10 things you need to know today: January 20, 2019

(Image credit: Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)

Jump to category:

1. Trump pitches immigration package to end government shutdown
2. House Democrats reject Trump's shutdown deal
3. Report: Mueller's office was not initially told the scope of the BuzzFeed story
4. Trump reports 'a lot of progress' at 'incredible' North Korea meeting
5. Smaller crowds turn out for 3rd Women's March
6. Students in Trump hats confront Native Americans
7. Mexican pipeline explosion death toll climbs to 73
8. Mediterranean shipwrecks leave 170 migrants missing, feared dead
9. Winter storm moves east after slamming Midwest
10. SNL has Trump play Deal or No Deal to end the shutdown

last updated 20 January 2019

1. Trump pitches immigration package to end government shutdown

President Trump gave a brief live address Saturday proposing a package of immigration policies in a deal to end the partial government shutdown. Trump's plan includes $800 million for humanitarian aid, $805 million for drug detection technology, 2,750 new border agents, and 75 new immigration judge teams. It retains his demand of $5.7 billion for border wall construction and offers three years of protection for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and temporary protected status (TPS). Trump also pitched a new system for youth asylum applications and "reform to promote family reunification for unaccompanied children" detained by his administration.

The Senate will this coming week consider President Trump's Saturday proposal for an immigration deal to end the government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday — but the pitch is unlikely to gain much traction with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democrats more broadly. In a statement released right before Trump's remarks began, Pelosi panned his plan as "a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total, do not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people's lives."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

When BuzzFeed News approached Peter Carr, spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, for comment on Thursday's explosive report, Carr was not told the full scope of what BuzzFeed planned to publish, The Washington Post reported Saturday evening. Emails from BuzzFeed reporters say they have "a story coming stating that Michael Cohen was directed by President Trump himself to lie to Congress about his negotiations related to the Trump Moscow project." The emails do not mention reporting that Mueller's office had collected document evidence and a confession from Cohen. BuzzFeed again stood by its reporting in a second statement Saturday.

"We have made a lot of progress as far as denuclearization is concerned and we are talking about a lot of different things. Things are going very well with North Korea," President Trump told reporters Saturday of his Friday conversation with North Korean negotiator Kim Yong Chol. "That was an incredible meeting," Trump said. "We've agreed to [another summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un], probably the end of February. We've picked a country, but we'll be announcing it in the future. Kim Jong Un is looking very forward to it and so am I."

An estimated 100,000 people turned out for the third annual Women's March in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, substantially lower than the 500,000 organizers estimated on their permit application. "I came two years ago. It's definitely smaller, but the spirit is very much alive," said Rachel Stucky, a demonstrator from Oregon who rallied in Washington. "The experience I had two years ago was indescribable." Smaller marches also assembled in cities around the country, though some protesters said they were hesitant to attend because of allegations of anti-Semitism among several national leaders of the movement.

High school boys wearing President Trump's signature red "Make America Great Again" caps were filmed staring down and jeering at a group of Native Americans, including an elderly activist named Nathan Phillips, in Washington on Friday. The teenagers are students at Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky, and were attending the annual March for Life, which coincided with the Indigenous Peoples March. "We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips," said a statement from the school and its diocese Saturday, indicating the students involved will be disciplined for their behavior, "up to and including expulsion."

Local authorities by Saturday evening had revised their estimate of deaths in a Friday explosion at a Mexican fuel pipeline to 73, with another 74 people injured in the blast and more still missing. The casualties are high because a crowd of hundreds of villagers had gathered in hopes of collecting free gasoline after the pipeline was punctured by fuel thieves. "I trust in the people, and I know that with these painful, regrettable lessons, the people will also distance themselves from these practices" of fuel theft, said Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who visited the site of the tragedy Saturday.

About 170 migrants are missing and feared dead after two shipwrecks in the Mediterranean this week. Three survivors of one wreck rescued by an Italian naval helicopter on Friday said they'd been on a ship with about 120 people which began sinking after leaving Libya Thursday. A 2-month-old baby was among the passengers. Another 53 people who sailed from Morocco are also missing. "We cannot turn a blind eye to the high numbers of people dying on Europe's doorstep," said a statement from the United Nations' refugee agency. "No effort should be spared, or prevented, from saving lives in distress at sea."

A dangerous winter storm that brought extreme cold and heavy snow to much of the Midwest on Friday and Saturday moved east to New England Sunday. States of emergency have been declared in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and widespread travel delays are anticipated. "Feet of snow, blizzard conditions, a significant build-up of ice, tree-breaking winds, and plunging temperatures will close roads, cause flight cancellations, and disrupt daily activities over a large part of the northeastern United States this weekend," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

Saturday Night Live returned from a holiday hiatus with Alec Baldwin as President Trump playing Deal or No Deal to end the partial government shutdown, as "a TV game show with women holding briefcases" is the "only format [he] can understand." SNL's Trump gives an overview of the plan the real president proposed earlier Saturday, but host Steve Harvey (Kenan Thompson) has an array of alternative deals from congressional leaders. Trump cannot be tempted by their pitches, but when a Clemson University football player shows up with some "hamberders," he's ready to talk.

Explore More

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.