Democracy Dies in Darkness

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for February 4, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

The Latest

The Washington Post laid off a third of its newsroom, killing its sports section and making deep cuts in both local and international coverage. Former Post reporter Ashley Parker called it “murder.”

• Post owner Jeff Bezos was in Washington over the weekend and in Florida on Monday to welcome Pete Hegseth to his rocket factory. Neither he nor Post publisher Will Lewis participated in today’s announcement.

The Supreme Court let Gavin Newsom keep his map. Republicans had asked the court to reject a new, voter-approved map that could give Democrats five additional seats in Congress. Without comment, the court declined to get involved.

DHS is pulling 700 agents out of Minnesota. Noting that 2,000 federal agents will remain in the state, border czar Tom Homan said it’s not a surrender. Noting that 2,000 federal agents will remain in the state, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said it’s not much of a de-escalation, either.

• A DHS attorney told a Minnesota judge that her job “sucks” and asked to be held in contempt so she “could get 24 hours of sleep.” She has been reassigned.

• Asked what he’s learned from Minneapolis, Donald Trump said “maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch — but you still have to be tough.”

The Hill

Congress has 10 9 days to agree on immigration-enforcement reforms, and as NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer and Daniella Diaz put it: “Talks are tense, they are nowhere close to a deal and it doesn’t seem right now that they can achieve one.”

Sen. Roger Wicker said he’s ‘all for immigration enforcement’ but doesn’t want DHS to turn a Mississippi warehouse into an ICE detention facility.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott doesn’t think Jerome Powell is a criminal and expects the Trump administration’s investigation into him to be resolved soon. Thom Tillis has said that’s got to happen before he’ll let Kevin Warsh’s nomination out of committee.

The Administration

Trump said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be ‘very worried.’ The president said Iran “is a mess right now” because the United States “wiped out their nuclear.”

• Iranian and U.S. officials expect to meet tomorrow. Marco Rubio said: “I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to find out.”

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating Nike for discriminating against white people.

Steve Bannon said ICE will ‘surround the polls come November’ to block Democrats’ plans to “steal the country again.”

In Other News

Zohran Mamdani is going to endorse Kathy Hochul’s reelection. As Politico reports, it may kill any hope for the governor’s long-shot challenger from the left, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.

The man who attempted to kill Trump on his Florida golf course was sentenced to life in prison plus seven years.

Nobody Knows

JD Vance told Megyn Kelly that it was ‘so perceptive’ of the president to tell Kaitlan Collins that she should smile more: “Even if you’re asking a tough question, even if you take your job very seriously, like, why does it always have to be so antagonistic?”

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Matt Berman and Andrew Burton. If you liked it, please forward it to a friend. If someone shared it with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Got a tip or comments to share? Email us at finalnotus@notus.com.