“If you want this fight . . . let’s have it . . . in public.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the House Oversight Committee, on February 5, 2026.
Democrats spend too much time worrying about baseless threats by Trump and the GOP, and not enough time on offense. Hillary Clinton is demonstrating the type of pushback Democrats (and the mainstream media) should use every day. On Thursday, Hillary effectively told GOP Rep. James Comer, “Put up or shut up.” See HuffPo, Hillary Clinton Dares Rep. James Comer To Let Her Testify About Epstein.
The House Oversight Committee is “investigating” Epstein’s crimes by focusing on people who, like the Clintons, have already provided sworn testimony about their glancing interactions with Epstein, while studiously avoiding the person who is among those most frequently mentioned in the Epstein files—Donald Trump, at 38,000 mentions. See The New Republic, Here’s How Many Times Trump Is Mentioned in New Epstein Files | The New Republic
Rep. James Comer apparently believes the American people are fools who can’t tell when Republicans are gaslighting them. The bad news for Comer and Trump is that the American people know exactly what is going on, and no amount of berating Bill and Hillary Clinton at kangaroo committee hearings will change their minds. See Politico, Poll finds Americans not satisfied with handling of Epstein files. (“67 percent saying they believe the government is intentionally holding back information that should be released, while 16 percent said the government is making an effort to release all information possible.)
So, Hillary is right to go on the offensive. Republicans got nothing. They are like the dog that finally caught the car and now has no idea what to do with a two-ton hunk of metal. Let’s get this charade over with so we can get back to talking about the 38,000 times Trump was mentioned in the files, including a tip to the FBI that Trump (allegedly) had sex with a minor teenage girl, a tip that showed no evidence of follow-up by the FBI. See Daily Beast, Woman Told FBI Trump Abused Her at 13, Epstein Files Reveal.
The title of this newsletter isn’t really about Hillary and Bill Clinton’s challenge to the House Oversight Committee. It is about the showdown over DHS funding and efforts to reform the paramilitary force that is acting as Trump’s secret police. Even as Trump talks about a “softer touch” to ICE’s brutalizing of Americans and kidnapping of children, Trump’s allies and press secretary are not ruling out posting ICE agents at polling booths for the midterm elections. See The Independent, White House’s chilling warning about midterm elections: ‘Can’t guarantee an ICE agent won’t be around polling locations’.
Although Karoline Leavitt mocked a reporter’s question about Trump using ICE agents to monitor polling stations, she didn’t say, “No.”
Democrats must stand firm in their efforts to put constraints on ICE’s ability to be used for anything other than targeted arrests with a judicial warrant based on probable cause—as required by the Constitution. No more “roving patrols” of overweight guys in Levi’s with a Glock on their hip and an automatic rifle in their hands. If we want to ensure that ICE won’t be used as an instrument of voter suppression, now is the moment—when Democrats have leverage over DHS funding.
We will have to have this fight eventually. Better now than after the midterms. As Hillary said, “If you want this fight . . . let’s have it . . . in public.” While it might be easier to have the fight after the midterms, having it sooner than later will limit the amount of damage that ICE can inflict on cities and our political system.
The Democratic list of demands is set forth below. They are an okay list, but have immediately become the “ceiling” for what Democrats can achieve. Bad negotiating tactics by Democrats, but that is water that Chuck Schumer has allowed to flow under the bridge.
Here is Schumer’s list:
Mandatory body‑worn cameras for ICE and CBP agents.
Ban on agents wearing face masks or other face coverings during enforcement operations.
Prohibition on entering private property without a judicial warrant.
Requirement that agents display identification during all enforcement actions.
Verification requirement that a person is not a U.S. citizen before they can be detained.
Limits on “roaming patrols” and other discretionary enforcement sweeps.
Restrictions on warrantless actions by ICE and CBP.
Additional guardrails on use‑of‑force policies following recent fatal shootings.
New reporting and transparency requirements for ICE and CBP operations.
Broader reforms to ensure immigration enforcement is “just, fair, and humane.”
As noted in this newsletter previously, Democrats should also “claw back” the multi-year funding for ICE that effectively insulates the agency from congressional budgetary review until September 2029. See Snopes,
The funding of ICE through 2029 in the Big Ugly Bill was highly unusual and “out of order.” The multi-year funding effectively insulates ICE from congressional budget review through the end of Trump’s term in office. The best “explainer” on this complicated topic is Jay Kuo’s article in Substack, So What’s Up With ICE Funding?
While “defunding ICE” may be a difficult objective to achieve at this point (though I support it), at the very least, Democrats should put ICE on an equal funding basis with all other agencies—forcing it to seek annual appropriations through Congress, subject to the filibuster.
The fight over DHS funding to reform ICE will be tough. The DHS budget includes multiple agencies, including:
· TSA
· Coast Guard
· Secret Service
· FEMA
· CBP
· ICE
See DHS Fiscal Year 2026 Budget in Brief.
And none other than Senator Lindsey Graham has decided to use this fight to end sanctuary cities by prosecuting their mayors. See Esquire, Lindsey Graham Is, to No One’s Surprise, Still the Most Ridiculous Man in Congress. (Quoting a Politico report, Graham “made a direct presidential appeal as a clutch of House and Senate GOP colleagues looked on . . . End sanctuary cities.”)
Trump and Graham are leading Republicans off a cliff. The American public is strongly against them on ICE’s tactics. On Thursday, those tactics looked even uglier as multiple outlets began to report on the kidnapping of children, who are then placed in hellish prisons in Texas. See The Washington Post, School officials say missing Minneapolis girl seen in ICE detention in Texas.
At a Republican Senate caucus meeting this week, some members openly discussed the possibility of losing control of the Senate in the midterms. See The Hill, Republicans fear Donald Trump backlash could cost them Senate control. (“One GOP senator who attended a Tuesday briefing at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said concern over the approaching midterms “should be very, very high.”)
So, as ICE continues to use tactics that rival the Gestapo, Lindsey Graham is egging Trump on to crack down even harder by prosecuting mayors. Such lawsuits would be dismissed at an early stage and would make folk heroes out of the mayors and grassroots activists of nearly every Democrat and Independent living in the cities targeted by such a policy.
But, hey, if Republicans want to adopt the “Lindsey Graham main character” vibe as their messaging, go right ahead. Democrats should respond, “If you want this fight . . . let’s have it . . . in public.”
The secret whistleblower complaint against Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard finally transmitted to Congress the six-month-old complaint by a whistleblower against Gabbard that involves some of the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets. That complaint has now been viewed by at least two members of the Senate intelligence committee. And it has shaken them to the core. See HuffPo, Democratic Senators Give Cryptic Warning About CIA Activities.
Per HuffPo, Wyden wrote a brief letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, which Wyden then released to the public. Wyden’s letter said:
I write to alert you to a classified letter I sent you earlier today, in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities.
It doesn’t take much imagination to infer the subject matter of Senator Wyden’s letter. The CIA is prohibited from spying on American citizens. See CIA.gov, Frequently Asked Questions. (“By law, the CIA is specifically prohibited from collecting foreign intelligence concerning the domestic activities of US citizens [and] the CIA is restricted in the collection of intelligence information directed against US citizens.”)
The CIA has repeatedly violated that statutory restriction against spying on American citizens, often at the request of or with the knowledge of the US presidents. For example, per HuffPo, NSA contractor
Edward Snowden revealed an extensive global and domestic surveillance operation that [collected] Americans’ phone records in bulk. A federal court later ruled that the mass surveillance program was illegal.
The whistleblower complaint specifically implicates Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and alleges that the information is so sensitive that it was withheld from Congress for 6 months. So, until we learn differently, we should assume that the CIA has been directed to spy on Americans whom Trump considers to be his political enemies.
Having that thought firmly in mind, I say to the CIA operative who is likely reading this newsletter, “Do you think your mother would be proud that you have stooped to spying on your fellow citizens and violated your oath to defend the US Constitution?”
Note on publication schedule over the next two weeks (Feb 6 – 17).
In a little more than two weeks, one of our daughters will be moving with her husband and two children to Tennessee. Jill and I will be assisting with that transition, including traveling to Tennessee and helping to wrap things up in Los Angeles. And before the move, we are taking our granddaughters (ages 3 and 5) to Disneyland for their first visit.
As a result, I will be on the road, on a plane, or on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant1 ride at Disneyland when I would normally be reading, writing, and publishing the newsletter. I am committed to maintaining my daily publication schedule, but there will be four or five days when I will send very short newsletters. I will be recording the newsletter audio with a small, handheld audio processor, so the audio quality may not match that of my home-based pre-amp. Also, I cannot hold my Saturday morning livestreams on February 7 and 14.
Thank you for your understanding.
Concluding Thoughts.
The fever pitch over Trump’s threats to “nationalize” elections and deploy ICE to polling locations has gotten so bad that I had to turn off the news today. All I can say is that it is a good thing mainstream news anchors weren’t leading the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. They would have surrendered before the first battle.
Look, it won’t be easy or pretty, but we are going to prevail. There are 340 million of us! There are 50 states, 3,140 counties, and 100,000 polling locations. We have armies of well-trained, highly effective lawyers poised to challenge any unlawful move by Trump. He has Todd Blanche, Sydney Powell, My Pillow Guy, and Rudy Giuliani. The DOJ has lost all credibility, even among many Trump-appointed judges. The Supreme Court has finally exhibited impatience and annoyance with Trump’s lunatic legal theories that allegedly vest him with unchecked power.
And then there is Trump’s continuing dive in favorability ratings, something that Republicans now see as a personal threat to their reelection prospects (as noted in the Politico article above).
Last, and not least, is our ability to shut down the economy and the government if Trump attempts to disenfranchise us. Let’s give Trump a big preview of what a national strike will look like by making the next No Kings protests (March 28) so massive that even Trump will get the point. Sign up for updates here: No Kings.
In short, Hillary Clinton has it right: “If you want this fight . . . let’s have it . . . in public.”
Pro-democracy protest photos
2-4-26 Bridge Brigade IRCC, Walnut Creek, Ca.
Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Kailua Oahu
West LA Freeway Brigade, Los Angeles 2/5/26
Carmel, CA
Rooted in Resistance SGV (Pasadena, CA) Thursday, 2/5/26
Wednesday Walkout in San Francisco,
Our brigade from Missoula, Montana
Reston, VA
Baltimore, MD
I am confident that I meet the height requirements for the Dumbo ride, but I am worried about the weight requirements . . .
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