In his winding speech today, Donald Trump threatened to “reverse citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens”.
He spent a portion of his remarks in Detroit today heaping invective on the Somali community throughout the country, particularly in Minnesota and Maine.
The president repeated xenophobic remarks about Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar – who came to the US as a refugee from Somalia when she was 12, and became a US citizen at 17.
“She lives in Somalia. They don’t have a government, they don’t have a military, they don’t have police, they don’t have anything. All they have is murder and robbing ships,” Trump said today. “She comes here and she tells us about our constitution … I guess she’s she’s a total scam artist.”
A reminder that earlier today, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it would be ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali immigrants.
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My colleague Lucy Campbell just shared an excerpt from CBS’s interview with Donald Trump, slated to be aired later today, in our dedicated Iran live blog:
Donald Trump has said the United States would take “very strong action” if the Iranian government starts hanging protesters, but did not elaborate on what those actions would be.
“I haven’t heard about the hanging. If they hang them, you’re going to see some things … We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” Trump told CBS News in Dearborn, Michigan.
Trump said he was aware a “pretty substantial number” of people have been killed over the more than two weeks of demonstrations, and reiterated that “there’s a lot of help on the way” for Iranian citizens in “different forms” including economic assistance.
He also mentioned the US airstrikes last year targeting three of Iran’s nuclear facilities to CBS News, though he didn’t give any further specifics.
When asked what his end game is in Iran, the US president said:
The end game is to win. I like winning.
And asked what “winning” means, he reeled off a list of military operations from his first and second terms, adding:
We don’t want to see what’s happening in Iran happen. And you know, if they want to have protests, that’s one thing, when they start killing thousands of people, and now you’re telling me about hanging — we’ll see how that works out for them. It’s not going to work out good.
Updated at 16.58 EST
Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, reacted to Donald Trump’s claims on the economy earlier today in Michigan, including that inflation has been “defeated” and that “grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” despite data showing US consumer prices rose 2.7% annually in December.
“Under Donald Trump’s failed economic policies, Michiganders are seeing their paychecks get tighter, and jobs disappear. And today, Trump tried to gaslight Michigan families once again — but they weren’t fooled — because new polling shows that Donald Trump is disastrously unpopular in Michigan,” Martin said.
He added: “While Donald Trump keeps choosing billionaires and gilded ballrooms over the needs of hardworking Michigan families, Democrats won’t stop fighting to lower families’ costs and keep health care prices in check.”
Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, responded to a lawsuit filed by senator Mark Kelly yesterday seeking to block the secretary’s attempt to strip the military veteran of his rank and pension in retaliation for speaking out against the Trump administration.
“‘Captain’ Kelly knows exactly what he did, and that he will be held to account,” Hegseth said Tuesday in a post on X, reposting Kelly’s remarks about the lawsuit. “Thats why he’s so worried and cranky.”
Updated at 16.27 EST
Here’s a recap of the day so far
In a winding speech in Detroit, billed to tout the Trump administration’s affordability achievements, the president veered off-course on several occasions. Throughout his remarks he threatened to “reverse citizenship of any naturalized immigrant who is convicted of defrauding our citizens”, falsely claimed that grocery prices and rent are down, bemoaned the embattled Fed chair, reaffirmed to protesting Iranians that “help is on its way”, and said that he would stop federal funding to sanctuary cities.
Oversight committee chair James Comer said that he will move to hold former president Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify as part of the ongoing investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case. This comes legal representatives for both Bill and Hillary Clinton sent an eight-page letter to Comer notifying him that they would not comply with the subpoenas compelling them to appear before the committee to deliver in-person testimony.
Prior to journeying to Detroit, Donald Trump has told the people of Minnesota to “FEAR NOT”, as a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING” to the North Star state. In a post on Truth Social, the president slammed the ongoing protests against federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good last week.
The US supreme court on Tuesday appeared poised to uphold laws banning transgender girls and women from competing in female sports in two conservative states, in a landmark legal battle that could carry profound implications for trans rights across US society. During oral arguments on two cases of trans students who sued over Republican-supported laws in West Virginia and Idaho that barred them from girls sports, one member of the court’s conservative majority after another voiced skepticism about the students’ cases.
According to the latest data by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), about 800,000 fewer people have enrolled in Affordable Care Act healthcare plans compared to this time last year. This comes as the threat of spikes in monthly premiums looms – short of Congress passing legislation to extend Covid-era subsidies.
It’s important to note that there are fairly narrow criteria when it comes to the process of “denaturalization”.
For example, a person would have been found guilty of committing fraud while applying to become a citizen. Namely, if they concealed that they were part of a terrorist organization, or totalitarian party.
A Somali-born US citizen who has committed financial or welfare fraud, would be subject to the same due process as any American, and – if convicted – they would be subject to fines or prison time.
Their citizenship, however, would not be revoked.
Updated at 15.50 EST
Trump threatens to revoke citizenship of naturalized immigrants convicted of fraud
In his winding speech today, Donald Trump threatened to “reverse citizenship of any naturalized immigrant from Somalia or anywhere else who is convicted of defrauding our citizens”.
He spent a portion of his remarks in Detroit today heaping invective on the Somali community throughout the country, particularly in Minnesota and Maine.
The president repeated xenophobic remarks about Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar – who came to the US as a refugee from Somalia when she was 12, and became a US citizen at 17.
“She lives in Somalia. They don’t have a government, they don’t have a military, they don’t have police, they don’t have anything. All they have is murder and robbing ships,” Trump said today. “She comes here and she tells us about our constitution … I guess she’s she’s a total scam artist.”
A reminder that earlier today, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it would be ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somali immigrants.
ShareTrump says that states with sanctuary cities will no longer receive federal funding
The president said today that, starting 1 February, the federal government will not make payments “to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities” because they do “everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens”.
Last year, a judge temporarily blocked the administration from withholding federal funds to sanctuary cities, calling the move unconstitutional and a “coercive threat”.
ShareTrump falsely claims grocery prices and rent are going down
Trump touted that “grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down” and “rent is down”.
Both statements are untrue. According to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today, the cost of food was up 0.7% in December, while the cost of “shelter” rose by 0.4%.
Updated at 14.58 EST
The president said today that he would be open to foreign automakers setting up factories in the US.
“Let China come in, let Japan come in,” he said. “They’ll be building plants, but they’re using our labor.”
“I’ve canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials, until the senseless killing of protesters stops,” Trump said today. “I say to them, help is on its way. You saw that I put tariffs on anybody doing business with Iran – just went into effect today.”
ShareTrump chides Republican lawmakers who broke from party
In a meandering address, the president spent time calling out moderate Republican lawmakers who have broken from the party recently, while noting that Democrats “stick together”.
“They don’t have a Rand Paul that votes against everything. I got him elected twice. He was stone cold loser,” the president said of the Kentucky senator who co-sponsored a war powers resolution that would curb the Trump administration’s ability to conduct further military operations in Venezuela without approval from Congress. “And you have Lisa Murkowski, and you have Susan Collins – disasters.”
Updated at 14.36 EST
Trump called Jerome Powell – the now embattled Fed chair – a “real stiff” in his opening remarks today. The president didn’t disparage Powell further, saying “that’s for another day”.
Instead, he repeated a familiar lament: his unhappiness with the Federal Reserve for not slashing interest rates.
“I want somebody that when the market is doing great, interest rates can go down because our country becomes stronger,” Trump said while talking about Powell’s replacement after his term ends in May.
On Venezuela, the president said that “winning is a good thing” when referring to the strikes on Caracas and the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
“We’re going to work with Venezuela. We’ll make that country very strong again. We’ll get oil prices down even further,” Trump said.
ShareTrump giving remarks in Detroit on affordability
Donald Trump has just started his speech to the Detroit Economic Club. He kicked off his remarks by recounting his 2024 election victory, and what he sees as the crowning achievements of his first year back in office.
“Now after less than 12 months in office, I’m back in Michigan to report to you on the strongest and fastest economic turnaround in our country’s history,” he said. A reminder that the latest inflation data released today showed that the price of goods rose 2.7% in the past year. This remains significantly above the Federal Reserve’s target for 2%.
Trump, however, claimed that inflation was “defeated” in his speech today.
Share800,000 fewer people enroll in Obamacare coverage as premium spikes set to kick-in
According to the latest data by the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), about 800,000 fewer people have enrolled in Affordable Care Act healthcare plans compared to this time last year. This comes as the threat of spikes in monthly premiums looms – short of Congress passing legislation to extend Covid-era subsidies.
A reminder that while the House has passed a bill that would extend Obamacare tax credits for three years, that same legislation previously failed in the Senate. Lawmakers in the upper chamber are now trying to introduce an alternative, shorter extension with more restrictions.
Updated at 16.06 EST
Julian Borger
The US aircraft that carried out the first airstrike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean was reportedly disguised as a civilian plane – a possible war crime.
The New York Times reported that the aircraft had been painted to obscure its military identity, and its munitions were hidden inside its fuselage rather than visible under its wings.
The 2 September attack on a small boat last year killed 11 Venezuelans, including two survivors from the first strike who were clinging to wreckage in the water when they were bombed a second time. The Venezuelan government denied that the dead men had been gang members, and Washington presented no proof they were involved in drug smuggling.
The Trump administration went on to kill more than 120 people in 35 separate attacks on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, in what it said was a counter-narcotics campaign in the run-up to this month’s direct attack on Venezuela.
The Pentagon has justified the killings on the grounds that the US is at war with drug trafficking cartels. Most international legal experts reject that and say the attacks amount to murder.
For the full story, click here: