The Paper Trail: January 27, 2026

The Paper Trail

Announcements

Working with the Media on Oversight & Investigations: POGO’s virtual training on working with the media will be Friday, February 6 at 12 noon. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

The Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds has released the 2026 edition of its Training Manual: Best Practices for Working with Whistleblowers (available on HouseNet). You can learn more about the manual and other resources at the office’s next pop-up tabling event on Thursday, January 29 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. in the Longworth Cafeteria.

Top stories for January 27, 2026

Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says: A May 2025 internal ICE memo authorizes officers to forcibly enter homes to make arrests without a judicial warrant, a policy advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities. (Rebecca Santana, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: Opinion: “This is Trump’s goon squad, for Christ’s sake” (Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: ICE buys $100k worth of “non-lethal” pepper ball rounds days after blinding protester with one (Justin Rohrlich, The Independent)

Judge upholds DHS policy requiring notice for lawmaker visits to immigration facilities: U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb last week denied Democratic lawmakers’ challenge to a DHS policy that bars unannounced visits by members of Congress to immigration detention facilities. A 2019 law allows members of Congress to carry out unannounced visits to immigration facilities, but last year DHS instituted a policy that requires at least one week’s advance notice. (Ariana Figueroa, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: House Democrats to investigate Kristi Noem with eye on impeachment push (Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post)

A year inside Kash Patel’s FBI: Dozens of current and former employees say changes under director Patel have upended the FBI’s nonpartisan rules and norms and are making America less safe. (Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser, New York Times)

Complaint accuses Trump’s criminal attorney of “blatant” crypto conflict in his role at DOJ: Ethics watchdog group Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint seeking a DOJ inspector general investigation into whether Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche broke federal conflict-of-interest law when he issued a new prosecution policy that benefits the cryptocurrency industry. (Corey G. Johnson, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: How “Bitcoin Jesus” avoided prison, thanks to one of the “friends of Trump” (Avi Asher-Schapiro and Molly Redden, ProPublica)

Agriculture’s failure to force SNAP card upgrades is causing $555M in lost benefits, watchdog says: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says she’s focused on fraud in the SNAP nutrition assistance program, but an inspector general report found her department hasn’t acted to prevent scammers from stealing hundreds of millions in benefits through a vulnerability in SNAP benefit cards. (Natalie Alms, Nextgov/FCW)

FCC targets talk shows by revisiting “equal time” rule for political candidates: The FCC is requiring network talk shows to give equal airtime to all candidates intending to run for the same public office, changing course on a decades-old ruling and again raising free speech concerns over the Trump administration’s approach to media regulation. (Kelly Kasulis Cho and Scott Nover, Washington Post)

Trump administration takes another stake in rare earth sector: The administration announced a $1.6 billion deal with USA Rare Earth Inc. The mining and manufacturing group also does business with Cantor Fitzgerald, which is run by the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. (Ana Swanson, New York Times)

How Trump has pocketed $1,408,500,000: President Trump has used his office during his second term to make at least $1.4 billion. This number is an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow. (New York Times Editorial Board)

Analysis: Trump administration deregulatory push risks corporate capture: President Trump’s deregulatory agenda weakens safeguards, sidesteps public input, and could give even more power to special interest groups. (Janice Luong, Project On Government Oversight)

Analysis: International criminal liability and U.S. boat attacks in the Pacific and Caribbean: Given the widespread conclusion that the U.S. attacks against boats in the Caribbean and Pacific lack a legal basis, it’s likely that U.S. service members and their leaders — including President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — could be held liable under international law for the deaths resulting from these strikes. (Dru Brenner-Beck, War On The Rocks)

Tensions in the Twin Cities

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations branch leading probe into fatal shooting of Alex Pretti: The decision to place DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations in the lead investigative role is unusual and has raised questions, given that HSI isn’t typically tasked with investigating officer-involved shootings and isn’t structured or equipped to handle core elements of such cases. (Nicole Sganga et al., CBS News)

🔎 See Also: Body-camera footage of shooting being preserved, U.S. officials say (Maria Sacchetti and Jeremy Roebuck, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: “The violent death of one of our own”: VA employees ask for more from their agency after nurse is fatally shot (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: FBI agent who tried to investigate ICE officer in shooting resigns (Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, New York Times)

ICE detains four children from Minnesota school district, including 5-year-old: School district officials accused ICE officers of using a 5-year-old child “as bait.” Three other students in the district have also been detained by ICE. (Andrew Jeong, Washington Post)

Justice Department announces arrests of St. Paul church protesters: Federal authorities arrested two activists in Minnesota for their role in organizing a protest at a St. Paul-area church on January 18. FBI Director Kash Patel said one of the individuals was charged with violating the FACE Act, a law typically used to protect access to abortion clinics but which the Trump administration has deployed to target protesters at houses of worship. (Jeremy Roebuck, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: White House alters arrest photo of ICE protester, says "the memes will continue" (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica)

ICE agents pull guns on police officers “of color” and demand papers: ICE agents in Minnesota have been drawing their guns on off-duty police officers of color and illegally demanding to see their citizenship papers. (David Edwards, Raw Story)

Prosecutors subpoena Minnesota Democrats as part of federal inquiry: Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas last week to five Democratic Minnesota officials — Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty — seeking information related to their actions concerning federal immigration enforcement efforts in the state. (Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush, and Devlin Barrett, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump says Justice Department is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (Cheyanne M. Daniels, Politico)

Why Is the Trump administration demanding Minnesota’s voter rolls? Attorney General Pam Bondi demanded that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz allow the DOJ to access voter rolls “to confirm that Minnesota's voter registration practices comply with federal law.” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon rejected the demand, calling it an “outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. citizens in violation of state and federal law.” (Nick Corasaniti, New York Times)

Insurrection

They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and want the government to pay them back: At least eight January 6 defendants are pursuing refunds of the financial penalties paid as part of their sentences; judges have already allowed three to be reimbursed. Others are filing civil lawsuits against the government seeking millions of dollars, alleging politically tainted prosecutions and violations of their constitutional rights. Hundreds more have filed claims accusing the DOJ, FBI, and other law enforcement agencies of inflicting property damage and personal injuries. (Beth Reinhard, Ellie Silverman, and Aaron Schaffer, Washington Post)

Weaponization of the Government

Judge blocks government from searching data seized from Post reporter: U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter ruled last week that government officials may not examine electronic devices seized from Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home on January 14 until litigation stemming from the search is settled. FBI agents seized a phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of unlawfully retaining classified materials. (Perry Stein, Washington Post)

DOGE

DOGE officials face Hatch Act referrals for work with org aiming to “overturn election results”: The Social Security Administration made two Hatch Act violation referrals last month after a DOGE employee signed an agreement to share sensitive SSA data with a political advocacy group for the purpose of finding evidence of voter fraud and overturning election results in states. SSA still doesn’t know exactly what data was shared but believes it contains personal information on 1,000 people. (Natalie Alms, Government Executive)

White House Ballroom

Trump says it’s “too late” to stop White House ballroom construction: President Trump on Sunday insisted his proposed ballroom is a done deal. But DOJ lawyers told a federal judge the ballroom plans can be modified and that the White House intends to wait for two advisory panels to review the project before beginning aboveground construction. (Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post)

Reproductive Freedom

Women with high-risk pregnancies have limited options under abortion bans: Each year, hundreds of thousands of women enter pregnancy with chronic conditions that put them at an elevated risk of long-term complications and even death. For those who live in states that have banned abortion, their options are severely limited. (Kavitha Surana and Lizzie Presser, ProPublica)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Veteran assaulted by serial predator at Fort Hood files $10M injury claim against the Army: A former Fort Hood soldier filed a $10 million administrative complaint against the Army, alleging it failed to protect her and other women living in the barracks as evidence pointed toward a serial predator sexually assaulting residents. An independent review found that Fort Hood’s environment was permissive for sexual assault to occur and that the base didn’t do enough to prevent crime. (Rose L. Thayer, Stars and Stripes)

U.S. senator calls VA’s data collection of non-citizen workers “thinly veiled effort to instill fear”: Sen. Adam Schiff expressed alarm in a letter to the VA and DHS following revelations that the VA was gathering data on its “non-citizen” workforce and sharing the data for immigration enforcement purposes. Schiff’s letter marks the second time lawmakers have decried the effort and pressed the VA for answers. (José Olivares and Aaron Glantz, The Guardian)

VA has shed 40,000 employees, Democratic report finds, with drastic impacts on veterans: The Senate report focused on the “systematic destruction of the VA workforce” and found the net loss of employees in the last year has created an “untenable” situation at the agency and “a damaging and dangerous impact on the quality and timeliness of care that will be felt for years to come.” (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Tech

Government by AI? Trump administration plans to write regulations using artificial intelligence: The Transportation Department plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don't need the perfect rule,” said the department’s general counsel. Skeptics say AI tools shouldn’t be trusted with the complicated and consequential responsibilities of governance. (Jesse Coburn, ProPublica)

Newsom to probe claims of Trump-critical censorship at TikTok: California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a review into whether TikTok is illegally censoring content critical of President Trump. The review comes amid accusations that content criticizing ICE is being flagged for review or throttled, just days after the platform closed a Trump-backed deal to avoid a U.S. ban. (Tyler Katzenberger, Politico)

Grok chatbot flooded X with millions of sexualized images in days, new estimates show: Over nine days, Grok generated and posted 4.4 million images, of which at least 41% were sexualized images of women, and an estimated 65% contained sexualized imagery of men, women, or children. (Kate Conger, Dylan Freedman, and Stuart A. Thompson, New York Times)

Health Care

Trump policies at odds with emerging understanding of COVID’s long-term harm: Although COVID has become less deadly, researchers say the politicization around the infection is obscuring what science is increasingly confirming: COVID’s potential to cause unexpected, possibly chronic health issues. (Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News)

Can your health records be sold for profit? A lawsuit says it’s happening: Epic, the nation’s largest vendor of electronic health record software, alleges “organized syndicates” fraudulently obtained access to nearly 300,000 patient records without their consent, in many cases marketing them to lawyers to mine for prospective clients. (Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post)

Doctors increasingly see AI scribes in a positive light. But hiccups persist: Ambient AI scribes are being hailed by physicians as a game changer that helps free them to focus on their patients rather than their computer keyboard. But many questions remain. An ongoing concern is around AI “hallucinations,” in which false, sometimes fabricated information is generated. (Michelle Andrews, KFF Health News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ ICE starts operation in Maine, with a focus on immigrants from Somalia

→ ICE has stopped paying contractors for detainee medical treatment

→ Cuban detainee in El Paso ICE facility died by homicide, autopsy shows

Other News:

→ ICE agents to help with U.S. security operations at Winter Olympics in Italy

→ A year past a fatal crash, concerns about safety at Reagan airport continue

→ Lindsey Halligan leaves U.S. attorney’s office after mounting pressure from judges

→ Appeals court won’t reconsider Habba disqualification, paving way to Supreme Court

→ Treasury cancels Booz Allen contracts after employee leaked Trump tax records

→ Trump admin “deliberately” tanking morale to get National Park Service staff to quit, official says in leaked tape

→ More history exhibits pulled from national parks, including Grand Canyon

Upcoming Events

📌 U.S. Policy Towards Venezuela. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Wednesday, January 28, 10:00 a.m., 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Review and Reform: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Executive Accountability. Senate Judiciary Committee. Wednesday, January 28, 10:15 a.m., 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Southwest Border: CBP Should Improve Oversight of Medical Care for Individuals in Custody. GAO-26-107425 (PDF)

🔥📃 Interior OIG: Inspector General’s Statement Summarizing the Major Management and Performance Challenges Facing the U.S. Department of the Interior, FY 2025. January 23, 2026 (PDF)

🔥📃 VA OIG: Fiscal Year 2025 Inspector General’s Report on VA’s Major Management and Performance Challenges. January 22, 2026 (PDF)

🔥📃 We the Doers: Former Civil Servants Speak: How to Achieve Real Government Reform in a Post-DOGE World. January 20, 2026 (PDF)

Pardons & Commutations

• Jimmy Ray Barnett
• Zechariah Benjamin
• Adriana Isabel Camberos
• Andres Enrique Camberos
• Danny Preston Conrad
• Angela Wannette Cupit
• Arie Eric De Jong, III
• Jacob Deutsch
• Russell John Flint, Jr.
• Wanda Vazquez Garced
• Kenneth Caprist Kelly
• James Michael Klos
• David Levy
• Juan Mercado, III
• Hollie Ann Nadel
• Terren Scott Peizer
• Angela Reynolds
• Mark T. Rossini
• Andre Donnell Routt
• Julio M. Herrera Velutini
• James Phillip Womack