Top Republican sparks outrage after playing dumb about Trump's ICE: 'Coward'

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), sparked outrage on Tuesday after he seemed to play dumb about whether some of the actions of President Donald Trump's immigration forces are legal.

Igor Bobíc, senior politics reporter at HuffPost, posted on X that he tried asking Grassley whether it is appropriate for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to enter an American citizen's home without a judicial warrant. Last week, the Associated Press reported that ICE officers have been told they have the legal authority to enter people's homes without a warrant, sparking outrage from legal experts.

“Ask a constitutional lawyer,” said Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I'm a farmer.”

Grassley's comments happened at a time when Trump's immigration forces are facing increased scrutiny over their actions in Minneapolis. Over the last several weeks, immigration agents have shot multiple people while conducting immigration raids. Two shootings have led to high-profile deaths that caused calls for the Trump administration to reform its operations.

Political analysts shared their reactions on social media.

"This f------ chickens--- coward," writer Charlotte Clymer posted on X.

"Disgraceful," The Tennessee Holler posted on X.

"I see Chuck Grassley’s going with the 'I'm just a smol bean' defense here," progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen posted on X.

"To be fair, Chuck's 92, he started bending the knee to Trump back 10 years ago and just couldn't get back up," the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project posted on X.

MAGA world watched chaos unfold at Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-MN) town hall - in which a man charged the podium and sprayed her with a pungent mystery substance - and concluded the whole thing must've been staged.

At the Minneapolis town hall on Tuesday night, a front-row agitator suddenly rushed at Omar and doused her with an odorous, vinegar-like liquid while she addressed the crowd on immigration enforcement. Omar had just called for the resignation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Security swiftly tackled the suspect and hauled him off in handcuffs as the congresswoman stood her ground, visibly shaken but refusing to leave the stage.

Her office condemned the incident and confirmed she suffered no serious injuries.

Despite clear video and photos of the incident MAGA world surmised Omar must've orchestrated the incident. That includes prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and former Fox Business reporter Trish Regan.

"This is the most staged thing I have ever seen in my life. I’m calling for an immediate investigation into whether @IlhanMN Ilhan Omar staged the spraying of her body at her Townhall tonight to distract from new reports over her marriage fraud and accumulation of $30 million worth of wealth on a $180,000 per year salary," she wrote on X. "There must be an investigation into this known fraudster. This looks very staged, and I would not be surprised if Ilhan set this up herself so she could cry victim as President Trump is exposing her and as Congress and the DOJ are investigating her and her husband."

MAGA commentator Paul A. Szypula declared on X, "Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) gets sprayed with a liquid substance while she’s speaking. She’s a fraud so it’s completely plausible that she orchestrated this. Deport Ilhan."

In a separate post, Szypula wrote on X, "Another angle of Ilhan Omar being sprayed while she called for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment. Never believe anything Ilhan says or does. This could all be a hoax she created. Deport Ilhan as soon as possible."

The MAGA account Clown World questioned on X, "Do you think this was real or staged?"

Right-wing journalist Trish Regan wrote on X, "Ilhan Omar was reportedly sprayed in the face tonight — And, she runs after the attacker?!! As though she’s about to take him out? This is not normal behavior. Not even close. No wonder people are asking if it was STAGED!"

Stephen Miller has consistently been one of the most extreme anti-immigrant, pro-mass deportation voices in the Trump administration, and had his hands deeply in the policies that led to federal agents instituting a harsh crackdown in Minneapolis that led to multiple deaths. But now even he is trying to run away from it.

On Tuesday evening, CNN reported that Miller, who just days before called slain VA intensive care nurse Alex Pretti a terrorist who tried to "massacre agents," now says that the White House “provided clear guidance to DHS" to "create a physical barrier between the arrest teams" and protesters, and “we are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol.”

The statement drew immediate response from commenters on social media, who said that things must be apocalyptically bad for the Trump team if even Miller realized he needed to point fingers over the situation.

"Miller tries to blame CPB, may all these murderers take each other down and crawl back in their hole," wrote former Politico foreign policy analyst Laura Rozen.

"This is why we record," wrote award-winning Atlanta News First investigator Brendan Keefe. "This is why filming law enforcement & govt activities is protected under the First Amendment. Without the multiple citizen videos, the government's false 'massacre' & 'assassinate ICE agents' & 'domestic terrorist' storylines would have been irrefutable."

"How badly did they screw it up if Stephen Miller, the worst person in the world™, is backtracking?" wrote Illinois talk radio host Patrick Pfingsten.

"Too late for this kind of backtracking," wrote podcaster Jayne Miller. "Stephen Miller called Alex Pretti an 'assassin' who tried to 'murder federal agents' with zero evidence to support it."

"Why did #StephenMiller declare a US citizen a terrorist?" wrote international political analyst Tara O'Connor. "Will Miller face sanction? If not why not?"

"Miller climbing down from his assertion that Alex Pretti was an assassin and is suddenly sounding like a concerned bureaucrat," wrote Pedro L. Gonzalez of Chronicles Magazine. "Because he knows he messed up. He knows that the public has turned against the administration, in large part because of him."

Fans of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement freaked out at a Hollywood film star on Tuesday after she made a teary-eyed statement about Trump's immigration forces.

Natalie Portman, who has starred in films like "Garden State" and "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith," discussed the actions of Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the red carpet of the premiere of her new film "The Gallerist" at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah on Saturday. That was the same day immigration agents swarmed and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse in Minneapolis, during a protest against Trump's immigration regime.

"It's such a horrible day, it's been a horrible week. What is happening in our country is just obscene," Portman said through tears, according to reporting from The Daily Mail.

Trump's immigration forces have faced growing scrutiny since Pretti's death, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers calling on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to either resign or be fired. Trump privately fumed at coverage of Noem in the aftermath of Pretti's killing, telling people inside the White House that she "made the administration look bad."

Fans of Trump's MAGA movement shared their reactions to Portman's comments on social media.

"Where were her tears for Laken Riley?" MAGA radio personality Megyn Kelly told her listeners. "Tell it to Jocelyn Nungaray's mother as you cry while these guys are trying to deport molesters of children, you f---ing idiot know-nothing."

"They're doing their jobs Natalie," right-wing journalist Tommy Robinson posted on X. "Maybe stick to yours, because those crocodile tears are fooling nobody."

"Natalie Portman cries about the deportation of criminal illegal migrants," MAGA commentator David Vance posted on X. "She is a moral void.'

"It's classic celebrity hypocrisy: virtue-signal against law enforcement protecting our sovereignty, all while enjoying the privileges that strong borders help preserve. Real Americans see through the tears," the America First Facebook group wrote in a statement.