Portland Border Patrol Shooting Injures Two: What We Know

 https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-investigates-portland-shooting-customs-border-patrol-11333028

The FBI is investigating a shooting involving U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in Portland, Oregon, that wounded two people near the 10000 block of Main Street around 2:15 p.m. local time Thursday.

FBI Portland said on X in a since deleted post, "FBI Portland is investigating an agent involved shooting that happened at approximately 2:15pm near the 10000 block of Main St. in Portland involving Customs and Border Patrol Agents in which 2 individuals were wounded. This remains and [sic] active and ongoing investigation led by the FBI. Please follow this thread for updates regarding this matter."

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, on X Thursday night: "Here are the facts: At 2:19 PST, US Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon. The passenger of the vehicle and target is a Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting in Portland.

Trump Admin: Obey Or Die |

Vance calls CNN, other media outlets 'absolute disgrace' over what they left out of Minneapolis ICE shooting

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/vance-calls-cnn-other-media-outlets-absolute-disgrace-over-what-left-out-minneapolis-ice-shooting

Vance says media omitted that ICE officer was previously dragged by car, received 33 stitches

"The CNN headline about what happened in Minneapolis… I’m just going to read it, ‘Outrage after ICE officer kills US citizen in Minneapolis,’" Vance said. 

"What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car, six months ago, 33 stiches in his leg," Vance continued. "Do you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?"

Do ICE agents have absolute immunity? No, experts say, but it’s not easy for a state to prosecute

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/08/politics/ice-immunity-jd-vance-minneapolis

Vice President JD Vance’s claim Thursday that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis is “protected by absolute immunity” drew immediate pushback from experts who said the legal landscape around a potential prosecution is far more complicated.

In this case, the question of whether state charges would ever be brought against the agent, who shot and killed Good, 37, while she was seated in the driver’s seat of her car, is clouded because of the investigation itself. The Department of Homeland Security described Good as a “rioter” who was obstructing and attempting to use her vehicle against officers enforcing immigration laws. Three videos taken of the scene and reviewed by CNN, however, show a more nuanced picture of the scene.

Jimmy Kimmel on the Awful ICE Shooting in Minneapolis & a Baseline of Decency Being Gone in America

Donald Trump Reacts After Republican Senators Vote To Curb His War Powers

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-republican-senators-war-powers-venezuela-maduro-11331375

President Donald Trump blasted Republican senators who voted in favor of a War Powers Resolution on Thursday.

"Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again," the president wrote on Truth Social.

The comments from the president come after the Senate on Thursday advanced a resolution to curb Trump’s authority to launch further attacks on Venezuela, signaling disapproval of his growing ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump says he will meet Machado — and would accept Nobel Peace Prize from her /Guess What Trump expects to Get

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/09/trump-machado-meet-peace-prize/

 Speaking to Fox News, Trump said it “would be a great honor” if the Venezuelan opposition leader decided to share her Nobel Peace Prize with him.

Trump has openly coveted and publicly lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming to have “solved” a number of international conflicts. Several world leaders have backed his claims.

Two people close to the White House previously told The Post that Trump was not willing to support Machado because she accepted the Peace Prize. “If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” one of the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.

‘Bald-faced lie’: Joe calls out Secy. Noem for calling Minneapolis woman a domestic terrorist

Deadly Force

‘They decided on a narrative’: Hayes rips DHS ‘lies’ after deadly ICE shooting

Is there any legal justification for the US attack on Venezuela?

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/is-there-any-legal-justification-for-the-us-attack-on-venezuela-trump-maduro

The experts the Guardian spoke to agreed that the US is likely to have violated the terms of the UN charter, which was signed in October 1945 and designed to prevent another conflict on the scale of the second world war. A central provision of this agreement – known as article 2(4) – rules that states must refrain from using military force against other countries and must respect their sovereignty.

“You would have to prove those drug traffickers were threatening the sovereignty of the United States,” Breau added. “The United States is going to argue vigorously that drug trafficking is a scourge and it’s killing many people, and I agree. But a lot of international law experts have been looking at this and there wasn’t even clear evidence that those drug traffickers were from Venezuela, let alone that they were governed by Maduro in any sense.”

The woman fatally shot by ICE in Minneapolis did not deserve to die

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/01/07/ice-minneapolis-shooting-deportaitons-escalation/

A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said the driver, identified as U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good, attempted to “run over” law enforcement officers in an act of “domestic terrorism” that required an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer to fire three shots. Trump posted on social media that the driver “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”

Yet, while additional information can always emerge, so far social media clips do not show a situation that would justify using deadly force. Disregarding instructions from police is unacceptable, and any violence against law enforcement ought to be prosecuted, but it’s unclear if the woman intended to hit anyone with her vehicle.

Trump officials scramble to sell skeptical lawmakers, oil execs on Venezuela plan

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/07/politics/trump-officials-venezuela-oil-plan

Also unclear is the legal authority for such an arrangement, which administration officials have openly acknowledged is being negotiated with Rodriguez under the threat of paying “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she doesn’t agree, as Trump put it.

Within the administration, the push to manage the immediate aftermath of Maduro’s ouster has masked another looming problem: Despite Trump’s insistence that US oil companies would pour into Venezuela, officials have no ready plan for convincing firms to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in rebuilding the nation’s energy infrastructure.

The administration is “trying to sell us on engaging and getting in,” the energy lobbyist said. “It’s, ‘Hey look what we did for you. Now step up.’”

That push has been met with trepidation in public and even deeper skepticism in private, the industry sources said, driven by doubts that Trump can provide the stability and security needed for companies to set up operations — and that the potential profits will be worth the risk.

‘This is insanity’: Joe slams WH for threatening to invade Greenland