Democrats Push to Impeach Kristi Noem, and Ilhan Omar Is Attacked in Minneapolis

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Democrats Push to Impeach Kristi Noem, and Ilhan Omar Is Attacked in Minneapolis"

Podcast: The Headlines – The New York Times
Host: Will Jarvis (in for Tracy Mumford)
Date: January 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

In today’s episode, Will Jarvis guides listeners through key national stories, focusing especially on two headline-grabbing events: a violent attack against Representative Ilhan Omar during a Minneapolis town hall, and growing calls among Democrats to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The episode also addresses the challenges facing the IRS as tax season begins, new data on US population growth, a devastating report on Ukraine war casualties, and a tribute to GPS pioneer Gladys West.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Attack on Ilhan Omar at Minneapolis Town Hall

[00:29 – 01:44]

• Ilhan Omar speaks out: Representative Omar hosted a town hall in Minneapolis to discuss aggressive ICE operations.

  • Omar calls for the abolition of ICE:

    “ICE cannot be reformed. It cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good.”
    (Ilhan Omar, 00:29)

  • She also demands the resignation or impeachment of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem:

    “And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.”
    (Ilhan Omar, 00:44)

• The attack: Shortly after starting, a man from the audience approached and used a syringe to spray Omar with a vinegar-smelling substance.

  • The attacker was quickly apprehended by security and arrested by police.
  • US Capitol Police condemned the assault as “unacceptable” and vowed “swift justice.”

• Omar’s response: Despite the attack, Omar insisted on continuing the event:

  “Here is 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.”
  (Ilhan Omar, 01:29)

2. President Trump’s Response and Ongoing Political Rancor

[01:44 – 02:11]

• Trump’s rally remarks: Hours earlier, Trump had mocked Omar at an Iowa rally, referencing her Somali heritage and her invocation of the Constitution.

  “Great people come in. They have to show that they can love our country. They have to be proud. Not like Ilhan or Omar did.”
  (Donald Trump, 01:44)
  “You know, she's always talking about the Constitution provides me with the following… She comes from a country that's a disaster. It's a problem.”
  (Donald Trump, 02:02)

• Post-attack reaction: In a subsequent ABC News interview, Trump, without evidence, accused Omar of staging the attack:

  “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.”
  (Will Jarvis paraphrasing Trump, 02:11)

3. Democratic Push to Impeach Kristi Noem

[02:11 – 03:10]

• Escalating backlash: Democrats are demanding immediate dismissal or impeachment of Secretary Noem for her role in federal agency-led killings in Minneapolis.
• Challenges: Impeachment would require support from some Republicans.
• Administrative fallout: Senior Customs and Border Patrol officer Gregory Bovino has been removed from his assignment and had his official social media account suspended after publicly defending his work.

4. Immigration Policy and Population Growth Slowdown

[03:10 – 04:06]

• Census data: US population growth slowed dramatically, with only about one million people added in the first half of last year.
• Contributing factors:
  • Declining birthrates.
  • Trump administration’s border shutdown and tightened visa restrictions.
  • Fewer people choosing to immigrate to the US.

5. IRS Under Strain as Tax Season Begins

[04:06 – 06:08]

• IRS struggles: Staff reduced by 25% under Trump administration’s workforce cuts; the agency saw rotating interim leadership.

• Meet Frank Bisignano:

  • Newly profiled by Times reporter Andrew Duran.
  • Has three major challenges:
    1. Political pressure: Needs to deliver smooth tax refunds after Republican-led tax cuts to improve public perception.
    2. Relevant experience: Former CEO of a major payments processing company; respected by some for his expertise.
    3. Dual roles: Also serves as head of the Social Security Administration, splitting his time and responsibilities.

  "He is also running the Social Security Administration... As far as I know, there's never been someone leading the IRS and the Social Security Administration, you know, at least in modern times like this. And so we'll see if he can handle both jobs at once."
  (Andrew Duran, 05:25)

6. Ukraine War: Human Toll

[06:08 – 07:19]

• New casualty report: Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates almost 1.8 million troops killed, wounded, or missing over four years—making it the deadliest European conflict since WWII.
• Details:
  • 100,000–140,000 Ukrainian troops killed.
  • Russia suffering losses at an unprecedented scale.
  • Stalemate on the front lines; Russia has managed minimal territorial gains in recent years.

7. Remembering GPS Pioneer Gladys West

[07:19 – 08:29]

• Gladys West has died at 95: Her mathematical work was crucial to the development of GPS.
• Little-known legacy:
  • Grew up in rural Virginia, worked as one of only four Black mathematicians at a Navy facility in the 1950s.
  • Calculated the earth’s shape, contributing to GPS accuracy.
  • Lived in obscurity for most of her life; her contributions only surfaced publicly in recent years.
• Personal touch:

  "West herself still preferred paper maps, which telling the Guardian at one point that she was a hands on kind of person."
  (Will Jarvis, 08:18)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “ICE cannot be reformed. It cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good.” (Ilhan Omar, 00:29)
• “Here is 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.” (Ilhan Omar, 01:29)
• “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.” (Trump, paraphrased by Will Jarvis, 02:11)
• “He is also running the Social Security Administration... There's never been someone leading the IRS and [SSA] in modern times like this.” (Andrew Duran, 05:25)
• “GPS, the system she helped make possible, is everywhere these days, West herself still preferred paper maps.” (Will Jarvis, 08:18)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:29 – 01:44: Ilhan Omar’s town hall and assault
• 01:44 – 02:11: Trump’s remarks and conspiracy claims
• 02:11 – 03:10: Push for Kristi Noem’s impeachment
• 03:10 – 04:06: Population slowdown linked to immigration policy
• 04:06 – 06:08: IRS leadership and staffing crisis
• 06:08 – 07:19: Ukraine war casualty report
• 07:19 – 08:29: Gladys West’s obituary

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Conclusion

This episode packs a swift rundown of pressing political and human-interest stories: from the direct attack on a sitting member of Congress and the intensifying fight over immigration policy, to inside-the-Beltway administrative crises and a moving remembrance of an unsung scientific hero. The Times team offers context, analysis, and strong reporting—making it clear how the headlines shape the broader American narrative in 2026.

Transcript

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[Will Jarvis]

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, January 28th. Here's what we're covering.

[Ilhan Omar]

ICE cannot be reformed. It cannot be rehabilitated. We must abolish ICE for good.

[Will Jarvis]

In Minneapolis last night, Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar held a town hall meeting to address the ongoing ICE operations in the city, parts of which she represents.

[Ilhan Omar]

And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.

[Will Jarvis]

A few minutes after she started talking, a man jumped up from the audience, rushed forward and used a syringe to spray Omar with a substance that smelled strongly of vinegar.

[Ilhan Omar]

I don't know.

[Will Jarvis]

A security officer tackled the man, who police arrested on suspicion of assault. The US Capitol Police, which investigates threats against lawmakers, said in a statement the attack was unacceptable and would be met with, quote, swift justice.

[Ilhan Omar]

Just give me 10 minutes. Just give me 10 minutes, I beg you.

[Will Jarvis]

As the man was hauled away, Omar insisted to her staff that she would continue the event.

[Ilhan Omar]

Here is 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.

[Donald Trump]

Great people come in. They have to show that they can love our country. They have to be proud. Not like Ilhan or Omar did.

[Will Jarvis]

You see what a few hours earlier, President Trump, who has repeatedly made inflammatory, racist remarks about Omar and her Somali heritage, had mocked her at a rally in Iowa.

[Donald Trump]

You know, she's always talking about the Constitution provides me with the following. You know, the Constitution. She comes from a country that's a disaster. It's a problem.

[Will Jarvis]

And in a phone interview with ABC News after the attack, Trump, who said he hadn't seen video of the incident, accused Omar of staging it. He said, quote, she probably had herself sprayed, knowing her. Meanwhile, the backlash to the killings by federal agents in Minneapolis this month has now swept up two key administration officials. Yesterday, top House Democrats said that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be fired immediately and that if she isn't, they would push to impeach her, though they would need some Republican support to do that. And the Times has learned that the administration has barred Gregory Bovino, a senior Customs and Border Patrol officer, from his official social media account. Bavino had used the account to promote his work and hit Back at critics, he's been recalled from his assignment in Minnesota as the White House tries to do damage control over the aggressive immigration operations in the state. And in terms of how the administration's immigration policies have been playing out for the whole country, new data from the Census Bureau shows that Trump's approach has contributed to a sharp slowdown in population growth. According to the numbers, the US Added just over a million people in the first half of last year, one of the slowest growth rates in American history, while part of it is America's declining birth rate, which has been dropping for nearly two decades. Other major reasons include Trump's effective shutdown of the southern border, how hard he's made it to get visas, and the fact that a lot of people are simply choosing not to come to the US at all. This week marks the beginning of tax season in the US when the Internal Revenue Service braces for more than 140 million tax returns to pour in and many Americans start anxiously waiting for their tax refund.

[Andrew Duran]

It was a really tough year last year for the irs. They lost roughly a quarter of their staff under the Trump administration's attempts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. More than half a dozen different people led the agency on a kind of almost rotating basis. And so I wanted to sit down with and get to know and understand the guy whose job it is is to make the IRS work this year.

[Will Jarvis]

My colleague Andrew Duran recently profiled Frank Bisignano, the head of the irs, and he says there are three key things to know.

[Andrew Duran]

The first thing to know about busy nano is that the stakes are really high for him over the next 10 weeks because Republicans passed a big tax cut last year and they now want people to get that money. Basically, they're hoping that people get refunds this year, notice that they're larger than they have been in the past, and that they say, oh, Republicans got me this extra money. I like Republicans more now. And so busy Nano has this kind of political imperative this year to make it work. The second thing to know about Frank Bizzignano is that he does have a lot of relevant experience in payments processing. He was the CEO of a large payment processing company right before he joined the Trump administration. He spent his whole career on Wall street kind of making sure money gets from point A to point B. And so there's some confidence among current and former IRS officials that I talked to that Bizzy Nano is someone who can make it work. And the third thing to know about him is that it's not the only job that he's doing right now. He is also running the Social Security Administration. He is the Senate confirmed commissioner of that agency, which is also a very large and consequential agency. I mean, when I talked to him about this, he said that, you know, he's done other big jobs at the same time before in his career. From what I've heard, he's at the IRS roughly two days a week physically, and he flies there in his private plane from his home in New Jersey. And so it's. Yeah, it's certainly an unusual situation. As far as I know, there's never been someone leading the IRS and the Social Security Administration, you know, at least in modern times like this. And so we'll see if he can handle both jobs at once.

[Will Jarvis]

A new study published yesterday shows the staggering human toll of the war in Ukraine. According to the report from the center for Strategic and International Studies, the total number of Russian and Ukrainian troops killed, wounded, or missing during four years of war has now climbed to almost 1.8 million. Since Russia is believed to undercount its casualties and Ukraine doesn't publish official figures, researchers relied on US And British estimates, among other sources. They found that roughly 100 to 140,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since the war began and that Russia, which has three times their manpower on the battlefield, has suffered more losses than any major world power. Since World War II. About 35,000 Russian soldiers have been getting killed or injured every month. The massive loss of life comes as things have largely stalled on the front lines. In the past two years of fighting, Russia has only managed to seize an additional 1.5% of Ukrainian territory. And finally, I never would have thought that I could sit in a car and, you know, it says, turn left, turn right.

[Andrew Duran]

No.

[Will Jarvis]

Gladys West, a mathematician mathematician whose work was critical in developing GPS, has died at age 95. Despite the fact that many Americans rely on the tech every day, her role in it went unrecognized for nearly all of her life. West was born in a town of sharecroppers in Virginia in 1930, and when she started her career in the Navy in the 50s, she was one of only four black mathematicians at the whole facility there. She went on to lead a group that calculated the precise shape of the planet, accounting for things like tidal forces and the curvature of oceans. That helped her find the accuracy of GPS. Flash forward to 2018. West had never even told her own children about her work, in part because some of it had been classified, in part because that just wasn't her style. When a fellow alum from her sorority offered to help get her story out there by contacting a local newspaper reporter, west asked her, do you think anybody would care? Notably, even though gps, the system she helped make possible, is everywhere these days, west herself still preferred paper maps, which telling the Guardian at one point that she was a hands on kind of person. Those are the headlines today on the.

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Daily now it seems we are at the point where the president has realized that he might have overshot on this agenda item, where actually he went so far that now the optics are actually not working in his favor.

[Will Jarvis]

More on how the Trump administration may be changing course in Minneapolis. You can find that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Will Jarvis. We'll be back tomorrow.