The Dictatorship
A key lesson from Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal
When pushback works
There is a reason that presidential transition teams have extensively vetted nominees for decades. This process can (and should) expose the skeletons, the conflicts of interest and, yes, even the immorality of some president-elect picks.
The process typically involves hours of intensive interviews with the candidates, an FBI background check and extensive reviews with teams of lawyers about backgrounds and qualifications.
It sounds invasive because it is invasive. But it also allows presidents-elect to weed out people who either can’t be confirmed or shouldn’t be confirmed to any Cabinet job.
Maybe Matt Gaetz would have still been Trump’s choice had that full process been carried out. But it seems like a lot of information about Gaetz came out in the press after his pick — information that perhaps Trump did not have (and should have had).
And Gaetz isn’t the only pick who may end up mired in more controversy. The Trump team allegedly was surprised by the extent of the Pete Hegseth allegations. And there is likely a lot more to the story of Tulsi Gabbard’s trip to Syria to meet with brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.
So what we have learned from Gaetz’s short-lived nomination is that no transition team should cut corners on vetting. But we also learned there is a limit to Trump’s power over the Senate.
These poorly made decisions from the Trump administration will keep coming. But this week proves pushback works. Now is the time to call your representatives and remind them that Trump’s chaos doesn’t need to become our new normal.
A story you should be following: Mike Johnson’s bathroom ban
There are a lot of things happening in the world right now. But Rep. Nancy Mace and House Republican leadership are particularly distressed, it seems, about trans women using bathrooms in the Capitol.
This week, Johnson announced a new policy barring transgender individuals from using the restrooms in the Capitol that align with their gender identity — a move transparently aimed at Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first transgender member of Congress.
Johnson claims the bathroom ban is about “protecting women’s spaces.” But when members like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene say they’d get into a “physical altercation” if forced to share a bathroom with a trans colleague, it’s obvious this isn’t about safety or privacy.
And here’s the kicker: Trans women have been using Capitol bathrooms for years, including throughout the entire Trump administration. Mace, who pushed for this ban, didn’t seem concerned about “incidents” then, because there weren’t any.
McBride, for her part, has shown remarkable grace, calling the policy “petty” and urging colleagues to stay focused on the work that matters, like lowering costs for families in Delaware and beyond.
The silver lining: The more Republicans pull stunts like this, the clearer it becomes who’s focused on the real issues — and who’s not.
A race to watch: New Jersey’s gubernatorial election
New Jersey’s 2025 governor’s race is already shaping up to be one of the most competitive in years. Rep. Mikey Sherrill is the latest Democrat to announce her candidacy, joining a crowded field that includes Rep. Josh GottheimerGreater Jersey City Steven Fulop and others. On the Republican side, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and conservative radio host Bill Spadea have thrown their hats into the ring.
This race comes amid surprising political shifts in New Jersey. Vice President Kamala Harris won the state by just 5 points in 2024 — down from President Joe Biden’s 16-point margin in 2020. With Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy facing the end of his term limits, Jersey’s next governor could signal how far right the state has shifted over the course of Trump’s political career.
Jen Psaki is the host of “Inside with Jen Psaki”airing Sundays at 12 p.m. ET and Mondays at 8 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.
The Dictatorship
Trump’s border czar says ‘small’ security force will remain in Minnesota after enforcement drawdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesota’s Twin Cities area and hundreds more will depart in the days ahead as part of the Trump administration’s drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge.
A “small” security force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and will respond “when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control,” Homan told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He did not define “small.”
He also said agents will keep investigating fraud allegations as well as the anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church service.
“We already removed well over 1,000 people, and as of Monday, Tuesday, we’ll remove several hundred more,” Homan said. “We’ll get back to the original footprint.”
Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Metro Surge.” The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful. But the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile and two U.S. citizens were killed.
People take part in an anti-ICE protest outside the Governors Residence in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
People take part in an anti-ICE protest outside the Governors Residence in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
Protests became common. A network of residents worked to help immigrants, warn of approaching agents or film immigration officers’ actions. The shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers drew condemnation and raised questions over officers’ conduct, prompting changes to the operation.
Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 in the state. He said Thursday that a “significant drawdown” was already underway and would continue through this week.
Homan said enforcement would not stop in the Twin Cities and that mass deportations will continue across the country. Officers leaving Minnesota will report back to their stations or be assigned elsewhere.
When asked if future deployments could match the scale of the Twin Cities operation, Homan said “it depends on the situation.”
ByDavid Rohde
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says there is “no reason” to doubt a new report by five European nations that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed in a Russian government prison with poison found in Latin American dart frogs.
A fatal toxin not found naturally in Russia — epibatidine — was “conclusively” discovered in samples of Navalny’s body by a joint investigation conducted by Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, according to a joint statement by the nations on Saturday.
The toxin is only known to exist in poison dart frogs in Central and South America. One species, the phantasmal poison frog, contains a chemical that is 200 times more potent than morphine.
“It’s a troubling report,” Rubio told reporters at a news conference during a visit to Slovakia on Sunday. “We don’t have any reason to question it.”
It was not clear why the United States did not participate in the investigation of Navalny’s death. But the finding comes amid rising support in the Senate for a bill that would impose sweeping new sanctions against the government of Vladimir Putin, which has been opposed by the Trump administration.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted on the closing day of the Munich Security Conference, where Rubio received a standing ovationthat 84 out of 100 senators have signed on to co-sponsor the bill authored by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“I don’t understand the reluctance to go after Vladimir Putin and what Russia is doing in Ukraine,” Shaheen told a group of reporters. “The failure by the United States to act has extended this war.”
Russian officials have repeatedly denied playing any role in the death of Navalny two years ago in a government-run penal colony in the Arctic. They called the new European report “a Western propaganda hoax,” according to Russia’s state news agency.
The report comes as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to meet with both Russian and Iranian officials on Tuesday in Geneva. The goal of the Russia talks is to reach a peace settlement in Ukraine by a June deadline the administration has set. (Witkoff and Kushner are also set to join a second round of nuclear talks with Iranian officials in Geneva on the same day.)
Critics of Trump, who promised to end the war days after returning to office, say Russia has not been seriously negotiating and is simply playing for time so it can gain ground on the battlefield. Democrats have also expressed concerns over reports that Witkoff has been negotiating business deals during peace talks with Kirill Dmitriev, a former Wall Street banker who runs Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Dmitriev pitched $12 trillion in bilateral economic agreements with the U.S. It is unclear how such large deals could be achieved. The $12 trillion figure is about four times the size of Russia’s 2025 gross domestic product.
A European diplomat whose country has negotiated with Russia in the past told MS NOW that Moscow has repeatedly made such investment offers. But the business entities end up being largely Russian controlled. “They lure you in,” said the diplomat, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Shaheen expressed skepticism as well.
“I’m concerned about all things Russian in this administration,” Shaheen said. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist. But I’m beginning to become one with respect to Putin and President Trump.”
David Rohde
David Rohde is the senior national security reporter for MS NOW. Previously he was the senior executive editor for national security and law for NBC News.
A glove with DNA found near 84-year-old missing Nancy Guthrie’s home appears to match those worn by a masked person caught on surveillance footage, the FBI said Sunday.
“The FBI received preliminary results yesterday on 2/14 and are awaiting further testing,” the bureau said in a statement. “This process typically takes 24 hours from when the FBI receives DNA.”
The FBI said investigators collected “approximately 16 gloves in various areas near” Guthrie’s house in Tucson, Arizonawhere she was last seen on Jan. 31. Most of those gloves were “searchers’s gloves that they discarded in various areas when they searched the vicinity” but the glove with the “DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” the FBI said.
“What we have is a lead here. The glove retrieved would need to have the victim’s DNA or some other forensic material to tie it to the home,” a law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation cautioned. “It must be connected to the home and victim. That would make the glove actual evidence, at this point it’s a lead. A good lead.”
The FBI said said the glove was found in a field approximately two miles from Guthrie’s house. The glove resembles the one on the hand of a person who was captured on porch camera video footage at the home of NBC “Today Show” host Savannah Guthrie’s mother the night she went missing.
The agency said it is awaiting quality control and official confirmation before putting the individual’s profile into the bureau’s national database, which could take up to 24 hours.
The FBI has described the man captured in photographs and on video as approximately 5’9”-5’10” with an average build. In addition to gloves, he was also seen wearing a ski mask and a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack. The agency on Thursday increased its reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction of anyone involved in Guthrie’s disappearance to $100,000.
Guthrie was reported missing by her family on Feb. 1. Sheriff’s deputies also found blood on the front porch that was later confirmed to belong to the network host’s mother. Guthrie’s children, including Savannah, have posted several videos pleading for their mother’s release, agreeing to pay any ransom demanded and asking for help from the public.
Alex Tabet, Marc Santia and Ken Dilanian contributed to this report.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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