First Thing: Border patrol chief praised federal agent who shot US citizen in Chicago

Gregory Bovino hailed agent who fired at Marimar Martinez five times in her car. Plus, US jobs rise by 130,000 in January Good morning. Newly released evidence has shown that Gregory Bovino, a border patrol chief who was the face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts until last month, praised a federal agent who shot a Chicago woman during an immigration crackdown last year. Marimar Martinez, a US citizen, was shot five times by a border patrol agent in October while in her vehicle. She was charged with a felony after officials at the Department of Homeland Security accused her of trying to ram agents with her vehicle. But the case was dismissed after video evidence emerged showing that an agent had steered his vehicle into Martinez’s car. What did Bovino say to the shooter? Text messages showed Bovino sending encouragement to border patrol agent Charles Exum, who shot Martinez, after the shooting. “In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!” Bovino wrote to Exum on 4 October, hours after Martinez was shot, in an email urging him to put off his retirement. How are the administration’s actions going down? An NBC/SurveyMonkey poll found 49% of American adults strongly disapprove of the Trump administration’s handling of border security and immigration, compared with 34% who strongly disapproved in a similar poll last April. What did Bondi say in the combative hearing? Among other lawmakers, she sparred heavily with Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, saying: “You’re a washed-up loser lawyer. You’re not even a lawyer.” Continue reading...