TV News LIES

Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, who were arrested and charged for their role in an anti-ICE demonstration that disrupted Sunday church services in St Paul, Minnesota, have been released.

Video of the two women posted online showed them emerging from detention on Friday, raising their fists and embracing their loved ones. “Thank you all for being here,” Levy Armstrong said. “Glory to God!”

A federal judge ordered their release earlier in the day, ruling that the government had failed “to meet its burden to demonstrate that a detention hearing is warranted, or that detention is otherwise appropriate”.

A judge has also ordered the released of a third activist involved in the church protest, William Kelly, saying he was not a danger to the public, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

On Thursday, the White House was caught posting a digitally altered image of Armstrong’s arrest on social media, which had been manipulated to falsely portray her as crying, and to darken her skin.

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The decision by Donald Trump’s justice department to conduct no investigation into the deadly use of force by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, a Minneapolis resident who was moving her car out of the way of federal agents when he opened fire, reportedly distressed federal prosecutors and a leader of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, according to reporting from MSNOW and the New York Times.

A report for MSNOW (formerly MSNBC) by Carol Leonnig, a four-time Pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter, and Ken Dilanian begins:

Aides to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche directed the U.S. Attorney’s office and FBI agents based in Minnesota to shut down a civil rights investigation into an officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good and instead alter it to probe Good for possible criminal liability, according to three people briefed on the discussions.

After Good was killed on Jan. 7, FBI agents drafted a search warrant to obtain her car to reconstruct the path of bullets that an ICE officer shot into the vehicle. But they were instructed to redraft their warrant and change the subject of the investigation from a civil rights probe to an investigation into a suspected assault on an officer, the people said. A federal magistrate judge rejected that warrant, noting that Good was already dead and could not be considered a suspect for a warrant.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing scrutiny over its assertion that federal officers can forcibly enter a home without a judicial warrant – a move constitutional scholars, immigration experts and a federal judge say is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.

An internal ICE memo from May 2025 directs agents to use force to enter residences after obtaining administrative warrants, which are signed by ICE authorities and do not require a judge's approval, according to a whistleblower complaint reviewed by USA TODAY and first reported by The Associated Press.

The memo appeared to upend longstanding precedent and law enforcement policy, including at the Department of Homeland Security, which relied on warrants signed by impartial members of the judicial branch to enter homes or businesses for searches and arrests.

News of the memo comes amid the Trump administration’s expanding deportation campaign that’s seen aggressive enforcement operations nationwide and a hiring blitz that more than doubled its workforce.

It remains unclear how often the new policy has been used in field operations. On Jan. 18, federal agents with guns drawn broke down the front door of the home of ChongLy Thao, a naturalized U.S. citizen. Relatives and local officials said he was temporarily detained and never shown a warrant. Images of Thao being led shirtless outside in the snow prompted outrage and calls for a formal investigation.

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Former special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday staunchly defended his stymied efforts to prosecute President Trump, saying in his first public testimony that he doesn’t regret taking on the failed probes — even as he stares down the threat of prosecution himself.  

Over some five hours of questioning before the House Judiciary Committee, Smith remained steadfast that the evidence collected by his team of lawyers showed Trump engaged in criminal activity, both in his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 presidential election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

The hearing often grew contentious, as Republican lawmakers portrayed the former Justice Department official’s probes as politically motivated and tensions boiled over from within the public gallery. 

And it’s likely not the last time Smith will face the limelight. Here are five takeaways from the hearing.

Hearing an extension of the battle over Trump

Trump is the most polarizing president in modern history, and Thursday’s hearing was a direct reflection of the massive chasm between the parties when it comes to his leadership credentials, particularly related to his actions and rhetoric surrounding Jan. 6, 2021.

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President Donald Trump has suddenly stepped back from threats to annex Greenland while in Europe.

For weeks, Trump has declined to rule out using military force for a U.S. takeover of the icy island, which is a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark. He has emphasized the U.S. needs control of the island for national security.

But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, Trump said, "I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland."

Later that day, he announced he reached a "framework of a future deal" with NATO on Greenland and would not be imposing the 10% tariffs on eight European countries he had previously threatened.

The whiplash on tariffs calls back to the early months of his return to office, when the status of tariffs on imports from countries, ranging from our biggest trade partners to an uninhabited island, was dizzying. It garnered the nickname "TACO trade," which some social media users quickly brought back this week.

What does it mean?

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Jack Smith, the former U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against President Donald Trump, will publicly testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22.

Pictured here, Special Counsel Jack Smith delivered remarks on a recently unsealed indictment against then-former President Trump at the Justice Department on June 9, 2023 in Washington, D.C. At the time, Trump was indicted in the special counsel's classified documents probe.

Smith gave private testimony to the committee in December 2025 where he defended his investigations into Trump, saying that the basis for the prosecutions "rests entirely with President Trump and his actions."

Smith was appointed independent special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to oversee two criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump's alleged role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Smith dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

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