Today in Politics, Bulletin 301. 2/5/26

… Dem Leaders in the House and Senate released 10 things they are seeking in their negotiations with Republicans on DHS funding on immigration enforcement operations:

-Judicial warrant requirement
-No masks
-Require ID on officers
-Prohibit enforcement in schools/churches
-Prohibit race-based stops
-Implement use of force standards
-Allow states to investigate misbehavior
-Set detention standards
-Must wear body cameras
-Uniform standards

… Sen. Maj. Leader John Thune: “It’s totally unrealistic, their demand list went from 3 items to 10 items. It just shows you they’re not serious. There’s a bunch of stuff in there that’s a non-starter, and they know it. Maybe they had to put it in there to satisfy MoveOn or some of their left wing special interest groups.”

… Punchbowl: “GOP Whip Tom Barrasso on the Dem demands: “I read the fine print. I found 23 demands. The list of radical Democrat demands just keeps growing.”

… Admittedly, there were some subsections under the sections.

… Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA): “They’re asking for no masks. Why? We can identify them. Officials can identify them, their bosses can. They only people who perhaps can’t are the general public - the mob.”

… Only the Trump regime is allowed to know the identity of their stormtroopers, not the American people who pay their salaries.

… Schumer: “We all know what’s going on in our cities. There is chaos. They’re out of control. We’ve seen the damage that’s been done. We’ve seen people being beaten. We’ve seen people taken off the streets without warrants and placed in dark chambers without access to phones. We’ve even seen two Americans killed.”

… “There is a rogue force—ICE—that is rampaging through cities and causing enormous damage. Democrats have heard the cry of the American people: fix this. And it’s not just Minneapolis or LA or Chicago or Maine—it’s happening all across the country. 90% of Americans have seen the videos and said, this is not America. This is not the country we were raised in or the country we love. We have to change it.”

… “So Democrats have put together a commonsense set of proposals based on best practices used by police depts across the country—local, county, and federal. There are 3 basic objectives. First, stop these roving patrols. You cannot arrive somewhere, pick someone up with no warrant and no justification, and throw them into detention.
ICE should not operate in sensitive locations—schools, churches, polling places. We are deeply concerned about abuse, including during elections.”

… “There must be no racial profiling. The second area is enforcement and accountability. ICE must coordinate with states. There must be clear use-of-force guidelines, the ability to be sued, independent oversight, and accountability at the state and local level. Finally, identification. We want cameras. We want no masks -period. Every officer must be identifiable.”

… Fox: “House conservatives are quietly grumbling about the deal Trump entered into with Senate Dems to keep the govt open - particularly regarding DHS. Some Republican lawmakers are concerned that the plan will force them to swallow concessions on immigration enforcement policies that they would not normally entertain while the GOP holds all the levers of power in DC.”

… One House Republican: “I don’t think we have any more leverage. We just shot ourselves in the foot, and 9 days later we’ll do it again.”

… “The move frustrated some House Republicans all the way up to Speaker Mike Johnson, who told his conference on a lawmaker-only call that he was ‘frustrated’ by the compromise but that congressional Republicans needed to stick by Trump’s decisions as the leader of their party.”

… Johnson: “This is not my preferred route. I wanted to keep all 6 bills together. But listen, the president agreed with Schumer that they would separate Homeland, and we’ll do that, and we’ll handle it.”

… Politico: “A sizable number of Senate Democrats haven’t ruled out another short-term funding punt for DHS. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer sent a formal wishlist of DHS policy changes to GOP leaders Mike Johnson and John Thune. But Republicans have little interest in their ideas, with leaders hinting at the need for another continuing resolution to buy more time for talks.”

… Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH): “We need to keep as many options on the table as possible.”

… “Shaheen was one of the 8 Senate Dems who voted to help Republicans end the record govt shutdown last fall. Some other senators in that group also didn’t give direct answers on whether they’d support a second DHS stopgap - a stark contrast to many fellow Democrats, who immediately rejected the idea.

… Thune: “It may be the best way to deal with this particular appropriations bill is do a yearlong CR, if that’s what it takes.”

… All I can say is that we have all the leverage right now and this is set up perfectly to get at least most of what we want if Dems play hardball and Republicans know it. Extending the CR again for ANY amount of time plays right into their hands. I, for one, will be fuming if Dems agree to another extension. I think they have handled it well up to this point, and now it is time to press our advantage and finish the job.

… Karoline Leavitt was asked about ICE interfering in the midterms with voter intimidation. Q: “Steve Bannon recently said 'we're gonna have ICE surround the polls come Nov.' Is that something the president is considering? Leavitt: I can't guarantee an ICE agent won't be around a polling location, but what I can tell you is I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans.”

… Jessica Tarlov debating Jesse Watters on Fox: “This is partisan for the president. They were surging ICE to Maine and Susan Collins got Noem to get them to leave. Watters: Because she is running for reelection. Jessica: Amy Klobuchar, Tim Walz, Tina Smith all say go away—that doesn’t matter for the president because they bat for the wrong team. But because he wants to help Susan Collins and he knows what a loser of an issue this is, he protects her.”

… Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) to Meidas: Q - “Are you concerned about DHS keeping watchlists of American protesters? Moulton: Absolutely. This is state-sponsored terror. This is what you would expect to see in North Korea or Iran or the old Soviet Union. I never imagined it would happen here.”

… Reuters: “The DOJ unit responsible for prosecuting potential wrongdoing by law enforcement, including during the crackdown on illegal immigration in Minneapolis, has lost two-thirds of its prosecutors and is under orders to scale back its investigations of excessive force.”

… “The unit, which typically plays a leading role in reviewing cases nationwide in which law enforcement officers appear to violate people’s rights, has lost significant capacity to pursue investigations because of staff departures and new guidance under Trump’s admin curtailing its mandate. The number of trial attorneys in the unit has dropped from 40 before Trump took office to 13. Just two supervisors remain in their roles. Previously, there have been 7 supervisors in the unit.”

… “The former DOJ lawyers, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, expressed doubts about the ability of the section to conduct thorough investigations into recent incidents, including the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.”

… Tom Homan blamed the First Amendment for the murders of Pretti and Good: “I said back in March that if the hateful rhetoric didn’t stop I was afraid there would be bloodshed. And there has been.”

… CNN: “Julie Le, a federal attorney detailed to MN to help handle the Trump admin immigration crackdown has been removed from her post after telling a judge that the job ‘sucks’ because of the crushing workload and the govt’s apparent inability to comply with court orders.”

… Big news from VA. The new redistricting map has been approved which should add another 4 House seats for Dems in 2026. VA Sen. President L. Louise Lucas: “Virginia has reached a 10-1 redistricting agreement. This moment reflects commitment to fair representation for communities across the Commonwealth and our nation.”

… Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) reacted to the news out of VA after several Republican states passed on redistricting: “Our ‘leaders’ always compromise when we have power while our opposition never does. We are gutless.”

… Trump and Texas started the mid-decade redistricting fight. Dems finished it.

… The Hill: “Senate Republicans are concerned that a public backlash to President Trump’s handling of the economy and his aggressive deportation policies could give rise to a Democratic wave that not only sweeps away the House Republican majority, but also threatens their own 3-seat majority. One GOP senator who attended a briefing at the NRSC said concern over the approaching midterms ‘should be very, very high.’”

… The senator: “Senators are saying more and more loudly that they’re very, very concerned about the environment, that it’s continuing to deteriorate. They say it over and over again.”

… “A second Republican senator said that voters across the political spectrum aren’t happy with Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation, and a growing number of independents are turned off by his admin’s aggressive deportation tactics in Minneapolis.”

… Democratic strategist Mike Nellis: “Rep. Barry Loudermilk is now retiring in an R+12 district. That should absolutely freak the hell out of Mike Johnson and House Republicans. He’s only 62 - and if he’s worried about re-election, a reckoning is coming this November.”

… Fox Business host: “A new poll shows 72% feel that the economy is in poor or only fair condition. That’s not good.”

… Fox Business reporter Lauren Simonetti: “Rent now, pay later. It’s a new option for renters who are struggling to make the monthly payment. Companies are letting users break up their rent sums into multiple payments throughout the month.”

… Trump’s Golden Age.

… CNBC: “Layoff plans hit their highest January total since the global financial crisis while hiring intentions reached their lowest since the same period. US employers announced 108,435 layoffs for the month, up 118% from the same period a year ago and 205% from Dec 2025. The total marked the highest for any Jan since 2009, while the economy was in the final months of its steepest downturn since the Great Depression.”

… “At the same time, companies announced just 5,306 new hires, also the lowest January since 2009. Planned hiring dropped 13% from January 2025 and was off 49% from December.”

… Kobeissi Letter: “This is absolutely insane: On Oct 6th, crypto markets hit a record high market cap of $4.3 trillion. Today, the crypto market is worth just $2.3 trillion, losing $2 TRILLION worth of market cap in 4 months. In other words, 46% of crypto’s entire value has been wiped out since Oct 6th.”

… JD Vance on Trump berating CNN’s chief WH correspondent Kaitlan Collins: “There was a moment in the Oval Office, I wasn't even in there, but Trump was talking to Kaitlan Collins. Trump says, 'Why don't you ever smile?' And it's actually, like, so perceptive. Have some fun.”

… She was asking Trump a question about the Epstein victims. I guess Vance wants her to do that with a smile.

Reminder that we are now doing Ask the Editor on Fridays so I have to ask you to submit your questions or topics you want me to talk more about on the replies today. So tomorrow there will be both a Bulletin and Ask the Editor.

If you missed my weekly podcast Uncovered yesterday where I do a deep dive into the top stories of the week, you can find it here. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares and subscribes to my work.

… Trump gave a one-on-one interview in the WH to NBC’s Tony Llamas. Here are some of the exchanges:

• “I’m starting to get great polls on the economy. Llamas: The polls on the economy are not great. Trump: They should be. Llamas: Why aren’t they? Trump: I don’t know.”

I do - because most of the economic numbers are terrible and only the wealthy are doing well.

• “On Renee Good and Alex Pretti: You know who feels worse about that than anybody? The people of ICE. But they have to be tough because we’re dealing with hardened criminals.”

• “I hate even talking about ICE. Two people out of tens of thousands and you get bad publicity. Llamas: But it was two Americans who died— Trump: We have the smallest trucks. We’ve been very tough on the waters. Llamas: The waters? Trump: The waters where we knock out boats.”

These cognitive glitches continue to happen more often and are getting more bizarre by the day.

• “It bothers that they’re going after Bill Clinton. I like Bill Clinton. Reporter: What do you like about him? Trump: He got me. He understood me.”

What he’s really worried about is that James Comer just established the precedent that former presidents can be hauled before congressional committees to testify