January 26, 2026

Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather Cox Richardson is unable to read the letter today, so I will

be reading it in her place. January 26th, 2026. Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump blamed

Democratic officials for the killing of VA intensive care nurse Alex Prety in Minnesota

Saturday morning. Since then, administration officials and their supporters seem to be

coalescing around the idea that the reason there have been violent clashes in Minneapolis

is not the violence of federal agents there, but that city officials aren't cooperating with

federal officials. As Alison Gill of Mueller, she wrote notes, this language comes straight from

the Insurrection Act, and indeed, Maga Leader and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon told the

Wall Street Journal yesterday that he thinks Trump should invoke that act. Bannon said Prety

knew exactly what he was doing and he knew the consequences. The violent domestic terrorist mob

in the streets of Minneapolis needs to stand down now. Unright when social media, Bannon echoed

the language of a dystopian vision of the world that claims immigrants are invading United States

and those protecting them in Minneapolis are dangerous. He told his supporters, this is not

just Minneapolis, this is an organized, well-thought-through effort to invade the country.

Mag adherents are embracing the daft idea that the Minnesota people who have come together to

protect their neighbors are an organized, paid insurgency. But the tide seems to be running against them.

This morning, Trump's social media account posted that the president is sending Tom Homan to Minnesota.

Homan is a White House advisor, under scrutiny for allegations that he accepted $50,000 in cash,

stuffed into a Kava bag, after promising to steer government contracts toward those offering him

the money. According to Aaron Franklin Melnick of the American Immigration Council,

Homan has been clashing with the extremist faction led by Secretary of Homeland Security

Christie Nome, her advisor Cory Lewandowski, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller

because he thinks they're made for TV violence as doing long-term damage to immigration and

customs enforcement or ICE and border patrol. Aaron Rupar of Public Notice Committed,

if Tom Kava Bag, Homan, is your emergency crisis comms guy, you're a f***ing.

Trump's account also posted his version of a phone call with Minnesota Governor Tim Walls

that would let Trump de-escalate the situation there. Despite the fact that, as journalist Laura

Bassett notes, the administration has been leaning its followers to believe Walls is going to jail.

Trump's account posted, Governor Tim Walls called me with a request to work together

with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call and we actually seem to be on a similar

wavelength. I told Governor Walls that I would have Tom Homan call him and that what we are looking

for are any and all criminals that they have in their possession. The governor very respectfully

understood that and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan

was going to Minnesota and so am I. We have had such tremendous success in Washington DC, Memphis,

Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana and virtually every other place that we have touched and even

in Minnesota, crime is way down but both Governor Walls and I want to make it better. President

Donald J. Trump. This morning, Republican Chris Model withdrew from the Minnesota Governor's

race saying, I cannot support the National Republican stated retribution on the citizens of our state

nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so. Operation Metro Surge has expanded

far beyond its stated focus on true public safety threats. United States citizens, particularly those

of color, live in fear. United States citizens are carrying papers to prove their citizenship.

That's wrong, Model said. He added, I am above all else a pragmatist. The reality is that the

National Republicans have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in

Minnesota. Neil Mata and Valerie Bauerline of the Wall Street Journal noted that Prea Sam Sundar

a Republican strategy consultant agrees noting that her own mother who immigrated legally has begun

to carry her passport with her. Some Republicans are backing away from the administration over its

tactics and violence in Minnesota. Former Vice President Mike Pence today called images from

there deeply troubling and called for a full investigation into Prea's killing. By Sunday,

Republican Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Tom Tillis of

North Carolina had all called for investigations. Today, those calls reached deeper into the party

with Republican Senators John Curtis of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, and Todd Young of Indiana

also called for investigation and accountability. This afternoon, Jordan Carney and Adam

Ren of Politico reported that Senator Rand Paul, a Republican of Kentucky, chair of the Homeland

Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, had called a hearing for February 12th. He has asked

Customs and Border Protection, or CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Services Director Joseph Edlow, and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to testify.

One House Republican told Meredith Lee Hill of Politico,

many of us wonder if the administration has any clue as to how much this will hurt us

legislatively and electorally this year. As Kate Riga of Talking Points memo noted today,

even Mag of Firebrand Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on a Dallas talk show that the White House

needs to recalibrate and maybe work from a different direction to ensure that they get back to

what they wanted to do to begin with, and that is to remove people from the country.

And Immigration Officers themselves are speaking up. This afternoon, Nicholas Nahamas,

Hamad Aliazeez, Zolan Kano Youngs, and Alexander Burzon of the New York Times reported that

Immigration Officers deployed to urban areas are angry at the aggressiveness, the Trump

administrations employing, and at the administration sending them into dangerous situations.

They say the arrest quotas, long hours, and public anger at them are taking a significant toll

on morale. Most of those journalists interviewed said they were unhappy that administration

officials had jumped to blame pretty for his own killing. One agent said he had always given

the benefit of the doubt to the government in these situations, but no longer believed any of

the statements they put out anymore. Throughout the day, there were signs that the administration

was planned to throw Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome and Border Patrol Commander Greg

Bavino under the bus. An unsigned editorial in the Free Press and outlet closely aligned with

the administration. Lamb based in Nome for pushing lies that the American people can see with their

own eyes are untrue. Perhaps Republican operatives consider the politics of division as a viable

strategy for their party to survive the midterm elections, the editorial said, but it noted that

the administration's deportation tactics as well as the conduct of federal agents in Minneapolis

are driving voters away from the president and his party. Then this afternoon, CNN's Priscilla

Alvarez reported that Bavino and some of his agents are leaving Minneapolis and returning to

the sectors from which they came. Before hitting the road, though, on Friday, federal agents took

into custody Juan Espinoza Martinez, who would jury acquitted this week after the Department of

Justice accused him of participating in a plot to hire someone to kill Bavino. While CBP

appears to be leaving, the operation itself will continue.

Tonight, Alvarez and her colleague Michael Williams reported that DHS had suspended Bavino's access

to his official social media accounts. In response to Attorney General Pam Bondi's suggestion

in a letter on Saturday, shortly after Freddie's killing, that Governor Tim Walls could restore

the rule of law in Minnesota by handing over the state's voter rolls. Wall said,

I think everybody understands what the last request was, totally unrelated to anything on the voter

files. This is again, Donald Trump telling everybody that the election was rigged. I would just give

a pro tip to the Attorney General. There's two million documents in the Epstein files were still

waiting on. Go ahead and work on those. This afternoon, Trump turned back to tariffs,

saying he is increasing tariff rates on South Korean autos, lumber, pharma, and all other

reciprocal tariffs from 15% to 25%. This evening, Trump's social media account posted that he just

had a very good telephone conversation with Mayor Jacob Fry of Minneapolis. Lots of progress

is being made. Fry responded with a statement. I spoke with President Trump this afternoon and

appreciated the conversation. I expressed how much Minneapolis has benefited from our immigrant

communities and was clear that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end. The President

agreed that the present situation cannot continue. Some federal agents will begin leaving the

area tomorrow and I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go.

Minneapolis will continue to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement on real criminal

investigations, but we will not participate in unconstitutional arrests of our neighbors

or enforce federal immigration law. Violent criminals should be held accountable based on the crimes

they commit, not based on where they are from. I will continue working with all levels of government

to keep our communities safe, keep crime down, and put Minneapolis residents first. I plan to meet

with borders our Tom Homan tomorrow to further discuss next steps.

Letters from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape

Productions, Death in Massachusetts, recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.