Only 1 in 5 Americans support US effort to acquire Greenland, poll finds
A new poll found that only one in five American adults approve of the Trump administration’s efforts to acquire Greenland. Just 17% of those surveyed in the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this week said they were in favor of U.S. actions to take over the Danish territory. The survey showed 40% of Republicans said they approved of U.S. efforts to acquire Greenland, compared to 2% of Democrats. Both sides were in closer agreement in their opposition to using U.S. military force to seize Greenland. A total of 71% of adults said it would not be a good idea for the U.S. to do so, including 60% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. HOUSE SPEAKER JOHNSON: ‘NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND’ FOR TRUMP’S GREENLAND ACQUISITION PLANS AMID MILITARY SPECULATION The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that 66% of American adults believe U.S. efforts to acquire Greenland could hurt relations with NATO and European countries. The poll of 1,217 adults was conducted online from Jan. 12–13, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points for all adults, according to Reuters. President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that, “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” TRUMP’S GREENLAND PUSH ESCALATES AS GOP LAWMAKER MOVES TO MAKE IT AMERICA’S 51ST STATE “It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it,” Trump continued. “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” he added. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt are meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, Greenland’s prime minister declared that, “we choose Denmark,” if it had to decide between remaining a Danish territory or becoming part of the United States.
Hawley expects ‘Trojan Horse’ hearing to reveal dozens of terror-linked Afghan parolees in US
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said a Senate hearing Wednesday will expose how the Biden administration’s Afghan refugee program allowed scores of individuals with alleged terrorist ties to enter the United States — failures he argues put American lives at risk. “I think we’re going to see tomorrow that pro-Hamas groups, pro-terrorist groups actually got money from the Biden administration to shepherd these parolees. It is a scandal. It’s outrageous,” Hawley told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. BIDEN OFFICIALS GO SILENT WHEN ASKED ABOUT AFGHAN REFUGEE PROGRAM AFTER GUARDSMEN SHOOTING “We’ve got to figure out how many people are here with national security concerns. And I can tell you, I think we’re going to hear testimony tomorrow that there are over 50 folks known in the country with terrorist ties who had hits on terrorist databases and were allowed to come into the country. I mean, over 50,” Hawley said. The Senate hearing is titled, “Biden’s Afghan parolee program — a Trojan Horse with flawed vetting and deadly consequences.” The hearing comes after an Afghan national shot a pair of National Guard members in Washington, D.C., in November, killing one and leaving the other in critical condition. The attack, which the FBI labeled an act of terrorism, raised questions among Republicans like Hawley about whether the administration had done enough to ensure the United States had screened the people it was attempting to help. According to reporting from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. welcomed 76,000 evacuees during its Operation Allies Welcome in 2021, a directive from Biden to resettle vulnerable Afghans. But other experts believe the number of total refugees goes much higher. The Biden administration allowed more than 200,000 Afghan nationals into the country as the U.S. wound down nearly 20 years of military presence in Afghanistan, according to the conservative think tank Center for Immigration Studies. The failed attempt to prevent the Taliban from returning to power left many key American allies in the country worried that they could suffer retribution from a new government hostile to the U.S. SEN TOM COTTON: ALLEGED AFGHAN ATTACK ON GUARDSMEN WAS PREVENTABLE. WE MUST DO BETTER NEXT TIME According to Nayla Rush, a senior researcher with the Center for Immigration Studies, the administration had paid little attention to admitting the Afghans who had assisted the U.S. in their time in Afghanistan — and those who hadn’t. “They were not U.S. ‘allies,’ nor were they ‘persecuted’ individuals in need of refugee resettlement. Lacking immigrant visas, they were granted ‘parole,’ a temporary permission to enter and remain in the United States,” Rush wrote in a report released in December. Although Hawley noted that the U.S. had received assistance from some of them, he said the government neglected its primary responsibility to protect its citizens by fast-tracking their admission to the country. “Nobody has a right to come into this country. If you’re not an American citizen, you have no right to come into the country and just do whatever the heck you want on any basis,” Hawley said. “We have an obligation to protect the country. And so, we ask when we come into the country, ‘Who are you?’ ‘Do you have terrorist ties?’ This is why we do interviews. And none of that happened. None of that happened with tens of thousands of [Afghans.] And listen, now we’re suffering the consequences of that.” SENATE REPUBLICANS LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN IMMIGRATION PROGRAMS AFTER DC NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING In addition to Rush, the committee will entertain testimony from several other immigration experts, including Craig Adelman, the deputy inspector general at the DHS office of audits, and Arne Baker, deputy inspector general for evaluations at the Department of War. The committee is slated to begin its hearing at 2:00 p.m. EST. Fox News’ Dan Scully contributed to this report.
Trump issues stern warning to NATO ahead of Vance’s high-stakes Greenland meeting
President Donald Trump sent a warning to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ahead of Vice President JD Vance’s high-stakes meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials. “The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of national security,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. He added that the acquisition was “vital for the Golden Dome that we are building.” The “Golden Dome” is a cutting-edge missile defense system meant to intercept threats targeting the American homeland, similar to the Iron Dome used in Israel. “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent — not even close! They know that, and so do I. NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable,” Trump added. JOHNSON: ‘NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND’ FOR TRUMP’S GREENLAND ACQUISITION PLANS AMID MILITARY SPECULATION Trump and his administration’s push for the U.S. to acquire Greenland has caused tension with NATO allies who assert that the semiautonomous Danish territory should determine its own future. The post comes ahead of Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s meeting with the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers at the White House on Wednesday morning. Vance and Rubio will be meeting with Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt. WHITE HOUSE SAYS ‘RANGE OF OPTIONS,’ INCLUDING US MILITARY, ON TABLE AS TRUMP RENEWS PUSH TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND In a follow-up post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning, Trump shared a report by Just The News stating that the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) issued a warning regarding Russian and Chinese military ambitions toward and expansion around Greenland in a recent assessment. “NATO: Tell Denmark to get them out of here, NOW! Two dogsleds won’t do it! Only the USA can!!!” Trump wrote. “Danish intel warned last year about Russian and Chinese military goals toward Greenland and Arctic.” “In recent years, the United States has significantly increased its security policy focus on the Arctic, while Russia continues its military build-up, and China continues to develop its capacity to operate both submarines and surface vessels in the region,” DDIS reportedly said in its Intelligence Outlook 2025. The DDIS noted that, “Neither the war in Ukraine nor the increased US focus on Greenland and the Arctic has altered Russia’s long-term interests and objectives in the region.” Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU,” the AP reported. Trump later responded to Nielsen, saying “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him,” according to the AP. Vance’s office and the Embassy of Denmark in the U.S. did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
House GOP launches probe into alleged climate group influence on federal judges
FIRST ON FOX: The House Judiciary Committee has opened an investigation into whether a climate law group is improperly influencing federal judges on environment-related cases. Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on Courts, sent four letters to varying judicial groups and lawyers asking for more information on communications with the Environmental Law Institute. “The Committee on the Judiciary is investigating allegations of improper attempts by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and its Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) to influence federal judges. Public reports have documented concerns around apparent efforts by ELI and CJP to influence judges who potentially may be presiding over lawsuits related to alleged climate change claims,” the letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States (JCUS) read. “These efforts appear to have the underlying goal of predisposing federal judges in favor of plaintiffs alleging injuries from the manufacturing, marketing, use, or sale of fossil-fuel products.” TOP ENERGY GROUP CALLS FOR PROBE INTO SECRETIVE ‘NATIONAL LAWFARE CAMPAIGN’ TO INFLUENCE JUDGES ON CLIMATE Jordan and Issa argued that existing JCUS policy acknowledged risks of allowing privately funded education programs to distribute material to courts, but that its policy was also “leaving the door open for groups like ELI and CJP to exert influence through program content and contact between judges and those who litigate before them.” A separate letter to David Bookbinder, director of law and policy at the Environmental Integrity Project, alleged that “evidence has emerged that raises questions about whether ELI, CJP, or one or more of its ‘experts’ coordinated with you on judicial training materials while you simultaneously litigated climate-related cases pending before federal courts.” Jordan and Issa charged that Bookbinder had “pre-publication access and provided peer review” for documents prepared for ELI while he was representing the Boulder County, Colo., Board of County Commissioners in a climate change-related lawsuit. They noted that he’s no longer the board’s lawyer, however. JIM JORDAN PRESSED TO SUBPOENA CLIMATE GROUP ACCUSED OF ‘JUDICIAL MANIPULATION’ “In other words, this document seems to suggest that at the same time you were representing a private party in climate-related litigation, you were also helping to develop climate-related training materials for federal (and state) judges,” the letter said. A third letter to the Federal Judicial Center noted that while both climate groups say they provide impartial information for judges, Republicans believe those materials “appear to be designed to bias judges in climate-related cases.” “The materials that ELI and CJP used at judicial seminars are generally not made public, which itself is a cause for concern,” the third letter said. “The limited portions of CJP’s ‘Climate Science and Law for Judges Curriculum’ that are publicly available seem designed to improperly influence judges in favor of plaintiffs.” ELI is a nonprofit promoting climate science-based policy across academic, public, and legal spheres. CJP is a project within ELI specifically aimed at creating curricula for “judicial education,” according to its website. Fox News Digital reached out to ELI and the four letter recipients for comment.
Supreme Court says Illinois congressman can sue over state mail-in voting laws
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that federal candidates have the right to challenge state election laws that govern the counting of ballots in their states, clearing the way for an expected flurry of new lawsuits in the run-up to this year’s midterm elections. Justices ruled 7-2 that candidates running for federal office have the standing to sue state election boards over their counting of ballots — including challenging laws that allow for the counting of late-arriving mail-in ballots. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The ruling from the high court is expected to be hailed as a victory for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, and comes as the high court is slated to consider a case more directly involving mail-in ballots later this year. INSIDE THE SCOTUS HEARING BOUND TO BE TURNING POINT IN CULTURE WAR OVER TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS At issue in the case is a lawsuit Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), filed against the Illinois State Board of Elections in 2022 over its mail-in ballot policy, which allows for the counting of ballots received up to 14 days after Election Day. READ THE SUPREME COURT OPINION – APP USERS, CLICK HERE: A U.S. district court had originally concluded that Bost, who won the election, lacked the standing under Article III to challenge the election law. Federal courts require candidates to show that they have been individually harmed by the law. SWING STATE’S SUPREME COURT ISSUES PIVOTAL RULING ON MAIL-IN BALLOTS SENT WITHOUT POSTMARK That ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, prompting Bost to appeal the case to the Supreme Court for intervention. Bost and Republican plaintiffs urged the high court during oral arguments to allow candidates to sue even in cases where they cannot cite an individual grievance, or that the voting procedure caused them “concrete and particularized injury in fact.” Bost’s lawyer Paul Clement urged the Supreme Court to also allow plaintiffs to consider broader, more general grievances that expand their view of “harm.” Candidates, he said, are not “mere bystanders” in an federal election. Clement noted they spend “untold time and energy” on their campaigns, thus adding untold additional amounts of money needed to cover the 14-day time period. “If the campaign is going to be two weeks longer, you’ve got to keep the campaign staff together for two weeks longer, and that’s going to be more expensive,” he said. JUSTICE ALITO PINS DOWN LAWYER WHO WON’T DEFINE BOYS, GIRLS IN COURT Clement told the high court that preventing the case from moving forward risked turning “federal courts into federal prognosticators.” Though the ruling itself is somewhat narrow, it comes as the Supreme Court is slated to other, more consequential cases this year — including a case centered squarely on the issue of mail-in voting. That case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, which centers on states’ ability to count mail-in ballots that are received within five days of an election. The RNC and state GOP have argued that these laws break with federal voting laws — a point vehemently disputed by other states and the DNC, which noted the widespread use of mail-in votes across the country, and the fact that similar laws are in place in some 31 states, including the District of Columbia.
Voters sharply split along party lines over ICE agent’s fatal shooting: poll
One week after video of a fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent went viral, sparking protests and a national debate, a new poll shows a wide partisan split over whether the shooting was justified. Fifty-three percent of registered voters nationwide questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey said they think the shooting was not justified, with 35% saying it was and 12% offering no opinion. While 92% of Democrats surveyed said the shooting was not justified, more than three-quarters of Republicans (77%) said it was. Independents, by a 59%-28% margin, said the shooting was not justified. An ICE agent shot and killed the 37-year-old Renee Good last Wednesday during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense. NEW VIDEO SHOWS MINUTES LEADING UP TO DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING President Donald Trump and leading members of his administration have strongly defended the shooting. TRUMP PLEDGES TO UNCOVER LEFTIST GROUPS COUNTERING ICE But top Democrats, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is “unlawful” and “unprecedented.” Good’s death sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis and across the nation, with demonstrators calling for changes to federal immigration enforcement. According to the Quinnipiac poll, which was conducted Thursday through Monday and released on Tuesday, 82% said they have seen video of the shooting. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ARGUES ‘NO BASIS’ FOR CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION INTO ICE SHOOTING Men questioned in the survey were divided, with 42% saying the shooting was justified and 44% disagreeing. Sixty-one percent of women surveyed said the shooting was not justified. Four in 10 said they approve of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws, while 57% gave the agency a thumbs down on how it’s handling its job. That was largely unchanged since Quinnipiac University’s poll from last July. Quinnipiac questioned 1,133 self-identified registered voters in their new survey, which had an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Venezuela releases multiple American citizens from prison following military operation
The interim government in Venezuela has released at least four U.S. citizens who were imprisoned under President Nicolás Maduro‘s regime, Fox News confirmed. The release marks the first known release of Americans in the South American country since the U.S. military completed an operation to capture authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is now facing federal drug trafficking charges in New York. “We welcome the release of detained Americans in Venezuela,” a State Department official said Tuesday. “This is an important step in the right direction by the interim authorities.” The release of American citizens was first reported by Bloomberg. TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO PROTECT VENEZUELA OIL REVENUE HELD IN US ACCOUNTS President Donald Trump said Saturday that Venezuela had begun releasing political prisoners. “Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you! I hope those prisoners will remember how lucky they got that the USA came along and did what had to be done.” Venezuela’s interim government has reported that 116 prisoners have been released, although only about 70 have been verified by the non-governmental organization Justicia, Encuentro y Perdón, according to Bloomberg. National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said prisoner releases would continue, according to the outlet. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FILES SEIZURE WARRANTS TARGETING SHIPS TIED TO VENEZUELAN OIL TRADE: REPORT The U.S. government issued a new security alert Saturday urging Americans in Venezuela to leave the country immediately, citing security concerns and limited ability to provide emergency assistance, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas said. “U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately,” the embassy said in the alert. The warning pointed to reports of armed groups operating on Venezuelan roads. Following the military operation, Trump suggested that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for an extended period. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said.
Rand Paul says GOP colleagues ‘don’t give a s‑‑t about these people in the boats’: They ‘say they’re pro-life’
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accused his “pro-life” Republican colleagues of not caring about the people killed in boat strikes near Venezuela who the Trump administration, without providing evidence, claims were trafficking fentanyl. During an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” released on Tuesday. Paul said GOP lawmakers “don’t give a s‑‑-” about the people who died on the vessels, blasting his colleagues for not granting the presumption of innocence. “I look at my colleagues who say they’re pro-life, and they value God’s inspiration in life, but they don’t give a s‑‑- about these people in the boats,” Paul said. “Are they terrible people in the boats? I don’t know. They’re probably poor people in Venezuela and Colombia.” “I guess what I don’t feel connected to my Republican colleagues is that those lives don’t matter at all, and we just blow them up. And against all justice, and against all laws of war, all laws of just war, we have never blown up people who were shipwrecked,” he added, referring to the administration’s reported targeting and killing of survivors of initial strikes who were clinging to wreckage. RAND PAUL SAYS TRUMP’S THREAT TO BOMB IRAN ‘IS NOT THE ANSWER’: NOT THE ‘JOB OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT’ The liberty-minded Republican said it is “against the military code of justice to do that.” “We’re doing it and everybody just says, ‘Oh, well, they’re drug dealers,’” he said. Paul criticized his fellow GOP lawmakers who have repeated the administration’s claims about the boats carrying fentanyl. He also took issue with colleagues who hold the position of, “Well, we’re at war with them. They’re committing war by bringing drugs into America.” “They’re not even coming here,” Paul explained. “They’re going to these islands in the south part of the Caribbean. The cocaine — and it’s not fentanyl at all — the cocaine’s going to Europe.” He emphasized that “those little boats can’t get here.” “No one’s even asked this common question: Those boats have these four engines on them. They’re outboard boats. You can probably go about 100 miles before you have to refuel. Two thousand miles from us, they’d have to refuel 20 times to get here,” Paul said. The senator accused the administration of conducting the boat strikes to create “a pretense and a false argument” ahead of the operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro. “It’s all been a pretense for arresting Maduro,” he said. “So, we have to set up the predicate. We got to show you we care about drugs.” Paul helped the Senate advance a resolution last week that would limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture Maduro, which the Kentucky Republican said amounts to war. The Upper Chamber could pass the measure later this week, although it faces an uphill battle in the House despite some support from Republicans. “I think bombing a capital and removing the head of state is, by all definitions, war,” Paul told reporters before the procedural vote last week. “Does this mean we have carte blanche that the president can make the decision any time, anywhere, to invade a foreign country and remove people that we’ve accused of a crime?” SENATE REPUBLICANS BLOCK SCHIFF EFFORT TO FORCE RELEASE OF CARIBBEAN STRIKE FOOTAGE The lawmaker has repeatedly criticized the administration’s boat strikes on alleged narco-terrorists in recent months, often raising concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people. The senator previously cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded on suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent. Paul said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” that he believes the administration might attack Mexico next, which Trump has signaled could be a future target. “They want to do that next. They want to bomb Mexico,” Paul said. Trump has said cartels are “running Mexico” and that “something’s going to have to be done” because Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is “very frightened” of the cartels.
GOP senator suggests Fed chair Powell resign now to dodge potential criminal indictment
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., suggested Tuesday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should resign to avoid a potential indictment, arguing the move could prompt the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop its investigation. The suggestion comes after the DOJ announced Sunday it has opened a criminal probe into Powell focused on the renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters and whether he was truthful in his congressional testimony regarding the project. “If you’re the attorney for Jay Powell and you want to avoid an indictment, how about you go to Jeanine Pirro and say, ‘I’ll make a deal. I’ll step down today if you’ll drop the investigation today,’” Cramer said on FOX Business’ “Kudlow.” Cramer added that his proposed legal strategy would be “a win-win for everybody.” THUNE WARNS DOJ’S PROBE OF FED CHAIR POWELL ‘BETTER BE REAL’ AND ‘SERIOUS’ AMID POLITICAL BACKLASH U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on X Monday that her office had contacted the Fed “on multiple occasions to discuss cost overruns and the chairman’s congressional testimony, but were ignored, necessitating the use of legal process — which is not a threat.” “The word ‘indictment’ has come out of Mr. Powell’s mouth, no one else’s,” Pirro continued. “None of this would have happened if they had just responded to our outreach. This office makes decisions based on the merits, nothing more and nothing less. We agree with the chairman of the Federal Reserve that no one is above the law, and that is why we expect his full cooperation.” Powell provided testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last year regarding a significant renovation to two main office buildings in the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The project is expected to cost $2.5 billion and is being paid for by the central bank, not taxpayers. TRUMP INSISTS GOPERS ‘LOVE’ DOJ TARGETING JEROME POWELL, SAYS HE ‘CAN’T HELP’ IT IF IT LOOKS LIKE RETRIBUTION Powell confirmed in a video statement Sunday that the Federal Reserve had been served “with grand jury subpoenas” that threatened “a criminal indictment.” While Powell said he respected the rule of law and congressional oversight, he asserted that the Justice Department’s move was “unprecedented” and politically motivated. “This new threat is not about my testimony last June or about the renovation of the Federal Reserve buildings,” he said. He added that the threat of criminal charges is a “consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.” REPUBLICAN SENATOR VOWS TO BLOCK TRUMP FED NOMINEE OVER POWELL INVESTIGATION A spokesperson for the Fed told Fox News Digital the Fed would not have any comment beyond Powell’s video message from Sunday. Cramer cautioned on “Kudlow” that an indictment could negatively impact the economy. “I don’t want to do anything to disrupt this incredible rocket ship economy we’re enjoying right now,” he said. “We’ve got other big things to do that I’d rather focus on than an indictment.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Fox News Digital’s Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
Minneapolis-area leaders condemn ICE, call for removal amid Trump deportation campaign
Minneapolis-area leaders on Tuesday formally denounced federal immigration authorities and called for their removal from the region amid the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. The Hennepin County Administration, Operations and Budget Committee unanimously passed a resolution condemning ICE and calling for the removal of ICE personnel and assets from Minnesota. In a statement, the seven-member committee said it did “not take this action lightly.” MINNESOTA LAWSUIT OVER TRUMP’S ICE ‘INVASION’ WON’T SUCCEED: LEGAL EXPERT “It comes forward in the context of an additional 1,000 ICE agents due to arrive in the metro area during the largest deployment of DHS resources in our nation’s history, anywhere,” committee Vice Chair Debbie Goettel said. The committee framed the vote as a stand to protect residents. The board will vote to formally adopt the resolution in its Jan. 27 meeting. “We stand with our immigrant communities, our protesters and observers, and our neighbors standing together to bring accountability to this unconscionable show of force,” Goettel said. The vote came hours after President Donald Trump said his administration will withhold federal payments from sanctuary jurisdictions beginning Feb. 1. HOUSE REPUBLICAN CALLS FOR HEARING AFTER DEADLY ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS In a Truth Social post, Trump said sanctuary cities hamper federal immigration enforcement efforts at the expense of public safety. “And it breeds fraud and crime and all the other problems that come. So we’re not making any payment to anybody that supports sanctuary,” Trump wrote. Earlier in the week, the Department of Homeland Security said it would be sending additional federal agents to protect Minnesota immigration officers as they conduct enforcement operations while facing protesters. Minnesota has become a flashpoint in Trump’s deportation campaign following last week’s fatal shooting of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent as she attempted to ram into him with her vehicle, officials said. The city of Minneapolis is suing the federal government over the law enforcement operations, which local officials said have been marked by racial profiling and excessive force.