President Donald Trump on Tuesday made his first big pitch ahead of this year’s midterm elections on his administration’s economic performance, even as his administration remains mired in the fallout in Minneapolis over a second fatal shooting by federal immigration officers this month.

Trump gave a speech in a suburb of Des Moines where he talked up the tax cuts he signed into law last year and took credit for the soaring performance of the stock market, saying that he “made a lot of people rich,” including those “that I don’t even like.”

The president also slipped into the third person to tell Iowans, who are expected to reflect their feelings on his presidency when they vote in two highly competitive congressional races this year, that, “Just after one year of President Trump, our economy is booming.”

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—The Associated Press

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Homan replaces Bovino in Minneapolis immigration crackdown as calls grow for Noem’s ouster

Minneapolis residents gathered at the memorial for Alex Pretti in frigid temperatures Tuesday, the same day the White House implemented a changing of the guard.

Out is Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, the man who, until now, has been the public on-the-ground face of immigration crackdown efforts. In his place will be border czar Tom Homan, who met with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday. Walz said in a statement the two agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue.

There were also growing calls Tuesday for the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, including from centrist Senate Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who said if she’s not fired, House Dems will impeach her. Later Tuesday, two Senate Republicans — Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — also called for Noem to resign. 

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—Spectrum News’ Chris Welch

NTSB: Systemic problems across multiple organizations led to last year’s DC midair collision

The operating supervisor of the air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was experiencing reduced alertness and may have been complacent when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter last year, killing everyone on board, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday.

The increased workload managing a crowded airspace on the night of the crash also negatively impacted air traffic controllers’ performance and awareness, investigators said.

“There’s no singular person to blame for this,” NTSB member J. Todd Inman said Tuesday. “These were systemic issues across multiple organizations.”

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—Spectrum News’ Susan Carpenter

Federal Reserve to hold first interest rate vote of 2026

Federal Reserve officials began their two-day meeting Tuesday –– a day ahead of their scheduled vote on whether to lower interest rates. 

Laura Jackson Young, an economics professor at Bentley University, said she is expecting that the central bank will leave the federal funding rate –– the rate that banks charge one another for overnight lending –– unchanged. 

Market participants and economists surveyed by CNBC and Bloomberg have also predicted that the committee will vote to keep the current rate of 3.5%-3.75% and are anticipating only two additional 25-basis-point rate cuts this year.

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—Spectrum News’ Christina Santucci

More Tuesday reads

• Shooting involving Border Patrol leaves 1 in critical condition near U.S.-Mexico border

• ICE agents to have security role at Milan Cortina Olympics

• Immigration crackdown led to drop in U.S. growth rate last year as population hit 342 million