Trump touts 'softer touch' on immigration as federal force is reduced in Minnesota

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g5nx130neo

US President Donald Trump has said immigration agents could use a "softer touch" as his administration began pulling about a quarter of its force out of Minnesota, where two American citizens died last month in confrontations with federal officers.

"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch," Trump told NBC News, adopting a rare conciliatory tone on his political touchstone. "But you still have to be tough."

US border tsar Tom Homan said earlier 700 federal immigration agents would be withdrawn from the Minneapolis area.

He said 2,000 agents would remain, and that he aimed to cut their presence in the city to its level before Operation Metro Surge began in December.

In his interview with NBC News, Trump insisted that his operations were highly targeted at criminals.

"We are totally focused on criminals, really bad criminals," the president said.

The president also said he was "not happy" with the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.

"He was not an angel, and she was not an angel," Trump said. "You look at some tapes from back, but still, I'm not happy with what happened there."

When pressed whether that justified what happened to two American citizens, Trump said, "No, it should have not happened. It was very sad to me. It was a very sad incident. Two incidents."

During a news conference on Wednesday, border tsar Homan said that the US government had made providing body-worn cameras to all officers in Minneapolis a priority, and was planning to deploy the equipment to agents across the country.

Homan said federal immigration agents in Minnesota had been arresting "bad people" in the Minneapolis area, including 14 charged with homicide and 139 with assault, as well as 87 sex offenders and 28 gang members.

TrumpRx, the website launched by the Trump administration Thursday to sell discounted prescription drugs directly to consumers, is offering a whole lot less than advertised.

The drugs offered on the site are all from brand-name manufacturers, making them more expensive than generic brands. Almost all of the drugs are also covered through insurance already. The product pages on the website even say, “If you have insurance, check your co-pay first—it may be even lower.”

One X user fact-checked Trump’s claim Thursday that TrumpRx will lower the cost of inhalers from $458 to $51. In reality, clicking on the link on TrumpRx redirects the user to the manufacturer’s website to see if the buyer qualifies for hardship discounts. As the user pointed out, these discounts are available regardless of whether TrumpRx is involved.

Another X user pointed out that the lack of generic drugs on TrumpRx makes prices higher than on prescription comparison sites such as GoodRx.

“There may be patients who think this is a good deal and then end up financially worse off,” Rachel Sachs, a law professor studying drug pricing at Washington University in St. Louis who advised the Biden administration on drug policy, told The New York Times.

“TrumpRx is a sideshow,” said Sean D. Sullivan, a health economist at the University of Washington. “I consider it not a real, serious effort in service to lowering prescription drug prices for Americans.”

>https://newrepublic.com/post/206265/trump-prescription-drug-website-trumprx-scam

The nations largest professional association of plastic surgeons issues a public policy recommendation that people under the age of 19 should not be having gender reassignment surgeries because of the irreversible harm they are known to cause
https://apnews.com/article/surgery-transgender-minors-mastectomy-hormones-6f746529356f3aee0141569247dc7a77
The nation’s largest professional organization for plastic surgeons recommended that gender-affirming surgeries be delayed until patients turn 19, changing the group’s stance on the politically charged issue and diverging from several other major medical organizations’ guidance.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons said Tuesday that it found “insufficient evidence” that the benefits of chest, genital and facial surgeries on minors experiencing gender dysphoria outweigh the risks. It leaned on two recent and heavily debated publications on the topic, the Cass Review by a senior doctor in England and a 2025 report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“This position statement doesn’t seek to deny or minimize the reality of any patient’s distress, and it does not question the authenticity of any patient’s experience,” the position statement reads. “Instead, ASPS affirms that truly humane, ethical, and just care, particularly for children and adolescents, must balance compassion with scientific rigor, developmental considerations and concern for long-term welfare.”

More and more Americans reject a corrupt federal gestapo who revel in killing white Americans

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/immigration-news/dallas-county-commissioner-elba-garcia-statement-opposition-proposed-ice-facility-hutchins/287-5cc933f7-231e-4be5-b94b-f10509f79e59
“Dallas County is a place of opportunity, not a place of incarceration nor a dumping ground for policies that tear families apart,” District 4 Commissioner Garcia said in a statement. “Our community is built by immigrants, by working families, and by people who came here seeking safety, dignity and a better life. We refuse to allow our neighbors to be treated as disposable or to have their lives reduced to a number in a detention system.”

Garcia's statement accused ICE's nationwide operations of being marked by warrantless arrests, separation of children from parents, lack of due process and prolonged detention, undermining constitutional protections.

“No one should be detained without judicial oversight or meaningful access to legal counsel,” Garcia said. “That is not justice. That is abuse of power.”

According to the statement, the facility would also cause a local infrastructure crisis in the town of about 20,000 people. Were the facility to reach full capacity, the town's population would nearly double overnight, potentially causing issues such as overwhelming water systems, sewer capacity and emergency services.

“This plan puts detained individuals, workers and the surrounding community at risk,” Garcia said. “It is not only inhumane, it's reckless.”

DoJ will release unredacted Epstein files to Congress only.

nothing significant will come of it
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5727087-justice-department-epstein-files-lawmakers/
DOJ to allow lawmakers access to unredacted Epstein files starting Monday

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it will begin allowing lawmakers to review the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files starting Monday in the wake of criticism that the administration has improperly shielded the identities of various people.

“I am writing to confirm that the department is making unredacted versions of the more than 3 million pages of publicly released documents available for review by both houses of Congress starting Monday,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis wrote in a letter to all 535 members that was obtained by The Hill.

Lawmakers will be able to review the files in a reading room at the Department of Justice. While they are not permitted to bring electronic devices, they may take notes.

The alert came after several members of Congress said they had questions about whether the DOJ had fully complied with a law requiring public release of the files.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche held a press conference to announce the release of a final tranche of documents, with the DOJ ultimately posting 3 million pages.

“Our review is particularly urgent because DOJ itself claims to have identified over 6 million potentially responsive pages, but after releasing only about half of them—including over 200,000 pages that DOJ redacted or withheld—says strangely that it has fully complied with the Act,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote in a letter to the DOJ last month.

> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PMR3GI5YE4

> https://news.wttw.com/2026/01/09/video-ice-agent-s-cellphone-captures-fatal-confrontation-minneapolis

CNN) — Video captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross gives a raw, up-close perspective of the pivotal moments surrounding his fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed the video, obtained by CNN, was recorded on the agent’s cellphone camera; the video was originally obtained by the conservative Minnesota media outlet Alpha News.

Vice President JD Vance shared it, saying it shows the officer was endangered.

“Watch this, as hard as it is. Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman. The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense,” Vance posted on X.

The video begins with Rossin front of the vehicle driven by Good, who had stopped her burgundy SUV perpendicular to the street, obstructing the flow of traffic. Ross does not say anything as he walks across the front of the car toward the driver’s side of the car.

As he rounds the car, Good can be seen with her window down looking directly at the officer.

In the video, Good then talks to Ross.

“That’s fine dude. I’m not mad at you,” she says. Ross does not respond. In the car window a reflection can be seen of Ross, holding his phone up, as he continues to walk. You can also hear the victim’s wife, Becca Good, say “show your face” to Ross.

The video shows Ross walking around to the back of the car. Becca Good, the passenger in the car, who had gotten out of the vehicle prior to the confrontation, tells Ross that,“We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. This will be the same plate when you come talk to us later.”

She holds a cellphone up to Ross’s face as she addresses Ross.

https://apnews.com/article/rfk-measles-outbreak-samoa-emails-e04686f052e8c78b5a52be1e4fbcf62f

Over two days of questioning during his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated the same answer.

He said the closely scrutinized 2019 trip he took to Samoa, which came before a devastating measles outbreak, had “nothing to do with vaccines.”

Documents obtained by The Guardian and The Associated Press undermine that testimony. Emails sent by staffers at the U.S. Embassy and the United Nations provide, for the first time, an inside look at how Kennedy’s trip came about and include contemporaneous accounts suggesting his concerns about vaccine safety motivated the visit.

The documents have prompted concerns from at least one U.S. senator that the lawyer and activist now leading America’s health policy lied to Congress over the visit. Samoan officials later said Kennedy’s trip bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists ahead of the measles outbreak, which sickened thousands of people and killed 83, mostly children under age 5.

The revelations, which come as measles outbreaks erupt across the U.S., build on previous criticism that Kennedy’s anti-vaccine record makes him unfit to serve as health secretary, a role in which he has worked to radically reshape immunization policy and public perceptions of vaccines.

Here's Pretti kicking the tail lights out of ICE vehicles not that long ago before getting himself shot.

https://nypost.com/2026/01/28/us-news/alex-pretti-appears-to-spit-at-ice-kick-out-tail-light-in-previous-minneapolis-confrontation-before-he-was-shot-by-border-patrol/

Harrowing new footage appears to show Alex Pretti spitting at ICE agents and smashing the taillights of their black SUV during a chaotic confrontation more than a week before he was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis.

The video, which the BBC said it has verified, apparently captured the ICU nurse screaming at a federal agents while they were driving away during a heated Jan. 13 protest before kicking the back of the car, prompting officers to exit and tackle him to the ground, according to The News Movement.

The man — who was wearing similar clothing in the video to what Pretti had on when he was fatally shot last Saturday — was taken to the ground by at least five agents, who deployed tear gas into the whistle-blowing crowd during the wild confrontation.

Homeland Security Investigations is “reviewing” the newest footage of the 37-year-old’s apparent prior brush with federal agents, the Department of Homeland Security told The Post.

Pretti, 37, was apparently known to federal authorities and had suffered a broken rib during a violent confrontation with agents about a week before his death, CNN reported Tuesday.

Federal immigration officers had documented details about Pretti, along with other anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis in recent weeks, according to the outlet.

----

Imagine he would still be alive if Walz didn't hold local police back and they arrested him. Oh well.

https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-trumps-wide-ambitions-for-board-of-peace-sparks-new-support-for-the-united-nations/
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to sidestep the United Nations through his new Board of Peace appears to have inadvertently backfired after major world powers rejected U.S. aspirations for it to have a larger international mandate beyond the Gaza ceasefire and recommitted their support for the over 80-year-old global institution.

The board to be chaired by Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing his plan for Gaza’s future. But the Republican president’s ambitions have expanded to envisioning the board as a mediator of worldwide conflicts, a not very subtle attempt to eclipse the Security Council, which is charged with ensuring international peace and security.

The board’s charter also caused some dismay by stating Trump will lead it until he resigns, with veto power over its actions and membership.

His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, tried to ease concerns by saying the board’s focus right now is only on the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire plan.

“This is not a replacement for the U.N., but the U.N. has served very little purpose in the case of Gaza other than the food assistance,” Rubio said at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

But Trump’s promotion of a broadened mandate and his floating of an idea that the Board of Peace “might” replace the U.N. have put off major players and been dismissed by U.N. officials.

“In my opinion, the basic responsibility for international peace and security lies with U.N., lies with the Security Council,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. “Only the Security Council can adopt decisions binding on all, and no other body or other coalition can legally be required to have all member states to comply with decisions on peace and security.”

Bill Gates caught an STD from "Russian girls" and secretly drugged his wife with antibiotics so she wouldn't find out.

This was according to emails released in the latest Epstein dump, where Gates disclosed to Epstein this information
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/bill-gates-epstein-relationship-melinda
Bill Gates says he ‘regrets’ knowing Epstein as ex-wife alludes to ‘muck’ in marriage
Melinda French Gates insists Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with Epstein

Bill Gates has said he “regrets” ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein, as his former wife Melinda French Gates alluded to “muck” in their marriage, and insisted the Microsoft founder has questions to answer over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender.

Allegations that Gates hid a sexually transmitted disease from his wife after contact with “Russian girls” surfaced in the latest release of the Epstein files, which have provided remarkable insight into the disgraced financier’s multiple celebrity connections and activities.

His office immediately issued a statement denouncing the “absolutely absurd and completely false” assertion, but until now Gates, 70, has remained silent.

He finally spoke on Wednesday on the Australian television channel 9News to deny the claim as “false”, and suggested that Epstein was trying to extort or defame him by writing an email in 2013 that further alleged he subsequently tried to give antibiotics to Melinda surreptitiously in case she also became infected.

“Apparently, Jeffrey wrote an email to himself. That email was never sent. The email is false,” Gates said.

“I don’t know what his thinking was there. Was he trying to attack me in some way? Every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize that I did that.”

His interview followed comments made by his ex-wife to NPR on Tuesday, in which she made clear her disapproval of his friendship with Epstein.