WASHINGTON — Days after President Donald Trump warned that he was open to another military operation in Colombia, President Gustavo Petro was ringing the White House with explanations and promises of a visit to Washington, D.C. Petro’s call followed Saturday’s unprecedented midnight raid in Venezuela, wherein the United States captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them back to New York to face American justice. The next day, aboard Air Force One, President Trump told reporters of Colombia: “Colombia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you,” the president predicted, and asked if the United States would conduct an operation against Colombia, he responded: “It sounds good to me!” Petro intially released a statement on the raid in Venezuela on Sunday slamming Trump for his criticisms and arguing that his name “does not appear in the judicial files on drug trafficking over 50 years, neither from before nor from the present.” Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro sings the national anthem during the March for Sovereignty and Democracy against US President Donald Trump’s threats to Petro at Bolivar Square in Bogota on January 7, 2026. (Photo by Luis ACOSTA / AFP via Getty Images) But on Wednesday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social and shared that he had received a call from Petro. “It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” the president shared. “I appreciated his call and tone,” Trump continued, “and look forward to meeting him in the near future. Arrangements are being made between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Colombia. The meeting will take place in the White House in Washington, D.C.” During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, The Daily Wire asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about the president’s threats to Colombia, and whether Petro should expect a visit from Delta Force. “That would be a very unwise question for me to answer,” Leavitt responded.

The following is an adapted transcript excerpt from The Michael Knowles Show. * * * One of the OnlyFans models who slept with a thousand guys in one day, someone named Lily Phillips, has apparently just had a religious conversion. I don’t know if that’s her real name or a stage name, but here is the question: Is Lily Phillips’s conversion sincere? And the broader question is how should Christians react to this? Here’s the video of her baptism: THIS! OF model Lily Phillips gets baptized after viral 1,000-men stunt, says she is now seeking faith and redemption. I pray this is genuine. No one is ever too far gone for Jesus Christ. ?? pic.twitter.com/bmpvDvXXyx — David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) January 2, 2026 Credit: @DavidJHarrisJr/X.com There is a nice Kanye pop gospel song behind the video. She appears to be in either an Anglican or Episcopalian church and it’s a full immersion baptism in a bathtub. Her caption reads, “A day to remember forever.” Now, some people are accusing her of being cynical. So why do I think she’s sincere? First of all, as you will see, she does not sound cynical to me. But even if she is, I always like to be on the side of credulity when it comes to these matters. Not to the point of absurdity, of course, but I always want to be on the side of grace when it comes to these things. WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show Well, turns out she recently did an interview with US Weekly where she explained her actions, saying: I think for a while I’d kind of deviated from religion, and I think I was kind of in denial for a lot of it … Quite a big thing happened more in my personal life, where I kind of felt the need to start speaking to God again. I hadn’t really practiced faith for a while. I just wanted to get rebaptized to kind of reinstate my relationship with God. So right off the bat, there is a major problem: you can’t get rebaptized. Baptism happens once. The Nicene Creed actually states this. All of the flavors of Christianity, even ones that are a little far flung from Orthodoxy, at the very least recognize the statement in the Creed that says, “I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” It’s one baptism, not two. The reason you are only baptized once is that baptism is not a personal action of yours. Baptism is an action of God the Holy Spirit. It’s the grace of God coming down — and God doesn’t make mistakes. God doesn’t act insufficiently. It works. When God acts on you, when you are baptized, that leaves an indelible mark on your soul. People do not have to be rebaptized. It’s like gay marriage — you can’t. Why? Because the sacrament works. But in our fallen, broken human life, we just feel like we need to do something more sometimes, and we get it wrong. But I get why people do it. What she’s saying is, “I felt a calling to God,” and she reacted to that in a way that is silly at best and contrary to the religion at worst. But I think it comes from a good place, and I know other people who have done it. She goes on: I definitely need to do that because I think that there are a lot of Christian girls who are in this industry … but people might not know it and they might not feel comfortable talking about it because of the judgment. I totally believe that. I totally believe that there are a lot of girls who are baptized Christians who feel a pull toward Christianity, toward God, who work in pornography and all sorts of disreputable fields. Whether we’re talking about prostitution or whether we’re talking about law and finance — I’m sure there are all sorts of people who feel a tension between the work that they do and religious truth. However, here’s where it gets a little dicey, and I think this is why some people are attacking Lily Phillips.  She says,  I’m definitely not claiming to be a traditional Christian at all. Obviously, I’m not against gay marriage. I am also pro-choice. So I definitely don’t have, necessarily, traditional values. But that doesn’t mean to say that I can’t be Christian. I would just hope that the Christian community welcomes me, because I guess everyone’s relationship with God is bespoke to them. I think there are a lot of people who feel this way, at least in the early stages of their conversion. But we have to clear up a few things, so let’s break this down. She says, “I’m not against gay marriage.” Christianity does not permit so-called gay marriage. It is contrary to the Christian faith. The weird sex stuff broadly is contrary to the Christian faith. And even beyond questions of religious revelation, it just comes down to basic logic: two opposing things cannot be simultaneously true in the same respect, as per the law of non-contradiction. So, no, inasmuch as you believe these things of the world, you are opposing the Christian faith. She says, “I am also pro-choice.” The church, since the very beginning, has opposed abortion. You can see proscriptions against abortion in the UK, the very first catechism of the church, all the way back in antiquity, just after the Apostolic Age. You can’t do it. You can say that you’re Christian and you can say that you support killing babies, but those things are diametrically opposed. They’re totally in conflict with each other. She then says, “So I definitely don’t have, necessarily, traditional values.” What do we mean by “traditional values”? Are we talking about the traditions of China? No. Are we talking about the Chinese—some different values than we do here? Are we talking about the traditions of Islam, the caliphate? No. When we talk about traditional values in the English language, generally, we’re talking about the Christian tradition that built our civilization. So if you say, I’m Christian, but I don’t have Christian values, that’s confusing. She sounds confused by the twin darkness into which we are all born — ignorance and sin. She says, “And I just hope the Christian community welcomes me.”  We will welcome you. I will welcome you, at least. But not on your terms. But we will welcome you. We’re not going to force you to do something that is maybe extremely difficult or impossible for you to do. We’re not expecting you to radically transform everything about your life all at once, but if you want us to welcome you, that means you have to come to the church, which means you have to give your assent to the church. If two things are going to join together, one of them has to change. The thing that’s going to change is not going to be the church. It’s going to have to be you, which is true for all of us. Every time we go into church, every time we go into confession, every time we go to receive the Blessed Sacrament, every time we go to mass, every time we go into a chapel to pray, we are imperfect — all of us. And when we go there, we are saying, “I want to be transformed by you, Lord.” I don’t want you and your holy institution to be transformed into myself. She says, “I guess everyone’s relationship with God is bespoke to them.” True, but God is the same for everyone. Everyone’s relationship with God is bespoke. It’s not off the rack. It’s not one size fits all. You’re right about that. But God is the same for everyone because God is objectively real. He’s the real God. That’s why you believe in him in the first place. And yet a lot of people want to make false gods for themselves. She goes on to say, “I’m going to take more of a backseat in work and stuff like that, just to really prioritize this.”  Well, by work she means prostitution. She means pornography. She’s not going to give it up entirely yet, apparently. Too bad.  But she does say, “I’m going to prioritize religion.” Good, love that.  She then says, Even though I travel so much, I don’t necessarily go to church a lot because I’m traveling, but it doesn’t mean I can’t pray and I can’t practice my religion outside of church. So I will definitely be doing that and taking that forward. Well, you have an obligation to go to church on Sunday. You have an obligation to do that even if you’re not feeling it and don’t want to. You have an obligation to at least do that. You have other obligations too. But she’s right — you can pray outside of church, and you should. You have to live your faith all the other days of the week too. That’s true. However, when you don’t go to church, when you don’t practice your faith, when you sanction these kinds of awful things that are so harmful to people, you are making a choice to move away from God. So, what should we do about the Lily Phillips conversion? Should we make her the Archbishop of Canterbury right away? Probably not. Should we put her on the podcast circuit? In this case, probably not just yet. This could take a little while. Should we say you don’t have to change anything about yourself or what you believe to be a real, practicing Christian? No. She’s got to change, but I think we should encourage her. This is my message to Lily Phillips: This is great news. Wonderful. I love it. I love hearing that this is happening for you. But you have got to keep going, young lady. You were in a very, very bad place and now, by God’s grace, you have apparently taken a step to get out. It’s going to be a long journey, but God will be with you the whole way. So just keep going.

The woman who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday has been identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Her Mother, Donna Ganger, said the family was notified of Good’s death late Wednesday morning and called the circumstances of her death “so stupid,” according to The Minnesota Star Tribune. “She was probably terrified,” Ganger said. Ganger claimed that her daughter is “not part of anything like that at all” when asked if she’s part of the anti-ICE protests. “Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” Before the woman was publicly identified, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose district the shooting took place in, said she was a “legal observer.” President Donald Trump said Good “was very disorderly, obstructing, and resisting” before she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer,” who he said appeared to have shot her “in self defense.” The woman was allegedly behind the wheel of a vehicle that appeared to be blocking a Minneapolis road that ICE officers were trying to drive through, according to video circulating online. The officers were seen approaching the woman as she sat in her vehicle and asked her to get out of the car. The woman remained in her vehicle and was seen reversing it and then moving forward. One video appeared to show the vehicle rolling ahead and touching an ICE officer before shots were fired, killing the driver. The shooting incident is still under investigation. Meanwhile, anti-ICE protestors have taken to the streets and clashed with law enforcement, who have deployed crowd control measures, including tear gas. Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who has condemned the shooting, has mobilized members of the state National Guard to be at the ready in case the protests descend into further chaos. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey responded to Wednesday’s shooting with a harsh message, saying, “There is little I can say that will make this situation better, but I do have a message for our community, for our city, and I have a message for ICE,” Frey said. “To ICE, get the f*ck out of Minneapolis.

President Donald Trump is set to deliver the first State of the Union speech of his second term on February 24. The date was made firm after an official invite from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for Trump to address a special joint session of Congress. “As our nation marks the Semiquincentennial Anniversary of American Independence, the United States stands stronger, freer, and more prosperous under your leadership and bold action. Together in 2025, your administration and the 119th Congress delivered one of the most consequential agendas in history, and Americans across this great country will experience the tangible results of commonsense governance,” Johnson wrote. “We look forward to advancing the important work ahead of us in 2026, serving the American people, defending liberty, and preserving this grand experiment in self-governance. To that end, it is my distinct honor and great privilege to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives,” he said. The speech will be a chance for the president to tout his administration’s successes in its first year while attempting to set a narrative ahead of a challenging midterm election season. The speech will be his second address delivered to a joint session of Congress of his second term. His first address was delivered on March 4 of last year, and while it was not officially a State of the Union speech, it had all the trappings of such a speech. Trump’s State of the Union speeches in the past have been heavy on showmanship from the real estate tycoon and reality television mogul. Trump’s State of the Union speeches by historical standards are lengthy affairs and have consistently run for over an hour. Last year, his speech to the joint session ran for about one hour and 40 minutes, making it the longest speech ever delivered to a joint session of Congress.

Progressives on Minneapolis’s city council used the council’s first meeting of the year to install members of the Democratic Socialists of America as both the “majority leader” and “minority leader,” seemingly installing a one-party state designed to ice out representation for the council’s moderate minority. Aisha Chughtai will be majority leader, saying her role would be to “identify uncontroversial ideas that the rest of the body largely agreed with,” as the Star Tribune paraphrased, while the minority leader would be tasked with convincing others to accept more controversial ideas. Chughtai nominated Robin Wonsley as minority leader. Wonsley explained the role differently, saying the minority role would be to “recognize the political diversity” of the council, specifically the four members of the Democrat Socialists of America–a group that includes Chughtai, as well as Jason Chavez and Soren Stevenson. Wonsley’s City Council bio says “Robin Wonsley is a Democratic Socialist” who “In 2018 … began her PhD program in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies.” Chugtai’s bio says “She is the first Muslim woman, and youngest person ever elected to the Minneapolis City Council.” Moderate members protested the appointments, with council member LaTrisha Vetaw pointing out that the socialists were claiming to represent “political diversity” by installing two members of the same political faction in the majority and minority slots. But the progressive majority refused to budge. Linea Palmisano, the council’s longest-serving member, said “President Payne, you put the four DSA-ascribed members on everything. This is over-representation,” adding that the majority and minority leaders almost always voted the same way. “If the desire is political diversity, which I also appreciate, this is not.” Palmisano was the only moderate permitted to lead a committee: the Enterprise and Labor Relations Committee. Even the moderate members are hardly moderate by national standards, aligning with Mayor Jacob Frey. Elliot Payne was re-elected as council president. Star Tribune columnist Eric Roper reacted with shock to the appointments, writing that “for those following at home: The majority leader, a democratic socialist, is the steward of consensus issues. And the minority leader, a democratic socialist, is the progressive champion. And these aren’t partisan roles, except the minority member represents a political movement that the majority member also belongs to. Got it.” The move overrode the will of voters as expressed in a 2021 referendum, which eliminated a partisan structure in the council, including those titles. Roper wrote that the city attorney emphasized that the majority and minority titles “didn’t have to do with political parties, since the council offices are technically nonpartisan.” Wonsley, the minority leader, said “Democratic socialism has been a growing political movement nationwide,” and that Democratic socialism is not a political party. Payne, the council president, said that Wonsley brings a “very specific lens” as minority leader because while the other DSA members on the council also align with the Democrat-Farmer-Labor party, Wonsley technically fashions herself an independent. Wonsley, the minority leader, said “We’re going to have to generate progressive revenue, and that includes also a tax on the rich,” adding she also wanted to have unarmed mental health professionals respond to 911 calls. The chaos at the council’s inaugural meeting bodes poorly for Minneapolis as it is the epicenter of violent clashes with immigration enforcement and rampant fraud by Somalis that led to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz dropping his re-election bid.