FOMC Holds Steady on Interest Rates – The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to maintain its target interest rate at 3.5%-3.75%. “The upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to employment have diminished,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell (above) told a press conference Wednesday. [Scroll this column to Wednesday's report for details.]
THURSDAY 1/29/26
UPDATE: Seven Republican senators joined all 45 Democrats plus the two independents who caucus with them to block a six-bill spending package, 45-55, over the bill funding Homeland Security appropriations, The Hill reports. The Senate has until 11:59 pm Eastern time Saturday to pass the legislation or face another partial government shutdown.
Republicans joining Senate Democrats are Rand Paul (KY), Ted Budd (NC), Ron Johnson (WI), Mike Lee (UT), Ashley Moody (FL), Rick Scott (FL) and Tommy Tuberville (AL). Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania’s vote against the spending package also is considered something of a surprise, The Hill notes, as he has realigned himself somewhat with President Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reportedly continues to work on reaching a deal with Republicans before the government shuts down again.
Another Government Shutdown? – The Senate votes Thursday on a six-bill spending package to fund the federal government past Saturday. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says his caucus will block the bill and trigger another shutdown unless the bill containing Homeland Security appropriations is split off from the five other appropriations measures, The Hill reports. Schumer wants the Senate to use the Homeland Security appropriations bill to “overhaul” Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “ensure the public’s safety.”
The proposed overhaul would:
•End roving ICE patrols
•Tighten rules for requiring search warrants before agents can enter migrants’ homes
•Enforce universal code of conduct for federal officials’ use of force
•Prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks
•Require agents to wear body cameras and proper identification
Homan town – The federal government will ease off Operation Metro Surge (yes, that’s what it’s named) in Minneapolis if Minneapolis obeys. That’s the takeaway from border czar Tom Homan’s first press conference Thursday morning after arriving in the area to relieve Greg Bovino as ICE and Border Patrol commander, The New York Times reports.
“The withdraw of law enforcement resources here is dependent upon cooperation,” Homan said. “As we see that cooperation happen, then the redeployment will happen.”
Specifically, Homan said the crackdown could wind down if Minnesota granted the Immigration and Custom Services and Border Patrol broader access to the state’s jails.
The boy in the bunny hat … Ravages of Operation Metro Surge go beyond the fatal shootings by federal agents of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. There are numerous reports of legal and documented residents of the Twin Cities being detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents, with potential detainees staying home from work and keeping their children from going to school and avoiding leaving their homes to buy groceries.
Even those who stay home behind locked doors are subject to administrative warrants. An administrative warrant issued by a designated federal agency – such as an ICE agent – can be signed by an “immigration judge” or “immigration officer” to make an arrest or seizure. Unlike a judicial warrant, administrative warrants do not authorize a property search, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
The poster child and father for immigrant seizure is that of Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, the boy in the blue bunny hat who was arrested by masked federal agents and later joined his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, on an airplane to a family detention facility in Texas, CNN reports, some 1,300 miles from their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights.
Arias’ attorney, Marc Prokosch, says the family presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum. The family is from Ecuador.
Pretti’s protest … Eleven days before federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Pretti was forcefully taken to the ground by immigration agents after he kicked out the taillamp of their vehicle, MPR News reports. Two videos caught Pretti shouting an expletive at federal officers.
This might be what Vice President JD Vance calls “domestic terrorism.”
•••
Klobuchar Enters Gubernatorial Race – Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) has declared her candidacy for governor of Minnesota, per MPR News. Klobuchar’s candidacy was much expected after Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced he would not seek reelection this November. Klobuchar was elected to her fourth Senate term in 2024, which means her current term would end in January 2031.
“I like my job very much,” Klobuchar said. “And Minnesota has given me the honor of serving them in the Senate. But I love my state more.”
–TL
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WEDNESDAY 1/28/26
CPI is Still Too High – The Consumer Price Index remained stuck at 2.7% for December, still well above the Fed’s target.
“The committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2% objective,” according to the Fed’s statement on Wednesday’s hold on interest rates, which follows three straight cuts previously.
Ten FOMC members including Powell and Lisa D. Cook – also under siege by the Trump administration’s Justice Department – voted to maintain the 3.5% to 3.75% rate, while two Trump Fed appointees, Stephen I. Miller and Christopher J. Waller voted against, preferring another quarter-point cut.
One of four … Waller, appointed to the Fed by Trump in 2020 during his first term is one of four finalists to be the president’s choice to replace Powell as chair this coming May, according to The Wall Street Journal. The others are Treasury Sec. Kevin Hassett, Black Rock senior executive Rick Rieder and former Fed governor Kevin Walsh.
•••
Trump Warns Iran – Time is running out for Iran to reach a deal with the US on disarmament of its nuclear weapons, President Trump warned Wednesday on social media.
“Time is running out” for a “fair and equitable deal” to ensure Iran possesses “NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS” Trump wrote, according to The Independent (UK). He warned that a “massive armada” is approaching the Islamic Republic and that military strikes will be “far worse” than previous US attacks.
•••
Omar Attacked – Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was sprayed with a “strong smelling liquid” at a town hall in Minneapolis during which she criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city, The New York Times reports. Omar was calling for removal of Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary when a man approached her and sprayed her with the unknown liquid.
Security detail quickly apprehended the man and Omar continued her speech.
Noem survives …The Homeland Security secretary, who wasted no time blaming Alex Pretti for his own fatal shooting by Border Protection agents in Minneapolis last Saturday and branded him a “domestic terrorist” was briefly on the White House hot seat. On Tuesday, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to relieve Greg Bovino of his command of Minneapolis operations, a move that cut Noem from the chain of command.
Two agents fired shots … Two federal agents – not one as initially indicated – fired shots at Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a US Customs and Border Protection report to Congress Tuesday. The report comes after CPB’s Office of Professional Responsibility reviewed body camera footage and documentation. –TL
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Trump TACO Tuesday? -- TUESDAY 1/27/26
Minnesota ICE – President Trump is proving to be no Tom Petty lyric character as he backs down from his usual hard line for the second time within a week.
First there was the No Deal Deal in which Trump left the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, without a deed to Greenland. From there, Trump seems to have perfected advice given to the Nixon administration that it should get out of its war by declaring victory in Vietnam “and go home.”
Now comes the expected shakeup of the Trump administration’s aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Twin Cities three days after the tragic fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.
The administration is expected to remove Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who over the weekend mimicked Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem’s description of Pretti’s killing as “self-defense” by the border agents, as Pretti was carrying a licensed handgun before he was shot. Noem’s and Bovino’s narrative defending Border Patrol agents was quickly disproved by multiple smartphone videos from myriad angles.
Border czar Tom Homan (above) was on his way to the Twin Cities to take over for Bovino Tuesday.
Court appearance… Federal Judge Patrick Schlitz has ordered acting ICE Director Todd Lyons to appear in his court Friday after failing to comply with “dozens” of court orders, according to MPR News.
While acknowledging that this is “an extraordinary step,” Schlitz wrote in his order that “The court’s patience is at an end.”
Second amendment … Potential capitulation in the Twin Cities by the Trump administration has more to do with FBI Director Kash Patel’s argument, also made by Noem and Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent that Pretti should have not brought a firearm to protests against ICE.
The administration’s change in attitude is not coming from Trump critics pointing to the hypocrisy of the argument about Pretti’s handgun after Trump and MAGA conservatives celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse bringing an AR-15 to “defend” Kenosha, Wisconsin businesses during a 2020 protest (he shot three men, two fatally, and was later acquitted on multiple accounts). The likely capitulation wasn’t over Trump’s pardon of about 1,500 MAGA protesters on Capitol Hill January 6th, many of whom were armed.
Instead, what’s eating at the Trump administration is blowback from gun rights advocates over Patel’s argument that firearms do not belong at a public protest.
“The FBI director needs to brush off that thing called the Constitution, because he clearly hasn’t read it,” National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown told Politico. “I know of no more crucial place to carry a firearm for self-defense than a protest.” –TL
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We Have Not Kept It -- MONDAY 1/26/26
Bondi’s (Trump’s) Agenda – After the fatal shooting of Veterans Affairs intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, by federal Border Patrol officers in Minneapolis Saturday, US Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in which she offered to pull the more than 3,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from the state if the state did this (per Newsweek):
• Hand over its voter registration records to the Justice Department
• Repeal “sanctuary policies”
• Share its records on Medicaid and Food and Nutritional Service programs
“Donald Trump has made it pretty clear that he wants to rig the next election, and ICE seems to be a potential pretext to that,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told NPR’s Michel Martin on Morning Edition Monday, pointing to Bondi’s demand regarding Minnesota voter registration records.
Murphy said most of the Senate Democratic caucus plans to vote “no” on a Department of Homeland Security funding package, which tees up the fiscal 2026 federal budget for another government shutdown when its short-term continuing resolution from last November expires at the end of January.
[Read Contributing Pundit K.E. Bell’s “Can the Democrats Find Their Spine?” in the left column.]
Democrats may be able to count on more than their own caucus members for the Senate to fall short of the 60 votes it needs to pass the Homeland Security package. At least three Republican senators, Bill Cassidy (LA), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Thom Tillis (NC) are ready to vote with the Democrats, The Hill reports.
Cassidy called the shooting and events in Minneapolis “incredibly disturbing” and demanded a “full joint federal and state investigation” of the incident.
The shooting … Border Patrol agents killed Pretti 17 days after Renee Good was fatally shot trying to leave an ICE street blockade in Minneapolis. In a press conference last Saturday, Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said Pretti was “brandishing” a pistol and said, “He came to massacre agents,” though multiple smartphone videos depict Pretti attempting to defend a woman who had been pepper-sprayed by the agents.
On Fox News, Vice President JD Vance called the unrest in the Twin Cities “engineered chaos” and accused “Far-left agitators working with the local authorities” of creating the conditions that led to Border Patrol agents shooting Pretti.
The videos indicate the agents wrestled Pretti to the ground and removed his gun before taking at least 10 shots at him.
State and local officials obtained an order from federal Judge Eric Tostrud Saturday night banning the federal government from “destroying or altering evidence related to the fatal shooting involving federal officers…” according to Minnesota Public Radio’s MPR News.
Local and state officials fear evidence from the Pretti shooting will be kept from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehensions (BCA) and destroyed, in order to protect ICE agents.
In a press conference Sunday afternoon, Walz said he had spoken with Pretti’s parents, who denounced federal officials’ smear campaign on the victim of the shooting.
A friend from high school, Rory Shefchek, of Madison, Wisconsin, told The New York Times; “He was a helpful, kind guy. He was a confident, diligent and respectful person throughout his life. I hope that Alex’s story can catalyze change, as someone who believed in doing the right thing.”
Shefchek added, “We have all seen the video and our eyes don’t lie.”
On Monday, US District Judge Kathleen Menendez was scheduled to hear a lawsuit by Minnesota Attorney Gen. Keith Ellison to reduce the number of officers and agents in Minnesota to the levels there before the December 1 surge. Justice Department attorneys called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”
Trump has sent border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota to manage ICE operations on the ground, MPR News reports, and to “coordinate with those leading investigations into the massive, widespread fraud that has resulted in billions of taxpayer dollars being stolen from law-abiding citizens in Minnesota.”
In a five-minute interview with The Wall Street Journal Sunday night, Trump indicated the sort of sympathy for shooting victims like Pretti that he has for, say victims of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“I don’t like any shooting,” Trump said. “I don’t like it. But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with the bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.”
•••
Trump Threatens 100% Tariff on Canada – President Trump threatened Canada Saturday with a 100% tariff, ostensibly as a “rebuke” of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade deal with China, The Wall Street Journal reports. But really, it was about Carney’s remarks a day ahead of Trump’s 70-minute speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which the Canadian PM said that “middle-powers” like his country needed to move on from its economic reliance on the US.
Carney criticized Trump for using tariffs to achieve geopolitical goals, as the US president had threatened eight European nations with a 10% tariff if they continued to oppose his plan to take over Greenland, before “negotiations” stalled at Davos last week.
At an event to unveil Canadian tax-relief efforts, Carney said that Trump’s tariff threats will “reposition” Canada, the US and Mexico ahead of their renegotiations of Trump 45’s US-M-CA trade pact.
[Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s “Diplomacy and Dollars” in the right column.]
Meanwhile, Supreme Court-watchers eagerly await the court’s decision on whether Trump has the authority to issue all these tariffs in the first place. – Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa