Federal Agent Shoots and Injures Man in Minneapolis, and F.B.I. Searches Reporter’s Home

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, January 15th. Here's what we're covering.

0:18In Minneapolis, a federal agent shot and injured a man while trying to detain him, touching off a tense night of protests in a city that's already been on edge. The protesters clashed with law enforcement at the scene of the shooting, throwing snowballs and fireworks. Federal agents responded with canisters of gas and chemical agents. It has absolutely become an unlawful assembly. It is well past the line, and people need to leave. As the clashes escalated, the city's police chief and mayor went live with a press conference, urging demonstrators to walk away. For anyone that is taking the bait tonight, stop.

1:02That is not helpful. Go home. The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday's shooting happened around 7 p.m. during a traffic stop in which federal agents were trying to arrest a man from Venezuela who was in the country illegally. A DHS spokeswoman said he fled and then assaulted the officer who chased after him. She said two other people also jumped in to attack the officer using a broom and a snow shovel. At that point, the agent fired his gun, striking the man in the leg. The Times couldn't immediately verify the federal government's account of what happened. There's still a lot that we don't know at this time, but what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable.

1:45At the press conference, the mayor repeated the call he made last week after Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer, that he wants the federal deployment in the city to end. My concern is that yet another shooting will take place. Yet another person will be injured or killed. People are scared. Yesterday, a judge declined to rule immediately on a lawsuit that Minnesota officials filed trying to block a surge of agents to the state. She's given the Justice Department until Monday to respond.

2:28On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50, the Senate being equally divided. The vice president votes and the point of order is sustained. In the Senate yesterday, Republicans blocked a measure that would have reined in President Trump's war powers by forcing him to get congressional approval for any future military action in Venezuela. The resolution had moved forward last week with the support of a handful of GOP senators. But after a pressure campaign from Trump and the White House, two of them, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana, backed down, sinking the effort. Hawley said he changed his mind after Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured him that Congress would be notified about any future military actions.

3:15So far, those notifications have come only after operations have been carried out, including dozens of deadly strikes on boats and the raid to capture Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro. The problem we have is the Constitution gives us the power to initiate war, to declare war. But if we don't know if it's a war until after all the people die, wouldn't it then be a little bit late to vote on initiating the war? Senator Rand Paul, one of just three Republicans who did stick with Democrats in supporting the bill, criticized the vote, saying the administration has been misleading lawmakers. Meanwhile, the U.S.

3:56has started selling millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil, according to people familiar with the deal. The oil has been stuck in the country since the U.S. started a naval blockade against tankers going in or out. That had pushed Venezuela's economy to the brink. and the sales now will head off the complete collapse of the oil industry there, which is the country's main source of revenue. Much of the oil is expected to eventually end up in U.S. refineries, and a White House spokeswoman said that the U.S.'s involvement will benefit both Americans and Venezuelans. It's unclear what legal authority the administration is using to broker any deals.

4:40Now, two other updates on the Trump administration. First. We have been informed by very important sources on the other side, and they've said the killing is stopped and the executions won't take place. Trump said that Iran appears to have stopped killing protesters days after he threatened to attack the country if it didn't end its bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. The Pentagon had moved another warship into the region, put long-range bombers on alert, and started evacuating some personnel from an American military base. But a U.S. military official called Trump's latest statements an off-ramp from those escalating tensions.

5:20Still, sources say the president has not ruled out using military force against Iran, including anything from a cyber attack to a strike against the country's security forces. And in an extremely rare move, FBI agents searched the home of a reporter yesterday as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. The journalist, Hannah Naitensen, who works at The Washington Post, had laptops, a phone and a smartwatch seized. An official told The Times that Naitensen had been messaging with a government contractor who's been under investigation for allegedly taking home classified documents.

5:59The executive editor of The Post said the paper and Naitanson are not the focus of the inquiry, but that the FBI search, quote, raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work. By law, search warrants for reporters' work are prohibited in most cases. And Justice Department regulations say that the government should generally try to negotiate with the journalists first before seizing their materials. Naitanson had spent the last year collecting hundreds of first-person accounts from federal workers about the administration's aggressive overhaul of the government.

6:35The seizure of her devices raises the possibility that the Justice Department now has access to that list of names.

6:49A new report from federal regulators investigating the deadly crash of a UPS cargo plane back in November says that Boeing knew about flaws in the plane for years. The jet had just taken off from Louisville when one of its engines caught fire, and the plane plummeted into nearby businesses, exploding in a massive fireball and killing 15 people. An official cause of the crash hasn't been determined yet, but the National Transportation Safety Board says that cracks in the assembly holding the engine in place could have contributed to the crash. According to the NTSB, that same part had fractured in a similar way at least four other times on other planes.

7:32Boeing had previously told aircraft owners that the issue would not affect flight safety. In response to the new report, a Boeing representative said the company supports the NTSB's investigation but did not directly address the findings. The company's planes and quality control process have come under intense scrutiny in recent years after a series of deadly crashes.

8:04Dragon, SpaceX, we see splashdown. And finally. SpaceX, Dragon, copy two curves. Splashdown and means are cut. A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts back from the International Space Station splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego in the middle of the night last night. SpaceX Dragon, it's so good to be home. With deep gratitude to the teams who got us there and back. The crew's return came earlier than expected. NASA said last week that a medical issue on board led them to speed things up. They didn't offer any details, but it's the first time in 25 years that an astronaut has left the ISS for a medical reason.

8:44Two of the crew are from NASA. One is from the Japanese Space Agency and the other from Russia's. During live coverage of them being helped out of the capsule, all four astronauts appeared to be in good shape. Their return has left the ISS slightly understaffed, but only for a few weeks. Four more astronauts are scheduled to launch in the middle of next month. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at how the criminal investigation into the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, started and the backlash, it's unleashed. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts.

9:23I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.