Last Week in Censorship: January 20-26, 2026

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One week into Trump’s second year in office, the administration’s authoritarian impulses have reached new depths of absurdity and malice. Federal judges are rejecting charges against journalists for covering protests, only to watch the White House doctor arrest photos of protesters using AI. The national weather service can’t warn about ice storms because the administration fears internet memes about ICE agents. House leadership now openly supports impeaching federal judges for unfavorable rulings, while FBI Director Kash Patel purges dozens more agents for investigating Trump. As protests spread across the country following another killing by federal agents, America is witnessing a government so paranoid about its own image that it’s willing to compromise public safety warnings and manipulate photographic evidence, all while firing anyone who dares to seek accountability for its actions.

You can visualize all the censorship actions we’ve tracked under the second Trump Administration on our new dashboard at TrumpCensorship.com. We’ll be updating it every week ☀️

Suppression of Press Freedom

Trump amplifies calls for Don Lemon to face 40-year prison sentence over church protest coverage. President Trump reshared a Truth Social post calling for former CNN host Don Lemon to receive a 40-year prison sentence for covering an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church. The post compared Lemon’s journalism to elderly women allegedly given “40 years in prison for violating the FACE Act” at abortion clinics, demanding “the same kind of sentence for Don Lemon.” Trump’s amplification came as Justice Department officials threatened to charge Lemon for livestreaming the January 18 demonstration, where protesters called for the resignation of pastor David Easterwood, who also serves as the local ICE field office director. A federal magistrate judge ultimately rejected prosecutors’ bid to charge Lemon, finding his work was protected speech under the First Amendment.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

House Speaker endorses impeaching federal judges over unfavorable rulings. Speaker Mike Johnson declared he supports impeachment articles against federal judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, claiming “extreme times call for extreme measures.” Johnson specifically targeted Boasberg for blocking Trump’s deportation plans and authorizing January 6-related subpoenas, and Boardman for sentencing would-be Kavanaugh assassin Sophie Roske to eight years instead of prosecutors’ requested 30-plus years. “I think some of these judges have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they’re supposed to operate, it would not be, in my view, a bad thing for Congress to lay down law,” Johnson said, adding he wants to “make an example of some of these egregious abuses.” The move represents a stark escalation in attacks on judicial independence, coming as threats against federal judges have spiked 327% in the Trump era.

Miami Beach police visit woman’s home over Facebook criticism of mayor. Two Miami Beach detectives questioned activist Raquel Pacheco at her home over a Facebook comment accusing Mayor Steven Meiner of “consistently call[ing] for the death of all Palestinians.” The officers warned that her comment “could probably incite somebody to do something radical” and advised her to “refrain from posting things like that.” Police Chief Wayne Jones defended the visit as necessary to “assess any potential threat,” though the Miami Herald revealed Meiner’s office first flagged Pacheco’s comment to police. Free speech groups condemned the visit, with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression calling it “blatant overreach” designed to pressure Pacheco to “cease engaging in protected political expression.” This marks the second time Meiner has drawn censorship criticism—he previously tried to terminate a movie theater’s lease for screening a documentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

California Governor blocked from speaking at official U.S. venue in Davos. The White House allegedly pressured organizers to cancel Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scheduled appearance at USA House, the official U.S. pavilion at the World Economic Forum, just hours after Trump criticized him in a speech. Fortune magazine confirmed it had invited Newsom to participate in a fireside chat but that “USA House determined it would not be able to accommodate the Governor’s participation.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mocked Newsom from the same stage earlier, saying the Trump administration was “coming to California” to crack down on alleged fraud. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed Newsom as a “third-rate governor” who was “frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California,” while refusing to deny the administration’s role in the cancellation.

FBI Director Kash Patel purges dozens of agents connected to Trump investigations. Patel carried out another sweeping purge of FBI personnel this week, forcing out field office leaders and senior agents involved in investigating Trump’s classified documents case and January 6 probe. Those affected included the special agent in charge of the Atlanta field office, the acting assistant director of the New York field office, a former New Orleans special agent, and up to six Miami agents connected to the Mar-a-Lago search. The firings came days after Trump called FBI agents “total Scum” and demanded “Kash better get them out, NOW!” Patel responded that the bureau had already “terminated their employment” of “corrupt actors,” declaring “America voted for the end of weaponized law enforcement.” The FBI Agents Association has sued over the politically motivated terminations, calling them improper in the absence of misconduct evidence.

FBI agent investigating Renee Good shooting resigns over pressure to drop probe. Tracee Mergen, a supervisor in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, resigned after being ordered to stop investigating ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Good on January 7. Mergen had opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting but was pressured by FBI headquarters to reclassify it as an investigation into an assault on the officer instead. The FBI also blocked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced there was “no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation” into Good’s killing, despite video evidence that appears to contradict the administration’s self-defense narrative.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

White House posts AI-altered photo of protester to make her appear to be crying. The official White House account shared a digitally manipulated image of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong’s arrest, adding fake tears and darkening her skin tone to make her appear distraught while being detained. The doctored photo was posted 30 minutes after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shared the original image showing Armstrong with a calm, neutral expression. When asked for comment, the White House sent reporters a link to deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr’s post declaring: “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.” Armstrong was arrested for organizing a peaceful protest at Cities Church, where demonstrators objected to pastor David Easterwood’s role as the local ICE field director. Armstrong told CNN that the FBI agent filming her arrest “said, ‘Oh, it’s not going to go on Twitter or anything,’” contradicting the White House’s subsequent social media use.

Language Policing

Federal emergency workers banned from using word “ice” in storm warnings over meme fears. The Department of Homeland Security ordered FEMA to avoid using the word “ice” in public messaging about winter storms due to fears of internet mockery of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. DHS officials worried that phrases like “watch out for ice” could become viral memes amid negative headlines about ICE agents killing civilians in Minnesota. “If FEMA says, ‘Keep off the roads if you see ice,’ it would be easy for the public to meme it,” one source told CNN. The directive came as a major ice storm affected over 2,000 miles across 35 states, potentially compromising public safety messaging during dangerous weather conditions. A FEMA spokesperson called the reporting “a desperate ploy for clickbait,” insisting the agency would “use correct and accurate descriptors of weather conditions.”

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Federal judges continue to reject the administration’s overreach, with a magistrate judge refusing to sign charges against Don Lemon for covering the church protest, finding his journalism was protected by the First Amendment. The same judge found “no probable cause” for several charges against other protesters, forcing prosecutors to scramble during hearings when they couldn’t even provide arrest warrants to defendants’ attorneys. These judicial pushbacks mirror broader patterns of resistance: the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office’s criminal complaints faced a 21% dismissal rate of over eight weeks, compared to a mere 0.5% dismissal rate over the prior 10 years, according to a federal magistrate judge’s scathing October opinion calling the statistics “shocking.”

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