Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday compared federal immigration officers to the Nazis. The failed Democrat vice presidential candidate said during a press conference said that immigration operations in Minnesota evoke the tale of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who hid from the Nazi regime in an attic for over two years before dying in a concentration camp. “We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” said Walz. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.” Walz’s comments came after a Customs and Border Protection agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a nurse who was interfering with their operations in the city. Pretti’s death comes just weeks after Renee Good was shot and killed after attempting to ram an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent with her car in Minneapolis. Rioters have confronted federal agents enforcing immigration law in Minneapolis with increased ferocity since Good’s death, obstructing and often threatening them. Protesters often greet immigration agents with chants such as “Kill An ICE, Save A Life.” Walz blamed President Donald Trump for the heightened tensions in his state. “There’s one person who can end this now,” Walz said, referring to the president. The outburst is just the latest in Walz’s months-long rhetorical crusade against federal immigration enforcement. Last year, Walz called agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo.” Other Democratic officials, such as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, have made similar comments. Newly-elected New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, also a Democrat, made a similar statement on Sunday when she claimed on CNN that ICE was like the communist STASI — the East German secret police. Members of the Trump administration have fired back that Walz and other Minnesota officials have supported “terrorism” against ICE agents after threats and attacks against immigration agents have skyrocketed since Trump took office. “Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a post earlier this month. “Walz and [Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey] — I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”

Over a million Americans are without power, and at least nine are dead as a result of the winter storm battering the southern and eastern United States. Winter Storm Fern has blanketed the country with ice, snow, and freezing temperatures — a dangerous combination that has many concerned power outages will last into next week. Airlines across the United States have canceled the highest number of flights since the coronavirus pandemic, according to USA Today, with 4,500 flights within, into, or out of the United States delayed as of Sunday night, according to FlightAware.com. Over 11,000 flights have been canceled. “The dangers aren’t over even with the precipitation ending,” National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Brian Hurley told USA Today. “A lot of the areas that are still getting the heavy ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow, will stay below freezing through the work week.” “We worry about people having cold weather exposure with no power,” Hurley said. The storm, which began on Friday, has hammered a stretch of the United States from Texas to the East Coast, dumping snow and freezing rain across hundreds of miles. Several states have declared emergencies over the impacts of the storm, including Tennessee, Indiana, and South Carolina, among others. “Heavy snow will continue to spread across the Northeast this evening and overnight, with rapid accumulations (1–2”/hr) producing totals around 2 feet in parts of the region. Catastrophic ice impacts linger farther south with prolonged power outages,” the National Weather Service posted on Sunday afternoon. Videos and images of the storm’s aftermath posted online have shown a glimpse of the damage, with downed power lines and trees blocking roads. Numerous closures and restrictions of schools, businesses, and local offices have been announced. At least five of the dead were found outside in New York, but reports say they were not believed to be homeless. “While we do not yet know their causes of death, there is no more powerful reminder of the dangers of the extreme cold, and how vulnerable how many of our neighbors are, especially homeless New Yorkers,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. Another exposure-related death was reported in Michigan and one in Austin, Texas. Two more were reported in Louisiana.

Former CNN host Don Lemon said on Sunday that he believed the Trump administration would “go around a judge” if necessary to prosecute him for disrupting a Minneapolis church service alongside radical protesters. Speaking to fellow former CNN host Alisyn Camerota — now a special events anchor for Scripps News — Lemon repeatedly professed his innocence, claiming he was only observing the protest as a journalist. Lemon claimed that the Trump administration would prosecute him by any means necessary, even if it meant having to “retrofit” laws or circumventing a judge. A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Justice Department established probable cause to charge former CNN host Don Lemon and four others over the anti-ICE church storming in Minneapolis last weekend. The appeals court, however, declined to force a lower court judge to sign arrest warrants. WATCH: Camerota described Lemon as “calm,” “resolute,” and “unapologetic” — and said that he truly believes his actions were protected under the First Amendment because he was acting solely as a journalist at the time. Noting that one judge had already denied the Justice Department’s request to charge Lemon for his role in the protest — a protest that has resulted in three arrests thus far — Camerota asked Lemon what he thought might happen in the coming weeks. “I’m not naive. I think they’re probably going to try again and again as they did with Tish James and Comey and everyone. If one doesn’t work, then they try something else and that fails, and they try something else and then they just don’t give up because they, you know, they want to save face, but I don’t know what’s next,” Lemon said. “I think what’s next is that I have to be in it for the long haul and to, you know, and just to be strong, as always, and keep calm and carry on.” Lemon went on to say that he fully expected the Trump administration to step outside the law if that was the only way to get him, claiming that they were targeting him specifically because he was the “biggest name” involved. “If there’s no law to fit, they will try to fit or retrofit something or go around a judge and just do it themselves. And it doesn’t matter and everything that they say pertains to protesters. I was not a protester. It’s very clear about that. If you look at all the evidence, I’m not a protester. And so I think Alisyn — not that I think I know — I was the biggest name. And so if they get a Don Lemon, woohoo, that’s a victory and also I’m the one who put the information out there.” Lemon joined a large group of anti-ICE protesters who stormed Cities Church in Minneapolis last Sunday during a worship service because one of the church’s pastors is believed to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Three of the anti-ICE agitators who organized the church storming have been arrested by the FBI, including Black Lives Matter activist Nekima Levy Armstrong.

The Customs and Border Protection shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis could cause Washington to shut the government down for the second time in three months. Senate Democrats signaled over the weekend that they would not vote for a bill that would fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, which contains funding for the Department of Homeland Security. CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — whose agents were involved in the shooting of Renee Good — both fall under the DHS umbrella. “After their son was killed in broad daylight, they are now forced to defend him against this administration’s lies,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on X. “It’s another reason why Senate Democrats are united in rejecting this DHS spending bill.” The House of Representatives already voted on spending bills before adjourning ahead of a major snowstorm descending on the capital. The House is not likely to return in time to avert a partial shutdown should the Senate somehow reach a deal, Punchbowl News reported. “The Trump Administration and [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem are putting undertrained, combative federal agents on the streets with no accountability,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) said in a statement on Saturday. “They are oppressing Americans and are at odds with local law enforcement,” she added. “This is clearly not about keeping Americans safe, it’s brutalizing U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants.” It’s unclear exactly how a shutdown would impact CBP and ICE. Much of the president’s immigration agenda was funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, funding that would not be interrupted by a shutdown. Last year, the United States faced the largest federal government shutdown in history for 43 days over a debate regarding Affordable Care Act subsidies. Aside from the looming shutdown, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) is requesting testimony from CBP, ICE, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over “border security and immigration enforcement” in hearings either in February or March, according to letters sent by the congressman on Saturday. In Minnesota, Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge has led to thousands of arrests of people in the country illegally, but it’s also led to serious clashes with anti-ICE protests in the region — and staunch opposition from Democrats in the state. “They think they can provoke us into abandoning our values. They are wrong. We will keep the peace. We will secure justice for our neighbors. And we will see this occupation end,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) posted to X on Saturday night. The Trump administration has stated that Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey need to tone down the rhetoric in the state. “The Minnesota governor and the Minneapolis mayor need to take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Noem said at a Saturday press conference. “They need to evaluate their rhetoric, their conversations, and their encouragement of such violence against our citizens and our law enforcement officers.”

President Donald Trump on Sunday joined a memorial service for the late “Dilbert” cartoonist Scott Adams, who died earlier in the month from metastatic prostate cancer. “The world lost a great one this month when we lost Scott Adams,” Trump said during the live-streamed celebration of life. “There was nobody like him. But Heaven gained a good heart, a brilliant mind and a very brave soul.” WATCH: ?Trump honors Scott Adams at Celebration of Life??? “The world lost a great one this month when we lost Scott Adams. There was nobody like him. But Heaven gained a good heart, a brilliant mind and a very brave soul.” “Scott was one of a kind, among the most interesting and… pic.twitter.com/4T3uuVUIka — Jason Cohen ?? (@JasonJournoDC) January 25, 2026 “Scott was one of a kind, among the most interesting and original people and thinkers of our time,” Trump continued, praising Adams for his steadfast support. “I will never forget that Scott was with me from the very beginning … And he was a loyal and true friend to all of us until the very end.” “Scott, we love you, we miss you and we will never ever forget you,” the president concluded. “Thank you for everything — and everything you’ve done for me. And God bless the United States of America, which loves you so much.” In addition to his work as a cartoonist and an author, Adams reached millions with his daily live-streamed “Coffee with Scott Adams” chats — which he continued, whenever possible, even up to his very last days. Adams left behind a message encouraging his followers to do as he had done and keep looking for ways to “be useful.” “I had an amazing life,” he said. “I gave it everything I had. If you got any benefits from my work, I’m asking you to pay it forward as best you can. That’s the legacy I want. Be useful. And please know I loved you all to the end.”