Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Fraudster Trump Says He’ll ‘Control’ Venezuela Oil Money

The president announced in a Tuesday social media post that up to 50 million barrels of “sanctioned” oil will be turned over to the U.S.

President Donald Trump announced in a Tuesday night Truth Social post that the U.S. successfully obtained millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil following his administration’s invasion of the South American nation and subsequent abduction of ousted President Nicolás Maduro.

“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”

A senior administration official told CNN that the oil has already been produced and placed in barrels. The majority of the barrels are already on boats destined for U.S. facilities, where the oil will be refined.

While Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were transported to the U.S. to stand trial for cocaine importation and weapons charges, Trump has not been shy about being motivated by a desire to gain access to Venezuela’s proven oil reserves, which are the largest in the world.

“The oil companies are going to go in, they are going to spend money, we are going to take back the oil, frankly, we should’ve taken back a long time ago. A lot of money is coming out of the ground, we are going to be reimbursed for everything we spend,” the 79-year-old convicted fraudster said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference on Saturday.

Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by a New York jury in May 2024, in relation to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. He later received an “unconditional discharge” and as a result faced no jail time, fine, or probation.

Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s, further doubling down when, in 2007 under former President Hugo Chávez, it forced U.S. oil companies operating in the country to transfer control to Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., the country’s state-run oil company.

Transporting millions of barrels of Venezuela’s oil to the U.S. circumvents, at least temporarily, the issue of repairing Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, which has degraded significantly in recent decades, with experts estimating that it could cost as much as $100 billion to restore.

Trump revealed on Sunday that he had spoken to oil companies “before and after” the invasion of Caracas, noting the role they will play in fixing the country’s oil infrastructure.

“They want to go in, and they’re going to do a great job for the people of Venezuela, and they’re going to represent us well,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “The infrastructure is rusty, rotten, most of it is unusable. It’s old. It’s broken. You see pipes lying all over the ground, nothing’s been invested for years.”

“The country is a mess. It’s been horribly run. The oil is just flowing at a very low level,” he said. “Even if it was badly run, it should have more income, more oil than what they do. So we’re going to have the big oil companies going in, they’re going to fix the infrastructure, they’re going to invest money.”

Trump previously said in his Saturday press conference that he was going to “Make Venezuela Great Again” and that the U.S. would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-trump-claims-his-real-victory-in-venezuela/?

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Trump’s EPA Could Limit Its Own Ability to Use New Science to Strengthen Air Pollution Rules

Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention. 

https://www.propublica.org/article/air-pollution-regulations-epa-trump?

Trump Signs Defense Bill Prohibiting China-Based Engineers in Pentagon IT Work

President Donald Trump signed into law this month a measure that prohibits anyone based in China and other adversarial countries from accessing the Pentagon’s cloud computing systems.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-law-microsoft-digital-escort-ban-china?

US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil with tanker seizures and sales worldwide

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131?

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Trump Makes Bonkers Military Threat to New Land-Grab Target

This puts his administration on a collision course with U.S.’s closest allies.

The Trump administration has doubled down on seizing Greenland, with the White House actively discussing using the U.S. military to stake a claim to the self-ruling island.

Days after capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump and his team escalated their threats about acquiring Greenland on Tuesday, merely hours after America’s European allies told them to butt out.

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” the White House said in a statement to Reuters.

“The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”

The comments are emblematic of Trump’s heightened desire to assert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” the president said on Saturday as he announced that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and allow American companies to extract its oil.

Some of the options reportedly under consideration include purchasing Greenland outright or entering into a Compact of Free Association with the territory. However, the latter would stop short of Trump’s ambition to make Greenland part of the U.S.

But using the military to annex Greenland would be highly controversial because the island is a self-governing democratic territory of Denmark, which is a U.S. ally.

Unlike Venezuela, it is also a fellow NATO member, and military action would therefore be a gross violation of international law and state sovereignty.

In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, European leaders - including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - rallied around Denmark and Greenland, effectively warning the U.S. against military action.

“Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland,” the leaders said, in a stinging rebuke.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday, also weighed in, telling reporters: “The future of Greenland is a decision exclusively for the people of Greenland and Denmark.”

However, the administration has become increasingly emboldened since it captured Maduro over the weekend, arguing that the Western Hemisphere should not be the base of operation for adversaries and rivals such as Russia or China.

Immediately after the military operation in Venezuela, Miller’s wife posted a photo of a map of Greenland covered with an American flag on her X account with the caption “SOON.”

Grilled about the CNN post on Monday night, Stephen Miller said Trump had made it clear he wanted to take over the running of Greenland since his first term. He also declared that no one would oppose the U.S. militarily staking a claim to it.

“The United States is the power of NATO,” Miller said. “For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.

But Greenland is not the only place Trump has aimed at in recent days.

On Sunday, he also threatened Colombia, which Trump said was run by “a sick man,” President Gustavo Petro, “who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Asked whether that meant we could see U.S. military operations in Colombia, Trump replied: “That sounds good to me.”

Trump also raised the prospects of an attack on Iran, whose regime is currently facing a wave of protests, and even posed on Air Force One holding a “Make Iran Great Again” cap.

He also warned Mexico to “get their act together,” otherwise “we’re going to have to do something” and said the U.S. would be prepared to strike Venezuela again, “if they don’t behave.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-doubles-down-on-trumps-greenland-power-grab/?

ps:He doesn't care about anything but his bottom line!! And what would that be? The almighty dollar!!!!!

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Tulsi’s Very Timely Hint About What She Really Thinks

The anti-foreign intervention DNI’s social media is more pointed than you knew...our must-read newsletter The Swamp reveals.

Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, and Sarah Ewall-Wice, are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.

In this week’s news from the ooze… Ritchie Torres, Marcelito Pomoy, Lord Grantham, Erin Elmore, Brenna Flynn, Amy Coney Barrett, Barron Trump, Abraham Williams, John Ratcliffe, Romero Britto, Dan Scavino, Marco Rubio, and The Trumpettes.

Yoga-Loving Tulsi’s Very Awkward Position

Tulsi Gabbard’s position as Donald Trump turned the heat on Latin America has raised eyebrows and suspicions in Washington.

Trump’s Director of National Intelligence was in full Sun Salutation Lunge pose doing yoga on a twilight beach in photos she posted on social media on January 1, as the countdown to the operation to snatch Nicolás Maduro ticked down.

“My heart is filled with gratitude, aloha and peace,” the former Democratic congresswoman for Hawaii wrote alongside the happy snaps, taken by her husband Abrahama Williams in her home state at, according to his Instagram, sunrise.

It was posted around the time Special Forces first planned to capture Maduro. According to Trump, they had to stand down because the weather wasn’t “perfect.” It is almost unthinkable that the Director of National Intelligence would not have known about the preparations—making her comment about “peace” all the more intriguing.

Two days later, with U.S. forces zeroing in on Caracas, Trump’s inner circle clustered in a makeshift “situation room” at Mar-a-Lago to watch events unfold, but Gabbard, the head of the entire U.S. intelligence community, was nowhere to be seen.

Nor did Gabbard appear in the aftermath when Trump fronted the press flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, whose agency she oversees.

Gabbard’s office didn’t respond to The Swamp in time for publication when asked where she’s been or what role she played in Maduro’s capture.

She did, however, post a rather lukewarm and very belated pat on the back to Trump on Tuesday, saying “kudos” to U.S. forces on X for the “flawless execution” of the Maduro mission and retreading the usual talking points about borders and drug cartels.

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement.

Gabbard’s absence could have two reasons, say D.C. insiders. One is that the Iraq war veteran made her feelings public on the issue of intervention in 2019 when she said the U.S. “should stay out of Venezuela.” In 2020, she was again warning against foreign interventions.

Then, last October, she told a conference in Bahrain that the “endless cycle of regime change or nation-building” was over thanks to Trump. To that end, she probably didn’t want to be involved. Or she wasn’t invited.

Either way, some wonder if Gabbard’s prospects going forward are bleak. For an administration that treats visibility as a loyalty test, the omission was glaring. Her low profile gets even more noticeable given the documented friction between Trump and Gabbard.

While the military veteran has aligned herself with Trump politically in recent years, Venezuela wasn’t the first time she has broken with him on foreign policy. She publicly criticized Trump’s 2020 assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, warning it could provoke a wider war. She also found herself at odds with the president last year over Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Those views earned her credibility with anti-interventionists, but may have cost her trust inside an administration now selling Maduro’s capture as both righteous and inevitable.

It’s also possible, of course, that the administration believes war is for manly men and having Gabbard in the photo would fly in the face of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “No girls allowed” rule.

Donald Trump Jr. and a Lucrative Gamble on a Caracas Kidnap Plot

When Donald Trump Jr. took jobs in the prediction-market companies Kalshi and Polymarket, he could never have forecast finding himself caught in the middle of a betting scandal that imperiled his father’s top-secret attack on Venezuela.

Trump the Elder proudly announced on Saturday morning that his mission to extricate Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, took the dictator by surprise and went off without a hitch.

But it seems that at least one person knew about the raid in advance—because they made a profit of over $400,000 with a wager that Maduro would be ousted from power by January 31.

Jokers claimed online that Donald himself—or perhaps his youngest son, Barron Trump—placed the bet. There is, of course, absolutely no suggestion that anyone in the Trump family or inner circle sought to profit from insider knowledge.

But it is an embarrassment for Trump’s money-hungry namesake son, who joined Polymarket’s advisory board in August 2025 while also investing in the company through his investment firm, 1789 Capital.

“Polymarket cuts through media spin and so-called ‘expert’ opinion by letting people bet on what they actually believe will happen in the world,” Trump Jr. said at the time. He is also a strategic advisor to another prediction company, Kalshi.

In this case, many believe the gambler had more than a crystal ball to work with. A new account invested more than $30,000 on Maduro being ousted a few days before the overnight raid on Saturday.

By the time the news emerged that the Venezuelan leader and his wife had been kidnapped from their bedroom and were on their way to New York, the trader had profited to the tune of $436,759.

It’s still not known who was behind the Maduro betting, but Trump argued that members of Congress were not informed in advance of the strike because he feared the news would leak and risk the not-so-surprise mission.

No doubt there were many on a need-to-know basis. It was reported that both the Washington Post and New York Times knew in advance but held off on reporting the information so as not to endanger service members and Trump admitted tipping off oil execs before the go ahead. Hardly watertight.

There’s nothing illegal about insider trading in prediction markets, so those in the know ahead of the strikes could cash in. Now, New York Rep. Ritchie Torres wants to put a stop to that.

The Democratic lawmaker is introducing a bill to make it illegal for government officials to bet on political prediction markets based on nonpublic material the ban would apply to federally elected officials, including members of Congress, as well as political appointees and executive branch employees who obtain such info in the course of their official duties.

Naturally, that would include the president and his family. But not their pals waiting for brunch at the Mar-a-Lago omelet bar.

Caviar and Carnage: Welcome to 2026 M-A-L-Style

If MAGA rang in 2026 as a brand, it would come in two flavors: gold-plated excess and blood-on-the-table chaos. Down in Palm Beach, Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve bash unfolded exactly as you’d expect. There was a caviar station by the pool—because nothing says “we love working-class voters” like fish eggs under chandeliers—while Don Jr. double-dipped the night as a birthday celebration. Dan Scavino’s fiancée, Erin Elmore, popped up on the big screen in a nostalgic The Apprentice Season 3 cameo, reminding guests that reality TV is still the beating heart of Trumpism. Filipino singer Marcelito Pomoy wowed the First Lady with his ability to sing in both baritone and mezzo-soprano, while the Trumpettes, a female fan club set up in 2015, soaked up the champagne in style. “President Trump’s larger-than-life NYE celebration was sheer perfection!” quipped founding member Toni Holt Kramer.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Butterworth’s hosted a New Year’s Eve bash with a very different vibe. The shindig was open to the public for $150 a ticket and doubled as a belated one-year anniversary for the right-wing watering hole, which opened in October 2024 as a modest venture between Uber legal counsel Alex Butterworth, chef Bart Hutchins, Julian Gagnon, and former Breitbart editor Raheem Kassam. That, of course, was a month before Donald Trump’s election victory turned the Capitol Hill eatery into MAGA’s favorite hangout. The New Year’s shindig/first anniversary bash was so lit that Kassam ended up with a bleeding hand, which he vaguely recalls cutting on a champagne bottle.

The State of the Art

The Swamp owes Erin Elmore, Director of Art in Embassies at the U.S. Department of State, an apology. We thought that maybe the colorful picture she posted on Instagram was painted by a child, perhaps a relative of hers or fiancé Dan Scavino.

But we are reliably told it is the new State Dept. logo, created by “Brazilian-born and Miami-made” artist Romero Britto, who has painted luminaries such as King Charles and Queen Camilla, Elton John, and Sly Stallone. And of course, Donald Trump. Silly us.

The Trump Ban ACB Might Raise Eyebrows At

Donald Trump’s newly expanded travel ban quietly kicked in this week—and tucked inside it is a detail the White House has made zero effort to explain: a blanket ban on all international adoptions from every one of the 39 affected countries. That means Americans are now barred from adopting children from Nigeria, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and dozens of other nations, regardless of humanitarian need, existing family ties, or years-long adoption proceedings. Paperwork almost completed? Too bad. The administration hasn’t announced this shift, defended it, or even acknowledged it. It has simply happened by bureaucratic stealth. Had this policy been in place years ago, some of the most prominent figures in Trump-aligned America would be telling very different family stories. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, for instance, adopted two children from Haiti, telling the Library of Congress Book Festival last year: “Haiti was then the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. It was also close enough to the States… as opposed to some place like China or Russia, which would have been far more inaccessible.” Under Trump’s new rules, such adoptions would never have been allowed. Adding to the absurdity: the State Department’s website still insists that intercountry adoption is one of its “highest priorities.” Apparently, just not in practice. In Trumpworld, even babies are collateral damage.

And MAGA Ever After…

It seems life after the Trump White House is going well for Taylor Budowich, who is officially off the market. The former White House deputy chief of staff proposed to his girlfriend of two years, Brenna Flynn, last week in Carmel, California, setting the moment to Instagram like a perfectly staged lifestyle shoot. Think windswept coastline, soft light, and just enough romance to make the algorithm swoon. Budowich followed up his grand proposal with what was initially billed as a birthday celebration for Flynn, which seamlessly morphed into a full-blown surprise engagement party. If there was ever a reminder that in Trumpworld, even private milestones double as content, this was it. For those keeping score, Budowich is no minor figure in MAGA media circles.

He joined Trump’s inner circle in 2021 and was a key player in plotting his 2024 comeback, leading the MAGA Inc. super PAC and Securing American Greatness, a nonprofit group that collects “dark money.” After leaving the White House in September, Budowich returned to the private sector where he’s now the president of The Sovereign Advisors, a Washington-based public affairs and crisis communications firm, and recently scored a gig at the U.S.-China Commission, a bipartisan commission created by Congress to monitor the relationship between the two super powers focusing on the economy, trade and national defense. Flynn, for her part, is a freelance stylist and head of marketing for luxury menswear brand Stefano Ricci North America whose silk ties retail for $350. MAGA populism strikes again.

John Kerry’s Special Relationship

John Kerry wasn’t a fan of the British show Downton Abbey until he was in pain with a bad back while Secretary of State. Unable to sleep, he went into his den and turned on an episode of the upstairs-downstairs soap at 3 a.m. “Sir, I have to tell you I was still there at noon,” the one-time presidential candidate told the show’s star, Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham. Trump tells a similar story about Fox News.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tulsis-very-timely-hint-about-what-she-really-thinks/?

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Warner Bros. Slaps Down Trump Pal’s Buyout Bid

The move may represent only a temporary reprieve in what critics have otherwise described as a creeping MAGA monopolization of the media sector.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has once again urged shareholders to rebuff the latest takeover bid by Paramount, controlled by President Donald Trump’s billionaire allies Larry and David Ellison. The board argues that the otherwise bullish offer relies too heavily on complex financing and does not represent a wise financial move for the group. “This aggressive transaction structure poses materially more risk for WBD and its shareholders” than a rival bid from Netflix, the board wrote in a message to shareholders on Wednesday. The Ellisons’ months-long efforts to acquire Warner Bros—which among other assets controls CNN, a news organization Trump has repeatedly railed against throughout his political career—comes amid ongoing concerns of a creeping MAGA takeover of the media sector. Critics have consistently raised concerns about changes in editorial policy and output at CBS following the Ellisons’ highly controversial acquisition of Paramount late last year, most notably effectively axing a 60 Minutes segment critical of the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration crackdown.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/warner-bros-slaps-down-trump-pals-larry-and-david-ellisons-buyout-bid/?

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ICE officer kills a Minneapolis driver in a deadly start to Trump’s latest immigration operation

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-immigration-enforcement-shooting-crackdown-surge-173e00fa7388054e98c3b5b9417c1e5a?

US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil with tanker seizures and sales worldwide

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131?

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Flu season could get even worse

Data: CDC; Note: Includes patient visits for respiratory illness that includes fever plus a cough or sore throat; Map: Axios Visuals This flu season is shaping up as one of the most severe in recent memory — and it could get even worse, Alex Fitzpatrick writes. ? At least 11 million people have gotten sick, 120,000 have been hospitalized and 5,000 have died from the flu so far this season, per the latest CDC estimates — including nine pediatric deaths. ? Flu activity levels were very high in over half of U.S. states as of the week ending Dec. 27, 2025, per the latest available data. ✈️ Recent holiday travel may have helped the virus spread even further. ? Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, to AP: "The fact that we've seen steady increases over the last several weeks without much of a decline or even a flattening would suggest to me that we've got the peak ahead of us." This season's outbreak is largely fueled by a so-called "super flu" — the "subclade K" variant of the H3N2 virus, which itself is a subtype of influenza A. ? That variant differs from what's in the latest flu shots, raising concerns that the vaccine may offer less protection. Still, experts recommend getting vaccinated anyway. Dr. Nehal Galal, a primary care physician at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia: "While it may not prevent illness entirely, it can still help reduce your risk of serious complications." Nearly 44% of U.S. adults reported getting a flu shot as of Dec. 27, 2025, the CDC says, up from 41.6% at the same time the previous year. ?‍⚕️ The Trump administration's newly overhauled childhood vaccination schedule, meanwhile, says parents should talk to their doctors before giving kids the flu vaccine, which was previously recommended for all children. Go deeper.

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1. ?️ The U.S. plans to control Venezuelan oil sales and revenue via U.S.-run accounts "indefinitely," Energy Secretary Chris Wright says. His comments help clarify the Trump administration's approach to Venezuela's oil since capturing leader Nicolás Maduro. Go deeper.
2. ? The Coast Guard seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker after a cat-and-mouse chase across the Atlantic, despite the vessel being shadowed by a Russian submarine and Moscow publicly opposing its capture. Go deeper.
3. ?? Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he'll meet with his Danish counterpart next week in Washington to discuss the crisis over Greenland. Go deeper.
4. ? Warner Bros. Discovery's board unanimously rejected Paramount Skydance's updated hostile takeover bid, arguing the offer "is inferior given significant costs, risks and uncertainties as compared to the Netflix merger." Go deeper.

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Minneapolis mayor says ICE officer’s killing of a woman was ‘reckless’ and wasn’t self-defense

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis woman on Wednesday during the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials claimed was an act of self-defense but that the city’s mayor described as “reckless” and unnecessary. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Live updates: ICE officer shoots and kills a woman during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown New dietary guidelines urge Americans to avoid processed foods and added sugar Gov. Ron DeSantis calls for special session in April to redraw Florida’s congressional districts Trump officials loosen strings on federal education money for Iowa. More states could follow Trump tells Republicans to be ‘flexible’ on abortion restrictions to get a health care deal Texas congresswoman wants legal status for migrant workers in struggling construction industry

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US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil with tanker seizures and sales worldwide

President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trump threats against Greenland pose new, potentially unprecedented challenge to NATO US military action in Venezuela is seen as both a blessing and a curse for Russia’s Putin Trump says US to get 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela at market price Rubio says he plans to meet Danish officials next week to talk about US interest in Greenland Trump’s Greenland idea isn’t new. The US has pursued it at least 3 times before Photos from Cuba, Colombia and Mexico as Trump singles them out after US strike on Venezuela

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A Familiar Story (Stephen Maturen / Getty)

View in browser When a federal immigration agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis today, the details were fresh but the story was familiar. Once again, a law-enforcement officer had fired into a moving vehicle, even though experts on use of force, and many agencies’ rules, prohibit or discourage the practice as dangerous and ineffective. The facts of the Minneapolis shooting are still emerging, but bystander videos and eyewitness accounts provide some sense of what happened. Federal agents are in Minnesota as part of an enforcement push as the Trump administration focuses on welfare fraud among Somali immigrants in the state. Video shows bystanders watching (and heckling) federal agents. A truck with flashing lights pulls up; the driver and a second agent jump out and rapidly approach a burgundy SUV blocking the road, and the driver appears to tell a woman to get out of her car. The SUV reverses briefly, then starts to move forward. A third officer then fires several shots. The car veers away before crashing. According to a witness who spoke to The Minnesota Star Tribune, a doctor at the scene attempted to help the woman who was shot, but was kept away by federal agents. When an ambulance finally arrived, it was blocked from reaching her by law-enforcement vehicles, and paramedics had to reach her on foot. The woman has died. An initial statement by Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, appeared to be false in most of its key details, including claiming that “violent rioters” were at the scene and alleging that the driver had “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” The available footage suggests that the driver may instead have been trying to flee. Many DHS claims about incidents between civilians and agents have been misleading or plainly false, and the Trump administration has sought spurious charges against anti-ICE protesters. Residents and local officials reacted with outrage. An emotional Mayor Jacob Frey blasted the federal operation at a press conference. “To ICE—get the fuck out of Minneapolis,” he said. “We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety and you are doing exactly the opposite.” Firing at a car like this is problematic as a matter of both law and practice. Under a 1985 Supreme Court ruling, police aren’t permitted to open fire on someone who is fleeing unless that person presents a serious danger to the officer or others. Justice Byron White wrote that “it is no doubt unfortunate when a suspect who is in sight escapes,” but “it is not better that all felony suspects die than that they escape.” (The driver in question here was not clearly under arrest, much less a felony suspect.) Prosecuting police who open fire is challenging, though, because prosecutors and juries tend to grant wide deference to officers who say they feared that they or others were in peril.   Shooting into moving cars is often a bad idea, though, even when it might be legally justified. Officers who fear they are in danger often miss their target—sometimes harmlessly, sometimes striking bystanders or other officers. “If you actually hit the driver and are successful, now you’ve got an unguided missile,” Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina and an expert on police use of force, told me in 2021. “It’s just as likely if you shoot someone that a foot’s going to go on the gas as on the brake.” In this case, photos suggested that the SUV struck another car after its driver was shot. Because of this, many departments advise against opening fire on moving vehicles. Following a 1972 shooting, the New York Police Department adopted a policy that banned officers from shooting from or at moving vehicles unless the person in the vehicle was using or threatening deadly force, which did not include the vehicle itself. Many other agencies have since followed suit, and guidelines recommended by police organizations tend to concur. Nonetheless, shootings at moving vehicles continue to happen frequently. Violations of departmental rules may draw internal discipline, but they’re not enforceable as a matter of law. Many officers subscribe to the idea that they’re better safe than sorry—or, as an expression goes, that it’s “better to be tried by 12 men than carried by six” pallbearers. Experts also point to poor training as a common reason for these shootings. Though the identity and experience of the officer who opened fire today are not yet known, it should be one area of focus. As ICE and other border agencies scramble to add staff and to reach huge deportation quotas set by the White House, they have lowered standards and shortened training in the hopes of getting agents on the streets sooner—but untrained officers are more likely to make mistakes. Tense relationships between state and local governments and the federal government will complicate the investigation into this shooting, which the FBI will reportedly lead in conjunction with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, today accused DHS of “propaganda” and promised “accountability and justice.” Officers who kill civilians are seldom charged with crimes, and when charges are brought, officers are often acquitted, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has shown a willingness to prosecute officers for violence, including securing the convictions of four Minneapolis police officers in the murder of George Floyd. A successful prosecution here might be even trickier. Related: Why do police keep shooting into moving cars? (From 2021) The Trump administration’s favorite tool for criminalizing dissent (From 2025)

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America's fast fracture

Police tape surrounds a Honda Pilot after an ICE agent fatally shot the driver in Minneapolis yesterday. Photo: Tim Evans/Reuters Within minutes of yesterday's fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, the country had splintered into two irreconcilable camps — one crying murder, the other terrorism, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: In another era, responsible actors might have treated a tragedy like this with restraint and calls for a thorough investigation. In today's hyperpartisan climate, it became an instant Rorschach test. The left branded the ICE agent a "rogue officer" who executed a U.S. citizen during a federal immigration crackdown that never should have happened in the first place. The right labeled the slain driver as a "domestic terrorist" and framed the shooting as a clear-cut case of self-defense amid an assault on law enforcement. The same video footage, watched by millions of Americans, fueled both narratives. Elected officials only accelerated the rush to judgment. President Trump accused 37-year-old Renee Good of "violently, willfully, and viciously" running over an ICE officer, and said "it's hard to believe" the officer survived. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called a similar account by the Department of Homeland Security "bullsh*t," and told ICE to "get the f*ck out of Minneapolis." ?️ The big picture: With thousands of federal agents on the ground in Minneapolis — and millions of Americans enraged by what they think they saw — the city is at risk of becoming a hub of civil unrest. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — who led the state during the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020 — has issued a "warning order" to prepare the Minnesota National Guard for possible deployment. He urged protesters to remain peaceful and "not take the bait," warning that Trump would love nothing more than to deploy federal troops and invoke the Insurrection Act. A large crowd gathered for a vigil at the scene where an ICE agent fatally shot a driver yesterday. Photo: Jaida Grey Eagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images ? What we know: The shooting took place before 10 a.m. local time in a chaotic sequence in a snowy residential neighborhood in south Minneapolis, Axios Twin Cities' Kyle Stokes writes. A witness shared with Axios video of the incident, filmed at a distance, in which gunshots are audible after a dark SUV attempts to drive past a gathering of ICE agents and vehicles. Video from a different angle, obtained by the Minnesota Reformer, shows agents approaching the SUV after it briefly stopped in the middle of the roadway. An eyewitness told MPR News that ICE officers on the scene gave mixed orders to the motorist. One told her to drive off; another demanded she get out of the car. Good, the woman who was killed, was not the target of ICE enforcement. Other witnesses and activists called her an "ICE observer." An Instagram account that appears to belong to Good describes her as a "poet and writer and wife and mom and sh*tty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN." (Minnesota Star Tribune) Go deeper: Fatal shooting raises tensions in Minneapolis ... More on Renee Good ...

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? Trump's great-power collision

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

President Trump is moving to eject America's adversaries from the Western Hemisphere, seizing on the momentum of an extraordinary show of force in Venezuela, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: With allies and adversaries still reeling from the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, Trump is seeking to cement a new world order through strict enforcement of his "Donroe Doctrine." MAGA's modern take on the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine casts the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence that will not tolerate encroachment by rival great powers. If they weren't already, adversaries including Russia, China and Iran — and even NATO ally Denmark, as it relates to control of Greenland — are now officially on notice. ? Zoom in: The Coast Guard's seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic yesterday offered an early glimpse of what enforcing the Donroe Doctrine looks like in practice. The Trump administration alleges that the vessel was violating U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Moscow denounced the seizure as "outright piracy." Russian naval assets, including a submarine, were operating nearby during the interdiction — making it one of the most direct U.S. confrontations with Russian forces in years. ? Zoom out: The seizure underscores how Trump's Venezuela intervention has struck at a hub of foreign influence built by U.S. adversaries. A senior Chinese envoy met with Maduro in Caracas the night before the U.S. raid, highlighting how closely Beijing had aligned itself with Venezuela's fallen strongman. The Trump administration is now pressing Venezuela's interim government to expel intelligence officers from Russia, China, Iran and Cuba, aiming to dismantle the foreign security networks that helped prop up Maduro's rule.

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Trump's Pentagon spending spree

Data: Department of Defense, Axios research. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals President Trump's proposal yesterday to increase the Pentagon's budget to $1.5 trillion for 2027 would push defense spending to its highest levels since the end of the Cold War, Axios' Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: Trump is betting on Cold War-scale spending to build a "dream military" for a new era of great-power competition. Trump's proposal easily clears previous defense budgets by hundreds of billions of dollars, a move that will likely satisfy congressional hawks. It would be the largest Pentagon budget as a share of GDP since 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell. Last month, Congress passed a $900 billion defense bill for this fiscal year. ⚓ Zoom in: The blueprint — if it's even that detailed — coincides with two brand-name initiatives now underway: Golden Dome, a hemispheric missile shield. Golden Fleet, a revamping of warships (including one named after Trump) and the yards that build them.

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? Flipped food pyramid

Food pyramids released in 1992 (left) and yesterday. Images: HHS/USDA

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s long-awaited rewrite of federal nutrition guidelines — released yesterday with a new, inverted food pyramid — says Americans should eat fewer packaged foods and more protein and full-fat dairy, Axios' Maya Goldman writes. Why it matters: The new guidelines, closely watched by the food and beverage industries, are the strongest leverage RFK Jr. has over what Americans eat. What's inside: The guidelines emphasize prioritizing protein at every meal and limiting added sugars. Balanced diets should include a variety of protein, including red meat, eggs, and plant-based items like beans and soy. Americans should consume less alcohol, without setting limits. Consumption of artificial flavorings, dyes and preservatives should be restricted. Keep reading ... Official website ...

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? Trump's heavy economic hand

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Samuel Corum/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Trump took his embrace of command capitalism to a new level with a series of moves in recent days dictating how companies spend their money, Axios' Madison Mills writes: ? Trump surprised Wall Street by saying he's "taking steps to ban large institutional investors from buying more single-family homes," linking the move to housing affordability. ?️ He targeted defense companies and said big stock buybacks and dividends will "no longer be tolerated." He also said defense executives shouldn't earn above $5 million annually. ?️ Trump insisted oil companies were ready to invest billions of dollars in Venezuela's energy infrastructure, which those companies have yet to verify.

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⛳ 1 for the road: Trump's golf war

East Potomac Park Golf Course in D.C. Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images The nonprofit that manages Washington's historic public golf courses is preparing for a potential legal battle against President Trump to block a federal takeover, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil writes in his "Town Talker" column. Why it matters: Trump wants to overhaul the courses to bring a big pro event like the Ryder Cup to Washington. The National Links Trust retained Williams & Connolly — a storied D.C. firm that stood up to Trump's campaign against Big Law last year — to defend the group, which manages three courses on federal land. Sources told The Wall Street Journal the president wants golf course architect Tom Fazio to redesign East Potomac, with a potential new name: "Washington National Golf Course." ? Friction point: Many locals worry that a Trump-grade, upscale renovation would defeat the purpose of affordable municipal golf courses. Keep reading ... The backstory.

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US to exit 66 international organizations as it further retreats from global cooperation The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the United Nations population agency and a U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations. Read more.

Why this matters: Many of the targets are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor, migration and other issues the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives. This follows other moves it made, which have marked a major shift from how previous administrations – both Republican and Democratic – have dealt with the U.N.   “I think what we’re seeing is the crystallization of the U.S. approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway,’” said Daniel Forti, head of U.N. affairs at the International Crisis Group. “It’s a very clear vision of wanting international cooperation on Washington’s own terms.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ These are the 66 global organizations the Trump administration is leaving   Trump proposes massive increase in 2027 defense spending to $1.5T, citing ‘dangerous times’   WATCH: Reactions in Greenland to Trump administration takeover talk   Trump invites Colombian president to White House after threatening his country with military strike   Why the US has designs on Venezuela’s oil   WATCH: Witness records shooting by ICE officer in Minneapolis   Driver shot in Minneapolis is at least the fifth person killed in US immigration crackdown   Woman killed by ICE agent in Minneapolis was a mother of 3, poet and new to the city   Trump says he wants to ban large investors from buying houses. It’s part of his affordability plan   Trump administration funding threats set child care providers and parents on edge   Trump immigration policies and a lower fertility rate slow US growth projection, budget office says   Sen. Graham says Trump has ‘greenlit’ sanctions bill aiming to punish Russia for war in Ukraine   Federal prosecutors slam Mangione lawyers’ ‘meritless’ claims about Bondi’s lobbying ties   Trump seeks $6.2 million in legal fees from Fani Willis’ office over election interference case   White House completes plan to curb bedrock environmental law   After losing home in wildfire, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt says he will run for LA mayor   NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani defends tenant official facing backlash for ‘white supremacy’ posts   Wisconsin man accused of killing parents to fund Trump assassination plot set to enter plea deal

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Trump Cornered on ICE Shooting Evidence After His Jaw-Dropping Insult to Slain Mom

President struggles to back up his claim that Renee Nicole Good ran over an ICE agent when confronted with the video.

Donald Trump dodged and ducked questions about footage that appears to contradict his version of events surrounding the killing of a Minnesota woman by an ICE agent.

New York Times reporters confronted the president in a group interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday after the death of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother. “It’s a terrible scene,” Trump eventually conceded, having otherwise stuck to his original narrative. “I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it.”

Video circulating on social media on Wednesday morning showed an ICE agent yelling at Good on a Minneapolis street, telling her to get out of the “f---ing car” as he approached her SUV. As Good appears to pull away in the clip, another agent toward the front of the car removes his gun and takes three shots.

The fatal shooting has shocked the nation, as has Trump’s initial response. “The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense,” he wrote on Truth Social not long after the news broke.

“Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” he went on. “We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”

Times reporters pressed the president on that version of events at their Oval Office meeting later that day. “That was a vicious situation that took place,” he initially said, in what was taken as a reference to his prior claim, unsupported by the content of the footage, that Good had “run over” the ICE agent.

The 79-year-old leader only doubled down to insist “she behaved horribly” as reporters continued to point out inconsistencies in his narrative, telling them, “I’ll play the tape for you right now.”

As aide Natalie Harp brought brought a laptop over to the Resolute Desk, Trump told the journalists, “With all of it being said, no, I don’t like that happening” before going off on a diatribe about illegal immigration. As the clip—which does not show that Good had “run over” the agent—played for the president he eventually said it was “horrible to watch” but did not retract his prior statements.

The scene was reported by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a Times White House correspondent, who said the exchange offered “a glimpse into Mr. Trump’s reflexive defense of what has become a sometimes violent federal crackdown on immigration.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-donald-trump-cornered-on-ice-killing-after-insult-to-slain-minneapolis-mom-renee-nicole-good/?

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Trump, 79, Makes Staggering Admission About His Invasion Plot

The president has no plans to give up control of Venezuela anytime soon.

President Donald Trump admitted in a new interview that he expects his imperialist experiment in Venezuela to last for years. After capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a shock special forces raid on Saturday and declaring himself “in charge” of the South American country, Trump announced this week that Venezuela is providing the U.S. with 30 to 50 million barrels of oil. The president said he plans to sell the oil and personally “control” the money, which he will hold in bank accounts outside the U.S. Treasury—in other words in offshore accounts, sources told Lisa Desjardins of PBS News Hour.

As reporters, lawmakers, and the general public struggled to understand what all of this means in practice, reporters from The New York Times asked the president on Wednesday how long he plans to remain Venezuela’s political overlord.

“Only time will tell,” he replied.

The reporters then pushed him to give a more precise answer, asking if it would be three months, six months, a year, or longer.

“I would say much longer,” Trump said.

He refused to say when elections would be held in Venezuela, which had a strong democratic tradition from the late 1950s until Hugo Chavez took power in 1999.

The president’s inner circle was surprised when the president announced Saturday during a press conference following the attack on Maduro’s heavily fortified compound that the U.S. would be “running” Venezuela, author Michael Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles during the Daily Beast podcast Inside Trump’s Head.

Afterward, members of the administration—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio—tried to downplay the U.S.’s involvement in the politically volatile country, which is home to 30 million people.

Trump, however, has continued to thwart any efforts to soften his rhetoric. Asked Monday by NBC News who was in charge of Venezuela, the U.S. president replied, “Me.”

The administration is allowing Maduro’s allies in government to remain in power—for now—under the threat of further military intervention if they don’t do what the U.S. says. Trump told the Times that the interim government is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.”

The president didn’t answer the paper’s questions about why he decided to recognize Maduro’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez as Venezuela’s new leader instead of backing opposition leader María Corina Machado or her surrogate Edmundo Gonzàlez, who won the 2024 presidential election.

In the middle of the interview, Trump stopped to take a call from Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who apparently explained the actions he has taken against drug kingpins in his country.

Trump had previously threatened to invade Colombia next, back when the administration’s official line was that deposing Maduro was just a drug enforcement operation, not a scheme to pillage oil.

Following the call, which lasted about an hour, Trump dictated a social media post to an aide saying that Petro had “explain[ed] the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” and that the U.S president had invited his Colombian counterpart to the White House.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-trump-makes-staggering-admission-about-his-invasion-plot/?

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Why Trump Isn’t Joking About Canceling Midterms: Congressman

President Donald Trump’s quips about disrupting the midterms shouldn’t be brushed off as jokes, a Democratic congressman warned.

The success of President Donald Trump’s shocking raid in Venezuela will likely embolden him to “disrupt” the midterm elections on his home turf this year, a Democratic congressman warned.Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump’s earlier remarks about messing with the midterms are “absolutely a possibility.”

On Tuesday, the 79-year-old president joked about canceling the midterms as he took the stage at the Kennedy Center for the House Republican retreat.

“I won’t say ‘Cancel the election, they should cancel the election,’ because the fake news will say, ‘He wants the elections canceled. He’s a dictator.’ They always call me a dictator,” Trump said mockingly.

For Moulton, however, the quip shouldn’t be brushed off as a joke—especially after U.S. forces launched air strikes in Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, in a surprise operation in the early hours on Saturday.

“I would go further and say, most likely scenario [is] that he tries to disrupt the midterms, cancel them, delay them, whatever else. I mean, this is a guy who just took Maduro out of Venezuela,” he told host Joanna Coles.

Moulton, 47, pointed out that Trump didn’t replace the long-sitting autocrat with the leader of Venezuela’s opposition. Instead of naming Nobel Peace Prize winner and opposition figurehead María Corina Machado as the South American nation’s new president, Trump installed Maduro loyalist Delcy Rodriguez as the interim leader.

“It’d be very tough for her to be the leader [because she] doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country,” Trump said of Machado. But two White House insiders later told The Washington Post that Trump was offended when Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, which he had openly coveted for months in a campaign that cast him as “the Peace President” who had supposedly ended eight wars.

“So out of personal jealousy, he did not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people,” Moulton said. “And now he’s saying, ‘Oh, well, we just need to be in charge for a while. They shouldn’t have elections until things simmer down.’ That sounds to me like a trial run of what he can use.”

In August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explained during an Oval Office meeting with Trump that they were unable to hold elections due to the war with Russia.

“So you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections?” Trump quipped. “I wonder what the fake news is gonna say.”

Moulton mused that “maybe this is part of why he’s starting so many wars.”

Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has ordered strikes in Venezuela, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and Nigeria. He has also repeatedly threatened further military action against foreign targets in late-night Truth Social rampages.

“So I think we should take this deadly seriously,” Moulton said. “And if there’s one lesson I’ve learned from Donald Trump over two terms, is that when he says he’s going to do something bad, he almost always does something worse.”

The White House responded by accusing Moulton of having Trump Derangement Syndrome, a made-up illness that supposedly inflicts the president’s critics.

“Seth Moulton’s TDS has tragically reached such an advanced stage that he decided to go on the Daily Beast podcast to defend an illegitimate dictator and indicted narcoterrorist while spewing gibberish conspiracy theories to the show’s two listeners. Sad!” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.

The last episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, released Monday, garnered over 241,000 views on YouTube alone.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-trump-isnt-joking-about-canceling-midterms-congressman-seth-moulton/?

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How Trump’s Cowardly and Callous ICE Betrayed American Decency

The real “domestic terrorists” are the ones who hide behind the masks.

A toy unicorn with a turquoise tufted mane in the passenger well.

An open university folder.

An airbag deployed from the steering wheel, designed to instantly protect the driver on impact.

The airbag’s nylon cover stained with the blood of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, mother of a 6-year-old boy who had already lost his father and has now become an orphan.

A bullet hole in the windshield of a maroon Honda Pilot, one of three shots fired on Wednesday morning by a uniformed ICE agent at East 34th Street and Portland Avenue in a middle-class neighborhood in Minneapolis.

Not in the post-shooting photo of the Honda’s interior, but standing nearby, was the ICE agent who had suddenly drawn his service weapon and fired three fatal shots. Video by a civilian witness shows the agent was uncommonly calm. He was right to be, with regard to how his boss would react.

Cosplaying Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wasted no time in telling the press at a Texas news conference that the now-dead mom had “weaponized” her vehicle and sought to kill or seriously injure the agents.

“An act of domestic terrorism,” Noem said from under a cowboy hat. “An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”

More than one witness video appeared to contradict Noem’s account, and she held a second-degree conference, this one in Minneapolis, after a costume change.

“Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he’s been taught to do in that situation,” Noem said from under a Homeland Security baseball cap.

If that is so, then ICE training on firing at a moving vehicle is at odds with what is taught elsewhere. She repeated the allegation that the incident was “domestic terrorism” when the only actual domestic terrorism is that routinely perpetrated by ICE’s masked goons.

In immediately defending the shooting and repeatedly slandering a slain mom, Noem unmasked her whole department as an extension of what is the worst in our president. The surge was preceded by Donald Trump describing Somalis as “garbage” who allegedly stole huge sums of money in social services funds. Trump voiced outrage after a young right-wing YouTuber posted a video supposedly documenting some of the “stealing” by Somalis in Minnesota. Never mind that Trump has pardoned numerous fraudsters, including a Floridian convicted of a $1.3 billion Medicare fraud whose sentence he commuted.

Either in reality or just on YouTube, alleged Somali fraud was big enough that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was left looking like a bumbling buffoon and he announced he would not be running for re-election. But in the wake of the shooting, he knew just what to say to those who were defending a shooting he recognized as ”preventable” and “unnecessary.”

“Do you have no decency?” Walz asked.

Walz was echoing a question that U.S. Army lawyer Joseph Welch posed to Republican U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin during a 1954 hearing. McCarthy had just branded an attorney as a communist because he belonged to the nation’s first integrated bar association.

“Have you no sense of decency, sir?” Welch asked.

The question ruined McCarthy. His chief counsel was Roy Cohn, who went on to become a mentor to Donald Trump. Cohn had taught Trump to never back down and never apologize, and to simply have no decency.In response to Wednesday’s shooting, Trump once again proved himself to be a Cohn creation. He posted a video clip and wrote in part, “The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.”

None of the agents were run over. But that was just another falsehood posted by Trump on the social media platform he named Truth.

And now, because of the actual “domestic terrorists,” we have an orphan whose unicorn with a tufted turquoise mane was left in the family Honda with an airbag stained by his mother’s blood.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-trumps-cowardly-and-callous-ice-betrayed-american-decency/?

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Border Czar Frantically U-Turns After Breaking With Trump on ICE Killing

Trump officials were quick to push the narrative that the slain 37-year-old mom was a threat to federal agents, despite footage that paints a different picture.

Trump border czar Tom Homan has quickly abandoned his own advice to “let the investigation play out” into the ICE killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis to embrace the president’s version of events.

President Trump and his top officials were quick to claim the victim, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was a threat to federal agents when she was shot Wednesday as numerous bystanders looked on. Trump went so far as to claim the young mother was a “professional agitator” who “viciously ran over” an ICE officer, leaving the agent no choice but to shoot her in the head at point-blank range.

But after footage of the fatal shooting dramatically contradicted that claim by Trump, Homan, speaking to CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil, had initially adopted a more pragmatic tone. “I’m not gonna make a judgment call on one video when there’s a hundred videos out there. I wasn’t on the scene, I’m not an officer that may have bodycam video. It’d be unprofessional to comment on what I think happened in that situation. Let the investigation play out and hold people accountable based on the investigation,” he said.

It wasn’t long before he changed his tune to fall in line with the president and other Trump officials, however, joining Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance to blame Good, who leaves behind a 6-year-old child.

Noem claimed agents had acted in self-defense to an “act of domestic terrorism,” a version that has since been echoed by other White House officials.

Homan soon struck a similar tone on X, painting the officer as a victim: “The incident in Minneapolis today is yet another tragic example of the results of the hateful rhetoric and violent attacks against the men and women of ICE and BP. “These brave men and women are forced to conduct law enforcement operations in heightened threat environments every day. Like all Americans, our officers have a right to self defense,” he wrote, adding that the CBS News interview had been filmed before he had all the “facts.” “This interview was taped earlier today before I had the opportunity to see all the footage and learn the details of the incident. I do not comment before I have the facts,” he said in a separate X post. “As I repeatedly have said, the brave men and women of ICE are heroes. Like all Americans, our officers have a right to self defense. Full stop.”

His reversal comes as a campaign to oust Noem is reportedly being led by his supporters.

The two are said to have been at each other’s throats for months, with Noem reportedly attempting to place a “comms blackout” on Homan back in September.

“Things are f---ed,” one former DHS official has said.

According to Axios, “The exact cause of the tensions between Noem and Homan isn’t clear”—but insiders say that Noem spending millions of dollars from the DHS budget on a self-promoting and “controversial campaign-style ad blitz” has angered career immigration officers loyal to Homan, a 30-year veteran of immigration enforcement.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/border-czar-frantically-u-turns-after-breaking-with-trump-on-ice-killing/?

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Five Years Later, It’s Clear Jan 6 (and Trump) Broke America

The great American experiment has been revealed to be little more than a gentleman’s agreement among white men in knee breeches.

I was napping when they broke into the Capitol. My wife, Martha, woke me to tell me the news. At that point, the riot (or “insurrection,” if you prefer, although I wasn’t thinking of it in those terms at the time) was a couple hours old; it appeared that Congress was safe, our representatives tweeting and cuddling each other in their undisclosed safety bunkers. Ok, I don’t remember any reports of “cuddling,” but I like to think of Susan Collins and Chuck Schumer holding each other tight.

Martha said she thought we were watching an important moment in American history. I said I didn’t think so; there’d already been so much insanity during Trump’s four years in office that the scene struck me as just another example–though a particularly dramatic one–of MAGA’s criminal exuberance. It was, I thought, Trump’s political death knell.

Five years after the fact, with our criminal president reinstated for a second term, I understand that day—and especially its aftermath—differently. January 6, 2021 was the day America broke.

(It was also the day my wife proved once and for all that she is the more acute observer of American political life in our marriage. Joke’s on her, though, because I have a Daily Beast column and she does not.)

Although it’s hard to believe now, bipartisan condemnation of the president was quick and vociferous. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Trump to be “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events.” Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack.

Senator Mitt Romney described the event as an “insurrection, incited by the President of the United States.”

An impeachment quickly followed, but many of those same Republicans who had placed the blame for the attack at Trump’s feet refused to fulfill their oaths. McCarthy voted against the impeachment. Once impeached in the House, McConnell and nearly every other Republican voted against convicting Trump. Had they done so, we would not be currently contemplating invading Cuba, Colombia, Greenland, Mexico, and Canada. Had they done so, people would not be getting kidnapped every day on American streets. Had they done so, children would not be dying from measles. Had they done so, Stephen Miller would currently be sleeping upside down in a cave. The great American experiment, one predicated on George Washington’s example of voluntarily relinquishing power, has been revealed to be little more than a gentleman’s agreement among white men in knee breeches. From the moment he was acquitted in the Senate, Trump’s every action has been calculated to burn the parchment it was written on. We call it the Constitution.Today, Republicans have exposed our founding document as little more than a gussied-up suggestion box, or maybe a stylebook to be followed or disregarded at the discretion of ose in power. Pick an amendment, any amendment. Chances are, this administration or its cronies have broken it. First? Fourth? Separation of powers? Maybe you’re an Emoluments Clause guy—good for you? (Well, bad for you actually.) The only two amendments these guys seem to respect are the Second and Fifth. I don’t blame Trump. He’s been clear about his intention to govern like a strongman from Day One. Every single person who abdicated their duty to remove this guy from public office is complicit, most of them proudly so. It is those people, many of them the same people who were cowering in the House chamber five years ago today, who handed Trump the hammer he’s currently using to destroy the nation. “Nobody can stop us,” Trump said the other day, referring to his stated intention to bully the entire Western Hemisphere into subjugation under threat of invasion. He was talking about other militaries of other nations but he might as well have been talking about his own country. For once, he was telling the unexpurgated truth—nobody’s going to stop them. Not now.

Back then, though, he could have been stopped cold. If the Senate had done their job, if the Supreme Court had done theirs.

McConnell did this. McCarthy did this. Mike Johnson did this. Merrick Garland. American timidity exemplified by Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer. Those who might have stopped him sat on their hands and dithered and worried about offending his deplorable base. Only one party is actively attempting to delete the Constitution, but political cowardice cuts across the aisle.

Like so many Americans, I first thought Trump’s first four years of cage-rattling had failed to break us. That the election of Joe Biden heralded a return to an imperfect but sane status quo, one which preserved a world order that’s served the United States pretty f’ing well since the end of WWII. All of that is now gone. JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and Marco Rubio have decided to replace the careful, slow language of diplomacy with the utterances of a preschooler: “Mine!” At home, our domestic tranquility, always fitful, is gone, replaced by a deep and growing disquiet. Neighbors are eyeing each other with suspicion, the way I imagine it must have been like in the later days of the Weimar Republic. I know it’s almost always inaccurate to make Nazi comparisons. Almost always.

Five years ago, America broke. We didn’t know it then, of course, and for a little while, it appeared that the nation might hold. Biden was our “return to normalcy” moment, but normalcy was already lying cold and dead on the coroner’s table. The Frankenstein monster Trump constructed from its corpse is now operational and rampaging across the globe.

Maybe things need to break now and again. Maybe we needed to taste the corrosive bite of rust on our tongues before finally setting about the hard work of mending and repair? It’s certainly true that America deferred much of her maintenance over the past couple centuries; maybe we needed to take a wrecking ball to her in order to see what remains standing. My fear, and I think the fear of lots of Americans like me, is that when the dust clears from our wanton destruction, there won’t be much of anything left at all.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/five-years-later-its-clear-jan-6-and-trump-broke-america/?

[phkrause]

Anger and outrage spills onto Minneapolis streets after ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As anger and outrage spilled out onto Minneapolis’ streets Thursday over the fatal shooting of a woman the day before by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a new shooting by federal officers in Oregon left two people wounded and elicited more scrutiny of enforcement operations across the U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-immigration-enforcement-crackdown-woman-shot-5158ce0838305b491c95db97b970cd03?

ps:Can't have the real police doing the investigation now can we?? The truth might actually come out!!!!!