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Jane Coaston: It’s Thursday, December 18th, I’m Jane Coaston and this is What a Day, the show noting that President Donald Trump spent more time in the last week making new insulting plaques for the photographs of his predecessors than he has on trying to ensure millions of Americans can afford their health care coverage. [music break] On today’s show, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr fails at basic communication during a Senate oversight meeting. And one of the two right-wing podcasters running the FBI is leaving. Hint his name rhymes with fan of Reno. But let’s start with immigration. Well, sort of. The Trump administration has purportedly been laser-focused on the problem of illegal immigration. But time and time again, it’s been pretty clear to me that President Trump and the federal government are more focused on immigrants of any kind from non-white countries. For one thing, the administration has increased the number of countries included in its total and partial travel ban, adding places like Laos, Sierra Leone, and Tonga, for reasons I’m sure are very normal and good. For another thing, there’s the president’s obsessive and repulsive comments about Somali immigrants following recent investigations into social services fraud in Minnesota. Many of those arrested were of Somali origin or background, but I’m guessing that the same president who pardoned a CEO convicted for fraud doesn’t really care about you know fraud. He does, however, care about being racist. Especially, it seems, towards Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar. Here’s CBS News’ Nancy Cordes summarizing Trump’s remarks about the Congresswoman in Pennsylvania last week during a speech that was supposed to be about affordability. 

[clip of CBS News’ Nancy Cordes] But President Trump’s speech in the Poconos is getting more attention for the grievances he aired. About Democrat Ilhan Omar. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] She comes in, there’s nothing but bitch. 

[clip of CBS News’ Nancy Cordes] About her head covering. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] With the little sheen, the little turban. 

[clip of CBS News’ Nancy Cordes] And about the country of her birth, Somalia. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. Why is it we only take people from [bleep] hole countries? 

Jane Coaston: What a terrible person. Trump’s remarks about Representative Omar made it very clear to me how little his immigration agenda has anything to do with the economy or security and how much it has to do animus. I spoke to Representative Omar on Wednesday about the attacks against her and the Somali-American community, her work in Congress, and whether healthcare really can be saved before the new year. Representative Omar, welcome to What a Day. 

Ilhan Omar: Thank you so much for having me. 

Jane Coaston: We’re talking to you on Wednesday evening after four GOP representatives broke ranks to force a vote on extending the Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for another three years. This vote, of course, wouldn’t happen until the new year. Is it too late to save health care? 

Ilhan Omar: Well, we’re hoping that this vote actually happens either tomorrow or Friday. It is unconscionable that we have 218 members of the House ready to vote to save healthcare that we would actually recess without doing so. So our hope is that Speaker Mike Johnson would waive the seven days and allow for this vote to come to the floor. 

Jane Coaston: Chances that happens? 

Ilhan Omar: Well, it did happen with the Epstein discharge petition. And we know that not just this four Republicans that are on the discharge petition, but that there are more Republicans who really want this vote and who want to work with us to save healthcare for so many American people, including their constituents. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, it’s interesting to me that while there are Republicans who are really focused on issues like healthcare, President Trump has been like, not at all, he’s been checked out and has turned his ire to you. 

Ilhan Omar: Yeah, that’s a wild thing. 

Jane Coaston: It is a wild thing. Like earlier this month, Trump delivered a bananas racist rant against Somali immigrants during a cabinet meeting, during which he specifically mentioned you, what was your first reaction when you first heard the president’s comments? 

Ilhan Omar: Why are you even thinking about me? [laugh] I mean it was a cabinet meeting. There were a lot of things to report back on. Nobody asked a question about me. Nobody brought up my name. And so I just don’t understand how I remain living rent-free in the president’s head. It’s just, it’s a wild thing to experience when you are one of 535 members of Congress and you don’t actually have any interactions with this person who’s constantly thinking about you and you know your name comes to the forefront of his thoughts so quickly. It’s just a really bizarre, creepy obsession that he’s developed and I hope um it goes away soon. 

Jane Coaston: Around the same time the president is saying all this, immigration and customs enforcement began operations in the Twin Cities area. What are you hearing from your constituents about ICE activities over the past two weeks? 

Ilhan Omar: I mean, it’s just been a complete horror. We have uh seen a documented slew of attacks by ICE that has really terrorized and crippled our community. We’ve seen documented videos of a young man who was on a lunch break, eating at a restaurant, an American citizen being pushed to the ground, manhandled, handcuffed, detained for several hours. And then be told to walk back home. We’ve seen a woman who was picked up in Minneapolis, detained for 24 hours, told that her documents couldn’t be verified and her parents had to go and actually take her passport to get her released. Um. There’s now a new video, I think from yesterday, where a pregnant woman is pushed to the ground, kneeled upon and dragged. Like a rag through the streets of Minneapolis by ICE agents, the level of lawlessness, the level of cruelty is just unmeasurable. And I’m just so heartbroken that today in 2025 in America, we have Americans being treated this way by their own government. 

Jane Coaston: And you talked about your son actually being pulled over by ICE agents last weekend. The Department of Homeland Security responded on Twitter saying there is no record of this stop and saying that your statement was a quote, “PR stunt.” But I’m more back on how many records of stops are you keeping? 

Ilhan Omar: And how are you keeping those those records? If you are stopping someone, they show you their passport ID and then you tell them have a nice day, where is the record keeping happening? So it’s just it’s all of these lies. We know that the incident that happened in California when they broke into the car of a US citizen, who’s also a veteran, dragged him to the floor, which was caught on camera, they claimed that he’d assaulted them. Even though they did not file charges after holding him for 72 hours and he’s now suing them. So ICE can never really be trusted. Homeland security has never put out an accurate statement in a really long time without actually, you know, being PR-y about it. And we know that every accusation from this administration is a confession. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, and I think it’s so striking to me the degree of animus, especially against Somali Americans, including second generation, third generation Somali-Americans who are such a prominent community in Minnesota. And this most recent wave of attention, I guess we’re going to call it, from Trump was brought on by an investigation that found that a group of Minnesotans, many of them Somali, committed fraud using state welfare programs. How has that revelation affected the very large Somali community in the state, especially since Somali Minnesotans are state taxpayers too? 

Ilhan Omar: Yeah, it’s been uh really hurtful and painful to to see people be so greedy that they lose sight of the fact that these are dollars that are supposed to go feed hungry children. And so we’re also angry in the way that every Minnesotan should be angry at the just disgusting actions of these criminals who have not only defrauded our state, but has taken something that is supposed to go for the most vulnerable among us. 

Jane Coaston: Earlier this month, the Trump administration did announce an investigation into whether any of that money that was stolen from Minnesotans ended up with the Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab. What do you make of those claims? 

Ilhan Omar: Yeah, I mean, they they make this claim without providing a single evidence. Many of the people who have been indicted have already had their cases adjudicated in court. Many of them have are serving those sentences. And so you would have assumed that one of those investigations would have included some of the elements of the accusation that they’re making about aiding and abetting a terrorist organization. And we haven’t seen any evidence of that. I have not seen or read any case file that obtains any of those things. It has a racist undertone, Islamophobia undertone, xenophobia undertone when you are like, oh, I see Somalis. They’re connected to Somalia back home. They must be connected to terrorism because for most of us, we have relatives, we have friends, people that we grew up with when we were younger in Somalia. Many of us have experienced personally what that terror looks like and are always interested in making sure that there is no contribution from Minnesotans in furthering the terror that Somalis in Somalia are experiencing. 

Jane Coaston: How has the Somali community in Minnesota been responding to all of this? I’ve seen some amazing TikToks, but like you’re facing ICE in the streets and a very hostile spotlight, but also the Somali community in Minnesota has been growing and growing in prominence. What’s that been like? 

Ilhan Omar: Yeah, I mean, most of us have been in Minnesota, you know, 20, 30 or more years. So the Somali community really is very much well integrated into society there. Many of us are naturalized citizens or were born here. Nearly 60 percent of Somali Minnesotans are born in the United States. And so a lot of them have been preparing themselves because we we understand what dictatorship looks like. And so many of us were afraid that this president, if he was elected, that he was going to behave in a very dictatorship-like way. And so a lot of people got their documents in order, you know, young people like my son have their passport IDs so that it’s just easily accessible. They don’t have to deal with anything. You know, if ICE comes to their window, they can just show it to them and then get that have a nice day and not have any further interaction. And so people are showing up prepared in that way. And then people are also showing up to document these ICE raids, to protect one another. There’s a lot of community that is sharing information on Know Your Rights, and there’s a lotta trainings that are happening. So it’s just been really beautiful to see the level of resistance, the level of unity, and the incredibly warm way in which Minnesotans have shown up to protect each other in this very vulnerable time. 

Jane Coaston: Representative Omar. Thank you so much for taking the time. 

Ilhan Omar: Thank you so much for having me. This was wonderful. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Chairman Carr, yes or no and please yes or no. Is the FCC an independent agency? 

[clip of Brendan Carr] Senator, thanks for that question. I think that–

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Yes or no is all we need sir. Yes or no, is it independent? 

[clip of Brendan Carr] Well, there’s a test for this in the law and the key portion of that test–

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Just yes or no, Brendan!

[clip of Brendan Carr] The key portion of that test is–

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Okay, I’m going to go to Commissioner Trusty. So just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC is independent. This isn’t a trick question. 

[clip of Brendan Carr] Okay, the FCC is not. 

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Is it yes or no? 

[clip of Brendan Carr] Is not.

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] Okay. 

[clip of Brendan Carr] Is not an independent–

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] So is your website wrong? Is your website lying?

[clip of Brendan Carr] Possibly. The FCC is not an independent agency. 

Jane Coaston: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr got into it with New Mexico Democratic Senator Ben Ray Luján on Wednesday over what should have been the simplest question of the day. Carr testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in the first FCC oversight hearing with all commissioners present in more than five years. He faced tough questions from lawmakers over the investigations he’s launched into the country’s biggest broadcasters. His easy-way or hard-way threat to ABC after Jimmy Kimmel commented on the right’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s killing, and even Trump’s tone-deaf, truth-social post about Rob and Michele Singer Reiner’s deaths. And in general, Carr managed to answer for as little as possible. Which is why you’d think that he’d at least be able to give a simple yes or no to Senator Luján, especially when he had the FCC website as a cheat sheet. 

[clip of Senator Ben Ray Luján] If I could just submit the print out of the home page of the FCC into the record mount and says it’s an independent agency and if it’s not true, then change it?

Jane Coaston: Well, guess what? It did! Reportedly just minutes after Carr’s exchange with Luján. The FCC’s mission statement now does not include the word independent. Perfect. Fixed it. The Senate passed a ginormous $901 billion defense bill Wednesday, locking in a pay raise for troops while escalating a standoff with the Trump administration over its military campaign near Venezuela. For scale, let’s compare that number to the stymied health care debate. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the extension of the Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies would cost only about $60 billion over two years. But, I digress. The annual National Defense Authorization Act cleared the Senate 77 to 20 with bipartisan support. The bill authorizes a 3.8% raise for service members and sends additional aid to Ukraine. It also contains some Trump specials like cuts to diversity and climate programs in the military. But lawmakers also used the bill to apply some pressure to little boy/Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, specifically to turn over unedited video and orders related to U.S. strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats near Venezuela. How? By threatening to withhold part of Pete’s travel budget until he complies. It’s sort of like when your parents ground you and take away your keys for missing curfew, except in Pete’s case, it’s um it’s for alleged war crimes. Imagine going to Washington D.C. with high hopes of draining the swamp only for the swamp to drain you after just nine months. That appears to be the case for FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who tweeted Wednesday, quote, “I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January.” He did continue, quote, “I want to thank…” but then I heard the Oscars orchestra playing him off in my head. The tweet came after an MSNOW report Wednesday that said Bongino had emptied out his office and told associates he intends to step down early next year. Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and staunch Trump ally, ironically rose to prominence in right-wing media during the Biden years by pushing conspiracy theories about the FBI. But after joining the Bureau himself and failing to prove the wacky shit he’d promoted on his podcast from what he said would be in the Epstein files to laws about the 2020 election, many of his supporters on the right became disillusioned with him. According to Trump on Wednesday, Dan wants to slink back to said supporters. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I think he wants to go back to his show. 

Jane Coaston: The show where, as he told Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this month, he can be paid for his opinions and conspiracy theorizing again. Don’t trip on your way back to your safe space, Danny Boy. Former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith testified in a closed door hearing with the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. According to a copy of his opening statement obtained by the Associated Press, Smith told lawmakers that he and his team of investigators, quote, “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And despite attempts by Trump and the GOP to smear Smith, he stood on business and told the committee that he would, quote, “prosecute a former president based on the same facts today.” Smith volunteered earlier this year to testify in front of the Judiciary Committee in an open hearing, but his lawyers say that congressional Republicans rejected that offer. So what’s the GOP’s game plan here? Maryland Democratic Representative and ranking member of the House Judiciary committee Jamie Raskin told reporters his theory. 

[clip of Jamie Raskin] I just want to say that Chairman Jordan made an excellent decision in not allowing Jack Smith to testify publicly, because had he done so, it would have been absolutely devastating to the President and all of the President’s men involved in the insurrectionary activities of January the 6th. 

Jane Coaston: And that’s the news. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, don’t buy a venomous pit viper, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how Chinese fans of Zootopia 2 are buying pit vipers, like the character Gary De’Snake, in droves, like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and again, do not buy a venomous pit viper because you saw one in a Disney movie. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our producer is Caitlin Plummer. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters and Matt Berg. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. We had help from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. 

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