Kevin 1, Kevin 2

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for January 30, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

The Latest

The Senate is voting now to avoid a shutdown by approving five appropriation bills plus a continuing resolution that funds DHS for two weeks while Democrats push for reforms to immigration enforcement. The House has to sign off, and it’s due to be out until Monday, which means funding for much of the government will lapse for at least a couple of days.

• It could be longer: There’s no guarantee the House will rubber-stamp the Senate’s deal, and there’s some evidence it won’t. In a text to NOTUS’ Riley Rogerson, Rep. Ralph Norman called the deal “LUDICROUS” and said: “WE SHOULD NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.”

Donald Trump is named hundreds of times in newly released Epstein files, but the Department of Justice said the documents “may include fake or falsely submitted images, documents or videos” and “untrue and sensationalist claims” against the president.

• The documents show Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arranging a trip to Jeffrey Epstein’s island in 2012 — years after Lutnick said he cut off relations with Epstein.

• Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was previously Trump’s criminal defense attorney, said the White House had “nothing to do with this review.”
• Asked why Tulsi Gabbard was at the FBI raid of a Georgia election office this week, Blanche said: “This administration coordinates everything we do as a group.”

Trump’s pick for the Fed may not make it to the floor. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, said he will block Kevin Warsh’s nomination until the Justice Department drops its investigation into Jerome Powell.

The Hill

James Comer says Tim Walz and Keith Ellison will testify before the House Oversight Committee on March 4 as part of its investigation into “rampant misuse of taxpayer dollars in Minnesota’s social services programs.”

The Administration

Federal agents arrested Don Lemon and his producer for covering a protest — or, as Pam Bondi put it, for participating in a “coordinated attack” on a St. Paul church. A federal judge previously said there was “no evidence” that the two “engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so.”

• The White House celebrated the arrest by making a joke about Lemon, a Black man, in chains.

The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti.

• Trump said Pretti’s “stock has gone way down” after a video showed him kicking out the taillight of a “new and very expensive government vehicle.”

The president signed an executive order launching an IndyCar race in Washington.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it will be “wild” to see cars going “190 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue.” D.C. residents think it would be pretty wild to see a snow plow.

Patriotic Duty

Thank you for reading! Today’s newsletter was produced by Matt Berman, Christopher T. Fong 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.