Tracy Mumford

Mark Wayne Mullen was confirmed as the next leader of DHS, taking over from Kristi Noem, who Trump fired after a string of controversies and national outrage over the killings of two U.S.

citizens by federal immigration agents.

All of that, combined with the ongoing shutdown, make it a tenuous time for Mullen to step into the role.

In his confirmation hearing, he struck a less combative and more cooperative tone than his predecessor, but he's made clear he's committed to fulfilling Trump's promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

And last update on the administration.

The White House has struck an unusual deal with a French energy company.

The U.S.

is going to pay nearly $1 billion to Total Energies to abandon its plans to build wind farms off the East Coast.

The company paid for leases under the Biden administration to build off New York and North Carolina.

The U.S.

will now reimburse it for that.

In exchange, Total Energies is supposed to invest that money in oil and gas projects in the U.S.

The deal is a remarkable transfer of taxpayer dollars to a foreign company for the purposes of boosting the production of fossil fuels while throttling a renewable energy source.

Trump has railed against wind power for years, calling the projects ugly and claiming without evidence that they are, quote, driving whales crazy.

In New York, a person briefed on the federal investigation into the deadly crash at LaGuardia on Sunday tells the Times that officials are looking into whether an air traffic controller there was distracted moments before the accident.

Recordings from the control tower show that just before the crash, one of the controllers on duty was directing a fire truck to help with an issue on a separate flight.

The controller gave the fire truck the go-ahead to cross the runway, just as an Air Canada flight was landing.

One passenger on the flight told the Times she heard a loud grinding sound, which she thought was the pilot trying to brake before the crash.

Then she was thrown forward and people started screaming.

The force of the collision ejected one flight attendant, who was tossed from the plane and landed on the runway, still strapped to her seat.