00:01Minnesota hits pause. Work, school, shopping all shut down in protest.
00:06The vice president drops into the flashpoint as tensions over ice enforcement boil over.
00:12Plus, a winter storm with teeth. Ice, snow, dangerous cold.
00:16In some places this morning, it feels like minus 40.
00:20And de-invited. Trump boots Canada from his new Board of Peace.
00:25Carney fires back.
00:28The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:34These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:40Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelly. We begin this morning with the latest out of Minnesota,
00:44where protests are growing over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown
00:48and two recent shootings, one of them deadly.
00:51Recent snowstorms have not stopped demonstrators from gathering outside the ICE detention facility in Minneapolis.
00:57Today, the protest movement is escalating. Hundreds of businesses are expected to stay closed.
01:03As a network of labor unions, progressive groups, and faith leaders urge Minnesotans to skip work, school, and shopping
01:09in what they're calling an economic blackout.
01:12This comes as the Trump administration announced the arrest of three people in connection with a protest that interrupted a Sunday service at a church in St. Paul, where a top Minnesota ICE official is a pastor.
01:24But a federal judge on Thursday refused to sign a complaint charging independent journalist Don Lemon for his presence at that service.
01:31Vice President J.D. Vance was in Minneapolis on Thursday, warning protesters to remain peaceful or face federal consequences.
01:39Our plan is very simple. If you assault a federal law enforcement officer, we're going to do everything that we can to put you in prison. It's very simple.
01:45And most of these protesters, as much as I may disagree with their politics, most of them have been peaceful, but a lot of them have not been peaceful.
01:53And if you go and storm a church, if you go and insult a federal law enforcement officer, we're going to try very hard. We're going to use every resource of the federal government to put you in prison.
02:02Vance also defended an ICE action that's sparking public outcry, a five-year-old boy taken into custody with his father on Tuesday.
02:10The Department of Homeland Security says the father was in the country illegally, but has not released the details or cited any criminal history.
02:18The father and son are now together in Texas.
02:21Former special counsel Jack Smith went straight into the blast furnace on Capitol Hill Thursday and did not blink.
02:28Smith, who twice indicted Donald Trump before both cases were dropped after Trump won re-election, defended his investigations in a tense, combative and deeply partisan House hearing, his first public testimony before Congress.
02:41He opened with this.
02:43I made my decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election.
02:57President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold.
03:06Republicans framed Smith as a rogue prosecutor who tried to take down Trump for political reasons.
03:13Democrats view him as a public servant who did exactly what the law required.
03:17At one point, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal walked Smith through what his investigation actually found.
03:24My Republican colleagues keep trying to rewrite history.
03:27They claim that somehow Trump's words and actions did not legally rise to the level of criminal activity.
03:33That he did not directly cause violence at the Capitol.
03:37And so I want to set that record straight with you right now.
03:40First of all, you successfully secured indictments against Donald Trump in two major federal cases.
03:46Election interference in the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
03:52Is that correct?
03:53Yes.
03:54And you've been a federal prosecutor for nearly 30 years.
03:58You led this investigation, combing through hundreds of thousands of documents, photos, videos and communication.
04:06Did your investigation find that Donald Trump attempted to manufacture fraudulent state slates of presidential electors in seven states that he lost?
04:19Yes.
04:20Did he pressure state officials to ignore true vote counts in those states?
04:27Yes.
04:28Did he spread lies and conspiracies to his followers to make them believe that the election had been illegally rigged against him?
04:37Yes.
04:38Did he pressure DOJ officials to stop the certification of the of the election?
04:45He did.
04:46Republicans zeroed in on tactics they say crossed the line, including subpoenas for phone records tied to GOP lawmakers.
04:54Smith pushed back, saying his office needed those logs because Trump was actively trying to reach members of Congress as he worked to delay the certification of the 2020 election on January 6th.
05:05Then came the question Republicans were clearly waiting for.
05:08Did he make mistakes?
05:10So, Mr. Smith, looking at the record, I see that you were reversed and rebuked by the Department of Justice itself, by the Attorney General,
05:17by the Solicitor General, by multiple district court justices, judges, by the Court of Appeals, and by the U.S. Supreme Court itself.
05:24So, my final question is, do you believe that you made any mistakes?
05:27Do you have any regrets as to how you conducted this investigation?
05:30If I have any regret, it would be not expressing enough appreciation for my staff who worked so hard in these investigations.
05:40We followed the facts and the law of these people who worked for me, sacrificed endlessly, and have endured way too much for just doing their job.
05:49So, if anything, I wish that I had thanked them.
05:51I'm the gentleman here.
05:52No mistakes.
05:53There's that humility.
05:54Mr. Chair, I yield back.
05:55Democrats closed ranks around Smith.
05:58My Republican colleagues are a joke.
06:00They're wrong.
06:01History will harshly judge them.
06:03So, I want you to lean in today.
06:05You have nothing to be ashamed of.
06:07You did everything right, sir.
06:09As Smith was testifying, Donald Trump posted this on Truth Social, calling him, quote,
06:14a deranged animal, accusing Jack Smith of destroying lives and suggesting Attorney General Pam Bondi should go after him.
06:22This morning, a massive winter storm stretching nearly 2,000 miles across more than 30 states is moving in.
06:29Bitter cold for some, ice and freezing rain for others, and heavy snow as the system pushes north and east into the weekend.
06:36The biggest threat right now is ice.
06:39States, including Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and southern Virginia,
06:44are bracing for freezing rain that could turn roads, trees, and power lines into an icy glaze,
06:50raising the risk of dangerous travel and power outages that could last for days.
06:54As the storm shifts east this afternoon, places like Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Kansas City could see snow before it reaches Little Rock and Memphis.
07:03Tomorrow, the system tracks up the east coast.
07:06Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City are preparing for 6 to 12 inches of snow by the end of the weekend.
07:12That large band of orange and blue you see there, all snow and ice.
07:16Crews are pre-treating roads with salt and sand like you see here in Nashville.
07:21Air travel is taking a hit.
07:23More than 1,000 flights already canceled as conditions deteriorate in several states.
07:28In Kentucky and across the south, people are lining up at gas stations to fill up their cars and trucks.
07:34Also clearing out grocery stores for bread, milk, and bottled water as they prepare to hunker down.
07:40In the Midwest, the story is the extreme cold.
07:44Schools are closed in Chicago today with wind chills expected to drop to minus 40.
07:49That Arctic blast is expected to hold through Saturday.
07:52The video you're seeing is out of Wisconsin. Brrr.
07:55But here in Omaha, we're at minus 2 this morning with a wind chill of minus 19 and dropping.
08:03About two hours east of here in Des Moines, Iowa, it's minus 8 this morning with wind chills dipping to minus 40.
08:09Schools are closed there as well.
08:12After signing the charter for his International Board of Peace without any major Western allies present,
08:18President Trump has now withdrawn Canada's invitation to join.
08:22He sent a terse message to Prime Minister Mark Carney on social media telling him.
08:27The move comes as Carney fires back at Trump for comments he made this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
08:33where the president called Carney ungrateful.
08:36They should be grateful to us.
08:39Canada.
08:40Canada lives because of the United States.
08:43Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statement.
08:47Carney did not let that go.
08:49Back in Canada on Thursday, he responded without naming Trump and drew a line about Canada's sovereignty.
08:55Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security and in rich cultural exchange.
09:04But Canada doesn't live because of the United States.
09:09Canada thrives because we are Canadian.
09:14Carney also used his Davos remarks to condemn what he calls great powers trying to coerce smaller countries.
09:22The backdrop here is a widening rift.
09:25Trump has previously talked about making Canada the 51st state.
09:29This week, he posted an altered map of the United States that included Canada, Greenland, Venezuela and Cuba as part of American territory.
09:37Then, after Carney's message to Canadians, Trump posted again on Truth Social announcing he was withdrawing Canada's invitation to join the Board of Peace.
09:46Just last week, Carney said he was open to joining, but wanted more details on the terms first.
09:52Now, Canada is out.
09:55TikTok's U.S. spinoff is now official, and the new American-controlled entity is live.
10:01The news website Semaphore was first to report the deal had been signed off on by China and the U.S.
10:07By late Thursday night, the joint venture formally launched and named its leadership team.
10:12The new company now controls TikTok's American operations and user data just one day before a Trump administration deadline to force ByteDance to divest or face a ban.
10:22Under the deal, ByteDance keeps a 19.9% stake.
10:26The rest is owned by a U.S.-led investor group, including Oracle, Silver Lake and the UAE-backed fund MGX.
10:34The venture will be run by CEO Adam Presser, with Oracle overseeing data storage and security.
10:40The group says it will control content moderation, algorithm security and software protection for users here in the U.S.
10:47TikTok says Americans won't see visible changes to the app, but the algorithm will now be retained on U.S. user data under the new ownership structure.
10:57Finally this morning, things are getting a bit heated between the co-stars of one of HBO's most popular shows, but not in the way you might think.
11:05The co-stars of the hit hockey romance, Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams and Conor Story, will be among the torchbearers for the Olympic flame as it makes its way to the opening ceremony for the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
11:18Exactly when and where they'll carry the torch has not yet been announced.
11:22The flame began its journey across Europe after leaving Olympia, Greece in late November.
11:27And as the February 6th opening ceremony draws closer, it's now in Italy.
11:32By the way, the Olympic Games are going to be exciting.
11:35I love the skiing, the skating, and of course, as you know, the hockey.
11:38In fact, did you know, the NHL is shutting down for three weeks so its players can go to Italy and represent their countries.
11:44The U.S. and Canada are chomping at the bit to get on the ice and go at it.
11:48It should be really, really good.
11:50What a rivalry.
11:51All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
11:54This morning in Washington, thousands of abortion opponents, including Vice President J.D. Vance,
11:59gathered for the annual March for Life, with the rally and march set to begin at 11 Eastern.
12:05At 11, Luigi Mangione is in court, federal court that is, as a judge takes up a key fight
12:11over what evidence jurors will be allowed to see in his case.
12:14He's the man accused of shooting and killing a healthcare CEO.
12:18In Minneapolis, civic leaders and labor unions, as we mentioned earlier, launch a day of action,
12:23including a general strike, to protest the surge in ice ages with a rally at 2 o'clock.
12:29Hey, don't let your Uncle Bob on Facebook be your news source.
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12:38Those are your unbiased updates for this Friday.
12:40We'll see you back here on Monday.
12:41For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DiGrelli.
12:43Have a great day, a fantastic weekend, and try to keep warm.
12:47We'll see you next time.
12:48We'll see you next time.
12:49Bye.
12:50Bye.
12:51Bye.
12:52Bye.
12:53Bye.
12:54Bye.
12:55Bye.
12:56Bye.
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