SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) — Mike Lindell, the fervent supporter of President Donald Trump known to TV viewers as the “MyPillow Guy,” officially entered the race for Minnesota governor Thursday in hopes of winning the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2026.
Lindell made the announcement at a news conference at his MyPillow factory in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee that he streamed live on his Lindell TV conservative news platform. He said his political opponents had tried to shut him and his company down because of his support for Trump's claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“Well, it didn’t work. I’m still standing. MyPillow is still standing,” Lindell said. “And now I want you to know that I will stand for you as governor of the state of Minnesota.”
Machinery banged and hissed loudly in the background as workers packaged MyPillows. He went straight from his announcement into a live interview with another Trump ally, conservative strategist Steve Bannon, on his “War Room” podcast.
The energetic Lindell then took the interview with Bannon outside, where his new red-white-and-blue bus was running. He said he intends to take his campaign to every town in Minnesota.
Afterward, Lindell told reporters that he told Trump back in August he was considering running for governor. But he declined to predict whether he will get the president's endorsement, which could carry a lot of weight with the grassroots Republicans who will attend the state party's convention next year. He also acknowledged that he gets advice from Trump’s former personal lawyer and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has a show on Lindell TV.
Lindell, 64, founded his pillow company in Minnesota in 2009 and became its public face through infomercials that became ubiquitous on late-night television. But he and his company faced a string of legal and financial setbacks after he became a leading amplifier of Trump’s false claims that he really won the 2020 election. He said he has overcome them.
“Not only have I built businesses, you look at problem solution,” Lindell said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his announcement, in his trademark rapid-fire style. “I was able to make it through the biggest attack on a company, and a person, probably other than Donald Trump, in the history of our media ... lawfare and everything.”
Lindell said he has a record of solving problems and personal experiences that will help businesses and fight addiction and homelessness as well as fraud in government programs. The fraud issue has particularly dogged Walz, the 2024 Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, who announced in September that he’s seeking a third term.
“Lindell has made a name for himself kissing up to Donald Trump and pushing far-right conspiracy theories, especially around the 2020 presidential election results — not to mention selling subpar pillows,” the Walz campaign said in a statement. “He’s a snake oil salesman caught up in multiple legal fights who wants to bring Trump extremism to Minnesota.”
While no Republican has won statewide office in Minnesota since 2006, the state's voters have a history of making unconventional choices. They shocked the world by electing former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor in 1998. And they picked a veteran TV pitchman in 1978 when they elected home improvement company owner Rudy Boschwitz as a U.S. senator.
Lindell has frequently talked about how he overcame a crack cocaine addiction with a religious conversion in 2009 as MyPillow was getting going. His life took another turn in 2016 when he met the future president during Trump's first campaign. He served as a warm-up speaker at dozens of Trump rallies and co-chaired Trump's campaign in Minnesota.
His Lindell TV platform was in the news in November when it became one of several conservative outlets that became credentialed to cover the Pentagon after agreeing to a restrictive new press policy rejected by virtually all legacy media organizations.
Lindell's outspoken support for Trump's election denials triggered a backlash as major retailers discontinued MyPillow products. By his own admission, revenue slumped and lines of credit dried up, costing him millions. Several vendors sued MyPillow over billing disputes. Fox News stopped running his commercials. Lawyers quit on him.
Lindell has been sued twice for defamation over his claims that voting machines were manipulated to deprive Trump of a victory.
A federal judge in Minnesota ruled in September that Lindell defamed Smartmatic with 51 false statements. But the judge deferred the question of whether Lindell acted with the “actual malice” that Smartmatic must prove to collect. Smartmatic says it's seeking “nine-figure damages.”
A Colorado jury in June found that Lindell defamed a former Dominion Voting Systems executive by calling him a traitor, and awarded $2.3 million in damages.
But Lindell won a victory in July when a federal appeals court overturned a judge's decision that affirmed a $5 million arbitration award to a software engineer who disputed data that Lindell claimed proved Chinese interference in the 2020 election. The engineer had accepted Lindell's “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,” which he launched as part of his 2021 “Cyber Symposium” in South Dakota, where he promised to expose election fraud.
Lindell told the AP his crusade against electronic voting machines will just be part of his platform. While Minnesota uses paper ballots, it also uses electronic tabulators to count them. Lindell wants them hand-counted, even though many election officials say machine counting is more accurate.
Some Republicans in the race include Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator from Chaska who was the party's 2022 candidate; state Rep. Kristin Robbins, of Maple Grove; defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Chris Madel; and former executive Kendall Qualls.
“These guys haven’t lived what I live,” Lindell said.
Lindell wouldn't commit to abiding by the Minnesota GOP endorsement and forgoing the primary if he loses it, expressing confidence that he'll win. He also said he'll rely on his supporters to finance his campaign because his own finances are drained. “I don’t have the money,” he acknowledged.
But he added that ever since word got out last week that he had filed the paperwork to run, “I’ve had thousands upon thousands of people text and call, saying from all around the country ... ‘Hey, I’ll donate.’”
MyPillow CEO and founder Mike Lindell speaks to reporters at his MyPillow factory in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee, Minn., on Thursday, Dec, 11, 2025, as he launches his campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in 2026. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
FILE - Mike Lindell walks into federal district court for a defamation trial, June 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)
The Senate on Thursday rejected two partisan health bills on expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, essentially guaranteeing that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.
The failed Democratic bill would have extended the COVID-era subsidies for three years, while the GOP alternative would have replaced the subsidies with new health savings accounts.
The subsidies run dry in three weeks, at which point some Affordable Care Act enrollees see their premium costs more than double.
Meanwhile, at a Senate committee hearing on President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities, Republicans defended the deployments as necessary to fight lawlessness and Democrats called it an extraordinary abuse of military power that violates states’ rights.
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Leavitt said discussions continue and the U.S. could send a representative to those discussions as soon as this weekend “if there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement.”
But she added that it’s “still up in the air whether real peace can be achieved.”
Trump took office in January suggesting he could solve Russia’s war in Ukraine quickly but has spent months complaining bitterly about a lack of progress. Leavitt said the president is “extremely frustrated with both sides of this war.”
“And he’s sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting,” Leavitt said. “He doesn’t want any more talk. He wants action.”
Leavitt says the U.S. government “does intend to seize the oil” from a tanker that U.S. forces took Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela.
Leavitt said the Justice Department had received a warrant to take the tanker because it’s a sanctioned vessel used to carry “black market” oil.
She said the U.S. has an investigative team on the tanker. The team is interviewing the people aboard the ship and collecting any relevant evidence.
Leavitt said the U.S. government will follow the legal process required to seize the available oil.
Karoline Leavitt was asked about the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies after the Senate’s rejection of legislation that would have extended the tax credits.
The briefing came just after the chamber rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts.
Also blaming Democrats for the Obama-era health care bill, which she noted was passed “without a single Republican vote,” Leavitt argued that Democrats had “ballooned” the program “with these expensive COVID subsidies that completely distorted the health insurance market.”
The rejection essentially guarantees that millions of Americans will see a steep rise in costs at the beginning of the year.
Senators rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts Thursday.
It’s an unceremonious end to a monthslong effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19-era subsidies from expiring on Jan. 1.
Ahead of the votes, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans that if they did not vote to extend the tax credits, “there won’t be another chance to act,” before premiums rise for many people.
Republicans have argued that Affordable Care Act plans are too expensive and need to be overhauled.
A presidentially appointed council’s long-awaited public meeting to announce recommended reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been canceled at the last minute, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss the change publicly.
The FEMA Review Council was scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon. Noem, the council’s co-chair, abruptly left a congressional hearing early because she said she needed to go the meeting.
Trump created the FEMA Review Council by executive order in late January, the same day he proposed eliminating FEMA. He has repeatedly said he wants to push more responsibility for disaster recovery to states.
The White House, Department of Homeland Security and FEMA did not respond to questions about the meeting’s cancelation.
— Gabriela Aoun
Delia Ramirez, a Democrat from Illinois, accused Noem’s department of waging an “unaccountable, unlawful, unconstitutional” war against communities across the country.
Ramirez showed a number of videos of Noem talking and then repeatedly accused her of lying.
“Secretary Noem, you lie and you lie to the American people,” Ramirez said.
In one video, Noem said the agency focused on people in the country illegally, not American citizens while in another Noem said they were focusing on the “worst of the worst.”
Ramirez disputed those characterizations and said Noem lied with “impunity.”
The Senate has rejected a Republican bill to replace expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies with new health savings accounts. The legislation was a Republican alternative to Democratic legislation to extend the subsidies for three years.
Senators are now voting on the Democratic bill and are expected to reject it — meaning that the subsidies are likely to expire.
Noem defended the cancelation of billions of dollars in mitigation grants administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, saying the grants had been “weaponized to fund the Green New Deal and for climate change.”
The Trump administration in April canceled $3.6 billion in grants under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, created under the first Trump administration to help communities harden infrastructure to mitigate damage from climate disasters.
Noem said FEMA is “deploying resources two times faster on average, than in history,” though a policy that she personally approve DHS expenditures of $100,000 or more has been widely criticized for slowing deployment of FEMA services and dollars.
Secretary Noem has left the hearing early.
Noem said she had to go to another meeting of a council that is offering suggestions on how to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As she walked out, Julie Johnson, a Democrat from Texas who was slated to question the secretary next, joked: “I’m just going to take the position that she was scared of my questions.”
As Noem walked out of the room, protesters trailed her down the hallway yelling “Shame on you!”
But Trump administration officials declined to make commitments on what authorities the president may use in the future to send National Guard troops from one state to another.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, used the closing moments of the hearing to press the officials on whether National Guard troops will be deployed from other states beyond their current authority to protect federal facilities and officials, such as to conduct law enforcement activity.
Federal judges have blocked or limited troop deployments in Oregon, Illinois and California as the Trump administration has attempted to use troops to assist in its mass deportation goals.
Mark Ditlevson, a Trump administration official who oversees homeland defense, only said that any orders would be evaluated to make sure they are “100% legal.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed solidarity with Maduro and told him “direct communication channels” between the countries “remain permanently open,” a Venezuelan government statement said.
Talking a day after the U.S. military seized an oil tanker off the Venezuela’s coast, Putin told Maduro that “Russia will continue to support Venezuela in its struggle to assert its sovereignty, international law, and peace throughout Latin America, making its diplomatic capabilities available to strengthen cooperation in these essential areas,” the Venezuelan government said.
The Kremlin said both leaders also discussed developing friendly bilateral ties and their commitment to joint projects in trade, economic, energy, financial, cultural, humanitarian, and other areas.
The Senate is voting on Republican legislation that would create new health savings accounts as health care subsidies for millions of Americans are set to expire Jan. 1.
The Senate is expected to reject the legislation, along with a second Democratic bill that would extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Republicans say the savings accounts would replace the subsidies by giving money directly to consumers, instead of to insurance companies. Democrats say the GOP plan would lead to higher costs for consumers.
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned that premiums will skyrocket unless Congress passes an extension of the subsidies. “If Republicans don’t climb aboard, there won’t be another chance to act,” Schumer said ahead of the votes.
Noem linked the seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast to the Trump administration’s efforts to push back on “a regime that is systematically ... flooding our country with deadly drugs.” She said Trump administration officials had seized “enough lethal doses of cocaine to kill 177 million Americans.”
On Wednesday, Trump said the United States had seized the tanker as tensions mount with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has broadly justified a regional military buildup and a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean as necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the U.S.
House Democratic identified members of the audience they said had family members who had been improperly treated by the immigration system.
Noem said she would review the cases of several called out by Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island. One, a combat veteran, appeared on a screen via a video call. Magaziner said the Purple Heart recipient had been deported earlier this year.
“You don’t seem to know how to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys,” Magaziner said to Noem.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday that “decisive” actions by the United States, including the seizure of an oil tanker, have left the repressive government of President Nicolás Maduro at its weakest point, and she vowed to return to the country to keep fighting for democracy.
Machado’s statements to reporters came hours after she appeared in public for the first time in 11 months, following her arrival in Norway’s capital, Oslo, where her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize award on her behalf on Wednesday.
Trump’s actions “have been decisive to reach where we are now, where the regime is significantly weaker,” she said. “Because before, the regime thought it had impunity …. Now they start to understand that this is serious, and that the world is watching.”
Machado sidestepped questions on whether a U.S. military intervention is necessary to remove Maduro from power
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The hearing quickly became heated over the tragic shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
Thompson had begun questioning Noem over what he called the “unfortunate accident” when the secretary interrupted the ranking Democrat.
“Unfortunate accident?” Noem retorted. She called it a “terrorist attack.”
The interaction devolved from there as Thompson questioned her department’s approval of asylum claim that allowed the suspect to stay in the U.S.
Noem insisted it was the Biden administration’s vetting process that failed to properly screen the man who had worked alongside the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee zeroed in Thursday on Trump’s statements that an “invasion within” or an “enemy within” justifies his guard deployments.
Gen. Gregory Guillot, who leads the military’s Northern Command, said “I do not have any indications of an enemy within.”
Charles Young, principal deputy general counsel for the Defense Department, said the Supreme Court has ruled that the president has the exclusive authority to decide whether an emergency exists.
An attorney for the Pentagon declined to offer a clear answer when asked if a president could lawfully order the military to shoot protesters.
During a hearing Thursday on National Guard deployments in U.S. cities, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, noted that former Defense Secretary Mark Esper alleged that Trump inquired about shooting protesters during the George Floyd demonstrations.
Hirono asked Charles L. Young III, principal deputy general counsel at the defense department, whether a presidential order to shoot protesters would be lawful.
Young said he was unaware of Trump’s comments and responded that the answer “would depend on the circumstances.”
“We have a president who doesn’t think the rule of law applies to him,” Hirono said in response.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release Abrego Garcia from custody immediately.
“Since Abrego Garcia’s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority,” the judge wrote. “For this reason, the Court will GRANT Abrego Garcia’s Petition for immediate release from ICE custody.”
The Salvadoran national has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. An immigration judge in 2019 ruled Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family. When Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who oppose Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The secretary also levied broad criticism of the program that brought the man to the United States years before he allegedly shot two National Guard members.
Operation Allies Welcome was created by the Biden administration to save Afghan supporters from Taliban retribution after the U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan following 20 years of American intervention and billions of dollars of aid.
Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, was killed in the Washington shooting. Noem said Thursday that U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, has been showing improvement.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Jack Reed, questioned Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the commander of U.S. troops in North America, on how he evaluates the lawfulness of orders.
Guillot said that he consults with military attorneys, raises any questions with the defense secretary and commanding military officers, and executes the order once he’s confident in its lawfulness.
This has become a pressing question under the Trump administration amid National Guard deployments to U.S. cities and a campaign to strike boats allegedly carrying drugs near Venezuela. The president has targeted Democratic lawmakers who released a video urging military and intelligence officers to refuse illegal orders.
“End deportations!” shouts one. “Stop ICE raids!” yells another.
The two people were escorted by Capitol Police out of the Homeland Security Committee hearing room.
Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., gaveled the panel back to order as Noem resumed her opening remarks.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, told the secretary she has diverted vast resources to carry out Trump’s “extreme” immigration agenda, and failed to provide basic responses to oversight questions from Congress.
“I call on you to resign,” the Mississippi congressman said. “Do a real service to the country.”
Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the commander of U.S. troops in North America, told senators that National Guard troops are instructed not to perform many law enforcement activities like making arrests or searching for evidence of a crime. However, the troops are allowed to detain people if they deem the person to be putting others at risk.
Guillot said that one person was detained as part of Trump’s campaign to deploy National Guard troops to U.S. cities. The person was detained in June outside a federal facility in Los Angeles.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is expected to face fierce questioning from Democrats Thursday as the public face of the Republican administration’s hard-line approach to immigration.
Since Noem last appeared in Congress in May, immigration enforcement operations in U.S. cities have become increasingly contentious, with federal agents and activists frequently clashing over her department’s tactics.
Noem is testifying in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security to discuss “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland,” which in years past have focused on issues such as cybersecurity, terrorism, China and border security. Thursday’s appearance is likely to focus heavily on immigration.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said Trump’s deployment of the National Guard into American cities is “deeply unpopular.”
“Most Americans don’t want this,” she said at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, adding that most of the Guard members don’t want these assignments, either.
“Our heroes did not sign up for this,” said Duckworth, a combat veteran who served in the Illinois National Guard.
She noted that she had threatened to hold up the annual defense bill if Republican leadership continued to block the hearing, which she said is long overdue. She said she has questions for the military about how Trump’s deployments are affecting readiness, training and costs.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is opening a hearing on Trump’s National Guard troop deployment to U.S. cities by asserting that crime is on the rise.
“In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican.
He added that the troop deployments are “not only appropriate, but essential.”
Democrats are expected to use the hearing to criticize the deployments as an inappropriate use of military troops.
This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi's X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by U.S. forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (U.S. Attorney General's Office/X via AP)
Sitting next to founder and CEO of Dell, Michael Dell, left, President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Members of the National Guard patrol in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
