On today's podcast:
1) President Trump accepted Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize medal at a White House meeting on Thursday as she tries to get back in his good graces while the future of her country is being shaped by the US. Trump, in a social media post hours later, called it a “great honor” to meet Machado, and described her as a “wonderful woman who has been through so much.” Machado, who has been shut out of Venezuela’s leadership transition since US forces ousted President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3, said she gave Trump the medal as “a recognition of his unique commitment with our freedom.”
2) Denmark and Greenland are stepping up lobbying of US lawmakers in an effort to head off President Trump’s push to take control of Greenland. A group of US senators is set to meet members of the Danish parliament in Copenhagen on Friday. The trip follows a week of meetings in Washington by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen with members of Congress on the heels of talks with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, also participated. High-level talks between Denmark, Greenland and the US earlier this week ended in a stalemate over the future of the world’s largest island, though officials agreed to set up a working group to manage the diplomatic dispute. Trump has repeatedly insisted the US needs to control the territory, an ambition that remains unresolved and has been rejected time and again by both Copenhagen and Nuuk.
3) President Trump threatened to deploy US military forces to Minnesota in order to quell protests in response to violent encounters involving federal immigration agents. The 1807 law allows the president to use regular military troops on US soil for domestic law enforcement. It was last invoked during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. Trump’s ultimatum could further fray tensions in Minneapolis, where on Wednesday a federal officer shot a man in the leg. The incident occurred one week after the fatal shooting of a local woman who was a US citizen by an ICE agent, which touched off the demonstrations.
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