Primary challenges may be the Democrats' secret weapon | Opinion

Sara Pequeño, USA TODAY
Fri, February 20, 2026 at 3:06 AM MST

Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney talked to God about several things before he decided to enter the Democratic primary race for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. The first thing? Getting his wife’s approval.

“We have a young family,” McKinney, a father of three children whose ages range from 6 months to 4 years old, told me earlier in February. “It's really stressful on them.”

Beyond that, McKinney prayed for a clear field, a strong coalition and the ability to raise money without relying on corporate donors.

The progressive Detroit native is going up against Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Michigan, an incumbent financed by wealthy donors and crypto investments. McKinney’s campaign, on the other hand, has received more than 20,000 individual contributions, with the average donation being $27.

Throughout Thanedar’s tenure in Congress, McKinney said, he has watched as constituent services have fallen by the wayside and the U.S. lawmaker failed to show up for his district, like when there was a water main break in Detroit in 2025. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, corroborated this story when she endorsed McKinney in May.

Michigan Rep. Donavan McKinney, D-Detroit, announces on April 28, 2025, a run against U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar.

Tlaib isn't the only one supporting McKinney. He has the support of community leaders and progressive champions alike, and has been endorsed by everyone from local pastors to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.

"We are building the biggest and baddest coalition in the country," McKinney said.

This race is a single example of what’s happening across the country as Democratic primary elections get underway. From New York and California to Texas and Tennessee, progressive Democrats are challenging incumbents in safe blue districts with the hopes of pushing the party forward. Their campaigns are showing that primary elections aren’t just important – they’re necessary to democracy, and necessary if we are to see any change in the Democratic Party

Primaries do more than select candidates

These campaigns are about more than offering voters a second option. They’re a means of moving a party forward when it seems more committed to gerontocracy than democracy. Even former President Barack Obama recently acknowledged this on a podcast.

“There is an element of, at some point, you age out,” Obama told Brian Tyler Cohen. “You’re not connected directly to the immediate struggles that folks are going through.”

While I think Obama’s point is important, the problem with these incumbents isn’t solely age. There are plenty of incumbent candidates, like Sen. Sanders, 84, or Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, 79, who have proved to be staunch supporters of progressive causes and therefore don’t get challenged.

But for lawmakers who care more about corporate donors than what their constituents want them to accomplish in Congress, a primary challenger is a brush with reality. They can’t run from the people forever.



Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff


Usamah Andrabi, the communications director at the progressive political action committee (PAC) Justice Democrats, lays it out plainly.

“We have a corporate Democratic Party whose level of fighting back, be it against billionaires, be it against Republican fascism, is dictated and hamstrung by their own corporate PAC donors, who more often than not are Trump’s corporate PAC donors,” Andrabi told me.

These competitive primary elections aren’t happening in districts where a Democrat could lose the general election. They’re happening in safe blue areas where the primary elections are often more competitive than the November iterations.

Lara Trump reveals president has speech pre-written to announce the discovery of alien life after Obama claim


“The primary election is our general election,” McKinney said. “Whoever comes out of our primary, hell will have to freeze over for you to lose the general election.”

Opinion: 'Abolish ICE' isn't radical. Democrats should embrace it.

This is true even in states that went for President Donald Trump in 2024. Nida Allam, a county commissioner running to unseat an incumbent in North Carolina's very blue 4th Congressional District, pointed out that the district she’s running to represent is the youngest, most diverse region of the state, with six colleges in the district she wants to represent.

“That young people can be the deciding factor in this race, and we are really working to make sure that young people understand the value and the power that they hold,” Allam said.

Young people have been the decisive voice in these primaries before. Take the New York City mayoral primary in 2025, where voters under 40 showed out early and in droves to support Zohran Mamdani. His win in the Democratic primary was enough to propel him to victory in the general election.


Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor by New York Attorney General Letitia James, left, alongside his wife Rama Duwaji, right, in the former City Hall subway station on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York City. Mamdani's term as mayor begins immediately in the new year, and a public inauguration will also take place in the afternoon at City Hall.

Zohran Mamdani hugs New York Attorney General Letitia James after being sworn in as New York City's 112th mayor in the former City Hall subway station on Jan. 1, 2026 in New York City. Mamdani's term as mayor begins immediately in the new year, and a public inauguration will also take place in the afternoon at City Hall.More

But, as Andrabi pointed out to me, progressives are more than good graphic design and vertical video, nor is it just about replacing older representatives with younger ones who will follow the same playbook.

“It’s about finding leaders who are unbought and unbossed," he said. "Which means that they have the moral and political courage to take on both Republican authoritarianism and Democratic corporatism with the same urgency and fight.”
Primary challengers give Democrats an edge over GOP's Trump loyalty test

Of course, the main goal of running as a challenger is to win the primary election and make it to Washington. It’s been done before, like when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, upset incumbent Joe Crowley back in 2018.

Successful progressive challengers are important to introducing left-wing legislation, like Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. But they’re also important for the party’s image. Ocasio-Cortez is one of the Democratic Party’s strongest messengers, and polls incredibly well amongs their voters. Yet it seems that the Democratic Party is almost scared of the change these candidates can bring.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, speaks during New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 1, 2026.

Party members balked when former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg wanted to fund progressive challengers in primary elections. He left party leadership shortly after when questions arose about the procedure for his election within the DNC, but many saw it as a response to his attempts to transform the party's strategy.

“I will promise you that they are threatened, and that makes sense,” Andrabi said of the DNC. “They will always be threatened by working-class people organizing to take on corporate power and billionaire interests.”

Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store.

These challengers also know how to face reality: There’s a big possibility that they won’t win. That is OK.

“Even if we can’t win every race, we can show these incumbents that their voters want something different, and that (they) are not doing it,” Andrabi said.

And there are real results from Democratic incumbents feeling the heat.

McKinney noted that the day he announced he was running to represent Michigan in the U.S. Congress ‒ April 28 ‒ was the same day Rep. Thanedar introduced articles of impeachment against Trump.

Rep. Valerie Foushee, the incumbent Allam is running to unseat in North Carolina, announced in August that she would no longer accept money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after the organization spent huge amounts on her 2022 campaign, which was also against Allam.

It’s fascinating to see this play out on the left, mostly because it’s not happening on the right whatsoever.

The Republican machine is so fine-tuned that anyone who doesn’t fall in line with Trump is kept from even running again. Just look at what happened to Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina: After he challenged the president, he decided to retire rather than lose a primary election to Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair.

These Democratic primary elections aren’t necessarily pretty, but what they lead to is something beautiful: an organization that can have intraparty discussions for the good of the American public. No matter who wins these primaries, whether it be the fiery newcomers or the well-financed incumbents, it’s important that the party is capable of creating this environment in the first place.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on Bluesky: @sarapequeno.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats need to embrace primary challenges to win midterms | Opinion

Civil Rights icon Jesse Jackson left an indelible mark on America | The Excerpt

Dana Taylor, USA TODAY
Fri, February 20, 2026 

On the Friday, February 20, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast: Jesse Jackson, one of the most influential civil rights leaders in America, spent decades transforming his moral convictions into public action. A two-time Democratic presidential candidate, Jackson became one of the world’s most recognized Black activists through his unwavering advocacy for justice and equality. USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes joins The Excerpt to explore his legacy.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

We need not ease back into the uncivilized era of fighting to be a superior race, that is a contradiction in terms because there is but one race, the human race.

Dana Taylor:

Jesse Jackson spent decades as a public figure turning his moral convictions into public action. Jackson was a presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a democratic presidential candidate, and one of the world's best-known Black activists. Following a lengthy illness, Jesse Jackson died earlier this week, on the morning of Tuesday, February 17th, he was 84 years old.

Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's, the Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor, today is Friday, February 20th, 2026. For more on the life and legacy of the late Jesse Jackson, I'm now joined by USA TODAY National Correspondent Trevor Hughes. Trevor, thank you so much for joining me.

Trevor Hughes:

Yeah, good to be here.


Dana Taylor:

As you wrote, Trevor, Jesse Jackson was a towering civil rights icon, his civil rights story really begins at a public library in Greenville, South Carolina. Tell me about the Greenville Eight.

Trevor Hughes:

This is one of those stories that feels like it's from the ancient past, but it is not. This was 1960. Jesse Jackson was home from college, he was studying divinity, and he needed a book from the library. Now, at the time, segregation was legal under the Jim Crow laws. And the book he needed was in the white-only library. He tried to borrow it, they wouldn't let him, even though it was just steps away, they told him to come back maybe a week later and they would have it available. So, with a few friends, he did something audacious. They walked into the white library and started reading books. They sat down and read books. They weren't talking, they weren't hassling people, they just sat and read. And it so offended the community that these young men and women were arrested for violating the law. It ultimately led to the desegregation of the public libraries in their community, but it is really one of the first places that he got his start in civic activism.



Dana Taylor:

Like the late representative, John Lewis, who died in 2020, Jesse Jackson's civil rights legacy is tied to Martin Luther King Jr. What was Jackson's connection to MLK?

Trevor Hughes:

The two men came up very much at the same time, they were peers, and Jesse Jackson, after leaving college, moved to Chicago to help run operations for Dr. King. There was a protest organized, they called it Operation Breadbasket. But the two men were very much linked, and when Dr. King was killed, Jesse Jackson really took up that mantle, was present all over this country as sort of this civil rights conscience of America.



Dana Taylor:

Jackson was a trailblazer in American politics. He ran for president in 1984, in 1988. Trevor, how did those campaigns shape coalition politics?

Trevor Hughes:

I think people started to realize that there was a very powerful constituency here. Jesse Jackson worked to build this coalition, his group was called the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. And so, he really helped lay the foundations for the modern Democratic Party, which is built in bringing together disparate groups of people who are perhaps less specifically identified with one kind of belief, or one kind of worldview. And so, he really spoke to a broad variety of people who cared about civil rights, about racial justice, about economic justice, because that was a huge part of what he pushed for.



Dana Taylor:

And of course, he didn't shy away from engaging in foreign politics. What can you share here regarding his work in negotiating the release of American hostages?

Trevor Hughes:

It's easy to forget because he has fallen out of the public view over the last few years because of his long illness, but Jesse Jackson was such a powerfully known name. And so, he actually was able to travel the world and release a number of hostages in Syria, and then also in Cuba. He was not of the government, but he was in some ways of the American people, and that apparently was very successful.

Dana Taylor:



Presidents on both sides of the aisle held Jackson in high esteem, including current president Donald Trump. What were his remarks following the passing of Jesse Jackson?

Trevor Hughes:

In a social media post, the president said something, I didn't realize, which is that he had provided office space for Jackson's coalition in New York City for quite some time. The two men were in New York City, they were operating at the same time. But it's also important to remember that the two very much split over the fate of the Central Park Five. This, you may recall, was an instance where five young, Black and Hispanic men were arrested and accused of raping and assaulting a woman in Central Park. President Trump, at the time, he was a New York businessman, he actually took out newspaper advertisements, calling for the death penalty, calling for these young men to be executed. Ultimately, they were exonerated, and that really separated Jackson from President Trump.

Dana Taylor:



And how have other leaders marked his passing?

Trevor Hughes:

Oh, I think you're really seeing the impact of Jesse Jackson across the country, from California, to Ohio, to Illinois, to... He had such an impact on so many politicians, particularly democratic politicians, who saw his work in coalition building, who saw his work in focusing on civil rights and workers' rights as something to really aspire to.

Dana Taylor:

Jesse Jackson was a staunch advocate for civil rights, we know that. That it includes pressing corporations on their hiring practices. What can you tell me about that push?

Trevor Hughes:



I think back to one of the things that really made his name was Operation Breadbasket, in Chicago, and it was this revolutionary idea at the time that members of the Black community would not patronize businesses that wouldn't hire Black people. Again, we're talking about a time in America where racial segregation, in many cases was not only widely accepted but legal. And so, his coalition and Operation Breadbasket really kicked that off, really brought attention to this idea that Black communities would not patronize businesses that were not supporting them.

And I got a press release earlier today from the union that represents hotel workers, restaurant workers, in Las Vegas, and they are mourning his loss because he marched with them under threat of arrest. And the arrest didn't happen, but he was there to lend his voice to the workers against these big corporations that own casinos.

Dana Taylor:

Like Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson was a reverend and a powerful public speaker. The cadence of the Black church was always evident in his speech. Can you give me some examples of the signature style he'll be remembered for?



Trevor Hughes:

There are two things, one which is very serious and one which is a little funny. He used to lead these chants about, "I am." And it was this idea that you as a person had value, that you matter to society. And that call and response was such a... I get chills thinking about it, because I heard this happen a number of times over the years. The other time that many people may have remembered is when he appeared on Saturday Night Live and read Dr. Seuss's book, Green Eggs and Ham. It's hard to imagine a politician today, and he had just run for president, it's hard to imagine a president today so seriously, but also so hilariously reading a nonsensical book like that. But the way he delivered it, the tone, the tenor, his cadence was just... It's amazing. If you go back and watch the recording, you can hear the studio audience just rolling on the floor laughing at the way he presented that.

Dana Taylor:

Trevor, Jesse Jackson marched with Dr. King back in the 1960s, and was still out decades later in support of protesters in 2021, that was during the trial of Derek Chauvin, who was ultimately convicted in the murder of George Floyd. Jackson was fearless in publicly affirming his beliefs and in his efforts for civil rights and justice. How much of that is part of Jackson's legacy as a public servant? Do you think that's what he'll be most remembered for?

Trevor Hughes:

Oh, I think so. Jesse Jackson was present in the lives of people for decades, and I remember being in Minneapolis when he came and spoke to the crowds who were protesting about the death of George Floyd, about the trial for Derek Chauvin. And I remember talking to young Black men in particular, who had known him all of their lives, who had grown up hearing him, who had grown up seeing him. And to have him lend his weight to their cause, that was really powerful. And I have to tell you, one of those young men that I covered back years ago, he was recently arrested, along with Don Lemon, in the church as part of the protests from the ICE actions. And so, I think his legacy really will last many, many years as it just, he sort of embodied this kind of protest and civil consciousness and civil conscience that really spoke to millions of Americans.

Dana Taylor:

Trevor Hughes is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, thank you so much for joining me on The Excerpt, Trevor.

Trevor Hughes:

Of course.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer, Kaely Monahan, for her production assistance, our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening, I'm Dana Taylor, I'll be back Monday morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.

OUTLAW WITCH HUNTING

Mother and infant burnt to death in Indian state over witchcraft allegations

Mohammad Sartaj Alam - BBC Hindi, Jharkhand
Fri, February 20, 2026 at 3:10 AM MST



The spot where the woman and child were burned after a mob stormed their house [Mohammad Sartaj Alam/BBC]


Four people have been arrested in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for allegedly burning to death a woman and her 10-month-old son on suspicion of practising witchcraft earlier this week.

The woman's husband, who was also attacked, suffered severe burns and is in hospital.

Police say they are searching for more people who may be involved. The accused are in custody and haven't commented publicly yet.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, more than 2,500 people, mostly women, were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2000 and 2016.

The murders occurred in the Kudsai hamlet of Jharkhand state [Mohammad Sartaj Alam/BBC]

Tuesday's murder of Jyoti Sinku and her son occurred months after five members of a family in neighbouring Bihar state were brutally killed and allegedly burned alive on accusations of practising witchcraft.

Such cases are often reported from areas inhabited by disadvantaged tribal communities, where superstition is rife and a non-existent public health system leads to dependence on quacks for medical advice.

The murders in Jharkhand occurred in the Kudsai hamlet, a remote tribal settlement of around 50 mud houses located 250km (155.3 miles) from the state capital, Ranchi.

​The violence appears to have been triggered by recent incidents in the village, including rumours of sudden cattle deaths and the illness and death of a local man named Pustun Birua.

His wife Jano Birua says she consulted an informal healthcare provider - common in villages where no doctors are available - when he began suffering from anxiety and fainting spells. He told her that her husband was not suffering from any physical illness.

Asked why she did not take him to a hospital, she said: "We are poor people, so it wasn't possible to take him that far."

Meanwhile, rumours spread that Jyoti Sinku was practising witchcraft and was responsible for the man's illness.

Pustun Birua died on Tuesday evening. That night, according to Jyoti's husband Kolhan Sinku who is in hospital, a mob of about a dozen people, including five women, stormed their home and set fire to his wife and child.

Recalling the horror from his hospital bed, he said: ​"I pleaded with folded hands to have the matter resolved in the village council but the attackers didn't listen to me."

Based on the testimonies of Kolhan Sinku and another family member, the district police have registered a complaint of murder and criminal conspiracy.

Police say four men have been arrested and a special police team has been set up to track down other members of the mob.

They added that they would organise programmes in rural areas to raise awareness against superstitions.

Theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/28/witch-history-of-fear-ronald-hutton-review

The Witch by Ronald Hutton review – why fear of witchcraft hasn't ...

Jul 28, 2017 ... The Witch by Ronald Hutton review – why fear of witchcraft hasn't gone away ... It comes as no surprise to learn that the study of witches and ...

Archive

https://archive.org › details

The witch : a history of fear, from ancient times to the …

Jan 12, 2023 · This book sets the notorious European witch trials in the widest …

• Pages: 394
  
  

OUTLAW LESE MAJESTE

Thai activist's jail term for royal insult extended to 30 years

AFP
Fri, February 20, 2026 


Arnon Nampa, one of Thailand's most prominent human rights activists, is already serving time in prison 

(Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)(Lillian SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/AFP)More

A Thai court sentenced a prominent lawyer to more than two years for royal insult on Friday, a rights group said, bringing his combined sentence for monarchy reform activism to over three decades.

Thailand's strict lese majeste laws shield the royal family from criticism, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison for each offence -- punishments critics say are used to muzzle dissent.

Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa rose to prominence in youth-led protests that saw tens of thousands take to the streets in 2020, calling for reform of the military-drafted constitution and the monarchy.

The 41-year-old has been jailed since 2023 on multiple royal defamation convictions linked to the protests and his social media posts.

A Bangkok court handed the new sentence to Arnon and two others accused of royal insult and violating a Covid-19 emergency decree, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said.

"The court initially handed down a four-year sentence, but it was reduced to two years and eight months due to the defendant's useful testimony," said a statement from the organisation.

The group's spokesperson told AFP that Arnon now faces a total sentence of 31 years and nine months. He still has three pending royal defamation cases.

At least 289 people have been charged under the law since 2020, according to TLHR.

Earlier this month, a Thai court extended the sentence of a man in prison for social media posts deemed insulting to the king to 50 years.

And in 2024, a clothing vendor was sentenced to 50 years in prison for insulting the monarchy over posts made on his personal Facebook account.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Lèse-majesté

Lèse-majesté - Wikipedia

• Lèse-majesté or lese-majesty is an offence or defamation against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or of the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from medieval Anglo-Norm

Poland's right-wing president vetoes independent judiciary reforms

DPA
Fri, February 20, 2026 




Polish President Karol Nawrocki arrives for a meeting at Bellevue Palace during his inaugural visit to Germany. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a law aimed at restoring the independence of the National Council of the Judiciary, which was promoted by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European government.

Poland's right-wing conservative President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a law that seeks to restore the independence of the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) and is promoted by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European government.

In a video message posted on X on Thursday, Nawrocki said the law was unconstitutional, divided the judiciary and handed the administration of justice "into the hands of a political interest group."

The KRS is a body that nominates judges for vacant posts. Nawrocki, who is backed by the right-wing conservative Law and Justice party or PIS, which governed Poland from 2015 to 2023, introduced a reform in 2018 under which 15 of the council's 25 members were appointed by parliament.

Previously, the majority had been elected by judges. That step and other judicial reforms brought Poland into conflict with the European Commission

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruling on a complaint, criticized the KRS as a body that "had been substantially reshaped by the Polish executive and legislature" and said there were justified doubts about its independence.

With Nawrocki's veto, a central project of Tusk's government is at risk of failing. In office since late 2023, Prime Minister Tusk had promised both voters during the election campaign and the European Union to reverse PiS's judicial reforms.

Nawrocki, 42, said, when he took office, that he would pursue a confrontational course with Tusk's government.

In Poland, the president's veto can be overturned only by a majority of more than 60% of votes in parliament. But Tusk's centre-left alliance does not have that majority.

Take off: This poll reveals just how badly the U.S. has damaged its relationship with Canada

John L. Micek
Thu, February 19, 2026 
MASS LIVE




Looks like all those “51st state” jokes and tariff threats have taken a toll as the U.S. and Canada have gone through the most awkward break-up in recent geopolitical memory.

Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of Canadians say they no longer see the United States as a reliable ally after two centuries of cross-border partnership. And a plurality (48%) say we’re a bigger threat to peace than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, according to a new Politico poll published Thursday.

The poll, conducted with London-based Public First, tested the opinions of America’s closest allies. And after more than a year of bellicose rhetoric from Republican President Donald Trump’s White House, the relationship with the nation’s nearest northern neighbor is on shaky ground.



Indeed, 42% of respondents believe the United States is no longer an ally. Barely 1 in 3 (37%) said they consider the U.S. an ally of Canada.

More findings:

A clear majority of Canadians (57%) believe the country can no longer be depended on in a crisis.


More than two-thirds (67%) said the U.S. “challenges” rather than supports its allies around the world, according to the poll.


And nearly 7 in 10 (69%) agreed that the U.S. tended to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.

European respondents to the poll saw Russia as the bigger threat to their security: Germany (56%), France (55%) and the United Kingdom (53%).

The poll of 2,000 Canadians, conducted from Feb. 6 to Feb. 9, comes as officials in Massachusetts have sought to shore up relations with Canadian provincial leaders and to strengthen trade and economic partnerships.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, for instance, traveled to Nova Scotia, at a cost of $13,365 to city taxpayers, as she visited with leaders and to procure Boston’s annual Christmas tree.

Last summer, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey hosted a roundtable with Canadian provincial leaders and northeastern governors at the State House in Boston to talk trade, tariffs and Trump.

U$$A; HAS GREAT LEADER COMPLEX

Giant banner of Donald Trump hung at Justice Department headquarters

Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
Thu, February 19, 2026 


Members of the National Guard walk past a banner of President Donald Trump, hanging on the Department of Justice building in Washington, DC, on Thursday. - Allison Robbert/AP


A large banner of Donald Trump was hung outside of the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, DC, on Thursday, emphasizing the White House’s control over the nation’s top law enforcement branch that once pursued criminal prosecutions against the president.

The image of Trump in shades of blue is a remarkable addition to the storied Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, which is occupied by a department that traditionally has made painstaking efforts to separate itself from politics.

Since Trump retook office last year, the Justice Department has faced repeated accusations of targeting the president’s perceived enemies on his behalf. Those prosecutions include that of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General and Letitia James, as well as investigations into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and several Democratic representatives who recorded a video urging service members to disobey any illegal orders.

Similar banners of Trump’s face have been draped across other federal departments including the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture, each with their own text: “American workers first” and “growing America,” respectively.

The new sign at the Justice Department reads “make America safe again,” the slogan of the Trump administration’s violent crime crackdown.

The Trump Justice Department has repeatedly stated that its investigations under Trump are not political, and said that the department is course-correcting from alleged “weaponization” under the previous administration.

Chief among their examples are the two federal criminal cases brought against Trump by former special Jack Smith for retaining classified documents in his home at Mar-a-Lago and for his alleged role in instigating the 2021 Capitol riot. The classified documents case was dismissed by a judge, and the election interference case was dropped when he won election in November 2020.

“We are proud at this Department of Justice to celebrate 250 years of our great country and our historic work to make America safe again at President Trump’s direction,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.

Trump’s DOJ Bulldog Scolds Prosecutors for Forgetting the President Is Their ‘Chief Client’

Wiktoria Gucia
Thu, February 19, 2026 
DAILY BEAST


SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

A top Justice Department aide admitted the agency exists to serve one person: President Donald Trump.

During a January meeting with the leaders of 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices, Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh called President Trump, 79, the federal prosecutors’ “chief client,” three people briefed on the meeting told Bloomberg Law.

The 33-year-old, whose relatively short legal career has included a charge for driving under the influence (DUI), told participants that anyone unwilling to support the administration’s agenda should step aside, the outlet reported.

Aakash Singh, far right, told U.S. Attorney's offices that the president is their

The remarks reportedly startled meeting participants, as they came on the heels of the resignation of six Minnesota federal prosecutors who quit rather than pursue charges against the widow of Renee Good, 37, who was killed by an ICE agent—a development Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz condemned as “the latest sign that President Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the Department of Justice and replacing them with his sycophants.”

U.S. attorneys are charged with ensuring “that the laws be faithfully executed,” according to the department’s website.

Yet Singh—described by a colleague as an octopus with 93 tentacles, one for each office— has pushed prosecutors to align their work with the Trump administration’s priorities.

A banner showing President Donald Trump is hung from the Department of Justice, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C. / Allison Robbert/AP

“You cannot micromanage US attorneys’ offices from Washington—not in the long run—and I’ve never found managing by fear to be very effective in the long run either,” Mark Calloway, a former US attorney in Charlotte, told Bloomberg Law.

Since his promotion to Associate Deputy Attorney General after Trump took office, Singh has allegedly exercised tight control over U.S. attorneys’ offices, often demanding emails with case-specific data—a practice some former career officials have described as bullying.

One email obtained by Bloomberg Law was sent just before Thanksgiving and instructed all 93 federal prosecutors to submit data showing their offices’ compliance with fulfilling Trump-directed crackdowns on immigration, political violence, and other policy priorities.

In another virtual meeting, Singh requested that all U.S. attorneys’ offices identify federal judges perceived to engage in judicial activism, so the information could inform potential impeachment referrals to Congress.

A DOJ spokesperson who confirmed Singh’s meeting request told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration is “facing unprecedented judicial activism from rogue judges who care more about making a name for themselves than acting as impartial arbiters of the law.”

In August, Singh met with federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., as the Justice Department sought to bring severe charges against people protesting the military and federal police presence in the capital ordered by the president.


According to the New York Times, he advised prosecutors to impanel new grand juries if a sitting grand jury refused to indict in efforts to pursue more serious charges.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has executed Trump's demands. / Alex Wong / Getty Images

“That’s way out of line and completely unlike anything I ever heard at the DOJ,” Ken White, a former federal prosecutor, told The Guardian.

Bloomberg Law reported that Singh’s influence has raised concern primarily among institutionalists in the department—officials who prioritize protecting the Justice Department’s independence and long-standing rules—because it departs from norms that emphasize prosecutorial independence and impartiality.

Since the start of his second term in office, Trump’s influence over the actions of the DOJ has been apparent, with the 79-year-old president posting on social media a private message to Attorney General Pam Bondi, insisting that she prosecute his enemies—a step she ultimately took.

Donald Trump's private message to Pam Bondi he posted on Truth Social in September. / Truth Social

“Normally these political appointees are chosen not only for political reasons, but because they have credentials that are impeccable, with extensive prosecutorial and managerial experience,” former federal prosecutor Mark Rasch told The Guardian, commenting on the unusualness of Singh’s appointment to such a high position despite a DUI charge and relatively limited experience, which includes five years as an assistant U.S. attorney.


“But political fealty seems to be the single qualification now,” he added, referring to the second Trump administration.

US fighter jets scrambled to intercept at least five Russian warplanes over Alaska

SINCE PUTIN'S VISIT THEY THINK ALASKA IS STILL THEIRS

Joe Sommerlad
Fri, February 20, 2026 
THE INDEPENDENT

Nine U.S. fighter jets were scrambled to intercept five Russian warplanes spotted off Alaska, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command tracking two Tu-95 bombers, two Su-35 fighters, and one A-50 spy plane in the coastal Air Defense Identification Zone.

Nine U.S. fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept five Russian warplanes spotted off Alaska.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, said it had detected and tracked two Tu-95 long-range strategic bombers, two Su-35 fighter planes, and one A-50 spy plane crossing Alaska’s coastal Air Defense Identification Zone Thursday.

NORAD said it had responded by launching two F-16s, two F-35s, one E-3, and four KC-135s to intercept the planes, positively identify them, and escort them out of the ADIZ.

The command described Russian activity in the ADIZ as a regular occurrence that is not typically considered a threat, adding that the five planes had not crossed into U.S. or Canadian airspace, according to CBS News.

Alaska’s ADIZ is the point at which American and Canadian jurisdiction ends and is a “defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” NORAD said.

The U.S. scrambled nine aircraft Thursday to escort five Russian warplanes out of Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (Department of Defense)

A similar occurrence took place last September, when two Tu-95s and two Su-35s were spotted in the same zone, prompting the defense command to send out an E-3 early warning and control aircraft, followed by four F-16s and four KC-135 tanker planes to lead them clear.

NORAD said at that time that although the presence of Russian craft in the ADIZ is a common sight and non-aggressive, it could be interpreted as a test of U.S. and Nato preparedness.

A month earlier, a Cold War-era Russian IL-20 COOT military reconnaissance aircraft was spotted four times in the course of one week.

Prior to that, in September 2024, NORAD posted a short video online of a Russian jet flying just a matter of feet away one of its own planes.

Earlier that summer, Russian and Chinese planes jointly entered the ADIZ, which a U.S. defense official told CBS marked the first time Beijing had ever encroached on Alaska.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists he is open to ending the war in Ukraine but continues to play hard ball (Sputnik)

Relations between Washington and Moscow remain uneasy at present as President Donald Trump attempts to thrash out a peace deal to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor draws near.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted he is open to a solution to the war and met with Trump in Alaska last year, but has so far refused to commit without major territorial concessions, which Ukraine has refused to grant, to the evident frustration of the Americans.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has meanwhile torn into Putin after the latest round of negotiations in Geneva failed to achieve a breakthrough, dismissing his claims to the Donbas, Crimea and other disputed regions as “historical s***.”

 Trump tells Pentagon to release files on UFOs and "alien and extraterrestrial life"

Joe Walsh
Thu, February 19, 2026 



President Trump on Thursday directed his administration to release files on UFOs and any "alien and extraterrestrial life," an issue that has drawn decades of public fascination — and spawned more than a few wild theories.

In a Truth Social post, the president told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other agency heads "to begin the process of identifying and releasing" any relevant files.

Mr. Trump also called for the release of "any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters."

It's not clear what files on UFOs might be released — or what information they might contain. The Pentagon has tracked reports of what it calls unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, for decades. But the military said in a 2024 report there's no evidence that any government investigation into UAPs has confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Mr. Trump's announcement came just days after one of his predecessors, former President Barack Obama, made waves by telling a podcaster that aliens are real. He later clarified that he never saw evidence of contact between humans and extraterrestrial life during his time in the White House, and he primarily believes that extraterrestrial life is real because "statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there."

Asked Thursday about Obama's comments, Mr. Trump told reporters he isn't sure whether or not aliens exist, but added that the former president "made a big mistake" and "gave classified information."

"I may get him out of trouble by declassifying," Mr. Trump said.

Public interest in UAPs has grown in recent years. Pilots and military service members have reported spotting hundreds of unexplained objects in the sky, leading some lawmakers to press the Pentagon to investigate the phenomena and determine whether they pose a threat to safety or national security.

Last year, one House Republican released a whistleblower video of a U.S. missile striking an unidentified glowing orb in the sky and bouncing off it. And in another case, a former Navy pilot told "60 Minutes" about frequent sightings of strange, fast-moving objects in restricted airspace.

A large number of UAP reports can be explained by birds, balloons, drones, satellites and other everyday phenomena, according to the military's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. But many cases remain unresolved.

"It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology," the office said in a 2024 report. The office also noted that it has "no indication or confirmation that these activities are attributable to foreign adversaries."

Trump Makes UFO Announcement as Seth Meyers Predicted He Would After Epstein Revelations

Michael Luciano

MEDIAITE
Thu, February 19, 2026 


President Trump announced the release of government files on unidentified aerial phenomena and potential alien life, following predictions made by late-night host Seth Meyers.




President Donald Trump announced that he will order his administration to release files about unidentified aerial phenomena and potential alien life. The announcement comes after late-night host Seth Meyers predicted seven months ago that the president would make a declaration about UFOs to distract from revelations about Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump received a wave of bad press in July, as The Wall Street Journal reported that he sent Epstein, the deceased child sex trafficker convicted in 2008, a lewd birthday message in 2003. The message contained a fictional cryptic dialogue written inside a drawing of a woman’s torso. The president denies writing the message and is suing the Journal, which also highlighted a 2002 interview in which Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy.”

Two days later on July 23, 2025, the Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told the president that his name appears in the Justice Department’s files on Epstein.

“Whatever is in those Epstein files must be really f*cking bad,” Meyers said on the July 24 episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers. “They must be finding so many mentions of Trump, they’re going to have to change the name to the Trump files featuring Jeffrey Epstein. They’re so desperate to distract everyone.”

The comedian added, “I honestly think we’re just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real.”

Eventually, the Justice Department released some of its files about Epstein, even though Congress passed a law in November compelling the release of all the material, with only victims’ names to be redacted. Even so, the DOJ did redact portions of the files that went beyond names and images of victims.

Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing or knowing about Epstein’s illegal activities. On Tuesday, he claimed he had “nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein.”

On Thursday, the president announced he would release documents about UFOs, writing on Truth Social:

Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Earlier in the day, Trump accused former President Barack Obama revealed classified information by claiming that aliens exist. Obama later walked back the comment, stating that he saw no evidence of aliens, but believes they could exist, given the vastness of the universe.

The government releasing material about UFOs and potential alien life is nothing new. Multiple presidential administrations have disclosed all manner of reports, videos, and testimony on the subject. Moreover, Congress has held hearings on the matter, which have yielded little in the way of proving aliens exist.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for UAP

Exclusive: DHS admits its website showcasing the ‘worst of the worst’ immigrants was rife with errors

Michael Williams, Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN
Thu, February 19, 2026 at 12:46 PM MST


Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, during a news conference in Nogales, Arizona, US, on February 4, 2026. - Ash Ponders/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Department of Homeland Security admitted that its website featuring what it calls the “worst of the worst” arrested immigrants was rife with errors and changed the site this week after receiving questions from CNN about it.

DHS created the website in December and the agency, its secretary Kristi Noem and the White House have all heavily promoted it on social media as the Trump administration has sought to justify its aggressive and heavily scrutinized immigration enforcement operations.

The website currently lists about 25,000 people, along with the crimes the agency says they were arrested for or convicted of — including many who were initially linked only to relatively minor offenses.

But DHS this week conceded its website was filled with inaccuracies. After receiving questions about a CNN analysis of the website, a DHS spokesperson admitted on Tuesday that the charges against hundreds of immigrants listed on the website were described incorrectly by the agency.

The spokesperson attributed the inaccuracies to a “glitch” that they said DHS worked to remedy. The spokesperson said on Wednesday that the glitch had been “resolved.”

A CNN review of the website found that thousands of the people listed on the website were described by the agency as being convicted of or arrested for serious charges — including sex crimes or different forms of homicide. But hundreds more who DHS considered the “worst of the worst” were described as being arrested for or convicted of far less serious crimes, including single charges of traffic offenses, marijuana possession or illegal reentry, a federal felony that involves someone reentering the United States after having been previously deported.

CNN could not independently verify the descriptions of each of the thousands of people listed on the website.

This screengrab shows the Department of Homeland Security’s “worst of the worst” website,” on Thursday, February 19, 2026. - Department of Homeland Security

Asked whether drawing an equivalence between traffic offenders and killers might undermine the agency’s public messaging about its operations, DHS said that many of those the agency listed with single minor crimes had actually been arrested for or convicted of multiple crimes, some of which were more serious: “This is a glitch on the WOW website the impacted about 5% of the entries.”

“Many of these who are listed as traffic offense and illegal reentry, which is a felony, have additional crimes,” the spokesperson said, adding the agency was working “to fix the issue.” The spokesperson did not answer questions about what type of glitch could cause the people on the website to be described incorrectly.

“All of these individuals have been arrested by ICE and all of them committed crimes breaking our nation’s laws, including some who had felonies for illegal re-entry,” the spokesperson said.

Both the White House and DHS have faced intense scrutiny for using false or misleading claims about some immigrants as a pretext to justify enforcement operations, or describing certain incidents in ways which were later contradicted by video or statements from local officials.

Following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last month, officials including Noem and White House immigration policy architect Stephen Miller rushed to describe Pretti as “a domestic terrorist” who brandished his gun and intended to massacre law enforcement.

Video later showed that Pretti never brandished the gun that he was carrying when he was shot, and both Miller and Noem blamed their premature descriptions of Pretti on information they received from officers on the ground.

This also isn’t the first time that the Trump administration has acknowledged its descriptions of some immigrants they described as the “worst of the worst” were inaccurate.

In another instance, first reported by NOTUS, the White House conceded it posted a picture of a man who the administration erroneously claimed had been convicted of a sex crime involving a child. (A White House official said the error has been corrected and the administration will continue publicizing “the dangerous criminal illegal aliens being removed from our streets.”)

Taking credit for people likely already in custody

The DHS “worst of the worst” website also includes immigrants’ countries of origin and the city where they were arrested. CNN’s analysis of the site shows that some of the locations representing the greatest number of arrests are relatively small cities – but they contain large prisons, a potential indication that those detained were already in federal prison or had been transferred from state custody. In those cases, that could undercut the agency’s claim that they were “public safety threats” who were “lurking” in communities.

The city representing the most arrests is Conroe, Texas, which is about 40 miles north of Houston and has an estimated population of about 114,000. That city is home to the Joe Corley Processing Center, a privately owned detention facility that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses to house immigrants. Other top cities, including Lompoc, California, Yazoo City, Mississippi, and Eden, Texas, have relatively small populations, but large federal detention centers.

The social media feeds of DHS, Noem and the White House have displayed a stream of mugshots of people the administration says it has taken off the streets during Operation Metro Surge, the immigration crackdown it has been conducting in the Twin Cities over the last two months. (The administration is now winding down its Minnesota immigration surge, though it is keeping a small footprint of officers there.)

But local officials in Minnesota have accused DHS of padding their publicized arrest numbers by taking credit for arrests made by local law enforcement, who were then transferred to immigration authorities through routine processes.

“This is no longer a simple misunderstanding,” Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said during a news conference last month.

At best, Schnell said, “DHS fundamentally misunderstands Minnesota’s correctional system.”

“At worst,” he added, “it is pure propaganda, numbers released without evidence to stoke fear rather than inform the public.”

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement: “All of these individuals have been arrested by ICE and placed in removal proceedings.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are not going to allow criminals to be released from jails and back into our communities,” the spokesperson said.

Among the people who DHS chooses to label the “worst of the worst,” almost half are from Mexico. More than 2,100 are from Honduras; Guatemala and Cuba account for about 1,900 each; El Salvador accounts for almost 1,200; while Iran, China, Nicaragua, Haiti and Jamaica account for scores of people each. Several dozen are from Somalia – a country that President Donald Trump has denigrated repeatedly and which has been a large focus of the administration’s recent crackdown in Minneapolis, where there is a large Somali diaspora.

A federal agent in plain clothes looks on a group conducts immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 5, 2026. - Seth Herald/Reuters

‘That population is not out there’

It is not uncommon for law enforcement agencies large and small to publicize their efforts or arrests — and DHS has come under immense pressure from the Trump administration to boost its public-relations profile and publicize arrests.

“Show the numbers, names, and faces of the violent criminals, and show them NOW,” the president wrote on Truth Social last month. “The people will start supporting the patriots of ICE, instead of the highly paid troublemakers, anarchists, and agitators! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

But the problem, critics say, is that the proportion of “violent criminals” convicted of charges where there is a nexus to public safety is smaller than the administration presents, even if DHS does adjust its list to reflect a larger number of violent offenders.

“The vast majority of so-called criminal aliens are individuals charged with or convicted of traffic offenses, DUIs and immigration-related offenses,” said John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director during the Obama administration.

“That was the challenge we faced during the Obama administration,” he added. “I’ll just put it this way – and I spent every day working on this – we are saying we are focused on the worst of the worst, we’re focused on serious criminals, that’s what our mission is, to get them off the streets.”

But when it comes to the scale of the problem as described by the Trump administration, Sandweg said, “That population is not out there. It’s just not there.”

Lawmakers say they’ve been stonewalled by DHS, undercutting attempts to hold Trump officials accountable

Annie Grayer, Gabe Cohen, Evan Perez, CNN
Fri, February 20, 2026 


Federal immigration agents conduct immigration operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 5. - Seth Herald/Reuters


Lawmakers who oversee the Department of Homeland Security say the agency has repeatedly stymied their requests for information in recent months, with even some Republicans alleging they’ve had phone calls go unanswered and data requests left to languish.

As the Department of Homeland Security has found itself embroiled in controversies across the country over high-profile killings by immigration agents and the resulting bitter policy disputes, lawmakers say they’ve stepped up their efforts to try to get answers for the public. But they’ve often been met with resistance, they said — thwarting their ability to hold anyone accountable.

“I’m not going to sit here on bended knee hoping to God that somebody returns the call,” GOP Rep. Mark Amodei, the Republican who oversees the DHS budget in the House told CNN, after his request to speak with White House Border Czar Tom Homan went unanswered for days.

One Republican staffer told CNN that the stonewalling extends beyond just thorny policy questions about immigration enforcement. Requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the status of federal disaster funding and questions over potential crimes committed by those detained by federal officers have also been met with silence or evasiveness, the staffer said.

The result, the staffer said, is not only that GOP lawmakers can’t properly oversee the agency, they can’t help blunt possibly unfair attacks from their Democratic counterparts.

“It’s really a shame that DHS has taken such an adversarial posture on sharing data. In some areas, like on immigration and the border they have a great story to tell, and we could be helping them tell that story,” the staffer explained. “In other areas where the story is not so good, like FEMA, we could also help. But they choose to go at it alone, so it’s on them to defend, which is hard to do when no one believes a word they say or a number they put out. There is no trust and there is no way to verify.”

Democrats, meanwhile, say they have received virtually no response from their inquiries to DHS. At least 15 letters sent by members of the party to the department have either been ghosted, received a cursory acknowledgement or were given a non-answer, a Homeland Security Committee Democratic aide told CNN. Another Democratic staffer told CNN that when they’ve asked for specific FEMA updates, whether it’s on mitigation projects, staffing plans or briefings on various press releases, they’ve gotten no response.

A DHS spokesperson told CNN the department works through “official channels” and would “not be litigating our relationship” with Capitol Hill through the press. But they also dismissed claims they’ve not engaged with members of Congress.

“Any suggestion that DHS has ‘refused’ to engage with lawmakers is simply false,” the spokesperson said in part, adding that “this administration has been the most transparent administration in history and has spent the last year clearing out congressional correspondence that went unanswered under the last administration.”

Some Republicans told CNN they’ve been able to leverage their personal relationships with Trump administration officials to get their questions answered and others said they had no issues getting quick responses from DHS – “I communicate with them all the time,” GOP Rep. Andy Ogles said. But two top Republican congressman specifically tasked with overseeing DHS are among those who say they’ve run into issues.

Amodei, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, sought to speak directly with Homan about the operation in Minneapolis shortly after federal officers’ fatal encounter with Alex Pretti there, as well as to receive a broader status update on the administration’s deportation efforts.

Tom Homan speaks during a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 4. - Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

Amodei’s office put in the request in January and was redirected to White House Office of Legislative Affairs Director James Braid to coordinate the conversation. The request went unanswered for 10 days, prompting the Nevada Republican to eventually withdraw the request, Amodei said.



The administration was focused on executing the mission in Minneapolis at the time of Amodei’s request, an official said when asked by CNN about the request, adding that it could now be arranged.

“At the time, we were prioritizing the actual execution of the mission in Minneapolis,” the administration official said. “Now going forward, we’re happy to offer Chairman Amodei a briefing as well as other congressional committees.”

But Amodei, who projected confidence he’ll get the information another way, suggested it was a question of respect. “I wish they were more professional with how they dealt with the people who handled their budget,” he told CNN from his Capitol Hill office.

After withdrawing his initial request, Amodei has recently spoken with Braid about arranging a call with Homan, the congressman’s office told CNN.

Another Republican chairman — Rep. Andrew Garbarino of the House Homeland Security Committee — tried for weeks to schedule DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for testimony for the annual worldwide threats hearing before his panel, and eventually resorted to asking the White House in December to lean on her to agree on a date, according to a US official familiar with the discussions.

Noem finally agreed to a hearing, where she was excoriated by Democrats for her handling of immigration, FEMA and other issues. The administration official declined to comment on any coordination with Garbarino, saying they don’t discuss private conversations with members.

Garbarino said at the eventual December hearing that he made “numerous accommodations” for Noem’s appearance.

From left: Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joseph Kent, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Operations Director of the National Security Branch at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Michael Glasheen testify on December 11, 2025. - Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“This is why this hearing is so important. Congress must hear from the Executive. Oversight is not unfair. And asking questions is not unwarranted. We must ensure the people’s representatives are informed,” the New York Republican said at the time.

CNN has reached out to Garbarino’s office for comment.

According to a data analysis compiled by ProQuest Congressional Data and shared with CNN, there has been a 28.7% decline in appearances of DHS officials before congressional committees in 2025, compared to the first year of previous administrations.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said he’s never seen it this bad.

“I’ve never met Secretary Noem other than the two times she came before the committee last year. I’ve met every secretary since the department was created in my office or in a number of occasions,” Thompson said.

The Mississippi Democrat said that for a year, he had not had any direct interaction with an ICE official until he met the director the day before his scheduled hearing before the committee earlier this month. Witnesses before a hearing are required to submit their written testimony to Congress the day before a hearing, but Thompson said the ICE director came to his meeting with his prepared testimony in hand and said he was still working on it.

“If the legislative is to function, then the executive branch has to be forthcoming with the information. If they’re not forthcoming with the information, then it’s almost impossible for the legislative branch to basically provide any road maps for future success because we don’t have access to the data,” Thompson said.

 CNN news