Photo illustration by Emma Spainhoward with photograph by Getty Images.
Good morning. Highs around 56 today—brace for some rain after 4 PM. Winds could gust up to 24 mph. More rain is expected overnight, with lows near 47.
Sports this weekend: The Capitals will visit Chicago tonight. On Sunday evening, they’ll be in Nashville. The Wizards will host the Pelicans tonight, then they’ll visit Phoenix on Sunday.
Washingtonian Today editor Andrew Beaujon will be back on Monday, so I’m signing off for now. Thank you for having me! You can find me on Bluesky (where I am going to start posting eventually, I swear), I’m kmcorliss.19 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.
A great book on my nightstand:
“Sing to It” by Amy Hempel. The 15 short stories in this fiction collection are beautifully written and ooze themes of empathy. A few of the characters who anchor these tales: an animal shelter volunteer who devotes her life to dogs awaiting euthanasia, a group sharing a meal at a restaurant that their late friend wanted to try, and a woman who grapples with her decision to give a daughter up for adoption years ago.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
Another ICE shooting: Border Patrol agents shot a man and a woman, believed to be a married couple, in Portland, Oregon, yesterday afternoon. The woman was shot in the chest and the man “in the arm or the leg,” according to local police sources and dispatch audio. Police say their conditions are unknown. (Oregonian) A DHS spokesperson says officers were conducting a “targeted vehicle stop” on the man, an undocumented immigrant who allegedly has gang ties in Venezuela. (She shared no evidence regarding his supposed gang affiliation.) The agent fired on the car when, according to the spokesperson, the driver tried to run him over. (NYT)
The latest from Minneapolis: The ICE agent who shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good dead on Wednesday has been identified by Minnesota reporters as 43-year-old Jonathan Ross. (Minnesota Star Tribune) In June, Ross was dragged down the street by a driver who he was attempting to detain in Minneapolis—which made headlines at the time, though he had not been publicly named. (NBC News) Ross is a veteran deportation officer in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division and reportedly worked as a firearms trainer for the agency’s Special Response Team. (Wired) The ample video footage of Ross’s shooting of Good contradicts the Trump administration’s narrative that she was trying to run him over. (NYT) Frame-by-frame analysis of recordings shows that he fired at least two of his three shots as Good was driving past him. (Washington Post) Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem continues to push the narrative that Good was deliberately using her vehicle “as a weapon” against Ross. (The Guardian) Vice President JD Vance sort of deviated from this line at a White House press briefing, but still blamed Good for her death. After insinuating that she was part of a left-wing “network” of ICE agitators, he conceded to a reporter that it’s “reasonable” to debate whether Good was “panicking when she drove into this officer” or if she was “actually trying to ram him.” Still, he concluded that the shooting was justified because “she violated the law.” (CNN) Law enforcement officials in Minnesota said they’d been tapped to investigate the shooting, but federal officials yanked their access to case materials and determined the case would be “solely led by the FBI.” As such, these local authorities announced they are “reluctantly” stepping away from the investigation. “They have not been cut,” Noem said at a press conference Thursday. “They don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.” (The Guardian) Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee are urging the panel’s Republican majority to call Noem in for testimony. (The Hill)
All the world’s a stage: Trump says he cancelled a “previously expected” second wave of attacks on Venezuela because the interim government is cooperating with the US. (CNN) “While Trump has publicly pressured American oil giants to spend billions of dollars reopening Venezuela, the companies with the biggest pots of money and longest experience in the country are unsure it would be in their best interests—or even possible, according to six oil company executives and industry lobbyists who were granted anonymity to candidly discuss the White House’s conversations with the private sector.” (Politico) Officials are reportedly considering sending Greenlanders payments of “$10,000 to $100,000 per person” to convince them to secede from Denmark and join the US. (Reuters) When asked by journalists if there are any limits on his global authority, Trump replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality.” (NYT)
Constructive criticism: Trump is planning even more White House renovations, this time “a second level on top of the colonnade that connects the West Wing to the White House residence.” He suggested the addition could be used as office space for West Wing aides or future First Ladies. He says he’s also going to replace the brick walkways in Lafayette Park with granite. The president estimates the construction will cost about $10 million total and he’ll foot the bill. (NYT) At a National Capital Planning Commission meeting yesterday, White House Office of Administration director Josh Fisher said it made the most financial sense to tear down the East Wing entirely, claiming the building was plagued by water leakage, mold, and an unstable colonnade. When asked why officials didn’t publicly share this information before demolishing the historic wing, Fisher said some elements of the project “are frankly of top-secret nature.” (New York Magazine)
Administration perambulation: In a pointed rebuke of GOP leadership, 17 House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a bill extending Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. Now, we’ll see how the legislation does in the Senate. (Washington Post) Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna asked a federal judge in New York to appoint an independent monitor who can ensure that the Department of Justice promptly releases all files related to disgraced, deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein‘s case. (CNBC) Senators have agreed to publicly display a plaque honoring the law enforcement officers who responded to the January 6 Capitol riot, nearly three years after the memorial was supposed to be hung. (NYT) The five states for whom Trump froze $10 billion in federal child care funding earlier this week are now suing the administration. (Axios) The administration is creating a new assistant attorney general position to investigate fraud at the state level, the vice president announced yesterday. (NBC News) The DOJ is reportedly trying to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James once again—this time over financial transactions with her hairdresser, who was indicted on bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in federal court last month. (NYT)
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• Meet the 2025 Washingtonians of the Year, nine locals who have made our region an even better place.
• Want to try some quirky workouts this year? Here’s a roundup of unique fitness classes around the DC area.
• Patrice Willoughby, the NAACP’s policy and legislative-affairs chief, reflects on a historic portrait of her formerly enslaved great-great-great-grandmother.
• Don’t sashay away from these free “RuPaul’s Drag Race” watch parties around the region.
• This wedding featured a lush romantic-garden theme.
Local news links:
• A DC Council report calls on the city’s police force to stop working with ICE and criticizes Mayor Muriel Bowser for her lack of transparency on the extent to which local authorities have been cooperating with the agency. (Washington Post)
• A DC man has been charged with murder following the multi-car crash that killed a pedestrian downtown Wednesday. (WTOP)
• An Arlington bakery is under fire for a sign in its window that advertises a conservative political organization called Club America, which touts itself as “Northern Virginia’s Turning Point.” (ARLNow)
• DC Councilmember Janeese Lewis-George has introduced a bill that would ramp up pressure on landlords to address rodent infestations on their properties. (WUSA9)
• Terry Bennett, a 32-year-old DC police officer, died Wednesday, two weeks after being hit by a speeding vehicle on I-695. (Washington Post)
• Wildlife rescue organizations in Loudoun County came together to save a raccoon who got his head stuck in a spare tire. He was reportedly “alert, well-hydrated, and VERY angry about the whole situation.” (Northern Virginia Magazine)
Weekend event picks:
• Saturday: DC punk band Black Masala plays Pearl Street Warehouse.
• Sunday: Russian-German pianist Igor Levit performs at Sixth & I.
Don’t miss our January culture guide, written by Briana Thomas and Pat Padua.
Join the conversation!
Kate Corliss
Junior Staff Writer