Sen. Van Hollen meets with Abrego Garcia and Florida State University shooting: Morning Rundown

Sen. Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador is one way Democrats are increasingly speaking out against Trump. Two people gunned down in a shooting at Florida State University. And disruptions in the military's health care program have left some pregnant women with gaps in care.

Here’s what to know today.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen confirmed last night that he has met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man that the Trump administration said it mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The meeting comes after Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland, where Abrego Garcia lived before being deported, traveled to the country this week to push for his release.

Van Hollen shared the news of the meeting in a social media post and said he would provide a full update when he returns to the U.S. He also met this week with human rights groups, local embassy staff members and top Salvadoran officials, including the country’s vice president.

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A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by the Trump administration to put on hold the requirement that it facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release. In the unanimous ruling, the court said the administration was trying to carry out deportations to foreign prisons “without the semblance of due process.”

Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador and federal courts’ pushback to the Trump administration’s actions on deportations are part of a growing second-term resistance to Trump. Earlier this week, Harvard University refused to yield to a list of Trump demands. In response, the president said he will freeze billions of dollars in federal funding, and his administration threatened to stop foreign students from enrolling the Ivy League school.

Meanwhile in Montana, a crowd swelled for a rally at which Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vowed to “fight oligarchy” in the Trump administration. And across the country, Democratic leaders are getting a “massive earful” from their base over those upset with a lack of resistance to the administration’s actions, one person said.

While the actions are still far from a full-fledged revolt, Democrats are trying to harness anti-Trump energy as the party looks ahead to next year’s midterm elections. They’re seeing small-dollar donations ticking up, and state and Congressional elections are beginning to take shape. But angst within the party and disagreements about which issues to focus on could present some complications.

Read the full story here.

• The Supreme Court said it will hear arguments next month on whether the Trump administration can take steps to enforce its proposal to end birthright citizenship.
• The Supreme Court is also set to hear arguments in a case challenging a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires insurers to cover a range of preventive services for free.
• Trump’s self-imposed deadline of 90 days to broker trade deals with 75 other countries certainly won’t be easy to meet, former trade negotiators said. And many feel it’s unlikely the U.S. will make any major overhauls.
• Some workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who were fired, rehired and fired for a second time say the agency has missed some salary payments and failed to have their health insurance plans restored.

The Florida State University community is reeling after a shooting at the Tallahassee campus left two people dead and at least six injured. The suspect in custody was identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, the son of a sheriff's deputy who is believed to be an FSU student, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil said yesterday afternoon. One former classmate says Ikner harbored white supremacist views.

The gunman got out of an orange Hummer and opened fire near the student union just before noon. McKenzie Heeter, a junior at FSU, was outside the building when she said she saw a person “shoot in my direction” with a rifle. Heeter added, “I think he was shooting and he missed. So he goes back into his car and grabs a pistol, then he turns and shoots the lady in front of him. That’s when I just started running.”

The two people who died in the shooting were not FSU students, authorities said. The six injured victims were in fair condition, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital said last night. Here’s what else we know about the shooting.

Police said the suspected shooter has been hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A gun that was a former service weapon belonging to his mother was found on the scene. Here’s what else we know about the suspect.

The U.S. may be ready to “move on” from its efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there is no clear progress in the coming days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.

“We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end,” Rubio told reporters in Paris after a grueling day of talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials in Paris.

“We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he said, adding that President Donald Trump “feels very strongly about that.”

His comments came after Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister and economy minister said that Kyiv and Washington signed a memorandum that is expected to bring both sides closer to clinching a minerals deal that will allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral wealth.

Read the full story here.

Air National Guard member Cortney Frazon was trying to check in for a 20-week ultrasound when she discovered her doctor no longer accepted her insurance. Faced with a crushing out-of-pocket cost, she left. Around the same time, at least two medical providers told Audrey Simmons they couldn’t see her because of ongoing negotiations with her insurance, leaving her with limited options during her high-risk pregnancy.     

Both women were supposed to be covered by Tricare, the military’s health insurance program, which has been plagued by widespread disruptions after a change in contracts earlier this year. The disruptions have included canceled appointments, a shrinking network of doctors and snafus that have prevented service members and their families from accessing health care. New and expectant mothers have been caught in the chaos during a critical time.

Four women who recently faced issues with Tricare spoke to reporter Melissa Chan, describing feelings of stress, frustration and fear that have overshadowed their pregnancies. “I feel like the military acts like they’re very family-focused, but I feel pretty abandoned,” one said. Read the full story here.

• Luigi Mangione has been indicted on federal charges in the ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
• An American citizen is being detained at the request of ICE despite having a U.S. birth certificate and a county judge finding no reason for him to be considered an “illegal alien.” 
• The youngest U.S. homebuyers aren’t so young anymore. And economists warn the market likely won’t get better in the next year.
• Black beauty store owners said they’re considering big price hikes on synthetic hair and other products because of Trump’s tariffs. Even then, some aren’t certain their businesses can stay afloat.
• Drake is expanding his legal battle over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” claiming Lamar’s Grammy wins and Super Bowl performance were “orchestrated to assassinate” his character. 

The NFL Draft is less than a week away, and for fans of any of the 32 teams, anything is possible.

I’ve been watching the draft since I was a kid — and when a family vacation took me away from the later rounds, I walked through the airport listening to coverage on the radio. And every year the biggest scuttlebutt is always about the quarterbacks, who play arguably the most important position in any major sport.

Last year’s run on quarterbacks — six in the first 12 picks — was historic, and teams got some serious bang for their buck. But this year’s crop hasn’t generated as much buzz. Here’s where things stand going into next week’s first round and what analysts have to say. — Ben Kamisar, national political reporter

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