnesses, and the Secret Service agent in the car at the time “did not confirm what happened.”

    Jordan pressed whether Smith would have brought Hutchinson forward to testify anyway, and Smith said he had not made “any final determinations.”

    Smith said, “We had a large choice of witnesses.”

    “That says it all,” Jordan declared. “You were still considering putting her on the witness stand because you had to get President Trump.”

    In fact, Smith said, one of the “central challenges” of the case was to present it in a concise way, “because we did have so many witnesses” — state officials, Trump campaign workers and advisers — to testify.

    “Some of the most powerful witnesses were witnesses who, in fact, were fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and who wanted him to win the election,” Smith said.


    Smith defends his work, and subpoenas for lawmaker phone records

    A career prosecutor who worked for Republican and Democratic administrations, and worked on a range of cases including war crimes overseas, Smith has presented himself as a straight arrow whose work stands for itself.

    “I am not a politician and I have no partisan loyalties,” Smith said. “Throughout my public service, my approach has always been the same — follow the facts and the law without fear or favor.”

    Republicans sought to portray Smith as a hard-charging prosecutor who had to be “reined in” by higher-ups as he pursued Trump ahead of the former president’s possible run for a second term.

    They singled out the collecting of phone toll records of members of Congress, including the House speaker at the time, former GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

    During one particularly sharp exchange, Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas said Smith used nondisclosure agreements to “hide” subpoenas from the subjects, and the public.

    Smith explained that collecting the phone records was a “common practice” and investigators wanted to understand the “scope of the conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election.

    “My office didn’t spy on anyone,” he said.

    Smith said he sought the nondisclosure agreements because of witness intimidation in the case. He cited Trump’s comments at the time, particularly the warning that he would be “coming after” those who cross him.

    “I had grave concerns about obstruction of justice in this investigation, specifically with regards to Donald Trump,” he said.

    Smith said it’s not incumbent on a prosecutor “to wait until someone gets killed before they move for an order to protect the proceedings.”


    Threats to democracy — and to Smith himself — linger

    One Democrat, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, asked how he would describe the toll on American democracy if the nation does not hold a president accountable for fraudulent actions, particularly in elections.

    “If we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards, the rule of law, it can be catastrophic,” he said.

    “It can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers and ultimately, our democracy.”

    “The attack on this Capitol on Jan. 6,” Smith said, echoing an appeals court ruling, “it was an attack on the structure of our democracy.”

    Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado asked Smith if he was aware that Trump was live-posting social media comments during the hearing.

    The congressman began reading what the president had posted.

    “’Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law,’” Neguse read. “’Hopefully the Attorney General is looking at what he’s done.’”

    “We have a word for this,” the congressman said. “It’s called weaponization. It’s called corruption.”

    Democrats repeatedly asked if Smith had ever been approached by Biden’s Justice Department to investigate or prosecute Trump. Smith said he had not.


    In his own words, Smith lays out the case

    Smith presented his case against Trump, publicly and in previous private testimony, in ways that have not wavered.

    “President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law,” Smith said in opening remarks.

    “Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

    Smith said, “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so.”

    “No one should be above the law in this country.”

    Still, the special counsel said he stopped short of filing a charge of insurrection against Trump. That was pursued in the House impeachment of Trump in the aftermath of Jan. 6, though the president was acquitted of the sole count of incitement of an insurrection by the Senate.

    He said the case had “proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” and remained confident had it gone to trial.

    Asked about Trump’s decision to pardon some 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6 attack, including those who assaulted police officers, Smith had almost no answer.

    “I don’t get it,” he said. “I never will.”

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    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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