Connect with us

Business

Trump has been laying the groundwork for a strike on Venezuela for a full year. Here’s the timeline

Published

6 days ago

on



President Donald Trump had long threatened that he could order military strikes on targets on Venezuelan territory after months of attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs from the South American country. President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said the U.S. military operations were a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.

On Saturday, the U.S. conducted a “large-scale strike” against Venezuela and said that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and flown out of the country. Trump announced the operation on social media hours after the attack. The Venezuelan government called it an “imperialist attack” and urged citizens to take to the streets.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.

Before the escalation, there had been 35 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 115 people, according to announcements from the Republican administration.

The U.S. had sent a fleet of warships to the region, the largest buildup of forces in generations.

The White House said Washington was in “armed conflict” with drug cartels to halt the flow of narcotics into the United States, while U.S. officials alleged that Maduro supported the international drug trade.

Here is a timeline of the U.S. military actions and related developments:

Jan. 20, 2025

Trump signs an executive order that paved the way for criminal organizations and drug cartels to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” They included Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang.

U.S. intelligence agencies have disputed Trump’s central claim that Maduro’s administration was working with Tren de Aragua and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the U.S.

Feb. 20

The Trump administration formally designated eight Latin American crime organizations as foreign terrorist organizations.

The label is normally reserved for groups such as a-Qaida or the Islamic State that use violence for political ends, and not for profit-focused crime rings.

Aug. 19

The U.S. military deployed three guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela.

The naval force in the Caribbean grew within weeks to include three amphibious assault ships and other vessels, carrying about 6,000 sailors and Marines and a variety of aircraft.

The U.S. sent F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in September, while a Navy submarine carrying cruise missiles operated off South America.

Sept. 2

The U.S. carried out its first strike against what Trump said was a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua.

Trump said all 11 people on the boat were killed. He posted a short video clip of a small vessel appearing to explode in flames.

Sept. 10

In a letter to the White House, Democratic senators said the administration had provided “no legitimate legal justification” for the strike.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the U.S. military was not “empowered to hunt down suspected criminals and kill them without trial.”

Sept. 15

The U.S. military carried out its second strike against an alleged drug boat, killing three people.

Asked what proof the U.S. had that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump told reporters that big bags of cocaine and fentanyl were spattered all over the ocean. Images of what Trump described were not released by the military or the White House.

Sept. 19

Trump said the U.S. military carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel. Several senators and human rights groups continued to question the legality of the strikes, describing them as a potential overreach of executive authority.

Oct. 2

Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the U.S. was now in an “armed conflict” with them, according to an administration memo obtained by The Associated Press.

The memo appeared to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers and drew criticism from some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Oct. 3

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat he accused of carrying drugs.

Oct. 8

Senate Republicans voted down legislation that would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes.

Oct. 14

Trump announced the fifth strike against a small boat accused of carrying drugs, saying it killed six people.

Oct. 15

Trump confirmed he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations in the country.

He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against Maduro.

Oct. 16

The Navy admiral who oversaw military operations in the region said he will retire in December.

Adm. Alvin Holsey became leader of U.S. Southern Command only the previous November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean and waters off South America. Such postings typically last three years to four years.

Oct. 16

Trump said the U.S. struck a sixth suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, killing two people and leaving two survivors who were on the semisubmersible craft.

The president later said the survivors would be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, “for detention and prosecution.” Repatriation avoided questions about what their legal status would have been in the U.S. justice system.

Oct. 17

The U.S. military attacked a seventh vessel that Hegseth said was carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics” and associated with a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Three people are killed.

Oct. 20

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, called for a hearing on the boat strikes.

“Never before in my over 20 years on the committee can I recall seeing a combatant commander leave their post this early and amid such turmoil,” Smith said in a statement of Holsey’s impending departure. “I have also never seen such a staggering lack of transparency on behalf of an Administration and the Department to meaningfully inform Congress on the use of lethal military force.”

Oct. 21

Hegseth said the U.S. military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing two people in the eastern Pacific.

The attack was an expansion of the military’s targeting area to the waters off South America where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled.

Oct. 22

Hegseth announced the ninth strike, another in the eastern Pacific, saying three men are killed.

Oct. 24

Hegseth ordered the U.S. military’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the region in a significant escalation of military firepower.

Oct. 24

Hegseth said the military conducted the 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, leaving six people dead.

Oct. 27

Hegseth said three more strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor.

Hegseth said Mexican authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor, who was presumed dead after Mexico suspended its search.

Oct. 29

Hegseth said the U.S. military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing all four people aboard in the 14th attack.

Oct. 29

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the administration briefed Republicans, but not Democrats, on the boat strikes.

The Senate at the time was facing a potential vote on a war powers resolution that would have prohibited strikes in or near Venezuela without congressional approval.

Oct. 31

U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to be the first such condemnation of its kind from a U.N. organization.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office, relayed his message at a briefing: “The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”

Nov. 1

Hegseth announced the 15th known strike, saying three people were killed.

Nov. 4

In the 16th known strike, Hegseth posted on social media that two people were killed aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific.

Nov. 6

Hegseth announced the 17th known strike, which killed three people.

Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation that would have limited Trump’s ability to order an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization. Lawmakers from both parties had demanded more information on the strikes, but Republicans appeared more willing to give Trump leeway to continue his buildup of naval forces.

Nov. 9

The U.S. military struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing six people, according to an announcement from Hegseth the following day.

Nov. 10

The 20th known strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs killed four people in the Caribbean, according to a social media post from the U.S. military’s Southern Command.

Nov. 11

Venezuela’s government launched what it said was a “massive” mobilization of troops and volunteers for two days of exercises prompted by the U.S. military buildup.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López asserted that Venezuela’s military was “stronger than ever in its unity, morale and equipment.”

Nov. 15

Three people were killed after the U.S. military conducted its 21st strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from Southern Command a day later.

Nov. 16

The Ford arrived in the Caribbean, a major moment in the Trump administration’s show of force.

The aircraft carrier’s arrival brought the total number of troops in the region to around 12,000 on nearly a dozen Navy ships in what Hegseth said was “Operation Southern Spear.”

Nov. 16

Trump said the U.S. “ may be having some discussions ” with Maduro and “Venezuela would like to talk,” without offering details.

“I’ll talk to anybody,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Dec. 4

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers began investigating the strikes. The investigation started after reports that Bradley ordered a follow-on attack that killed the survivors of the first strike on Sept. 2 to comply with Hegseth’s demands.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., later told reporters that “Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all.”

Democrats said they found the video of the entire attack disturbing.

Smith said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

Dec. 4

Four people were killed in the 22nd strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from Southern Command.

Dec. 10

The U.S. seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after the ship left that country with about 2 million barrels of heavy crude.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker was involved in “an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.” Venezuela’s government said the seizure was “a blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”

Dec. 15

The U.S. military struck three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing eight people, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Southern Command announced.

Dec. 16

Hegseth said the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of the Sept. 2 strike that killed two survivors, even as questions mounted in Congress about the attack and the overall campaign near Venezuela.

Dec. 16

Trump said he was ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” going into and out of Venezuela, a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s oil-dependent economy.

Trump alleged that Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking, terrorism and other crimes. He pledged to continue the military buildup until Venezuela returned to the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was unclear why Trump felt the U.S. had a claim.

Dec. 17

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.

House Republicans rejected a pair of Democratic-backed resolutions that would have put a check on Trump’s power to use military force against drug cartels and Venezuela. They were the first votes in the House after Senate Republicans previously voted down similar war powers resolutions.

Dec. 18

The U.S. military said it conducted two more strikes against boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing five people.

Dec. 20

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the U.S. Coast Guard, with help from the Defense Department, stopped a second oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

Dec. 22

Trump confirmed that the U.S. Coast Guard was chasing another oil tanker that the administration described as part of the “dark fleet.”

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people.

Dec. 29

Trump told reporters that the U.S. struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.” He declined to say whether the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the strike on the dock or where it occurred. He did not confirm it happened in Venezuela.

The U.S. military said it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people.

Dec. 30

The CIA was behind the drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the classified operation who requested anonymity to discuss it.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September. Venezuelan officials have not acknowledged the strike.

Dec. 30

The U.S. military struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people in the first boat while people from the other two boats jumped overboard and may have survived, Southern Command announced the following day.

Dec. 31

The U.S. imposed sanctions on four companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector and designated four additional oil tankers as blocked property and part of the larger shadow fleet that was evading U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.

Dec. 31

The U.S. military said it attacked two more boats, killing five people who were allegedly smuggling drugs along known trafficking routes.

Jan. 1, 2026

Maduro, in an interview on state television that aired on New Year’s Day, said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking. He declined to comment on the CIA-led strike and reiterated that the U.S. wanted to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves.

Jan. 3

The U.S. conducted a “large-scale strike” across Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, captured Maduro and Flores and flew them out of the country. Maduro and Flores would face charges after an indictment in New York, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Maduro was indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but it was not previously known that Flores had been.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela.



Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Business

Singapore-based startup founder Anand Roy thinks generative AI can help fix a broken music sector

Published

41 minutes ago

on

January 8, 2026

By



For Anand Roy, making music used to mean jamming with his progressive rock band based out of Bangalore. Today, the one-time metalhead now makes music with a simple tap of a button through his start-up Wubble AI, which allows users to generate, edit, and customize royalty-free music in over 60 different genres.

Roy started Wubble with his co-founder, Shaad Sufi, in 2024, from a small office in Singapore’s central business district. Since then, his platform has generated tunes for global giants like Microsoft, HP, L’Oreal and NBCUniversal. They’re even used on the Taipei Metro, where AI-generated tunes soothe harried commuters. 

Generative AI has been a controversial subject in the creative industry: Artists, musicians and other content creators worry that companies will train AI on copyrighted materials, then ultimately automate away the need for human creators at all.

Roy, however, thinks Wubble is a way to fix a music sector that’s already broken. Artists are awarded micro-payments on streaming sites like Spotify, which only works for the most famous artists. 

Roy spent almost two decades at Disney, where he oversaw operations at its networks and studios in major cities like Tokyo, Mumbai and Los Angeles. He said his time leading Disney’s music group opened his eyes to the tedious process of music licensing.

“So many licensing deals were not going through because of the quantum of paperwork, the amount of red tape, and how expensive, complex and convoluted the entire process was,” he says. Yet, the incumbent music firms “don’t have a lot of motivation to streamline processes.”

Wubble is trying something different, collaborating directly with musicians and paying them for the raw material used to train Wubble’s AI. “If we’re looking at Latino hip hop, we’ll go to a recording studio in Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, and tell them we need ten hours of Latino music,” Roy says. Wubble then negotiates a deal and offers a one-time payment for their work, at rates Roy argues are more competitive than other companies offering music streaming services.

He admits that a one-time payment isn’t a perfect solution, however, and adds that he’s currently exploring how technologies like blockchain can uncover new ways to compensate musicians for their help training Wubble’s AI models.

David Gunkel, who teaches communication studies at Northern Illinois University in Chicago, thinks training AI from artist-commissioned material is a smarter business move than just trawling the web for copyrighted content.

Production companies like Disney, Universal and Warner Bros., for example, are suing AI companies like Midjourney and Minimax of copyright infringement, arguing that users can easily generate images and videos of protected characters like Star Wars’s Darth Vader. 

“If you’re curating your data sets, and compensating and giving credit to the artists that are being utilized to train your model, you won’t find yourself in a lawsuit,” he explains. “It’s a better business practice, just in terms of your long-term viability as a commercial actor.”

Text-to-speech generation

Wubble currently offers just instrumental music and audio effects, but Roy thinks voice is the next step. By end-January, Roy says his platform will offer AI-generated voiceovers created from written scripts, to cater to clients who require narrative-led audio tracks. “So, the entire audio content workflow for a business can be housed on Wubble,” he concludes proudly. 

AI music startups are popping up around the world, hoping to use the powerful new technology to make the process of creating tunes and songs easier. Some, like Suno, cater in generating full songs, while others like Moises offer tools for artists.

In Asia, too, Korean AI startup Supertone offers voice synthesis and cloning, using samples to generate new vocal tracks. The startup, founded by Kyogu Lee, was acquired by HYBE, the entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS, and now operates as its subsidiary. Supertone even debuted a fully virtual K-pop girl group, SYNDI8, in 2024. 

At Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore last year, Lee said he saw musical artists as “co-creators,” not just in terms of licensing their voices, but also asking for their help in refining the technology. 

AI “will democratize the creative process, so every creator or artist can experiment with this new technology to explore and experiment with new ideas,” he told the audience.

Roy, from Wubble, also sees AI as a way to make it easier for more people to get involved in music creation.

“Music creation has always been a privilege. It’s been the domain of those who have the time and resources to learn an instrument,” he says. “We believe that every human being should be able to create—and AI enables that now.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Tim Walz insists Minnesota has a role to play in investigating fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by ICE

Published

1 hour ago

on

January 8, 2026

By



Minnesota must play a role in investigating the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Gov. Tim Walz insisted Thursday, pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to keep the investigation solely in federal hands.

A day after the ICE officer shot Renee Good in the head as she tried to drive away on a snowy Minneapolis street, tensions remained high, with dozens of protesters venting their outrage outside of a federal facility that’s serving as a hub for the administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a major city.

“We should be horrified,” protester Shanta Hejmadi said as demonstrators shouted “No More ICE,” “Go Home Nazis,” and other slogans at a line of Border Patrol officers, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray. “We should be saddened that our government is waging war on our citizens. We should get out and say no. What else can we do?”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, President Donald Trump and others in his administration characterized the shooting as an act of self-defense and cast Good as a villain, suggesting she used her vehicle as a weapon to attack the officer who shot her.

Vice President JD Vance weighed in Thursday, saying the shooting was justified and that Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was a “victim of left-wing ideology.”

“I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it is a tragedy of her own making,” Vance said, noting that the officer who killed her was injured while making an arrest last June.

But state and local officials and protesters rejected that characterization, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey saying video of the shooting shows the self-defense argument to be “garbage.”

An immigration crackdown quickly turns deadly

The shooting happened on the second day of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, which the Department of Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part, and Noem said they have already made more than 1,500 arrests.

It provoked an immediate response in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of people turning up to the scene to vent their outrage at the ICE officers and the school district later canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution.

Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to an immigration crackdown under Trump — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis, as anti-immigration enforcement protests took place or were expected Thursday in New York City, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Protests were also scheduled for later this week in Arizona, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

Who will investigate?

On Thursday, the Minnesota agency that investigates officer-involved shootings said it was informed that the FBI and U.S. Justice Department would not work with the department, effectively ending any role for the state to determine if crimes were committed. Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.

“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” Drew Evans, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s superintendent, said in a statement.

Walz publicly demanded that the state be allowed to take part, repeatedly emphasizing that it would be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.

Noem, he said, was “judge, jury and basically executioner” during her public comments defending the officer’s actions.

“People in positions of power have already passed judgment, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — have stood and told you things that are verifiably false, verifiably inaccurate,” said the governor, who repeated his calls for protesters to remain calm.

Mary Moriarty, the prosecutor in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, said her office is exploring whether a state investigation can proceed.

“We want to make sure that there is a check on this administration to ensure that this investigation is done for justice, not for the sake of a cover-up,” Frey, the mayor, told The Associated Press.

Deadly encounter seen from multiple angles

Several bystanders captured footage of Good’s killing, which happened in a residential neighborhood south of downtown.

The videos show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer, and there is no indication of whether the woman had interactions with ICE agents earlier. After the shooting the SUV speeds into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.

In another recording made afterward, an unidentified woman who identifies Good as her spouse is seen crying near the vehicle. She says she and Good recently arrived in Minnesota and that they had a child.

The mayor said he’s working with community leaders to try to keep Minneapolis calm and ensure that residents keep their protests peaceful.

“The top thing that this Trump administration is looking for is an excuse to come in with militarized force, to further occupy our streets, to cause more chaos, to have this kind of civil war on the streets of America in a Democratically run city,” Frey told the AP. “We cannot give them what they want.”

Officer identified in court documents

Noem hasn’t publicly named the officer who shot Good. But a Homeland Security spokesperson said her description of his injuries last summer refers to an incident in Bloomington, Minnesota, in which court documents identify him as Jonathan Ross.

Ross got his arm stuck in the window of a vehicle of a driver who was fleeing arrest on an immigration violation, and was dragged roughly 100 yards (91 meters) before he was knocked free, records show.

He fired his Taser, but the prongs didn’t incapacitate the driver, according to prosecutors. Ross was transported to a hospital, where he received more than 50 stitches.

The driver claimed he didn’t know that Ross was a federal agent. A jury, however, found him guilty of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon.

DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the officer involved in the shooting had worked more than 10 years as a deportation officer and had been selected for ICE’s special response team, which includes a 30-hour tryout and additional training. She said those skills include breaching techniques, perimeter control, advanced firearms training and hostage rescue.

McLaughlin declined to confirm the identity of the officer as Ross. The AP wasn’t immediately able to locate a phone number or address for Ross, and ICE no longer has a union that might comment on his behalf.

___

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski, Giovanna Dell’Orto and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma, Michael Biesecker In Washington, Jim Mustian in New York and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa contributed.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Vance on woman shot and killed by ICE: ‘a tragedy of her own making’

Published

2 hours ago

on

January 8, 2026

By



Vice President JD Vance on Thursday blamed a federal immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman on “a left-wing network,” Democrats, the news media and the woman who was killed as protests related to her death expanded to cities across the country.

The vice president, who made his critiques in a rare appearance in the White House briefing room and on social media, was the most prominent example yet of the Trump administration quickly assigning culpability for the death of 37-year-old Renee Good while the investigation is still underway. Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer while she tried to drive away on a snowy residential street as officers were carrying out an operation related to the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Vance said at the White House that he wasn’t worried about prejudging the investigation into Good’s killing, saying of the videos he’d seen of the Wednesday incident, “What you see is what you get in this case.”

Vance said he was certain that Good accelerated her car into the officer and hit him. It isn’t clear from the videos if the vehicle makes contact with the officer. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Wednesday that video of the shooting shows arguments that the officer was acting in self-defense were “garbage.”

The vice president also said part of him felt “very, very sad” for Good. He called her “brainwashed” and “a victim of left-wing ideology.”

“I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement — a lunatic fringe — against our law enforcement officers,” Vance said.

His defense of the officer, at times fiery, came as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump likewise said the officer’s actions were a justified act of self-defense. Trump said Good “viciously ran over” the ICE officer, though video footage of the event contradicts that claim.

Trump has made a wide-ranging crackdown on crime and immigration in Democratic cities a centerpiece of his second term in office. He has deployed federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to support the operations and has floated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act to try to stop his opponents from blocking his plans through the courts.

Trump officials made it clear that they were rejecting claims by Democrats and officials in Minnesota that the president’s move to deploy immigration officers in American cities had been inflammatory and needed to end.

“The Trump administration will redouble our efforts to get the worst of the worst criminal, illegal alien killers, rapists and pedophiles off of American streets,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday before Vance spoke.

She called Good’s killing “a result of a large, sinister left-wing movement.”

Vance was selected as Trump’s running mate last year partly for his ability to verbally spar, especially with the media. He opened his remarks by condemning headlines he saw about the shooting, at times raising his voice and decrying the “corporate media.”

“This was an attack on law and order. This was an attack on the American people,” Vance said.

He accused journalists of falsely portraying Good as “innocent” and said: “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single one of you.”

“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he added. “And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”

When asked what responsibility he and Trump bore to defuse tension in the country over the incident, Vance said their responsibility was to “protect the people who are enforcing law and protect the country writ large.”

“The best way to turn down the temperature is to tell people to take their concerns about immigration policy to the ballot box,” he said.

Vance also announced that the administration was deputizing a new assistant attorney general to prosecute the abuse of government assistance programs in response to growing attention to fraud in childcare programs in Minnesota.

He said the prosecutor will focus primarily on Minnesota, and will be nominated in coming days. Vance added that Senate Majority Leader John Thune told him he’d seek a prompt confirmation.

___

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin, Will Weissert and Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report.



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Miami Select.