The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota after state and local officials agreed to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday.
But Homan did not give a timeline when the operation might end in Minnesota after weeks of turmoil in the Twin Cities and escalated protests, especially since the killing of protester Alex Pretti, the second fatal shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis.
A widespread withdrawal will only occur after people stop interfering with federal agents carrying out arrests and setting up roadblocks to impede the operations, Homan said.
The border czar has pushed for jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement to inmates who could be deported, saying transferring such inmates to ICE is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out looking for people in the country illegally.
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Trump suggests he’s bothered that Bill Clinton has been pressured to testify in Epstein probe
“It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton. Actually, I like Bill Clinton,” Trump told NBC News. “I like his behavior toward me.”
Trump also said that the former president “understood” him.
The president’s comments were a major departure from Republican members of Congress.
The former president and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have finalized an agreement with House Republicans to testify in an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote against them.
Trump says his policies need better PR
The president said his administration needs to do a better job of selling his policies.
Recent polling shows that his approval ratings are dropping on immigration and the economy, the very issues that helped him win the election in 2024.
“What happens is I think we do a phenomenal job, but we’re bad at public relations,” he told NBC News.
Trump on Vance and Rubio: ‘One is slightly more diplomatic than the other’
Trump declined to take sides in a potential future Republican presidential primary between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He called both men “fantastic” and said both are “doing a great job.”
“I don’t want to get into this,” Trump told NBC News. “We have three years to go.”
Asked to compare them, Trump said they’re different in style and said a GOP ticket with both of them would be formidable, a claim he’s made before.
“I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other,” Trump said without naming them. “I think they’re both of very high intelligence.”
Vance is off to Italy for the Olympics
The vice president, second lady Usha Vance and their children are heading to Milan for the Winter Olympics.
On Thursday, Vance is expected to greet U.S. athletes after he lands, and later plans to watch the U.S. women’s hockey team take on Czechia.
Vance is following in the footsteps of former vice presidents. Joe Biden attended the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 and Mike Pence traveled to Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. Former Vice President Kamala Harris did not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because the Biden administration did not send any diplomatic officials as a boycott over human rights concerns.
Trump rejects the notion that AI will cost the US jobs
Despite cutbacks at major tech firms, the president pushed back on assertions that artificial intelligence was causing U.S. employers to reduce jobs, scoffing that “they said the internet was going to” do the same thing.
“Everything was going to,” Trump said during an interview with NBC News.
“Robots are going to kill jobs,” he added. “Everything is going to kill jobs, and you end up, if you’re smart, doing great.”
Trump also said that he personally doesn’t use AI tools like ChatGPT very often, but repeated his frequent assertions that the U.S. is working to make advancements in such fields faster than China.
Trump declines to weigh in on competing bids for Warner Bros. Discovery
“I’ve decided I shouldn’t be involved,” Trump told NBC News on Wednesday.
Warner Bros. has accepted a partial takeover bid from Netflix and has rebuffed a competing offer from Paramount Skydance, which is led by David Ellison with backing from his billionaire father, Trump ally Larry Ellison.
Trump said he’s fielded calls from both sides.
Trump says he ‘heard’ Iran may be restarting its nuclear program
Also during the NBC interview, the president was asked if Iran had restarted its nuclear program and responded, “I heard that they are.”
He provided no further details.
Trump warns Iran’s supreme leader ahead of nuclear talks
“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump said of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with NBC News.
The warning came as the U.S. and Iran agreed to hold nuclear talks on Friday in Oman. The high-level talks were originally slated for Turkey, but Iran insisted on a shift in location. The U.S. reluctantly agreed to go along with the change.
A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration not to walk away from talks even as Iranian officials pressed to narrow their scope and change the venue for the negotiations.
The official added that the White House remains “very skeptical” that the talks will be successful but have agreed to go along with the change in plans out of respect for allies in the region. — By Aamer Madhani
Trump says shootings of Good and Pretti should not have happened
Trump says the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were both sad incidents that “should not have happened,” but nobody feels worse about the shootings than ICE agents.
Trump told NBC News on Wednesday that “he was not an angel and she was not an angel.”
“I’m not happy with what happened there,” Trump said. “Nobody could be happy, and ICE wasn’t happy either, but I’m going to always be with our great people of law enforcement, ICE, police. We have to back them.”
Trump taking steps toward installing a Columbus statue near the White House
The statue would be a replica of a statue of famed explorer Christopher Columbus that was tossed into Baltimore's harbor during Trump's first term amid protests against institutional racism.
John Pica, a Maryland lobbyist and president of the Italian American Organizations United, said his group owns the statue and agreed to loan it to the federal government. The exact timing for any planned installation was unclear, Pica said, though he added, “possibly within two weeks.”
Trump endorses a traditional view of Columbus as leader of the 1492 mission that marked the unofficial beginning of European colonization in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order. But in recent years, Columbus has also been recognized as a primary example of Western Europe’s conquest of the New World, its resources and its native people.
For Trump, it would be another move to reshape the telling of U.S. history as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Government lawyer yanked from immigration detail in Minnesota after telling judge ‘this job sucks’
A government lawyer who told a judge that her job "sucks" during a court hearing stemming from the Trump administration's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota has been removed from her Justice Department post, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Julie Le had been working for the Justice Department on a detail, but the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment after her comments in court on Tuesday, the person said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.
At a hearing Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, for several immigration cases, Le told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell that she wishes he could hold her in contempt of court “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep.”
“What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need,” Le said, according to a transcript.
Le’s remarks reflect the intense strain that has been placed on the federal court system since Trump returned to the White House. — By Michael Kunzelman and Alanna Durkin Richer
The CIA World Factbook is no more
The spy agency announced Wednesday that after more than 60 years, it is shuttering the popular reference manual.
The announcement posted to the CIA's website offered no reason for the decision, but it comes after Trump's pick to lead the agency, Director John Ratcliffe, has vowed to end programs that don't advance the agency's core missions.
First launched in 1962 as a classified reference manual for intelligence officers, the Factbook offered a detailed, by-the-numbers picture of foreign nations, their economies, militaries, resources and societies.
The Factbook proved so useful that other federal agencies began using it and within a decade an unclassified version was released to the public.
After going online in 1997, the Factbook quickly became a popular reference site for journalists, trivia aficionados and the writers of college essays, racking up millions of visits per year.
Melania Trump plugs her new film at meeting with freed Hamas hostage whose story she featured in the documentary
The first lady recounted for reporters her meeting with the wife of Keith Siegel, an American Israeli who was held in Gaza for 484 days before he was freed a year ago. She included Siegel’s story in her documentary that opened in theaters last week.
Melania Trump said meeting with Aviva Siegel was emotional and “it is captured on camera and available to see in my film, ‘Melania.’”
A reporter asked the first lady if it was appropriate to use an official White House event to promote the film. She said she wasn’t doing that.
She said the Siegels were in Washington and called her to say they wanted to come thank her, “and that’s why we are here. It’s nothing to do with promotion.”
Virginia state police no longer deputized to enforce immigration laws
On Wednesday, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed an executive direction ending an agreement with the federal government to deputize state police in enforcing immigration laws.
“This doesn’t preclude any sort of coordination or task force-related work; it doesn’t preclude any federal agency coming with a judicial warrant and requesting assistance,” Spanberger said at a news conference, adding: “But taking Virginia law enforcement, state agency personnel, and basically giving them over to ice is something that ends today.”
The news comes after former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order last year directing state law enforcement and corrections officers to enter pacts for federal immigration enforcement, also known as 287(g) agreements after a section of a 1996 immigration law.
Spanberger said she had not heard from the Trump administration in response to her directive.
US-Iran talks expected Friday in Oman, Iranian media say
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that Iran and the US will hold nuclear talks in Oman’s capital of Muscat on Friday.
His announcement on Wednesday came after hours of indications that plans for the talks might be faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks.
”I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements,” Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday evening.
White House responds to Human Rights Watch report
The Trump administration said findings by the Human Rights Watch that President Trump’s actions have had a negative impact on democracy in the country and human rights here and abroad are not grounded in fact.
“Human Rights Watch suffers from an organization-wide case of Trump Derangement Syndrome — they have been attacking the President before he even took office,” said spokeswoman Anna Kelly.
“President Trump has done more for human rights than this Soros-funded, left-wing group ever could by ending eight wars, saving countless lives, protecting religious freedom, ending Biden’s weaponization of government, and more.”
Kristi Noem visits border to highlight fewer illegal crossings
The Homeland Security secretary touted fewer border arrests at a news conference in Nogales, Arizona.
She spoke shortly after White House border czar Tom Homan commanded headlines with his own news conference in Minneapolis, saying the department was lowering its presence in the Twin Cities. Noem has been a less frequent voice in Minnesota since President Donald Trump dispatched Homan to the state last week to de-escalate tensions.
Noem initially defended the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, saying he impeded a law enforcement operation despite video that cast doubt on that version of events.
The secretary visited Eagle Pass, Texas, on Tuesday where thousands of people crossed the border illegally during the Biden administration, a point she addressed to highlight the drop in numbers.
The preliminary arrest tally for illegal border crossings from Mexico was 6,073, a fourth straight decline from the previous month. Border arrests peaked at 250,000 in December 2023.
Young people in the US and other wealthy English-speaking countries show high economic worries
The United States is among several high-income nations where younger people are unusually likely to prioritize economic issues, according to a new global survey of national priorities by Gallup.
About one-third of Americans under 35 cited economics and affordability as the top issue facing the country, compared to only 13% of those 55 and older.
The housing affordability crisis has been particularly acute in the English-speaking world, and the poll found that other high-income countries with similar generation gaps over the economy and affordability included Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Trump says he ordered immigration officials ranks’ reduced in Minnesota and that ‘a softer touch’ may be needed
Asked during an interview with NBC News if border czar Tom Homan’s announcement that roughly a quarter of federal immigration officers deployed to Minnesota would be pulled out came from him, Trump responded, “Yes it did.”
“But it didn’t come from me because I just wanted to do it,” the president added.
Asked about lessons going forward based on what happened in Minnesota, Trump responded, “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough.”
Americans’ political anxiety stands out in new world poll
New international polling from Gallup shows that Americans are particularly anxious about politics and governance, compared to the residents of more than 100 other countries worldwide.
About one-third of Americans rated politics and government as the top issue facing their nation, behind only Taiwan — which faces the prospect of an invasion from China — and on par with Slovenia, Spain and South Korea.
Older Americans are especially likely to say politics is the country’s most important problem, while younger adults are more focused on economic issues.
Supreme Court refuses to block new California congressional districts that favor Democrats
The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favorable to Democrats in this year's elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration.
The justices had previously allowed Texas’ Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in December that it appeared both states had adopted new maps for political advantage, which the high court has previously ruled cannot be a basis for a federal lawsuit.
Republicans, joined by the administration, claimed the California map improperly relied on race, as well. But a lower court disagreed by a 2-1 vote.
The justices’ unsigned order keeps in place districts that are designed to flip up to five seats now held by Republicans, part of a tit-for-tat nationwide redistricting battle spurred by President Donald Trump, with control of Congress on the line in midterm elections.
Vance: ‘We’re not drawing down the immigration enforcement’ in Minneapolis
In an interview with “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Vice President JD Vance said the agents being sent home were largely in Minneapolis to protect the ones who were carrying out the arrests.
Now, Vance said, many of them are no longer needed because the administration has gained the cooperation of local police.
“We’re not drawing down the immigration enforcement,” Vance. “We’re drawing down some of the federal officers that were helping the guys do immigration enforcement.”
In the same interview, Vance said he wants to deport anyone who has entered the country illegally, not just the ones with criminal convictions.
Human Rights Watch report celebrates the power of everyday people
Despite a turn away from democratic norms in Donald Trumps’ first year, the United States is still a functioning democracy, the Human Rights Watch said in a report.
“People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations,” the report said.
Executive Director Philippe Bolopian said the U.S. retreat from “the global rules-based world order and the US effort to undermine the system” doesn’t mean the country is the biggest human rights violator. “The U.S. society and democratic institutions are still strong. They are under attack, but they could resist.”
He cited the free press, political opposition and a vibrant society being evidence.
“You could not say that of many, many other countries around the world,”
Bolopian said. “Almost 75% of the world population is living in autocracy.”
Human Rights Watch says middle-size countries must ban together
People around the world are fighting for their rights, from Minneapolis to people risking their lives protesting in Iran but with the U.S. seemingly going in another direction and China and Russia taking illegal actions, governments need to step up, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.
The three countries have weakened the infrastructure of human rights.
“We think that democratic country middle powers around the world should band together,” said HRW executive director Philippe Bolopian. He said it has to be a long-term alliance built around a common respect of democracy and human rights. He cited Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carneys speech at the World Economic Forum as a guide.
Bolopian suggested the European Union and places like South Africa, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the U.K. as other prospective members who could resist tariffs and consolidate their diplomatic power.
Trump’s first year marked by deterioration of democracy and human rights, report says
President Donald Trump’s first year in office deteriorated democracy and human rights and combined with aggressive actions by Russia and China, have wreaked havoc on human rights protections globally, according to the annual report by the Human Rights Watch.
"The U.S took significant steps backward on immigration, health, environment, labor, disability, gender, criminal justice, and freedom of speech rights, among others," the 536-page report said.
Among the actions, it said, was the use of National Guard units in America cities and the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Compounding the administration’s moves were the acquiescence of the establishment, including Congress, the report said.
“It’sactually incredible to see how the Trump Administration has really undermined all the pillars of US democracy, all the checks and balances on power,” HRW executive director Philippe Bolopian said.
The White House wasn’t immediately available for comment.
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