January 7, 2026

Good Wednesday evening. In this edition: ICE shooting in Minneapolis inflames tensions; and Rubio outlines three-phase plan for Venezuela.

• Plus, health care subsidies, dietary guidelines, fraud scandal, State of the Union and Parliament.

Minneapolis Shooting

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, escalating tensions over the controversial deployment of federal agents to the city.

• Local and federal officials offered sharply conflicting accounts of the incident, with the Trump administration saying the woman was shot in self-defense and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) placing the blame on the federal government.

The Homeland Security Department said ICE officers were attacked by protesters while conducting operations in the city and fired defensively when a woman attempted to ram her vehicle into them, calling the incident an "act of domestic terrorism."

• "An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters.
  
  
• "These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism. We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them as such."

Mayor Frey rejected the agency's account, calling the claim of self-defense "bullshit."

• "They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is bullshit," he said at a press conference. "This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed."

The mayor blamed the Trump administration and pointedly called for federal agents to leave the city.

• "To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some sort of safety and you are doing exactly the opposite," he said.

President Trump backed ICE's account of the incident, concluding it was self defense.

• "The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense," he wrote on Truth Social.
  
  
• "The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE."

The ICE officers were among the roughly 2,000 agents deployed to Minnesota as part of "Operation Metro Surge," which the administration launched in December and has described as "the largest DHS operation ever."

• The Trump administration has framed the crackdown as a response to illegal immigration and alleged widespread fraud in Minnesota's social service systems.

Gov. Walz criticized the federal government's tactics and said the fatal shooting had been foreseeable.

• "We have been warning for weeks that the Trump administration's dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety," he said at a press conference.
  
  
• "What we're seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict. It's governing by reality TV and today that recklessness cost someone their life."

The governor told Minnesotans, "I feel your anger," and urged protesters to remain peaceful.

• "They want a show. We can't give it to them," he said. "If you protest and express your First Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do."

Gov. Walz said he activated the state's emergency operations center and issued a "warning order" to prepare the Minnesota National Guard.

• "From here on, I have a very simple message: We do not need any further help from the federal government," he said. "To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you've done enough."

Watch the remarks from Secretary Noem, Mayor Frey and Gov. Walz.

Venezuela

Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined a three-phased plan for Venezuela, telling reporters the administration was "not just winging it" as he briefed lawmakers on Capitol Hill following the military operation that ousted President Nicolas Maduro.

• The administration said the three phases — stability, recovery and transition — would be implemented by using U.S. control of Venezuela's oil as leverage, reducing the need for American troops on the ground.

Secretary Rubio said the first phase would focus on stabilizing the country by seizing and selling between 30 and 50 million barrels of oil, worth an estimated $1.8 billion to $3 billion.

• "That money will then be handled in such a way that we will control how it is disbursed, in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people — not corruption, not the regime. So, we have a lot of leverage to move on the stabilization front," he said.

The second phase, which the administration is calling "recovery," would aim to ensure that "American, Western and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that is fair."

• "Also, at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela, so that the opposition forces can be amnestied and released from prisons or brought back to the country, and begin to rebuild civil society," Secretary Rubio said.

The third phase, the secretary said, would involve a "transition" to a new government, though he declined to provide details publicly.

• "The bottom line is that there is a process now in place, where we have tremendous control and leverage over what those interim authorities are doing and are able to do," Secretary Rubio told reporters.
  
  
• "In the end, it will be up to the Venezuelan people to transform their country. We are prepared, under the right conditions, using the leverage that we have, which includes the fact that they cannot move any oil unless we allow them to move it."

While Republicans were largely supportive of the administration's plan, Democrats remained skeptical and called for it to be publicly debated.

• "The public needs answers," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. "We need answers as to how long this is going to last, we need answers to how many troops, how much money, are there guardrails, things we don't do?"

The Democratic leader said he was also unsatisfied with the administration's plans for other countries President Trump has recently threatened, including Cuba, Colombia and Greenland, as well as its strategy for succession in Venezuela.

• "This is fraught with peril," Sen. Schumer said. "It's the American people who have always paid the price when we try to do this regime change, in blood and treasure. We need answers — we need answers to these questions, and we need them made publicly."

Earlier in the day, the U.S. seized two oil tankers suspected of carrying sanctioned Venezuelan oil, including a Russian-flagged vessel, escalating tensions with Moscow, which was a key backer of President Maduro.

• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the tanker had been "trying to evade the Coast Guard for weeks, even changing its flag and painting a new name on the hull while being pursued, in a desperate and failed attempt to escape justice."

Watch the remarks from Secretary Rubio and Sen. Schumer.

In other news…

• The House voted 221–205 to advance a Democratic bill extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. Nine Republicans voted in favor of the discharge petition, setting up a final passage vote Thursday. It will mark the first time House members will go on record on the ACA tax credits, which were at the center of last year's record-long government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had sought for months to prevent the bill from reaching the floor, but his hand was forced after four Republicans joined the discharge petition filed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), pushing it past the 218 signatures required to bypass majority leadership.
  
  

• The Trump administration unveiled new U.S. dietary guidelines that emphasize whole foods, healthy proteins and fats, while targeting ultra-processed foods. "The new guidelines recognize that whole, nutrient-dense food is the most effective path to better health and lower health care costs," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. "Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines. We are ending the war on saturated fats … and today our government declares war on added sugar."

   

• The House Oversight Committee began its series of hearings on the fraud scandal in Minnesota by hearing testimony from Republican state lawmakers who alleged officials resisted efforts to address systemic impropriety. "Minnesota social services, which are funded by you, the American taxpayer, are being ripped off," Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the panel's chair, said in his opening statement. "The breadth and depth of this fraud is breathtaking, and I fear that this is just the tip of the iceberg."
  
  

• President Trump was formally invited to deliver the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24. "Together in 2025, your administration and the 119th Congress delivered one of the most consequential agendas in history, and Americans across this great country will experience the tangible results of commonsense governance," Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote in a letter to the president. "We look forward to advancing the important work ahead of us in 2026, serving the American people, defending liberty, and preserving this grand experiment in self-governance."
  
  

• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced he will travel to London on Jan. 20 to address British Parliament, which will make him the first speaker in history to do so. "As our nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of American Independence, I am honored and humbled by Speaker Hoyle's invitation to address Parliament," Speaker Johnson said in a statement. "As America begins its Semiquincentennial celebration, I will be happy to visit one of the great shrines of democracy itself, where the principles that launched the long struggle for American liberty were debated and refined."

For your radar…

• The House considers legislation Thursday to extend the expired health care subsidies by three years under the discharge petition process. Members will also vote to override President Trump's first two vetoes of his second term as well as a three-bill spending package. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN starting at 10am ET.
  
  

• The Senate votes Thursday on a war powers resolution that would prohibit the administration from taking any further military action in Venezuela without explicit congressional approval. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN2 starting at 10am ET.

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