The Latest: Vance says Insurrection Act not needed ‘right now’ in Minneapolis

Vance also responded to reporting that federal authorities are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant.

“We’re never going to enter somebody’s house without some kind of warrant, unless of course somebody is firing at an officer and they have to protect themselves,” he said.

An ICE memo obtained by the AP authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal.

The Latest:

Trump says US is moving fleet of ships toward Iran

The president said the move is “just in case” it wants to take action against the country over its crackdown on protesters.

“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday.

Trump said he had threatened Iran with military action that would make earlier U.S. strikes against its nuclear sites “look like peanuts” if the government proceeded with planned executions of some protesters.

A Navy official confirmed that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying destroyers left the South China Sea and began heading west earlier this week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the Lincoln strike group is currently in the Indian Ocean.

— By Konstantin Toropin

House Republicans barely defeat war powers resolution to check Trump’s military action in Venezuela

Democrats forced the vote on the war powers resolution to direct the president to remove U.S. troops from the South American nation, bringing up a debate in the Republican-controlled Congress on Trump’s aggressions in the Western Hemisphere.

The Trump administration told senators last week that there are no U.S. troops on the ground in Venezuela and committed to getting congressional approval before launching major military operations there. But Democrats argued that the resolution is necessary after the U.S. raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and since Trump has stated plans to control the country’s oil industry for years to come.

Thursday’s vote was the latest test in Congress of how much leeway Republicans will give a president who campaigned on removing the U.S. from foreign entanglements but has increasingly reached for military options to impose his will in the Western Hemisphere.

So far, almost all Republicans have declined to put checks on Trump through the war powers votes.

Trump says he had a call with Venezuela’s Maria Machado

The president said he talked to the opposition leader on Thursday “just to say hello.”

Machado last week said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump during a meeting at the White House “as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”

Trump told reporters that Machado is “a good woman, a very nice woman,” adding, “she’s been through a lot.”

Trump says ‘we’ll see’ how SCOTUS decides Lisa Cook case

Trump said he has been monitoring the coverage of the government’s case against Fed Governor Lisa Cook at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump said he didn’t get the impression the justices were inclined to rule in her favor: “We’ll see. I listened to some, I read some of it, and I didn’t get that impression, other than they thought maybe it should have gone through a normal court system.”

“Nobody is saying she’s innocent,” Trump said about Cook, who is accused of mortgage fraud.

Cook denies the allegations.

Jury finds Chicago man not guilty of circulating $10K bounty on life of top Border Patrol leader

Jurors deliberated less than 4 hours before returning the favorable verdict for 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez. He faced one count of murder-for-hire and up to 10 years in prison if he were to be convicted in the first criminal trial stemming from the Chicago-area immigration crackdown that started last year.

Defense attorneys said Espinoza Martinez is a carpenter with only a few dollars in his bank account. They argued that he sent Snapchats amounting to “neighborhood gossip” to his brother and an acquaintance who turned out to be a government informant.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors argued he plotted to offer a reward for the killing of Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official who has led combative operations nationwide.

Trump planning to speak with farmers during Iowa trip next week

Asked about his coming trip, Trump said farmers “have been very special to me.”

At the end of last year, Trump announced a $12 billion farm aid package, a boost to farmers who struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after he raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has said that Trump will be ramping up his travel ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump says hand bruising happened after he ‘clipped’ it

The president dismissed concerns about new bruising visible on his left hand, saying he “clipped it on the table” and applied cream to it.

When a reporter asked if he was OK on his flight back to the U.S. on Thursday, Trump said, “I’m very good.”

He noted he bruises more easily because of the amount of aspirin he takes, despite his doctor saying he doesn’t need such a high dose.

‘In about 2 weeks’ returns as Trump’s time estimation of choice

Saying that something will be announced “in about two weeks” is one of Trump’s standard timeframes, something he stuck to on Thursday.

Pressed for more information as to whether Danish officials were on board with his plans for Greenland, Trump said, “I’ll let you know in about two weeks.”

Trump has also given that timeframe for other international decisions, including on whether the U.S. would make a direct attack on Iran last summer.

Trump says he stopped executions in Iran

Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump repeated the claim that he personally stopped the execution of 837 mostly young male dissidents in Iran.

“There’s a lot of killing going on,” he said, adding that he would not comment on whether he wants to see the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei removed from power.

He added that any company that does business with Iran would be hit with a 25% tariff.

House approves final spending bills as Democrats denounce ICE funding

The House has passed this year’s final batch of spending bills as lawmakers, still smarting from last fall’s record 43-day shutdown, worked to avoid another funding lapse for a broad swath of the federal government.

The four bills total about $1.2 trillion in spending and now move to the Senate, with final passage needed next week before a Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Three of the bills had broad, bipartisan support. They funded Defense and various other departments, including Education, Transportation and Health and Human Services. A fourth bill funding the Department of Homeland Security was hotly disputed.

Before the votes, House Democratic leaders announced their opposition to the Homeland Security bill as the party’s rank-and-file demanded a more forceful stand in response to the Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Republicans were able to overcome the Democratic objections and muscle the Homeland Security bill to passage.

Trump says some European countries tell him they need permission to join Board of Peace

Trump said some European countries have told him they wanted to sign onto his Board of Peace but have to ask their legislatures for permission to do so, mentioning Italy and Poland.

Earlier Thursday in Davos, Trump inaugurated his effort aimed at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, insisting that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body he said could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.

Asked if he would chair the group past his term in office, Trump said he wasn’t sure.

“I have the right to be if I want. I’ll decide,” he said. “It’s, in theory, for life, but I’m not sure I want that.”

Trump says he thinks both Zelenskyy, Putin ready to end war

Talking with reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump described another “good meeting” with Zelenskyy while both were in Switzerland, although he said “numerous” previous conversations haven’t seemed to lead to the war’s end.

Saying “everyone’s making concessions” to try to end the war, Trump said he thinks both Putin and Zelenskyy are desirous of coming to some sort of deal.

“It’s really tough for the people of Ukraine,” Trump said, remarking on the country’s cold climate where he said it was “amazing” how residents have been able to persevere through difficult winters.

Trump sues JPMorgan for $5 billion, alleges the bank closed his accounts for political reasons

President Donald Trump sued banking giant JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 billion on Thursday over allegations that JPMorgan stopped providing banking services to him and his businesses for political reasons after he left office in January 2021.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County court in Florida, alleges that JPMorgan abruptly closed multiple accounts in February 2021 with just 60 days notice and no explanation. By doing so, Trump claims JPMorgan and Dimon cut the president and his businesses off from millions of dollars, disrupted their operations and forced Trump and the businesses to urgently open bank accounts elsewhere.

“JPMC debanked (Trump and his businesses) because it believed that the political tide at the moment favored doing so,” the lawsuit alleges.

In a statement, JPMorgan said it believes the suit has no merit.

▶ Read more about JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon

Vance wraps up remarks in Minneapolis

After about a half hour of remarks and taking questions from reporters, Vance is done with his schedule of events in Minneapolis.

Throughout his news conference, Vance reiterated multiple times his opinion that the fraught situation in Minneapolis would improve upon better cooperation from state and local officials, also saying he hadn’t spoken with Walz.

Vance says Insurrection Act not needed ‘right now’ in Minneapolis

Trump has floated invoking the Insurrection Act to tamp down unrest in Minnesota, but his No. 2 says that’s not necessary.

“Right now, we don’t think that we need that,” Vance said Thursday.

Through the years, Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

Earlier this month, Trump said it could be necessary to quell persistent protests against federal agents sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration’s massive immigration crackdown.

Trump wants Miami to host 2035 World Expo

The president announced he’s pitching Miami for the next Expo and putting Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of securing the bid.

“The Great State of Florida has expressed strong interest in hosting the Expo in Miami, which I fully support,” Trump said in a social media post as he makes his back to Washington from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Miami Expo 2035 can be the next big milestone in our new Golden Age of America.”

The World Expo has a storied history of bringing together nations to showcase technological innovations and cultural achievements. Since the inaugural event in 1851, Expos have been platforms for introducing groundbreaking inventions such as the light bulb, the Ferris wheel and the Eiffel Tower itself, which was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle.

The events have also served as opportunities for host cities to catalyze economic growth and global recognition.

Osaka, Japan, hosted the last one in 2025, and Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh is slated to hold Expo 2030.

Vance says ICE isn’t seeking to enter homes without warrants

Asked about reporting that federal authorities are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, Vance said warrants would still be part of the process.

“Nobody is talking about doing immigration enforcement without a warrant,” Vance said. “We’re never going to enter somebody’s house without some kind of warrant, unless of course somebody is firing at an officer and they have to protect themselves.”

An ICE memo obtained by The Associated Press authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal.

The memo has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed to implement the president’s immigration crackdown.

Administration gathering data on federal funds in mostly Democratic states

Trump’s budget office ordered most government departments and agencies to gather information on federal funds sent to 14 states and the District of Columbia.

All of the places on the list are controlled entirely or largely by Democrats.

A memo to federal agencies on the order doesn’t explain why it’s seeking details about those places and not others. But it says it’s trying to reduce fraud.

The order comes a week after Trump said he intended to cut off federal money that goes to states that are home to so-called sanctuary cities that resist his immigration policies. He said that would start Feb. 1 but he hasn’t unveiled further details.

Vance predicts Minneapolis ‘chaos’ would ‘go way down’ with more local cooperation

Without specifying anyone by name, Vance said there had been a “failure of cooperation” between federal authorities and Minnesota officials.

“We can do a good job enforcing immigration laws without the chaos, but it actually requires cooperation of state and local officials,” Vance said.

Vance said he did foresee a situation in which circumstances could improve, noting, “I actually have some reason to think there will be better cooperation in the months to come.”

Democrat Tim Walz, Minnesota’s current governor, was Vance’s opponent during the 2024 campaign, when both sought the office of vice president.

Vance voices support for law enforcement in Minneapolis

Saying officers “are doing an incredible job,” Vance laid blame on the media and “far-left agitators” for heated clashes between protestors and immigration enforcement authorities.

Speaking with reporters after a closed-door meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, Vance said his intended goal is to “tone down the temperature a little bit, reduce the chaos, but still allow us, as the federal government, to enforce the American people’s immigration laws.”

“Yes, come out and protest, protest me, protest our immigration policy, but do it peacefully,” Vance said, with law enforcement officers standing behind him.

Trump administration times anti-abortion actions with Roe v. Wade anniversary

Expanded rules blocking foreign aid for groups that promote abortion are part of a broader package of moves the Trump administration is making this week that are being cheered by anti-abortion advocates.

Among them were the National Institutes of Health halting funding for research that uses human fetal tissue and the Small Business Administration launching a review into Planned Parenthood’s use of COVID-era loans.

The actions appeared to be timed to coincide with the anniversary of the now-overturned Roe v. Wade case and the annual anti-abortion March for Life demonstration in Washington, D.C.

“All of these things are fantastic news,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Jack Smith says Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters ‘absolutely’ do not make country safer

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith says he doesn’t understand President Donald Trump’s mass pardons of the rioters who were prosecuted after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Asked by a Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee if Trump’s pardons make the country safer, he said, “absolutely not.”

“I don’t understand it, and I never will,” Smith told the House Judiciary Committee.

Smith says Trump officials will do ‘everything in their power’ to prosecute him

Smith said he would “not be intimidated” by attacks from the president, adding that investigators gathered proof that Trump committed “serious crimes.”

“I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me,” Smith said.

Rep. Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, asked also Smith if he was concerned that the Trump administration was going to try to prosecute him.

Smith responded: “I believe they will do everything in their power to do that because they’ve been ordered to by the president.”

US names senior diplomat to remotely run US embassy in Venezuela

The State Department has named a veteran diplomat to run the Venezuelan Affairs Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia as it continues to plan for the potential re-opening of the embassy in Caracas following the ouster and arrest of former President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

The department said Thursday that Laura Dogu, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua and is currently the foreign policy advisor to Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Dan Caine, would run the unit.

Resuming operations at the embassy in Caracas that was shuttered in 2019, is a key part of the Trump administration’s plan to stabilize Venezuela.

Shortly after Maduro was removed in a U.S. military operation on Jan. 3, a small team of Bogota-based U.S. diplomats, communications and security personnel visited Caracas to look at the logistics of re-opening the embassy there.

Vance arrives for meeting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis

Vance’s meeting wasn’t expected to be open to reporters, although he’s expected to make remarks afterward.

The Republican vice president has played a leading role in defending the agent who fatally shot Renee Good during a confrontation this month, calling her death was “a tragedy of her own making.”

Earlier Thursday in Ohio, Vance blamed the “far left” for turmoil surrounding the White House’s deportation campaign. He also praised the arrest of protesters who disrupted a church service in Minnesota on Sunday, saying he expects more prosecutions to come.

Trump administration to block foreign aid from those promoting abortion, DEI and gender identity

The Trump administration is expanding its ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

An administration official said Thursday that the State Department would release final rules that expand the scope of a policy first established under President Ronald Reagan that has already severely reduced assistance to international organizations that provide abortion-related care.

The expanded policy would apply to more than $30 billion in foreign aid that the U.S. provides, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday.

LGBTQ+ and abortion rights advocates said the changes would force humanitarian aid groups and others to choose between U.S. funding and the sometimes entirely unrelated lifesaving services they provide around the world.

Jack Smith says it’s ‘catastrophic’ if leaders avoid accountability

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith says he believes it “can be catastrophic” if the most powerful people in society are not held to the same legal standards as regular people.

House Republicans are challenging Smith on his investigations of President Donald Trump and his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, arguing that his investigations were political. Defending his work, Smith told lawmakers that “if we don’t call people to account when they commit crimes in this context, it can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers and ultimately, our democracy.”

If the most powerful people don’t follow the law, Smith said, others don’t think they have to follow the law as well.

“I think the law should be applied equally,” Smith said.

Smith says there were ‘so many witnesses’ in case against Trump, including his Republican backers

Pressed about the volume of witnesses available for the prosecution’s case against Trump, Smith acknowledged that one of the “central challenges” was trying to present the case in a concise way, “because we did have so many witnesses.”

“Some of the most powerful witnesses were witnesses who, in fact, were fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and who wanted him to win the election,” Smith said.

Still the special counsel said he stopped short of filing a charge of insurrection charge against Trump. That was pursued in his House impeachment in the aftermath of Jan. 6. The Senate later acquitted Trump of the sole count of incitement of an insurrection.

“With respect to the charge of insurrection, we did not charge that,” Smith said. “I thought the charges we brought were appropriate given the evidence we had.”

New poll shows one group is particularly worried about inflation

Anxiety about costs and affordability is particularly high among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, even at a moment when economic stress is widespread, according to a new poll.

About half of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults said they want the government to prioritize addressing the high cost of living and inflation, according to the survey from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted in early December. In comparison, a December AP-NORC poll found that about one-third of U.S. adults overall rated inflation and financial worries as the most pressing problems.

The findings indicate that this small but fast-growing group is not persuaded by Trump’s attempts to tamp down worries about inflation and defend his tariffs.

▶ Read more about how inflation and health care costs are causing concerns

5-year-old is 4th student from one district detained by ICE, superintendent says

Liam is the fourth student from Columbia Heights Public Schools who has been detained by ICE in recent weeks, said Stenvik. A 17-year-old student was taken Tuesday while heading to school, and a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old have also been taken, she said.

The district is made up of five schools and about 3,400 students from pre-K to 12th grade, according to its website. The majority of the students come from immigrant families, according to Stenvik.

She said they’ve noticed their attendance drop over the past two weeks, including one day where they had about one-third of their students out from school.

Ella Sullivan, Liam’s teacher, described him as “kind and loving.”“His classmates miss him,” she said. “And all I want is for him to be safe and back here.”

DHS: ‘ICE did NOT target a child’

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that ICE was conducting an operation to arrest the child’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. She said he’s from Ecuador, in the U.S. illegally, and tried to flee, “abandoning his child.”

“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias,” McLaughlin said, adding that parents are given the choice to be removed with their children or have them placed with a person of their choosing.

But Stenvik said another adult who lives at the home was outside when the father and son were taken, and agents wouldn’t leave Liam with that person.

Liam and his father were being held in a family holding cell in Texas, their attorney Marc Prokosch said, noting that they have legal status while pursuing asylum.

“Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do,” Prokosch said. “So this is just cruelty.”

Detained 5-year-old boy was used as ‘bait,’ school superintendent says

A 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool in Minnesota was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, school officials and the family’s lawyer said, making him the latest child caught up in the immigration enforcement surge that has riled the Twin Cities in recent weeks.

Federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a running car in the family’s driveway on Tuesday, Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said during a news conference Wednesday. The officers then told him to knock on the door at his suburban Minneapolis home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said.

Stenvik said the family has an active asylum case and has not been ordered to leave the country.

“Why detain a 5-year-old?” she asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.”

VP visiting Minnesota

Vance’s visit comes amid tense interactions between federal immigration law enforcement authorities and residents, including state and local elected officials who have opposed the crackdown in Minnesota, where Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. Vance called Good’s death a “tragedy of her own making.”

The Justice Department’s swift investigation into the disruption of Sunday services in a church led by an ICE officer — including the arrests Thursday of two protesters involved — stands in contrast to its decision not to investigate Jonathan Ross, the ICE officer who killed Good. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week there is “no basis” at this time for a civil rights investigation.

Prosecutors this week sent subpoenas to the offices of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and other local officials they’re accusing of impeding or obstructing federal immigration enforcement though public statements.

Republicans turn their focus to Cassidy Hutchinson

Republicans are using a disputed account from Hutchinson, a former White House aide who testified to the Democratic-led panel that investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to discredit Smith.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan asked Smith if he had been considering using her a witness before his investigation ended.

Hutchinson told the Democratic-led panel that she had been told secondhand that Trump lunged at the steering wheel and at a Secret Service agent while pushing to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Other witnesses denied these details.

Smith said he had not decided whether to have Hutchinson testify at trial, and noted that another witness had not confirmed the secondhand account of what happened inside the presidential vehicle.

Jordan accused Smith of considering using her “because you had to get President Trump.”

Smith defends move to analyze phone records of GOP lawmakers

Republicans have repeatedly attacked Smith over a decision to obtain and analyze phone records of GOP lawmakers who were in contact with Trump on Jan. 6.

Smith defended the move as “common practice” in a complex criminal investigation. He told lawmakers “it was relevant to get the full records to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking to influence.”

The records enabled investigators to see basic information about the date and time of the calls but not the content of the communications. The data encompassed several days during the week of Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of the election results.

Commission asks for scaled models of White House ballroom project

The group that approves historic federal building projects in Washington wants to see 3D models of Trump’s ballroom project. Trump’s appointees to the Commission of Fine Arts endorsed the need for a ballroom expansion, but had many questions for the architect as he presented drawings during an online meeting.

“This is an important thing to the president. It’s an important thing to the nation,” said the commission’s new chairman, Rodney Mims Cook Jr. “You can’t have the United States of America entertaining people in tents.”

But the question, Cook said, is “if we can do this in a way that this building remains” true to its fundamental character and still “take care of what the president wants us to do.”

Architect Shalom Baranes agreed to return to a future in-person commission meeting with scale models showing the proposed addition alongside the rest of the White House, the Treasury Department building to the east, and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to the west.

Smith says he has ‘no partisan loyalties,’ as his testimony begins

Smith forcefully defended his work as special counsel and said he stands by his decision to bring criminal charges against Trump as he opened his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. He said he’s “not a politician and has no partisan loyalties,” and would have brought charges no matter the president’s politics.

“No one, no one should be above the law in this country,” Smith said.

Smith decried what he described as “false and misleading” narratives about the cases, which were abandoned after Trump won the election.

And he criticized the firing of members of the team that investigated the president, saying he is “saddened and angered” that Trump has “sought revenge against them.”

Officers who responded on Jan. 6 sit behind Jack Smith at hearing

Four former and current officers who responded to the U.S. Capitol during Jan. 6, 2021 riots sat in the front row behind Jack Smith as his congressional hearing began.

Smith has said evidence placed Trump’s actions squarely at the heart of a criminal conspiracy to undo the election he lost to Biden as well as the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

The officers — Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell and Daniel Hodges — were acknowledged at the start of the hearing by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

The officers, who worked at the time for the Capitol Police and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, testified together at a hearing in 2021 about their experiences fighting Trump’s supporters in the violent riot.

Republicans open hearing with former special counsel Smith

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said the criminal investigations into Trump were “always about politics” as he opened the hearing.

Republicans loyal to the president have been investigating Smith’s cases, which accused Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and of keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, said in his opening remarks that the GOP is trying to distract from Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in that election and the attack on the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Raskin said Republicans may say Smith’s probes were about politics, but “for us it’s all about the rule of law.”

Vance urges patience on the economy during Toledo stop

“You don’t turn the Titanic around overnight,” he told a crowd of workers largely clad in reflective neon vests. “It takes time to fix what is broken.”

Vance was using the visit to emphasize the Trump administration’s efforts in Washington to lower prices, boost paychecks and create more good-paying jobs.

Workers brandished signs saying “Lower Prices” and “Bigger Paychecks” to emphasize the point.

“We are starting to see the benefits for American workers every single day,” the vice president said.

Vance says administration will come down hard on church protesters

Vance said the administration will act aggressively to prosecute anti-immigration enforcement protesters who disrupted a church service in Minnesota.

“They’re scaring little kids who are there to worship God on a Sunday morning,” he told a crowd of workers in Toledo on Thursday. “Those people are going to be sent to prison so long as we have the power to do so. We’re going to do everything we can to enforce the law.”

Vance said he expects “we’re going to see more prosecutions there.”

Leader of disruptive protest inside Minnesota church is arrested

A woman who led an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church has been arrested, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday.

Bondi announced the arrest of Nekima Levy Armstrong in a post on X. Protesters on Sunday entered the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor, chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and prominent local activist, had called for the pastor’s resignation, saying his dual role poses a “fundamental moral conflict.”

The Justice Department quickly opened a civil rights investigation. “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote.

Public comments mostly criticize White House ballroom, director tells commissioners

Many public comments to the Fine Arts Commission criticized the White House ballroom concept as too large to maintain the traditional appearance of the president’s residence.

The commission collected public comments ahead of its meeting Thursday via Zoom.

Thomas Luebke, the commission’s executive director, summarized the comments and told commissioners “almost all of them were in some way critical.”

The one he read and described as “more positive” complimented the proposal’s design and style but said “the scale appears oversized, making the main structure dominated.”

Luebke said other commenters criticized Trump’s process, which historic preservationists are challenging in court, accusing Trump of bypassing federal rules for construction on historic buildings in Washington.

White House ballroom project being presented to Trump’s Fine Arts commissioners

Five newly seated Trump appointees to the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts are hearing details of the president’s White House ballroom and new East Wing.

It’s the first such hearing for a project that historic preservationists want a federal court to slow down, arguing that Trump already has flouted the required process for changing historical buildings in Washington.

Architect Shalom Baranes is presenting renderings of the project, confirming many elements: an overall addition of almost 90,000 square feet, with 22,000 of that the ballroom itself. He emphasized that current plans call for the addition’s north boundary to be set back from the existing North Portico and for the top of the new structure to be even with the primary facade of the White House and its residence.

Baranes said this is to ensure the view of the White House from Pennsylvania Avenue would not change fundamentally.

JD Vance previews Minneapolis visit

The vice president told a crowd of industrial transportation workers in Toledo, Ohio, that Democrats in Minnesota — where he heads later Thursday — do not want a safe American border.

“If you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country,” he said at Midwest Terminals. “It’s not that hard.”

He said, “In a few distinct cities, you see this craziness because the far left has decided that the United States of America shouldn’t have a border anymore.”

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Riya Vashi dismissed Vance’s comments as “just another desperate attempt to lie to Ohioans about Washington Republicans’ cost-raising, economy-tanking agenda of giving tax breaks to billionaires and backing price hiking, reckless tariffs.”

An uncertain standing for the US in the world

Trump has cast aside alliances forged over seven decades that helped reunify Germany and sped the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Switzerland, he hectored leaders, making demands and leveling accusations more commonly associated with enemies.

The most stark example is Trump’s threat to take over Greenland. He shared images of him planting the U.S. flag in the self-governing Danish territory, and in his extraordinary speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that “sometimes you need a dictator.”

The episode has left America’s standing in the world uncertain. “Any country that is behaving rationally in terms of its relationship with the United States will realize that we can only be counted on in four year increments, if at all,” said Jon Finer, Biden’s deputy national security adviser and now a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

▶ Read more about the fallout from Trump’s latest moves in Europe

Trump’s Board of Peace poses latest US challenge to the UN

Trump’s ambition for his “Board of Peace” to play a role in global conflicts beyond Gaza appears to be the latest U.S. attempt to sidestep the U.N. Security Council, raising new questions about the relevance of the 80-year-old world body and uncertainty about its future as a primary force in brokering peace worldwide.

Trump is establishing the board, to be composed largely of invited heads of state, as the U.N. has embarked on major reforms to make it a more viable global player in the 21st century. The decades-long effort gained new impetus as the U.N. courts continued support from its largest donor. Trump has eliminated billions in funding to international organizations and humanitarian aid.

“The U.N. just hasn’t been very helpful,” Trump told reporters during a White House press briefing this week.

▶ Read more about what Trump’s latest moves mean for the United Nations

Jack Smith says investigators found ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ of Trump crimes

The former Justice Department special counsel will tell lawmakers Thursday that he stands behind his decision to bring charges against Trump.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” Smith will say, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”

“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith will say.

▶ Read more about Smith’s public hearing testimony

Immigration officials allowed suspect in $100 million jewelry heist to self deport, avoiding trial

Federal prosecutors were stunned when immigration authorities allowed a suspect in a $100 million jewelry heist to deport himself to South America last month as they prepared for his trial.

Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores was one of seven people charged last year with stealing the jewels from a Brink’s truck at a rest stop north of Los Angeles in 2022. He faced up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted in what’s believed to be the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.

Instead, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Ecuador after he requested voluntary departure.

Flores lawyer wants the case dismissed. Prosecutors asked a judge to keep the charges pending. The jewelers who lost millions of dollars worth of diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies and designer watches want answers. ICE didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Steep declines in homicide rates found around US, report shows

A report issued Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice is showing a 21% decrease in the homicide rate from 2024 to 2025, based on data collected from 35 American cities. That’s about 922 fewer homicides last year amid decreases in 31 of the cities studied.

Elected officials at all levels — both Democrats and Republicans — have been claiming credit for the steep declines. But experts say the trends are so widespread that local decisions aren’t likely responsible. Republicans have rushed to credit tough-on-crime moves like deploying the National Guard and surging immigration agents. But the data show that cities with no surges of troops or agents saw similar historic drops in crime.

The council’s CEO and president, Adam Gelb, says “it’s a dramatic drop to an absolutely astonishing level,” but “there’s never one reason crime goes up or down.”

▶ Read more about drops in crime across the United States

Judge tosses lines of NYC’s only Republican House seat, as state enters redistricting wars

A judge on Wednesday threw out the boundaries of the only congressional district in New York City represented by a Republican, ordering the state to redraw its borders because its current composition unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of Black and Hispanic residents.

Justice Jeffrey Pearlman said Republican U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis' district, which includes all of the borough of Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn, should be reconfigured before this year’s midterm elections. Republicans are expected to appeal as this new front opens in national gerrymandering that has both political parties fighting to control the U.S. House.

Lawmakers in about a third of states have considered redrawing their congressional districts after Trump pushed Republicans to craft new lines to help them hold onto their narrow House majority. Democrats have countered with their own redistricting efforts, at times hampered by laws they had passed intended to prevent partisan gerrymandering.

▶ Read more about the ruling