Summary
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act – which allows the president to use the military domestically to suppress an invasion or rebellion – as protests against federal immigration agents continued in Minneapolis. In a social media post, Minnesota governor Tim Walz called on Trump to “turn the temperature down” but at a press conference this afternoon, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Walz and the president had not spoken today. During a meeting with Trump this afternoon, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told the president ICE raids “are dangerous and putting more people at risk”.
Federal agents deployed teargas to disperse dozens of protesters outside the a federal building in Minneapolis that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement today, and border patrol commander Gregory Bovino told Fox News that “recent arrests” were made outside the building.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that it has used federal law enforcement to target Somali and Latino communities in Minnesota. The ACLU is suing on behalf of three US citizens from the North Star state, all of whom were arrested or accosted by federal immigration officers.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado met with Donald Trump at the White House and a bipartisan group of senators on Capitol Hill. After, she said that she had presented Trump with her Nobel peace prize medal.
An appeals court dismissed Mahmoud Khalil’s lawsuit challenging his initial detention, and opened up the path for his re-arrest. Khalil – a green card holder and Columbia graduate – was released from an immigration detention facility last year, after he was initially arrested for his role in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
At a press conference today, Karoline Leavitt said “the president was simply joking” when Trump said “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election” during an interview with Reuters yesterday.
Trump has selected the members of an international “Board of Peace” designed to temporarily govern Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the president announced in a social media post. Reuters reports that the names are expected to be announced at Davos next week.
The justice department is undertaking an unprecedented effort to collect sensitive voter information about tens of millions of Americans. The department has asked at least 43 states for their comprehensive information on voters, including the last four digits of their social security numbers, full dates of birth and addresses, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The New York Post has shared an “exclusive photo” of Donald Trump and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, with the president holding Machado’s Nobel peace prize medal.
Tomorrow's cover: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal in White House meeting https://t.co/rGEx5AnVR8 pic.twitter.com/ASkIxUlkw0
— New York Post (@nypost) January 16, 2026
Machado told reporters that she had presented the medal to Trump during her meeting with the president today and the president later posted on social media thanking her for the gift.
The photograph shows that Machado presented the medal in a gold frame, alongside text that read: “Presented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people in recognition of President Trump’s principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela.”
