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Poll: Half of Americans think ICE is making cities less safe
Half of Americans believe that ICE is making American cities less safe, a new CNN poll has found.
According to the survey which was conducted from January 9 to 12, 51% of Americans said that ICE’s enforcement actions are making cities less safe rather than safer. Only 31% felt that ICE’s operations were making cities more secure.
The survey also found that only 26% of Americans said they viewed the ICE agent’s fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week as an “appropriate use of force.”
56% of Americans called the fatal shooting an inappropriate use of force, with about half saying that Good’s killing reflects bigger problems with the way that ICE is operating.
Additionally, the survey revealed a shift in opinion towards Donald Trump’s immigration policies, with 52% saying that his deportation efforts have gone to far, marking an increase from the 45% of Americans who indicated so last February.
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Slotkin says she's under investigation for video telling troops to disobey illegal orders
Elissa Slotkin, the senator who led several Democratic members of Congress in a video to tell US troops to “refuse illegal orders”, said that the US attorney for DC asked to interview her about her involvement in the social media post.
In a post on X, the Michigan lawmaker said that “intimidation is the point” and underscored that “it’s not going to work”.
After the initial video, Donald Trump accused the Democrats of “seditious behavior” and even reposted calls for them to be hanged. Today, Slotkin said that after the president’s reaction in November, she received a bomb threat at her home, received “24/7 security from Capitol police” and her parents were “swatted in the middle of the night”.
“Anyone who disagrees with him [Trump] becomes an enemy and he weaponizes the federal government against them,” she said. “Right now, speaking out against the abuse of power is the most patriotic thing we can do.”
Republican senator Josh Hawley, one of five GOP lawmakers who voted to advance a war powers resolution that would curb the Trump administration’s ability to carry out further military action in Venezuela, told reporters today that he now plans to support a procedural effort by Republicans to kill the full vote on the resolution scheduled for today.
This comes after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, sent a letter to the Senate foreign affairs committee confirming that there were no boots on the ground in Venezuela.
My colleague Jakub Krupa notes that Danish media is reporting the meeting between the vice-president, JD Vance, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and officials from Denmark and Greenland has ended.
We’ll bring you the latest lines about what happened at today’s talks as soon as they come through.
Comer says he'll also initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against Hillary Clinton
The Republican chair of the House oversight committee, James Comer, told reporters today that he plans to also hold Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress. This comes after the former secretary of state refused to appear before the committee for in-person testimony.
On Tuesday, both Bill and Hillary Clinton defied subpoenas that compelled them to testify in the oversight committee’s ongoing investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a letter to Comer, attorneys for the Clintons said the former president and first lady would not be complying.
In response, Comer said he scheduled a mark-up session to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress, a move he has now extended to Hillary Clinton. That committee vote is scheduled for 21 January before it heads to the House floor.
My colleague Frances Mao is covering the latest developments out of Iran today at our dedicated live blog.
She notes that Qatar says some personnel at the US’s military base in the country have been told to leave “in response to the current regional tensions”.
The statement from the Gulf state’s media office provided no further detail on the order but read:
Qatar continues to implement all necessary measures to safeguard the security and safety of its citizens and residents as a top priority, including actions related to the protection of critical infrastructure and military facilities.
Frances also reports that the US embassy in Saudi Arabia has told American citizens and its own staff to “exercise increased caution” and limit travel to any military sites in the region.
Read more here:
Earlier, we brought you the news that the FBI had searched the home of a Washington Post journalist as part of her reporting on federal workers in Trump’s second term.
The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, wrote on social media today that law enforcement “executed the search warrant” at the reporter’s home for “obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor”.
Bondi added that “the leaker is currently behind bars”, and noted that the justice department worked alongside the FBI and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, on the operation.
A third, and final, opinion from the court today ruled that a candidate for political office has the right to challenge state election laws that extend the deadline to receive and count mail-in absentee ballots after election day.
The case was brought by a Republican congressman in Illinois, who sued the state board of elections, arguing that the process of counting ballots up to two weeks after election day is unconstitutional.
Today, a majority of the bench said that Bost had legal standing to challenge the law. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor both dissented.
A second opinion from the court today related to whether law enforcement can enter a home without a search warrant during a wellness check.
The justices ruled unanimously that it is reasonable for law enforcement to carry out warrantless entries in the case of an emergency.
This particular case it involved a man who had threatened suicide and harm to officers who entered his home to check on him.
Supreme court doesn't issue ruling on legality of Trump's sweeping tariffs
The supreme court released three opinions today, but issued no ruling on the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
As of now, we don’t know when the next day for opinions will be.
The first opinion the court released today is in a case that asks the court to decide whether someone can be convicted under two separate long prison sentences for the same crime, or does that violate the legal principle of ‘double jeopardy’ – which prevents someone being punished for the same crime twice.
The court ruled today that one act that violates two provisions “may spawn only one conviction”.
At the supreme court, two boxes of opinions have been brought out. This indicates that up to four decisions on cases the court has heard so far this term could be released. We’ll bring you the latest.
FBI searches Washington Post reporter's home and devices - report
The FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials, the news outlet is reporting.
According to the Post, federal agents searched the home of Hannah Natanson – who covers the federal workforce. Officers also searched her devices, seizing her phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch. One of the laptops was her personal computer, the other a Washington Post-issued laptop, according to the report.
The federal agents searching Natanson’s home did inform her that she was not the focus of their investigation, but they were looking into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports.
Lauren Gambino
Democratic representative Robin Kelly on Wednesday plans to formally introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, following the fatal shooting of a US citizen by an immigration agent in Minneapolis last week.
The new push comes amid mounting national outrage over the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, at the wheel of her car on a residential street, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
Kelly, an Illinois Democrat, will be joined by Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Maxine Dexter of Oregon – progressive representatives from states where federal agents have shot residents in recent days – in filing three articles of impeachment against Noem.
They accuse the secretary of willfully obstructing congressional oversight by withholding appropriated funds and repeatedly blocking lawmakers from entering DHS facilities. It further alleges a violation of public trust through the use of “warrantless arrests” and the use of “violence against US citizens and lawful individuals”. It also charges Noem with self-dealing for “inappropriately” using taxpayer dollars to fund an ad campaign for ICE recruitment, and awarding the $200m recruitment contract to a firm run by the husband of senior DHS official and chief spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
