A key advisor to Gov. Ron DeSantis spent months getting close to a candidate to replace him, but now regrets and repudiates the move, which reports were that she initiated months ago because she liked his spicy approach to conservative politics.

“In October 2025, I met James Fishback after he sent me a direct message on X. I appreciated his commentary on conservative politics and Florida. For two months, we spoke frequently, and I offered him advice on his gubernatorial campaign. I was never working for him, I never received any form of compensation, and I never informed the governor of my communications with him,” said Christina Pushaw on Sunday night.

Pushaw, who makes a reported $155,000 a year as a senior advisor to DeSantis, claims to have disagreed with Fishback’s rhetoric as it got “more extreme over time,” but the specifics of her agreement and disagreement are left open in her posts.

Yet the extremism of Fishback’s views, which include repeatedly describing Rep. Byron Donalds using various racist tropes, wasn’t the deal-breaker.

Rather, it was Fishback allegedly trashing Pushaw behind her back.

“I had to cut ties with James Fishback because I learned that he had deceived me, violated my trust, and lied about me to numerous people in media and politics,” Pushaw says.

She says she never had a “romantic or sexual relationship” with Fishback, and that the candidate’s alleged stories about her are intended to distract from an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into him.

“Fishback has been spreading deeply personal, hurtful, and false rumors about me. He has claimed that we were romantically involved. He has even threatened to falsely accuse me of sexual harassment,” she says, calling Fishback “dangerous” and intent upon smearing her.

Pushaw says she apologizes to Donalds and to Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and his wife for having “coarsened the primary campaign and made it more toxic than it needed to be,” though it’s unclear what an appropriate level of toxicity would be.

She also apologizes to Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis for “for any embarrassment that my communication with James Fishback might ever bring on this office.”

“They had absolutely no idea and would never have condoned my communications with him,” Pushaw says.

Pushaw seems resigned to any consequences.

“I am fine with whatever fate awaits me. If this catastrophic error of judgement makes me unemployable, so be it. I made a mistake. I admitted to it. I want to make it right, and if that means never working in politics again, it’s a consequence I am ready to accept.”

Fishback’s meetings with people in DeSantis’ orbit have been a matter of intrigue, including a coffee with LG Collins last year while the Tampa Republican mulled running for Governor, and reported conversations with Taryn Fenske, another top aide.

Since coming to Tallahassee, Pushaw has been known for her combative tone with media and with politicians with whom the Governor had disagreements. She has weathered myriad storms, including retroactive disclosure of being a foreign agent before working for DeSantis.

Now we have a retroactive disclosure of electioneering from a taxpayer-funded post, and it remains to be seen what will happen next.

The mayor of Minneapolis said Sunday that sending active duty soldiers into Minnesota to help with an immigration crackdown is a ridiculous and unconstitutional idea as he urged protesters to remain peaceful so the president won’t see a need to send in the U.S. military.

Daily protests have been ongoing throughout January since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers.

In a diverse neighborhood where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been frequently seen, U.S. postal workers marched through on Sunday, chanting: “Protect our routes. Get ICE out.”

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers based in Alaska who specialize in operating in arctic conditions to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, two defense officials said Sunday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders.

One defense official said the troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act.

The rarely-used 19th century law would allow him to send military troops into Minnesota, where protesters have been confronting federal immigration agents for weeks. He has since backed off the threat, at least for now.

Thousands of Minneapolis citizens are exercising their First Amendment rights and the protests have been peaceful, Frey said.

“We are not going to take the bait. We will not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos here,” Frey said.

Gov. Tim Walz has mobilized the Minnesota National Guard, although no units have been deployed to the streets.

Peter Noble joined dozens of other U.S. Post Office workers Sunday on their only day off from their mail routes to march against the immigration crackdown. They passed by the place where an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, during a Jan. 7 confrontation.

“I’ve seen them driving recklessly around the streets while I am on my route, putting lives in danger,” Noble said.

Letter carrier Susan Becker said she came out to march on the coldest day since the crackdown started because it’s important to keep telling the federal government she thinks what it is doing is wrong. She said people on her route have reported ICE breaking into apartment buildings and tackling people in the parking lot of shopping centers.

“These people are by and large citizens and immigrants. But they’re citizens, and they deserve to be here; they’ve earned their place and they are good people,” Becker said.

A Republican U.S. House member called for Walz to tone down his comments about fighting the federal government and instead start to help law enforcement.

Many of the officers in Minnesota are neighbors just doing the jobs they were sent to do, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told WCCO-AM in Minneapolis.

“These are not mean spirited people. But right now, they feel like they’re under attack. They don’t know where the next attack is going to come from and who it is. So people need to keep in mind this starts at the top,” Emmer said.

Across social media, videos have been posted of federal officers spraying protesters with pepper spray, knocking down doors and forcibly taking people into custody. On Friday, a federal judge ruled that immigration officers can’t detain or tear gas peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including when they’re observing the officers during the Minnesota crackdown.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.