CNN

By Eric Bradner, Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar ignored staffers’ pleas to end a town hall early and get a medical check Tuesday after a man rushed the podium and sprayed a substance at the Democratic congresswoman.

Omar said after the town hall ended that she has “survived war” and that she is “definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think that they can throw at me because I’m built that way.”

The man who sprayed the substance has been charged with third-degree assault and was booked into Hennepin County Jail, a police incident report said, according to CNN-affiliate KARE. It was not immediately clear what the substance was.

Omar was “uninjured and resumed speaking at the event,” the incident report says. City forensic scientists responded to process the scene, according to the report.

The US Capitol Police said in a statement the incident is “an unacceptable decision that will be met with swift justice” and said it’s working “to see this man faces the most serious charges possible.”

The dramatic moment punctuated a high-profile public appearance for a progressive lawmaker who has been the subject of Republican attacks and scrutiny, as President Donald Trump’s administration focuses its attention on Minneapolis, the city she represents.

Omar condemned federal immigration agents’ “terrorizing” tactics and “reckless and lawless” actions, as she told attendees that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities is antithetical to “the America we love.”

She also called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abolition and said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign or be impeached. And she praised how Minneapolis has responded to immigration agents’ presence and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Minnesotans are showing up for one another in ways that people didn’t expect. We are showing the country and the world what real solitary looks like. And we should be goddamn proud of ourselves,” she said.

Long a target of Republicans, Omar is now the subject of investigations by Trump’s Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee, after both Trump and the committee’s chairman, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, said this week they were probing her finances.

Omar, 43, is a Somali-born refugee whose family immigrated to the United States when she was 12. She was first elected to the state legislature in 2016 and became one of the first Muslim-American women elected to Congress in 2018, when she won a House seat representing much of the overwhelmingly Democratic city of Minneapolis.

She has been a frequent target of political attacks and at times Read more

Por Aaron Blake, CNN

El Gobierno de Trump tenía poco margen de maniobra después de que un agente federal volviera a disparar y causar la muerte de una persona este fin de semana en Minneapolis.

Quizá la mejor defensa que pudo articular fue señalar que Alex Pretti llevaba un arma, a pesar de que la portaba legalmente, de que no hay indicios de que la haya blandido y de que un video mostró que ya había sido desarmado antes de que perdiera la vida.

Como era de esperarse, eso no cayó bien.

Resulta que la base del partido, integrada en gran parte por defensores de la Segunda Enmienda, no recibió con agrado la idea de que el simple hecho de estar armado pudiera darle al Gobierno más derecho a usar fuerza letal contra una persona. Es comprensible que quienes ven las armas como un baluarte contra la tiranía gubernamental consideren ese criterio como potencialmente problemático.

Así que cuando varios funcionarios del Gobierno de Trump recurrieron a ese argumento, los grupos proarmas reaccionaron.

El tema pudo haberse desvanecido después, mientras la administración adoptaba en general un tono más conciliador sobre el tiroteo en Minnesota. Pero el presidente Donald Trump lo ha devuelto ahora al centro del debate. Y, de hecho, ha ido más allá que los funcionarios que inicialmente encendieron la molestia de los grupos proarmas.

Al hablar con reporteros el martes, Trump dijo que no estaba de acuerdo con la afirmación infundada del asesor de la Casa Blanca Stephen Miller, quien calificó a Pretti como un “aspirante a asesino”. Pero luego continuó.

“Dicho esto, no se puede tener armas”, dijo Trump. “No se puede entrar con armas. Simplemente no se puede”.

Un reportero le preguntó a Trump cómo conciliaba eso con la Segunda Enmienda. Pero Trump no dio marcha atrás.

“No se puede entrar con armas, no se puede hacer eso”, dijo. “Pero es un incidente muy lamentable”.

Trump repitió esos comentarios más tarde esa misma tarde en Iowa.

“Ciertamente, no debería haber estado portando un arma”, dijo Trump.

Y añadió: “No me gusta que tuviera un arma. No me gusta que tuviera dos cargadores completamente llenos. Eso es mucha cosa mala”.

Los comentarios de Trump van más allá de los de otros funcionarios, que en general habían enmarcado sus críticas en torno a las confrontaciones con las fuerzas del orden y a las intenciones de Pretti. Ellos no habían sugerido que fuera incorrecto portar armas en una protesta, punto.

Bill Essayli, fiscal federal en California, provocó inicialmente la indignación de los defensores de las armas al decir: “Si te acercas a las fuerzas del orden con un arma, hay una alta probabilidad de que estén legalmente justificados para dispararte”.

La secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca, Karoline Leavitt, hizo un señalamiento similar sobre ser “confrontado por las fuerzas del orden”. El jefe de la Patrulla Fronteriza, Gregory Bovino, aludió a portar un arma mientras se “obstruye e impide” la labor de los agentes del orden.

Cuando la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, y el director del FBI, Kash Patel, mencionaron el arma, sugirieron que era una prueba de las intenciones de Pretti.

“Nadie que quiera ser pacífico llega a una protesta con un arma de fuego cargada con dos cargadores completos”, dijo Patel.

Trump, en cambio, ha descartado ahora la id

The post SBART Press Luncheon: Gavin Rutland Receives Phil Womble Award appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

By Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration on Tuesday asked a federal court to pause a Louisiana lawsuit seeking to end access to abortion pills by mail.

The new filing from the US Food and Drug Administration said the court should put the case on hold while it conducts its own review of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortion.

The request stands to further anger anti-abortion activists who are already frustrated that President Donald Trump has not reversed the FDA’s move, during the Biden administration, to lift a requirement that medication abortion drugs be obtained in person. The current regulations have made it easier for women who live in states that ban abortion to obtain mifepristone.

In its filing on behalf of the FDA Tuesday, the Justice Department said that having the court move forward with the case while the agency itself is already scrutinizing the current regulations “would waste judicial resources because FDA’s own review may eliminate any need for the Court’s.”

If the request to pause the case is granted, the Trump administration said it would inform the court within 14 days of any decision to modify the current regulations because of the review.

A spokesperson for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Anti-abortion advocacy group Americans United for Life blasted the Trump administration’s filing in a statement.

“The FDA’s filing today is just another episode in the continuing saga of the Trump Administration’s lawyers seeking legal delays while administration officials make promises of action on chemical abortion. Pro-life Americans are growing increasingly frustrated with the failure to meet words with action,” Steven H. Aden, chief legal officer and general counsel for AUL, said.

The lawsuit is one of three lawsuits that are being led by anti-abortion states challenging the FDA’s current approach to mifepristone. While Trump has been eager to tout his role in the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade by appointing the justices who were key swing votes, he avoided questions during the 2024 campaign about what he would do on abortion if reelected.

Some anti-abortion activists believe that the mifepristone review announced by the Trump-appointed FDA head Marty Makary is a stalling tactic — a claim the FDA has denied. Pointing to reporting and comments by Makary suggesting the review is still at an early phase, Louisiana is asking for a preliminary order in the case that would restore the in-person mifepristone dispensing requirement, halting its availability by mail.

The deadline for the FDA to respond to that request was Tuesday. In its filing, the Justice Department also argued that the judge should reject Louisiana’s request for procedural reasons.

A hearing is scheduled in the case for February 24.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The post Trump administration asks court to pause Louisiana lawsuit targeting abortion pill access while it conducts review appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Eric Bradner, Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar ignored staffers’ pleas to end a town hall early and get a medical check Tuesday after a man rushed the podium and sprayed a substance at the Democratic congresswoman.

Omar said after the town hall ended that she has “survived war” and that she is “definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think that they can throw at me because I’m built that way.”

The dramatic moment punctuated a high-profile public appearance for a progressive lawmaker who has been the subject of Republican attacks and scrutiny, as President Donald Trump’s administration focuses its attention on Minneapolis, the city she represents.

Omar condemned federal immigration agents’ “terrorizing” tactics and “reckless and lawless” actions, as she told attendees that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities is antithetical to “the America we love.”

She also called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abolition and said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign or be impeached. And she praised how Minneapolis has responded to immigration agents’ presence and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Minnesotans are showing up for one another in ways that people didn’t expect. We are showing the country and the world what real solitary looks like. And we should be goddamn proud of ourselves,” she said.

Long a target of Republicans, Omar is now the subject of investigations by Trump’s Justice Department and the House Oversight Committee, after both Trump and the committee’s chairman, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, said this week they were probing her finances.

Omar, 43, is a Somali-born refugee whose family immigrated to the United States when she was 12. She was first elected to the state legislature in 2016 and became one of the first Muslim-American women elected to Congress in 2018, when she won a House seat representing much of the overwhelmingly Democratic city of Minneapolis.

She has been a frequent target of political attacks and at times racist smears by Republicans. She has also faced heat from some Democrats who point to her criticism of Israel — particularly in 2021, when she seemed to equate “atrocities” by the United States and Israel to those of Hamas and the Taliban, as she called in a social media post for “the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.”

In 2023, the Republican-controlled House voted to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2025, a push to censure Omar and remove her from two committees over her comments about conservative political commentator and activist Charlie Kirk in the wake of his killing failed by just one vote, after four Republicans joined all Democrats in rejecting the effort.

Trump has repeatedly said Omar should be impeached, jailed or deported to Somalia — despite her becoming a US citizen in 2000.

Omar said at the town hall she carries her passport with her at all times.

“I know people talk about me and Somalia. I don’t know any home the way I know this home,” she said, referring to the United States. “And so I do feel strong sentiments toward immigrants that find home in the United States.”

Omar said that other immigrants are tr