Good morning. Another fiendishly cold day with wind chills that will cause the temperature (a nominal high of around 23 today) to feel like zero. Most area school systems will be closed or offer remote lessons today. Metrorail is operating on a weekend schedule, and you should check here before you head out to catch a bus. The National Weather Service has issued cold weather advisories for today and tomorrow, and the streak of frigid weather is likely to continue. A low near 6 tonight that wind chills will make feel more like -1. Courage. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below.
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Venna feat. Jorja Smith, “Myself.” Lush R&B from the London-based saxophonist comes to the Atlantis tonight. The show is sold out.
Take Washingtonian Today with you! I’ve made a playlist on Spotify and on Apple Music of last year’s music recommendations. I’ll make one for 2026 soon.
Antisocial distancing: Some of the administration’s most combative officials turned on one another yesterday as the furor over federal agents’ fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis continued. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly told someone that “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and” of Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration crackdown. (Axios) Miller attempted to distance himself from the situation as well, saying US Customs and Border Protection staff in Minnesota may have screwed up with regard to protocols. (Politico) Even President Trump got in on the act, calling the until recently very visible Border Patrol honcho Gregory Bovino a “pretty out-there kind of a guy.” (PBS News) Neither Miller nor Noem are in danger of losing their jobs, though, White House sources say. (CNN)
Who killed Pretti? Two Border Patrol officers shot Pretti, an initial DHS report said. (CNN) The report does not say anything about Pretti “brandishing” his gun, despite earlier claims from administration officials that were contradicted by video evidence. (Washington Post) So obviously, Trump’s Justice Department has concluded no civil rights investigation is necessary. (MS Now) A group of federal officers tackled Pretti the week before his fatal encounter with the feds and broke his rib while he was out protesting. DHS says it doesn’t have any record of the incident, despite claims that it was assembling a list of “domestic terrorists”—the same sobriquet Miller applied to Pretti when the administration attempted to slime him after his death. (CNN)
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis: A man sprayed US Representative Ilhan Omar with an unidentified liquid stored in a syringe as she spoke in the city yesterday. Police arrested Anthony Kazmierczak for the deed. Trump has repeatedly gone after Omar, claiming Monday that the Justice Department was investigating her and mocking her at a rally Tuesday. (AP) He said Omar “probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” (Rachel Scott/X) ICE agents attempted to enter Ecuador’s consulate, and one threatened to “grab” a staffer. (Washington Post)
Wait, there’s more: A Border Patrol agent shot a man in Arizona. Authorities say he fired first. (NBC News) ICE denied a detainee’s request to attend his son’s funeral. (People) US Senator Susan Collins said she’s asked DHS to pause its operations in Maine as well as in Minnesota. (Maine Public) Other Senate Republicans criticized Noem yesterday; Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Noem exhibited “amateurish assistant-manager-sort of thought processes”—ouch—and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Noem “should go.” (NBC News) Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to defend Noem. (Politico) In the House, three-quarters of Democratic reps now support impeaching Noem. (Axios)
Administration perambulation: Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico left Mar-a-Lago “shocked by the U.S. president’s state of mind,” according to anonymous European diplomats. Fico denies the report. (Politico) Progressive prosecutors, including five from Virginia, have launched a “Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach”—yes, the acronym is FAFO—to seek charges against federal agents they say have violated state laws. (NYT) Madhu Gottumukkala, the acting head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, uploaded files containing sensitive government info into ChatGPT. (Politico) Another federal wind-power program will restart after a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled the administration hadn’t convinced him that it threatened national security. (NYT) Families in Trinidad and Tobago sued the US over an October extrajudicial boat strike in the Caribbean that killed their relatives. (NOTUS) Meta has blocked links to a website that shares what it says are the names of ICE and DHS employees. (Wired) Remember the Jeffrey Epstein files? DOJ has no date for finishing its review of them before releasing them. (Kyle Cheney/X) A third “No Kings” protest is planned for this March. (Politico)
• Last year’s deadly air crash over the Potomac was “100 percent preventable,” National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said yesterday.