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In the news today: The broad impact of mass firings at the Trump Justice Department; new video shows federal immigration agents dragging a woman from her car in Minneapolis; and what's ahead for Trump's Greenland goals. Also, striking photos show how Cirque du Soleil creates dazzling worlds on stage. |
Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives before President Donald Trump speaks during an event Thursday to honor the 2025 Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) |
Inside a year of firings that have shaken the Trump Justice Department: 'A great deal of fear' |
As Attorney General Pam Bondi prepares to mark a year on the job, terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of Justice Department lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience. The departures have left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark for the rule of law at a time when President Donald Trump is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies. Read more. |
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- "To lose people at that career level, people who otherwise intended to stay and now are either being discharged or themselves are walking away, is immensely damaging to the public interest," said Stuart Gerson, a senior official in the George H.W. Bush administration and acting attorney general early in the Clinton administration.
Justice Connection, a network of department alumni, estimates that more than 230 lawyers, agents and other employees from across the department were fired last year — apparently because of their work on cases they were assigned, past criticism of Trump or seemingly no reason. More than 6,400 employees are estimated to have left a department that at the end of 2025 had roughly 108,000, the group says. The Justice Department, for its part, says it has hired thousands of career attorneys over the last year. The Trump administration has characterized some of the fired and departed workers as out of step with its agenda.
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Federal immigration agents filmed dragging a woman from her car in Minneapolis |
A U.S. citizen on her way to a medical appointment in Minneapolis was dragged out of her car and detained by immigration officers, according to a statement released by the woman on Thursday, after a video of her arrest drew millions of views on social media. Read more. |
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Aliya Rahman was caught in a "terrible and confusing position" and had "nowhere to go," according to Alexa Van Brunt, Rahman's attorney. Rahman said she was brought to a detention center where she was denied medical care and lost consciousness. The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area. The video is the latest in a deluge of online content that documents an intensifying immigration crackdown across the midwestern city, as thousands of federal agents execute arrests amid protests in what local officials have likened to a "federal invasion."
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What's next for Trump's Greenland goals after difficult meeting with Europeans |
U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials have met face to face to discuss President Donald Trump's ambitions to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. At the same time, Denmark and several European allies are sending troops to Greenland. Read more. |
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The deployment "serves both to send a political signal and military signal to America, but also indeed to recognize that Arctic security should be reinforced more," said Maria Martisiute, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels. "And first and foremost, this should be done through allied effort, not by the U.S. coming and wanting to take it over. So it complicates the situation for the U.S."
Trump has argued repeatedly that the U.S. needs control of Greenland for its national security. He has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.
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A Cirque du Soleil rehearsal of the show entitled 'Ovo' at The Royal Albert Hall, in London, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) |
Go inside Cirque du Soleil's rehearsal with AP's photographs
Cirque du Soleil's show "Ovo," Portuguese for "egg," brings to life a colorful ecosystem teeming with insects. The production celebrates biodiversity and transformation, while weaving in a playful love story between a quirky insect and a ladybug. |
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