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Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was assaulted on Tuesday evening during a town hall event in Minneapolis by a man who squirted some kind of liquid from a syringe on the lawmaker amid heightened tensions in the state and following a series of baseless allegations and intensifying insults against her by US President Donald Trump.

During public remarks to local constituents—just as she called for ICE to be abolished and that Secratary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem should "resign of face impeachment"—video footage of the attack shows a man wearing a black jacket sitting in the front row abruptly rise from his seat and lunge toward Omar's podium as he sprays something at her with a syringe in his right hand.

While apparently unharmed, Omar first backs away before charging at the man before he is tackled by security and other bystanders intervene.

Watch:

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) assaulted during town hall meeting: "Here's the reality that people like this ugly man don't understand; we are Minnesota strong and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us." pic.twitter.com/Ud5l3yP4lQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 28, 2026

"Oh my god," someone off camera can be heard saying, "He sprayed something on her."

Maintaining her composure after the man was subdued, Omar said, "Here's the reality that people like this ugly man don't understand; we are Minnesota strong and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us."

Over recent weeks—as Minnesota has been the focus of nationwide outrage due to the authoritarian tactics used by federal immigration agents deployed and the killing of two observers, Renee Good and Alex Pretti—Trump, a racist, has repeatedly targeted Omar with false suggestions that she has perpetrated fraud due to her personal financial disclosures and used her Somali heritage to insult her as a "garbage person."

— (@)

"I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work," Omar said in a post shortly after the incident. "I don’t let bullies win. Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong."

Many credited Omar for her fortitude in the face of the attack, both during and after.

"llhan is toughest lawmaker in Congress," said journalist Pablo Manríquez. "No one gets more hate, then goes right back to doing the work."

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Apple Workers Are Livid That Tim Cook Saw “Melania” Movie Hours After CBP Killed Pretti (theintercept.com)

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Just hours after a U.S. Border Patrol officer gunned down Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti, Apple CEO Tim Cook, donned his tuxedo to attend an exclusive screening of a new documentary about First Lady Melania Trump. A growing number of Apple workers are now internally criticizing Cook and the company’s silence in the face of an ongoing campaign of federal brutality.

The response within Apple to Cook’s attendance of the “Melania” screening has been starkly negative, according to internal Slack logs reviewed by The Intercept. A link to an article from The Verge headlined “Here’s Tim Cook hanging out with accused rapist Brett Ratner at the Melania screening” drew a chorus of reactions, including dozens of vomiting emojis. The article prompted waves of dissent about both Cook and the company’s apparent unwillingness to condemn immigration-related violence across the United States. This level of internal anger is unusual at Apple, which has avoided the kind of political rancor that has swept rivals like Google and Microsoft.

“This isn’t leadership. This is an absence of leadership.”

Cook has openly embraced Trump, particularly in his second term, attending the president’s inauguration, presenting him with an engraved golden trophy, and giving money to the White House to help construct the president’s $300 million pet project ballroom.

The relative workplace calm may be over. “I hope we never find out, but I seriously started wondering what our leadership would do if an Apple employee was summarily executed by our government,” wondered one employee.

Many workers claimed hypocrisy between Apple’s longtime professed commitment to progressive values and causes and the extent to which its CEO has cozied up to the Trump administration. “But but but…. we changed the Apple website to MLK last Monday, so that cancels out.” Another pointed sarcastically to the company’s recent announcement of Black History Month Apple Watch bands. “Went to hang out with the guy who didn’t even acknowledge MLK Day and took away park access on the day,” commented one worker. “Sounds like an interesting documentary. Hopefully we’ll hear more about it through a push notification in Apple Wallet,” said another employee.

“Three retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep.”

Many others expressed dismay at the fact that Apple has yet to issue any statement about violence perpetrated by Customs and Border Protection agents, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as it has in the past following similar national traumas. In 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd, Cook wrote an open letter condemning his killing: “We can have no society worth celebrating unless we can guarantee freedom from fear for every person who gives this country their love, labor, and life.”

For some, the affront was personal. “As a lifelong Minnesotan and an Apple badged employee for over half my life I feel pretty abandoned by the company that has told me it stands for humanity more times than I can count,” wrote another worker. “Silence on ICE violence speaks volumes.” Another pointed out the “Three retail locations in the Twin Cities and not a peep” from Cook. “This isn’t leadership. This is an absence of leadership.” To which a colleague quickly countered: “I disagree, this IS leadership. This is intentional, nobody travels to the white house by mistake.”

[

An Apple employee who has spent decades at the company said they had noticed a marked cultural and political shift within Apple under Cook’s tenure. “A lot of people are talking about how Steve Jobs would have never given a gold bar to a politician,” referring to the 24-karat gold trophy Cook presented Trump at the White House in August.

“Typically, before the genocide in Gaza started, Tim would write an email about every major horrible event that would happen in support of workers at the company who might be related to those events,” said the employee, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity. This worker said that Apple employs a large number of immigrants, making violence at the hands of ICE and CBP as personal as anything the company has ever expressed sympathy over. “There has been a dramatic shift in the way Apple operates worldwide. Before they would focus on quality and design and doing the right thing, and now they’re just getting things out quickly and pandering to fascists.”

Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

Internal debate has differed on whether Cook should issue a statement internally, publicly, or both. “We aren’t asking for Tim to make a private statement to employees,” argued one worker. “We’re asking him to take a stand for basic human rights and morals. Or at the very least to not be seen smiling and hobnobbing with the people treading on these values on a constant basis. Oh and not openly bribing them with tacky gold bars that very very clearly violate the Business Conduct Training that we are all required to repeat on an annual basis.”

Some workers have argued that, while unpalatable, Cook’s friendly relationship with the White House and silence on ICE or CBP is simply the job of the chief executive. The unpleasant reality of his fiduciary duty “means he needs to pander to criminals who want to destroy our democracy in order to ward off tariffs that would tank iPhone sales,” suggested one employee. “From my perspective, he’s choosing to take the hit to his reputation for the benefit of his employees, and for the customers that depend on our products and services,” argued another Slack commenter. “He’s truly in a tough position. An easy way out would have been to retire, but Tim doesn’t strike me as someone that would take the easy way out. He’s likely weighing the costs of every significant action.”

Some pointed out that, from a purely self-interested public relations standpoint, the corporate silence was counterproductive. “Just imagine for a second if Apple was the first big tech company to actually stand up for people’s rights against the admin,” wrote one. “Can’t think of a better PR move at this moment.”

A second Apple employee, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Intercept that the current dismay is without precedent. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen our internal Slack so busy with so many worried discussions going on at the same time on similar topics,” they said. “Apple leadership used to be an inspiration for many of us due to the importance given to ethical products, but these days it feels more and more that the folks that are supposed to represent Apple’s values wouldn’t even pass the internal business conduct training that most employees have to attend.”

The post Apple Workers Are Livid That Tim Cook Saw “Melania” Movie Hours After CBP Killed Pretti appeared first on The Intercept.

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Hawaiʻi Democrat Seeks Federal Review Of Native Hawaiian Contracting Program (ictnews.org)

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This story was produced byHonolulu Civil Beat, a nonprofit news organization covering Hawaiʻi that specializes in accountability and in-depth enterprise coverage. For more stories like this,subscribe to their newsletters.

Nick Grube
Honolulu Civil Beat

A Hawaiʻi congressman has called on the Small Business Administration’s inspector general to launch an inquiry into a federal program intended to give Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous groups access to massive no-bid contracts in exchange for a promise to use profits to uplift their people.

The request by Rep. Ed Case stems from an ongoing investigation into Native Hawaiian defense contractor Christopher Dawson, who died by suicide in December 2024 while the target of a federal criminal probe into whether he cheated the program to enrich himself.

Dawson owned a suite of companies that had landed more than $2 billion dollars in contracts largely through the SBA’s 8(a) business development program. But SBA officials and U.S. Justice Department prosecutors claim Dawson abused the program by siphoning millions of dollars away from his companies to spend on luxury properties, private jets and polo.

Trump administration officials and other Republicans have seized upon the Dawson case and others in an attempt to gut a program that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently described as a race-based handout that’s a “breeding ground for fraud.”

Case, a Democrat, said his intention is not to join in the GOP chorus, but instead to shore up a program that, despite troubles, is rooted in noble ideals.

In a Jan. 2 letter to SBA Deputy Inspector General Sheldon Shoemaker, Case cited an investigation by Civil Beat and ProPublica that detailed Dawson’s alleged transgressions and the SBA’s actions. In it, he requested a review of the agency’s oversight of the 8(a) program’s contracting preferences for Indigenous groups, including Native American tribes, Alaska Native corporations and nonprofit Native Hawaiian organizations.

Specifically, Case asked for an assessment of the “effectiveness and transparency” of 8(a) participants’ community give-back efforts and whether there are any “gaps or areas for improvement.”

“While I strongly support federal efforts to help the indigenous peoples of our nation, recent news reports have highlighted potential concerns with the contracting preferences provided to at least one NHO,” Case wrote. “Such allegations and publicly acknowledged criminal investigations undermine Americans’ trust in the 8(a) Program and the goal of ensuring our nation’s indigenous peoples have a fair opportunity to participate in federal contracting opportunities.”

In an interview at his congressional offices in Washington, Case said he has yet to receive a response from the inspector general’s office. But he described Dawson’s case as serious, and said it warrants more scrutiny of the 8(a) program as a whole.

Case said he wants to know whether the Dawson situation was an isolated incident or a reflection of broader deficiencies. He also encouraged anyone with concerns about the program to share them with his office.

“One thing that’s patently obvious,” Case said, “is that the actual oversight by SBA is insufficient.”

Calls For More Oversight From Various Camps

The SBA has struggled for decades to police the 8(a) program, and the Trump administration has made significant cuts to the agency’s workforce, which, Case said, further undermines its ability to provide accountability.

Case went to the inspector general, rather than SBA leadership or other Trump officials, because he wanted an independent assessment of the program free from political influence. He said he also didn’t want to provide ammunition to those seeking to dismantle a program he generally supports.

“For me, this is about defending a program against an outright attack, while still providing my responsibility of oversight to determine whether this program actually is working,” he said.

Case’s call for more oversight comes as the Trump administration and other Republicans try to dismantle the program as part of its ongoing initiative to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government.

In June, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced a full-scale audit of the program after two 8(a) contractors pleaded guilty to taking part in a $550 million bribery scheme involving a federal contracting officer. At the time, she said the purpose was to “stop bad actors from making the kind of backroom deals that have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars” and to “start rewarding merit instead of those who game the system.”

A few months later, the Treasury Department announced its own audit after James O’Keefe, a right-wing influencer, cast doubt on an 8(a) company, owned by a California tribe, that was purportedly using the program to win contracts and pass them along to other non-qualifying firms.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, launched her own inquiry into the program. In December, she sent letters to 22 agencies, including the Department of Defense, asking top Trump officials to pause all 8(a) sole source contracts. In her letter to Hegseth, Ernst specifically cited the scandal involving Dawson as a reason to heed her call.

Just last week, Hegseth issued a video statement in which he said he wanted to take a “sledgehammer” to the program. Hegseth said he was particularly concerned about 8(a) firms being used as pass-throughs for larger consulting firms and that he intends to conduct a “line-by-line review” of all 8(a) sole-source defense contracts over $20 million.

That threshold specifically targets Native Hawaiian Organizations and other Native groups, including tribes and Alaska Native corporations, since firms owned by those groups can win sole source contracts above the $4.5 million and $7 million caps imposed on other 8(a) companies.

While Case said he could support an honest attempt at reform, what he’s seeing out of the current administration is thinly veiled. “It’s basically just a DOGE attack on the 8(a) program,” Case said. “I don’t think they’re trying to understand how the 8(a) program is functioning, I think they’re trying to take it out.”

‘Somebody Will Try To Attack You One Day’

Case’s concerns about the 8(a) program pre-date the controversy surrounding Dawson.

His main focus has been on the community benefits and whether NHOs have been following through on their promise to help Native Hawaiians. The SBA requires NHOs to report how much they’re spending on these benefits each year, but those disclosures are based on the “honor system,” Case said.

In 2021, Case and then-U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele sent a letter to the Native Hawaiian Organization Association, a trade group, seeking details about how much money was being spent to “serve, empower and uplift the Native Hawaiian community.” Such data, the congressmen wrote, would be invaluable to help “explain and defend the NHO program to policy makers and federal government officials.”

That oversight, Case said, was meant to push the association and its members to demonstrate that the benefits they were providing were real and to send a signal that Congress was paying attention. It also served as a warning that NHOs should be prepared to properly track and document those benefits because “somebody will try to attack you one day.”

That day has come, he said, and he’s hoping the NHOs are prepared.

For its part, the association has tried to downplay the import of the Dawson investigation as well as the increased pressure from the Trump administration.

Over the summer, after Loeffler announced the SBA’s 8(a) audit, Cariann Ah Loo — the head of the Nakupuna Foundation and president of the association — said in a statement to Civil Beat and ProPublica that the vast majority of NHOs “meet their compliance obligations and deliver excellent value to the government and the taxpayer.”

“Our members take those responsibilities seriously,” Ah Loo said, “and have repeatedly proven we can withstand any level of scrutiny.”

She did not respond to a follow up request for comment about Hegseth’s latest announcement or Case’s request for an inspector general review of the program.

The post Hawaiʻi Democrat Seeks Federal Review Of Native Hawaiian Contracting Program appeared first on ICT.

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