Fears of mass firings at FBI and ICE carries out raids in Denver: Morning Rundown

Unease within the FBI has some agents fearing mass firings and experts worried about the fallout. Three men were indicted in the burglary of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home. And Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs eye a third-straight Super Bowl win.

Here’s what to know today.

Tensions are high in the FBI as first-of-their kind lawsuits and fears that agents could lose their jobs distract and destabilize the workforce, a half-dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials with experience in the bureau said. The unease follows a Trump administration request for the names of thousands of agents assigned to work on Capitol-riot-related investigations.

Assurances from the Trump administration that it would not necessarily fire the agents have done little to quell concerns. If mass firings were to happen, the current and former law enforcement officials said it could have a dangerous impact.

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Many of the agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigations work in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, which operates Joint Terrorism Task Forces in cities across the country with federal and local law enforcement agencies. The potential removal of thousands of those agents poses a major threat to the FBI’s ability to combat terrorist threats.

Retaliation against agents could also have a chilling effect on FBI agents’ desire to investigate future cases involving the second Trump administration. The current and former officials said they wonder whether FBI officials would be willing to investigate, for example, a person in Trump’s personal orbit.

Correspondent Tom Winter details other risks the FBI faces if there were to be mass firings.Read the full story here.

• Attorneys for the Justice Department have agreed to restrict DOGE access to information in the Treasury Department’s payment system.
• Trump signed an executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
• Bill Gates met with President Donald Trump and chief of staff Susie Wiles to advocate for continuing USAID’s work, he said in an interview with Savannah Guthrie.
• USAID employees and contractors are discussing potential lawsuits targeting the Trump administration’s attack on the agency.
• Trump administration officials evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with just three hours' notice. 
• Top officials at the Department of Education told staff that if they accept the Trump administration’s deferred resignation package, it could later be canceled and employees would not have any recourse.
• Democratic lawmakers are staging protests, holding resistance-themed news conferences and speaking out on social media as they try to combat Trump’s moves to remake the government.

Heavily armed federal agents carried out a series of raids at apartment buildings yesterday across the Denver area under the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. The Department of Homeland Security said it was targeting members of a Venezuelan gang for arrest and detention. It was unclear how many migrants were arrested, though residents at one apartment complex said at least eight people were led away in handcuffs. 

Witnesses said they were caught off-guard by the agents descending on their homes and that many hid in their apartments, afraid federal agents would barge in. Many refused to answer their doors when officers knocked. “We don’t know if even with having an asylum case, they’ll just take us and deport us,” a 31-year-old Venezuelan man said. “We’re living with fear and uncertainty because we don’t know if they’ll come back for us.”” Read the full story here.

• The Trump administration is executing a broader plan to hold more immigrants at Guantánamo Bay, which would include expanding the prison and building tent camps, six people familiar with the plans said.
• A federal judge issued a nationwide hold blocking Trump’s order to restrict birthright citizenship, the second ruling against the order.

Three men from Chile were indicted in Ohio in connection to the break-in at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home, prosecutors said. The suspects — Jordan Francisco Quiroga Sanchez, 22; Basian Alejandro Orellana Morales, 23; and Andres Ortega Cabello, 38 — are charged federally with transporting stolen goods interstate and falsifying records in a federal investigation. 

More than $300,000 in luggage, glasses, wristwatches and jewelry was stolen in the December break-in while Burrow and the Bengals were in Texas for a game against the Dallas Cowboys, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit as part of a criminal complaint against the three men. Nearby license plate readers led to the identification of a suspicious vehicle, which was eventually linked to Cabello, and cellphone data led investigators to a motel in Ohio. Investigators also found photos on Cabello’s phone showing items stolen in the burglary and of the three men posing together with another man. Read the full story here.

From Brigham Young University to the Kansas City Chiefs (and a few other stops in between), coach Andy Reid has impressed his former colleagues with his friendliness, a willingness to tackle any challenge and an ability to adapt to an evolving game. Now, Reid is considered among the greatest coaches in NFL history and the Chiefs have the potential to become the first in the Super Bowl era to win three consecutive championships. 

Those who worked with Reid throughout his decadeslong career aren’t surprised.

And what about Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes? In his first eight seasons, not only is Mahomes on pace with the consensus Greatest of All Time, Tom Brady, but he also has a chance to eclipse Brady’s record seven Super Bowl rings. Take a look at the stats.

As the Chiefs chase a third-straight championship, surviving teammates of the 1965-67 Green Bay Packers want fans to know that they, too, were back-to-back-to-back pro football champions. In fact, one former teammate said his Packers squad should be considered greater than Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs.

In tomorrow’s newsletter, we’ll review the Philadelphia Eagles’ greatest strengths.

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture detected a bird flu strain in dairy cattle that previously had not been seen in cows.
• Mitch McConnell’s office said the senator is “fine” after he was seen using a wheelchair following a fall at the Capitol.
• The wing of a Japan Airlines plane struck the tail of a Delta Airlines plane on the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
• The driver accused of killing NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother claimed the victims were more impaired than he was on the night of the deadly bicycling accident, according to court papers.

Before Donald Trump was working on his political comeback, he was the businessman and real estate developer behind “The Art of the Deal.” Now armed with the powers of the presidency, Trump has his sights set on much bigger swaths of land than Manhattan skyscrapers or beachfront property in Florida. Instead, the president is looking to apply his business background to efforts to acquire Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal — and even war-torn Gaza. — Carly Dunleavy, politics editor

Caring for gray hair can be especially difficult because it’s prone to developing yellow or brassy tones. These best shampoos for gray hair will help hair maintain vibrancy and moisture. Plus, the latest Apple AirPods are currently on sale at their lowest price ever.

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