The Gov Hub Newsletter: January 20, 2026

Like a person with a bible verse and cross emoji in their IG bio, this Minnesota pastor [David Easterwood] was revealed to be a part of ICE [how Christian]. The result of that finding was first a protest at the pastor’s church and Don Lemon on the scene, followed by MAGA calling the protest an attack on Christianity [seriously], and now with Trump’s DOJ threatening to pursue charges against the activists and Don Lemon that attended the protest.

Filed under “the fact that this even needs to be reiterated,” U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez ruled that federal officers in Minneapolis can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters, including those that are observing the agents. The ruling comes after a case was brought on behalf of six activists by the ACLU of Minnesota. 

Trump’s DOJ has claimed that Congress can’t intervene in the release of the Epstein Files, with U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton sending Judge Paul A. Engelmayer a letter saying that a judge doesn’t have the authority to follow through on a request made by the co-sponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act [Rep Ro. Khanna & Rep. Thomas Massie] to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of the files.

The state of NJ is pursuing a lawsuit against the Republican former mayor of Clark, NJ, Sal Bonaccorso, along with the town’s suspended police chief and the town’s police director alleging that they systemically discriminated against and harassed Black and non-white drivers with a goal of keeping “Black people out of Clark.” The barely former mayor is no stranger to controversy despite serving for over 25 years, after recently resigning after pleading guilty to using Clark’s resources to benefit his own private business.  

Instead of pursuing an investigation into the ICE officer that murdered Renee Nicole Good, Trump’s DOJ has decided to investigate the murder victim’s partner over whether she “may have impeded a federal officer” moments before ICE’s Jonathan Ross shot Renee in the face. 

Trump’s DOJ has decided to spend time, money, and resources investigating Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey led by the “thesis” that both of them conspired to “impede federal immigration agents through public statements they made,” according NBC News.

SCOTUS had decided it will decide whether or not geofence warrants, which are used to collect a smartphone user’s location deats, is unconstitutional or not. The critique of the popular practice is that it guarantees that data from those not being investigated within the geofence, will have their data scooped up and reviewed by the police.

Far-right virgin Nick Fuentes, and extremist influencers Sneako, Clavicular, and Andrew Tate played “Heil Hitler” by raging anti-semite Kanye West at a club in Miami.

Following threats by Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to unrest he and his Admin have caused by kidnapping people off the streets and from their homes, amongst other horrors, the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 specialized troops to prepare for possible deployment against their fellow Americans in Minnesota. In a similar vein, the FBI has requested that their agents from field offices around the country find their way to Minnesota for temporary assignment, albeit the details of what they will do once there is clear as mud.

A federal judge – U.S. District Judge William Young – did not mince words when he reflected on the current state of affairs, saying that Trump’s cabinet secretaries conspired to violate the Constitution, and that Trump is an authoritarian. 

In Alabama, funding is being withheld from the Fairhope Public Library by the Alabama Public Library Service because Fairhope won’t move ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ from the teen section to the adult section of the library.

A prosecutor that works on behalf of ICE, Jim Rodden, who is the “man” behind a white supremacist Twitter account [GlomarResponder] has been spotted back at work, despite having been removed from schedules last spring. His Twitter account for ref, includes posts like “All blacks are foreign to my people” and “migrants are all criminals.”

The FBI executed a search warrant on Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home [the unusual, suss part], under the guise that the search was part of an investigation into a gov contractor [Aurelio Perez-Lugones] that was accused of illegally retaining classified materials.

ICE illegally detained a St. Paul, MN snow plow driver despite being legally authorized to work in the U.S. by the federal government and having a commercial driver’s license. The Minnesota-based man was transferred over 1,000 miles away in Texas, while suffering from a serious medical condition that requires medication and a specific diet.

Two deaths have occurred in just two weeks in an ICE facility in El Paso Texas known as Camp East Montana. The first, which is being considered a homicide by the El Paso County Office of the Medical Examiner, was the death of 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos who died of “asphyxia due to neck and chest compressions.” A witness and fellow detainee, Santos Jesus Flores, saw five guards choking Lunas Campos while Lunas Campus said “he couldn’t breathe” in Spanish. The second death, the death of 36-year-old Victor Manuel Diaz, is similarly being called a variation of a “suicide” by DHS, after he was “found” unconscious and unresponsive.

A Los Angeles gardner that’s been in the U.S. for almost 60-years was detained by ICE, resulting in him having to self-deport to a county he hasn’t lived in since he was 15. This is what his clients had to say.

ICE agents decided to eat at a family-owned Mexican restaurant in Wilmar, Minnesota. Instead of doing normal things like leaving a Yelp review, they returned hours later to detain the restaurant’s employees.

Patty O’Keefe, a U.S. citizen testified on her experience being detained by ICE, sharing that they had separate holding cells for citizens and that ICE agents tried to illegally bribe detainees.

As of January 17, 2026, under the direction of Minnesota Gov. Walz [D], the Minnesota National Guard was mobilized and on standby. In the notice, it was shared that they were getting the wings ready to support local law enforcement and ensure public safety. Also noted was that the MN National Guard would be wearing reflective vests to distinguish themselves.

This U.S. citizen in St. Paul, Minnesota gave a terrifying account of being shoved to the ground by ICE outside of her apartment before being detained for two days despite giving them her ID. Her injuries are extensive and her cell phone was not just confiscated but has yet to be returned to her, which matches with other citizen accounts that have shared that ICE has not returned their phones to them upon or after release from detainment.  

ICE kidnapped a 57-year-old  U.S. citizen from his home in his underwear in below-zero temperatures in Minnesota after they broke down his door. The man spoke to reporters about the experience, saying this.

Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema turned pro-data center lobbyist, is being sued by the ex-wife of a member of her security detail, alleging that Sinema broke up a happy marriage. The ex-wife is pursuing $75K in damages in a case that has now been brought to federal court.

Decisions, decisions, decisions is what Virginia voters will be contending with when it comes to a soon-to-be referendum on redistricting, after the state’s senate advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that puts the questions of yay/nay on mid-decade redistricting in front of voters this year. The proposal, if passed by voters, would only go through 2030 and initiates action based on the actions of other states.

In WTF numbies, more than 24 members of Congress currently are over the age of 80, and at least 12 of them are running for re-election this year. According to NBC, these digits make this the third oldest Congress in U.S. history with the average age of members sitting at 58.9 years old.

The Epstein files were due over a month ago, and yet less than 1% of them have been released. The failure to do so has met the ire of bipartisan duo, Rep. Ro Khanna [CA-D] and Rep. Thomas Massie [KY-R], as well as the victims who allege that Trump’s DOJ is covering for people.

A fight appears to be a’brewin’ in the halls of Congress, where the bipartisan House Ethics Committee is apparently considering allegations made against Rep. Nancy Mace [SC-R]. According to Politico, the Committee had received a referral from the independent ethics watchdog, the Office of Congressional Conduct toward the end of 2025, and now has until March 2, 2026 to announce an investigation.

Louisiana Gov. and Special Envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry [R], was uninvited from the 2026 edition of Greenland’s annual dog sled race. pretends to be shocked

Elon Musk continues his entrenchment in American politics, sending $10M to a super PAC that’s dolling out dinero to a Republican candidate in Kentucky [Nate Morris] who is running for what will have been Mitch McConnell’s seat.

Trump appears to be handing out pardons like candy, including to a woman he’d previously commuted the sentence of during his first term for fraud [Adriana Camberos], the former Governor of Puerto Rico [Wanda Vasquez Garced], and as reported by AP, the father [Julio Herrera Veluntini] of a big-time donor to Trump’s super PAC [Isabela Herrera].

Also in ‘let criminals go free land,’ Trump commuted the federal sentence of Arkansas Congressman Steve Womack’s son who was serving time for distributing meth and possessing a gun as a felon.

Texas state officials have handed over voter data for 18.4M registered voters in Texas to Trump’s DOJ. That data dump includes driver’s license info, as well as partial Social Security digits. In addition to privacy concerns, others are abound with the possibility of voters being purged from the rolls right before primary time.

Minnesotans are fighting back against tyranny caused by the federal government, and they are doing so en masse on the streets and by outnumbering ICE, accompanied with a little outdoor karaoke.

Bruce Springsteen echoed comments of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey while on stage this weekend, sharing that “ICE should get the f*ck out of Minneapolis.”

Michigan Secretary of State and candidate for governor, Jocelyn Benson adopted a puppy at the Detroit Auto Show media preview’s Subaru Loves Pets adoption event.

How did you find out that Farrah from MTV’s Teen Mom was running for Austin City Council? TikTok, this one specifically.

PA Gov. Josh Shapiro was spotted at the state farm show chatting with constituents from the other side of the aisle. Here’s how that went down.

From first-time candidates to friends, this crew showed up big for Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s inauguration.

The president has been on a Truth Social bender, posting everything from AI-generated images of himself conquering Greenland to private text messages with world leaders – read ‘em and weep.

RFK Jr.’s finally getting to scratch his conspiracy theory itch around cellphones, neurological damage, and cancer, with his Department of Health and Human Services launching a study on cellphone radiation. Before the study has even begun however, the FDA has already taken down pages on its website that say that cellphones aren’t dangerous.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom [D], legally speaking, said “no way Jose” to Louisiana’s request to extradite a California doctor for providing medication abortion [legal in CA]. The bye-bye-bye approach is an executive order Newsom previously signed in action – EO N-12-22.

Researchers have dropped a paper that further drops RFK Jr.’ and crew’s unsubstantiated claims that Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism, on its head. The researchers' review found zip-zero evidence that Tylenol during pregnancy causes or raises the risk of intellectual disabilities.

BBC analyzed a number of studies that looked at the impact of sexism and women’s brain and health at large. One in particular looked at 7,800 brain scans from 29 countries and found that sexism or rather gender imbalances within a society, physically alter women’s brains, leaving a scar. The areas of the brain impacted the most are those associated with stress, resilience, and depression.

The measles are spreading rapidly with cases now reported on two South Carolina college campuses – Clemson U and Anderson U.

A new study from Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy has unsurprisingly found that American consumers and importers are taking on 96% of tariff costs. 

Trump’s continued tantrum over trying to annex a territory that is not ours [Greenland] has resulted in him putting a 10% tariff on goods from eight countries, with a threat to increase the percent to 25% if a deal to buy a territory that’s not for sale [Greenland] is not met by June 1, 2026.

A former Trump economic advisor managed to become more disliked than Jake Tapper during a CNN interview where the official blamed high grocery prices on Americans “overeating.”

The Hill: Trump’s suspension of naturalization ceremonies leaves hopeful citizens in limbo

AP: Virginia tradition calls for morning suits at an inauguration. But Spanberger switched things up

The Washington Post: How RFK Jr. plans to bankrupt vaccine manufacturers

Politico: MAGA is Discovering the Downsides of X