The Gov Hub Newsletter: February 24, 2026

The South African-born man with multiple mentions in the Epstein files, Elon Musk is in lukewarm water over alleged voter fraud conducted by his political action committee, America PAC. The PAC received a formal reprimand from the Georgia State Election Board for mailing partially pre-filled absentee ballot applications to voters, a practice that’s I L L E G A L to do, unless the ballot is filled by an authorized relative. According to reporting from The Verge, residents in Georgia’s Chattooga, Cherokee, Coweta, Floyd, and Whitfield counties reported receiving absentee ballot applications from America PAC that were partially pre-filled and failed to note that they weren’t actual ballots provided by the gov – also something that’s required by law. 

The former DOGE staff member known as “Big Balls,” who works with Trump’s National Design Studio to enhance government websites, has been tasked by the State Department to build a website to help Europeans see content that’s banned in their neck of the woods because of local and regional regulations.

A new report from ProPublica revealed the special treatment received by Trump-pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was serving time for bribery and charges related to drug trafficking. Among the top-line details shared in the report, is that the ICE detainer against Hernandez was dropped; a specialized tactical team as hired to bring him to the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC; and that was able to use a gov phone to call – drum roll please – a man pardoned by Trump in 2021 on drug trafficking conspiracy charges, that is now the federal prison’s system’s Deputy Director Joshua Smith.

After the “girl aquarium trend” and Heated Rivalry did loads of good PR for men’s hockey over the last year, the U.S. men’s olympic hockey team managed to ruin it in mere minutes following their gold medal victory. Strike one happened when they were captured partying with FBI Director Kash Patel in the locker room – as if they guy doesn’t have better ways to use taxpayer money, like finding Nancy Guthrie. Strike two happened when Trump got on the phone with the team, and while inviting them to the White House, made fun of the gold medal winning, U.S. women’s hockey team. Following, the U.S. women’s hockey team declined an invite to the White House, and Flavor Flav, who has really cemented himself as America’s women’s sports dad, invited the women’s gold medal winners to Vegas, and tapped brands to help make celebrations happen. 

The most recent sleuth of polls are most certainly not in the President’s favor, with a new Reuters/Ipsos poll finding that 61% of respondents saying that Trump has gotten “more erratic with age, while another poll from Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos found that 60% of respondents disapprove of Trump’s performance. 

Politico got its hands on an incredibly fascinating report that shows that MAGA rapper Nicki Minaj’s social media accounts are and have been propped up by thousands of bot accounts. To think about it by the numbies, the Cyabra report shared what happened when isolated data to a day, specifically December 26, 2025, finding that 56% of all comments on Minaj’s political posts were from fake profiles.

And the winner is… “ABOLISH ICE,” which was the top vote-recipient in Chicago’s fourth annual “you name a Snowplow” contest.

Filed under “you really can’t make this shit up,” a former gay pornstar, known as Corey Deangelis, had joined the Heritage Foundation – like the group that produced Project 2025 and has called for making porn illegal. Deanglis is set to be a research fellow in the think tank’s education department. 

A Republican mayor in Ohio – Butler Mayor Wesley Dingus – was allegedly caught on camera sniffing a teen girl’s underwear, and now faces two counts of voyeurism.

A GOP scandal involving Congressman Tony Gonzalez that’s been brewing for a bit, has now simmered over into the mainstream, with further details emerging on an affair that he had with a staffer of his that later died of an apparent suicide. The married mother of an eight-year-old, Regina Santos-Aviles, died after allegedly lighting herself on fire last September. The further details element involves the release of texts between Gonzalez and Santos-Aviles, which reveal that the married father of six, and the boss of Santos-Aviles, asking her for “sexy pics.” The GOP response has Speaker Mike Johnson running in place, along with his endorsement of Gonzalez, while five members of the House GOP have called on Gonzalez to resign – Rep. Lauren Boebert [CO], Rep. Brandon Gill [TX], Rep. Anna Paulina Luna [FL], Rep. Thomas Massie [KY], and Rep. Nancy Mace [SC] calling for Gonzalez to resign. Gonzalez has continually denied the affair and has responded by accusing the former staffer’s husband as blackmail, as well as pointed fingers at his primary opponent.

After years of providing access to gender-affirming surgeries for adults, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center has announced it will cease to offer the option going forward. In the announcement that went out via patient portals, the medical system shared that it would honor surgeries that were already scheduled, but will not add new surgeries or consultations to the calendar.

Flip-flopper RFK Jr. has come out in defense of Trump’s executive order pushing the use of a chemical in Roundup weed killer that's purported to cause cancer, glyphosate. Interestingly enough, RFK Jr. who actually won a case against Roundup’s manufacturer in 2018 over its alleged links to cancer, is now saying that the need for food security outweighs the chemicals risk. Alas, it’s caused backlash from his MAHA backers..

Health officials in Oregon have declared a measles outbreak, citing five confirmed cases, and wastewater reports that have detected the virus in multiple places throughout the state. Oregon’s Health Authority has launched a dashboard that connects the dots between wastewater data and where measles is cozying up.

After only three months on the job, Principal Deputy Director at the CDC and known anti-vaxxer, Ralph Abraham, resigned from his position, citing "unforeseen family obligations" according to The Hill.

A page on the FDA website went quietly into the night – the webpage was dedicated to warning people about unproven and honestly wildly nut-so treatments, products, and therapies that are often baselessly claimed to treat autism like drinking raw camel’s milk.

An ICE whistleblower, Ryan Schwank, a former lawyer for ICE, testified in front of Dem. members of the House and Senate, accusing the agency of lying about the training they’re claiming to give officers. Schwank resigned from his role at ICE two weeks ago in protest of the agency’s failure to adequately train its officers on appropriate uses of force.

A new class action lawsuit has been filed against Trump’s DHS in the U.S. District Court of Maine that accuses DHS Sec. Kristi Noem and the agency of violating the 1st Amendment by using surveillance tech to intimidate legal observers. In the complaint, multiple incidents are detailed where the plaintiffs – Colleen Fagan and Elinor HIlton – shared that the federal immigration officers scanned observers faces and license plates, as well as threatened to both appear at their homes and get them added to a domestic terrorist watch database.

Almost a full year after the shooting death of 23-year-old American citizen Ruben Ray Martinez, DHS has confirmed that he was shot by special agents with ICE. And fast forward to today, and it was reported that a key witness who saw ICE agents fatally shoot their friend, died in a car crash this weekend.

A British couple – grandparents who were in the U.S. on tourist visas – have warned others not to go to the states, after they were detained by ICE for six weeks. Karen Newton, one of the two who was kept shackled, reported to The Guardian hearing the same thing on repeat, that ICE officers were being paid a bonus every time they detained someone. This was Senator Chris Van Hollen’s [D-MD] reaction to the horrifying ordeal.

In a rare rebuke of Trump, SCOTUS struck down his Admin’s sweeping reciprocal tariff policies, deeming them illegal in a 6-3 decision. The result? Trump had a toddler-style tantrum, where he made claims like “I’m allowed to destroy the country.” Alas, now Trump is trying to use other measures to impose a 15% tariff, while tariff opponents, including a number of Dem Senators, are demanding a refund be sent to the American people – something that Trump’s Treasury Sec. Bessent doesn’t seem so keen on making happen.

Pro-MAGA Judge Aileen Cannon has permanently blocked the DOJ from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on Trump’s handling of classified docs at Mar-a-Lago. The report is said to outline the allegations that Trump had stockpiled classified materials and had obstructed efforts for their retrieval. Cannon, who has fostered a reputation for making a mockery of the classified docs case by doing things like delaying the case, then dismissing the case once Trump was the official 2024 RNC nominee, claims that releasing the report, “would cause irreparable damage to former defendants." 

The redistricting wars continue, this time with an update from Utah, where a federal court rejected a GOP-led effort to block the state’s new congressional map from taking effect for the upcoming midterms elections. To note, the map in question, gives the Dems a pick-up opportunity for one seat in the traditionally red state. As for what lies ahead, the Utah GOP has been actively trying to get a ballot measure initiative off the ground that would ask if they’re voters yay or nay on getting rid of the state’s independent redistricting commission [the GOP wants to get rid of it]; ATM, the GOP is claiming they have enough signatures to put it in front of voters.

Maryland AG Anthony Brown has sued the Trump Admin – DHS, ICE, and Sec. Kristi Noem – to block a warehouse that was purchased by DHS for $100M from being turned into an immigration detention center. The case hinges on AG Brown’s claim that the Trump Admin failed to complete the required environmental review process and public comment period.

The U.S. Equal Employment Commission is suing Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast for – and really brace yourself for this one – alleging that the company discriminated against male employees by hosting a women-only networking event in September 2024 at the Mohegan Sun casino in CT. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, claims that in hosting the event, the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and is seeking compensation for the affected male employees for “damages” like “emotional distress.”

Congressman Robert Garcia [D-CA] released a statement accusing Trump’s DOJ of illegally withholding FBI interviews with an Epstein survivor that had accused Trump of as Garcia puts it, “heinous crimes.” Per reporting from CNBC, this statement follows reports that the interviews with that accuser were not accessible on the DOJ’s file database, which by a law passed, they are legally required to disclose.

The anti-aging doctor who allegedly never finished his residency, Dr. Attia, has parted ways with CBS where he was tee-ing up to be a contributor, after his name showed up in the Epstein files.

The former U.K. ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson was arrested [although not charged] on suspicion of misconduct in public office, and then released on bail earlier today. Per Politico, the investigation into Mandelson is based on a claim that he leaked internal government information to Jeffrey Epstein following the 2008 financial crash.

Late last week, Les Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, and frequent flier in the Epstein files, testified in front of the House Oversight Committee. During the testimony, the billionaire made claims that he was duped by Epstein, but most notably was told to shut up by his lawyer.

Not everyone is going to this evening’s State of the Union address – in fact, some are advertising on social about alternative programming like this.

PA Gov. Josh Shapiro [D] went on the Track Star Show, bringing viewers in on his music taste and the tea on some of PA’s biggest musical stars.

Heather McMahan hosted reporter Kaitlin Collins on her podcast called Absolutely Not, where they talked about what it’s like to be a journalist covering the White House, of course the most recent infamous moment when Trump told Collins his thoughts on her “lack of smiling.”

The Tweet from Senator Mike Lee [R-UT] on masks and the cartel, has since been deleted, but not before it was ratio-ed like this by Senator Chris Murphy [D-CT].

Boston Globe: ‘GRWM’ to meet the governor: How politicians are turning to friendly influencers to spread their messages

Everytown Law: Everytown Law Announces Partial Settlements in Buffalo Mass Shooting

Outside: Shannon ‘SJ’ Joslin Was Fired For Hanging a Flag in Yosemite. They’re Now Suing the Federal Government.

Rolling Stone: New Documents Reveal a Controversial Vaccine Study’s Unusual Path to CDC Approval