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Politico

January 2026

The German far-right leader you need to know

Marc Felix Serraogerman journalist
The AfD’s hardline anti-immigration rhetoric, bouts of historical revisionism, and notably its Russia-friendly posture have made cooperation politically, and for many, morally, untenable,
Marc Felix Serraogerman journalist
Later this year, Siegmund has a realistic chance to deliver the AfD its first outright victory,

Judge rejects bid to end Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement surge in Minnesota

Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota,
Alex Prettinurse
This federal occupation of Minnesota long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement,
If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here—halting the entire operation—certainly Would,

Trump is pressuring Cuba. It’s putting Mexico in a tough spot.

The order gives the administration broad discretion to impose duties on imports from countries deemed to be supplying Cuba, dramatically raising the stakes for Mexico as it weighs how far it can go without triggering economic retaliation from Washington — or worse

There’s no doubt that the U.S. is telling Mexico to just stop it,
Gerónimo Gutiérrezresearcher
She obviously is trying to tread carefully with Trump. She doesn’t want to irritate him with this matter,
Arturo Sarukhánmexican ambassador to the United States
It’s the proverbial shit hitting the fan in terms of the spillover effects that would have,
Arturo Sarukhánmexican ambassador to the United States
My sense is that right now, at least because of what’s at stake in the counter-narcotics and law enforcement agenda bilaterally, I think that neither government right now wants to turn this into a casus belli,
Claudia Sheinbaumpresident
Mexico will pursue different alternatives, while clearly defending the country’s interests, to provide humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, who are going through a difficult moment, in line with our tradition of solidarity and respect for international norms,
As the President stated, Cuba is now failing on its own volition,
Donald Trumpu.S. President
The word ‘choke off’ is awfully tough,

After air travel chaos, FAA shuts down

Shelley Moore Capitounited States Senator from West Virginia
I just spent all day in an airport yesterday trying to get here, and I live closer than anybody,... It’s a tough time of the year to be having even more disruptions — and there’s no good time, but this is definitely not a good time.”
John Hickenlooperamerican politician, businessman and the 42nd Governor of Colorado (born 1952)
Let’s hope it’s a very short shutdown.”

Houston runoff sets up next Democratic generational fight

This is a microcosm of forced redistricting,
It is important for people to understand that I’m not moving into a new congressional district,
Marc Camposresearcher
It’s going to be a fight between generations,
Kamala Harrisvice President
Al Green has a great name,
Christian Menefeeharris County
What I think people want is something new,
They want to pass that torch forward and this is an opportunity to do that,
I bring to the table traditionally what people have looked for when they were trying to make a decision,

‘WTF’: Pro-gun groups warn vulnerable GOP seats on the line after Pretti response

While Democrats are unlikely to pick up support from gun-rights groups, the repeated criticisms from organizations such as the National Association for Gun Rights suggest that the Trump administration may be alienating a core constituency it needs to turn out as it seeks to retain its slim majority in the House and Senate

Aidan Johnstonamerica director of federal affairs
I think the administration clearly wants to be known as pro-Second Amendment, and many of the officials do believe in the Second Amendment, but my job at Gun Owners of America is to hold them to their words and to get them to act on their promises. And right now it’s a mixed record,
Dudley Brownamerican activist
I sent a message to high-place people in the administration with three letters, W.T.F.,
The signaling out of a specific demographic for a total ban on firearms possession needs to comport with the Constitution and its bounds and anything that exceeds the bounds of the Constitution is simply impermissible,
Rather than trying to extract meaning from every off-the-cuff remark, we look at what the administration is doing, and the Trump administration is, and has been, the most pro-2A administration in modern history,
No, I don’t think that some of the comments that were made over the past 96 hours by certain administration officials are going to impede the unbelievable and strong relationship the administration has with the Second Amendment community, both on a personal level and given the historic successes that President Trump has been able to deliver for gun rights,
Gun groups know and gun owners know that there hasn’t been a bigger defender of the Second Amendment than the president,
All you have to do is lose four, five, six percent of their base who left it blank, who didn’t write a check, who didn’t walk districts, you lose,

Don Lemon vows to fight charges in First Amendment showdown with Trump

Last night, the DOJ sent a team of federal agents to arrest me in the middle of the night for something that I’ve been doing for the last 30 years and that is covering the news,
Make no mistake, under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,
Karen Basslos Angeles Mayor
I hope all of you register the seriousness of this assault on democracy,
When life gives you lemons…”

Trump’s immigration agenda is colliding with a midterms reality

For Trump, a midterms rout means the last two years of his administration will be eaten up by Democratic stonewalling, investigations and likely impeachment inquiries, rather than his own agenda — a situation the administration desperately wants to avoid

The upshot of the lame duck second Trump term was supposed to be that he was going to get things done regardless of the pressure from consultants, pollsters and left-wing Republicans. That doesn’t seem to be happening and it’s disappointing,
Sean Spiceramerican political strategist and former White House Press Secretary and Communications Director for President Donald Trump
I worry because if we lose the agenda, we’re done — and people don’t fully appreciate how big of an issue this is,
Donald Trumppresident
This has been President Trump’s area of greatest success,
The big muscular show of force — you invite too much confrontation,
Our base is generally not wealthy and they’re not doing well,
Our focus remains the same: prioritizing violent criminal illegal aliens while also enforcing the law — anyone who is in the country illegally is eligible to be deported,

Senate passes $1.2T government funding deal — but a brief shutdown is certain

Lindsey Grahamsenator
I am demanding that my solution to fixing sanctuary cities at least have a vote. You’re going to put ideas on the floor to make ICE better? I want to put an idea on the floor to get to the root cause of the problem,
Chuck Schumersenator
I want my Republican colleagues to listen closely: Senate Democrats will not support a DHS bill unless it reins in ICE and ends the violence,
Susan Collinssenate Appropriations Committee Chair
These are fiscally responsible bills that reflect months of hard work and deliberation from members on both parties and both sides of the Capitol,

New documents reveal the breadth of Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit

Howard Lutnickcommerce Secretary
I spent zero time with him,
Howard Lutnickcommerce Secretary
My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,
This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments including securing Trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals, and fighting for the American worker,
Sorry we didn’t connect,
Elon Muskbillionaire
Ratio is not a problem for Talulah,
Elon Muskbillionaire
I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose,
Thomas Massierepublican congressman
Logistics won’t work this time around.”
Elon Musktech billionaire
The world needs more romance,
Jeffrey Epsteinsex offender
Massages. Not included.”
What has come to light about Jeffrey Epstein’s private life, I strongly distance myself from.”

Judges rip into ICE

But in recent weeks, that drumbeat of subtle alarm has metastasized into a full-blown clarion call by judges across the country, who are now openly castigating what they say are systematic and intentional abuses by the administration

Sean Duffytransportation Secretary
To think 190 miles per hour down Pennsylvania Avenue — this is going to be wild,
Banggar DPRu.S. District Judge
There has been an undeniable move by the Government in the past month to defy court orders or at least to stretch the legal process to the breaking point in an attempt to deny noncitizens their due process rights,

Hochul baits Blakeman on ICE

Zohran Mamdanimayor
In our city, the norm has been for government officials to stand alongside solely those who are accumulating this wealth,
Federal law and congressional ethics guidance make it clear that a financial disclosure must list the amount a candidate received from each income source,
Sam Levinedepartment of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner
This administration is just getting started,
Mike Lawleramerican politician (born 1986)
This additional time would allow hospitals, nursing homes, and state administrators the necessary opportunity to adapt to the new policy without facing significant financial disruption,
Governor Hochul is the most pro-criminal governor in the United States who has a callous disregard for the safety of our communities and victims of crime,
Maureen O'Tooleamerican water polo player and coach
If New Yorkers have learned one thing about Carpetbagging Democrat Cait Conley, it’s that she can’t be trusted,
After graduating from West Point in 2007, I served 16 years as an active duty Army officer, deploying overseas six times to take down the world’s most dangerous terror groups in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, then leading counterterrorism efforts on the National Security Council,
Kathy Hochulgovernor
By bringing together SUNY institutions through these campus partnerships, we are furthering the use of AI for the public good and shaping a brighter future for all New Yorkers,

Trump’s Taiwan retreat

A Pentagon planning document published this month didn’t mention the self-governing island, and comments by President DONALD TRUMP and some of his top officials have not been clear on where the U.S. stands

This mixed messaging feeds anxiety not about whether the U.S. can help, but about whether it will — and under what circumstances,
The logic is one of deflation, which is the opposite of escalation,
With President Trump threatening military action against Iran for various reasons and dispatching U.S. troops to the region, we believe Congress needs to be ready to assert its constitutional responsibilities before the U.S. launches yet another war in the Middle East,
Mike Johnsonspeaker
France and Louisiana share a long history.... As Speaker Mike Johnson says, that sometimes leaves students wondering what came first: Lafayette or Lafayette
George W. Bushpresident
This was Trump rewriting the strategy in the White House,
Part of the Iranian strategy is to wield a knife and a handshake at the same time — to claim some kind of interest in diplomacy while building up a military threat,
Volodymyr Zelenskyypresident of Ukraine since 2019
The U.S. side spoke about refraining from strikes on energy infrastructure for a week — the countdown began overnight,
Under your management, immigration agents’ behavior has been consistently brutal and overzealous,
Donald Trumppresident
He considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing,

Judges across the country rebuke ICE for defying court orders

It seems clear that the Court can conclude that the [administration] willfully violated two of this Court’s orders and willfully misrepresented facts to the Court,
Angel Kelleyjudge
The Court notes that ICE signing its own permission slip, citing its own operational needs as reason for the transfer, offers little comfort or justification for ignoring a Federal Court Order,
Don’t hide the ball. Don’t ignore the overwhelming weight of persuasive authority as if it won’t be found. And don’t send a sacrificial lamb to stand before this Court with a fistful of cases that don’t apply and no cogent argument for why they should,
If DHS’s behavior was so vile, why dismiss the order to appear?”... DHS will continue to enforce the laws of the United States within all applicable constitutional guidelines. We will not be deterred by activists either in the streets or on the bench,
Christine O'Hearnjudge
Respondents blatantly disregarded this Court’s Order,
I have spent considerable time on this and other cases related to transfer and return issues over the past 3 days,
This was not a misunderstanding or lack of clarity; it was knowing and purposeful,
Patrick J. Schiltzjudge
ICE is not a law unto itself,

Democratic governors scramble to build a legal wall against Trump’s deportation agenda

The governors’ approach underscores how quickly the dynamic has shifted against Trump’s campaign promise to swiftly deport undocumented immigrants — an issue Democrats struggled to counter effectively during the 2024 election

Murad Awawdehnew York Immigration Coalition Executive Director
What we’re seeing is a direct response to the Trump administration’s lawlessness and the way in which they’ve been operating with impunity,
Kathy Hochulgovernor
We’re sending a strong message to ICE: You will not weaponize our police in the state of New York,

DOJ opens civil rights investigation into Pretti shooting, Blanche says

I don’t want the takeaway to be that there’s some massive civil rights investigation that’s happening. This is what I would describe as a standard investigation by the FBI. … That investigation, to the extent it needs to involve lawyers at the Civil Rights Division, it will involve those,
There are thousands, unfortunately, of law enforcement events every year where somebody is shot. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice does not investigate every one of those shootings. There has to be circumstances or facts, or maybe unknown facts, but certainly circumstances that warrant an investigation,

TrumpRx launch delayed

Andrew NixonhHS spokesperson
Secretary Kennedy remains focused on restoring the VICP to its original Congressional intent: that injured children be compensated quickly and fairly for injuries either presumed or proven to be caused by vaccines,
Instituting any of these changes could enrich your associates with active vaccine litigation practices and imperil domestic vaccine supplies,

DOJ announces full release of Epstein files

We did not protect President [Donald] Trump, we didn’t protect or not protect anybody,
I don’t think that the public or you all are going to uncover men within the Epstein files that abused women, unfortunately,
I take umbrage at the suggestion, which is totally false, that the attorney general or this Department does not take child exploitation or sex trafficking seriously or that we somehow do not want to protect victims,

‘A pretext to rig the election’: Democrats scramble to block ICE crackdowns near polling sites

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called fears of voter suppression “Democrat conspiracies” with “no basis in reality.”

Jocelyn Bensonmichigan Secretary of State
Our fight right now is both to protect the security of our elections and people’s faith in them, because they’re deeply intertwined and they’re both under attack,
Steve Bannonformer White House chief strategist
They’re petrified over at MSNBC and CNN that, hey, since we’re taking control of the cities, there’s going to be ICE officers near polling places,
[Trump] might try to use an executive order or his emergency powers in the 11th hour to interfere with the upcoming election, which is, of course, something that no president in American history has ever done, but something that we need to be prepared for,
Shenna Bellowsmaine Secretary of State
In Maine, we saw people were afraid to leave their homes for groceries, to go to work or to go to school, because of fear of wrongful arrest and imprisonment,
In places where there might be disruption, Minnesota is proving that you might well earn yourself a real significant backlash,
Abigail Jacksonwhite House spokesperson
President Trump cares deeply about the integrity of our elections — and so do the millions of Americans who sent him back to office based on his pledge to secure our elections,
David Beckeramerican musician
I want to stress how unusual this is,
Skye Perrymanamerican lawyer
Litigation is going to remain an incredibly important guardrail,