Tracy Mumford

cities and towns.

In many of those, the government has immediately stated that the people who were shot at were to blame.

In the high-profile cases of Rene Good and Alex Preddy, a barrage of bystander video undercut the government's narrative.

And now, a Times review shows how in some of the other cases, the government's claims have been falling apart in court.

For example, in October in D.C., an agent shot at Philip Brown, a U.S.

citizen.

A DHS spokeswoman said he'd tried to run officers down with his car and he was charged with a felony.

A judge, however, found the government failed to present any evidence of that and said the agent had fired, quote, for reasons that are completely unclear to me.

Across the country, four cases like that, where prosecutors brought charges against the people agents fired at, have fizzled out when evidence didn't support the administration's initial claims.

In response to questions, a DHS spokeswoman stood by past statements she and the agency have made, blaming people shot by agents and said, quote, federal law enforcement officers are facing a highly coordinated campaign of violence against them.

Now, two other quick updates from Washington.

On Capitol Hill.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime companion who's serving a federal sentence for sex trafficking, appeared by video link from prison for a deposition in front of the House Oversight Committee.

The committee had spent months trying to depose Maxwell as part of its Epstein investigation.

But yesterday, Maxwell refused to answer any questions, a stance her lawyer suggested would only change under one condition.

How the Trump administration has treated Maxwell has come under increasing scrutiny.

She was moved to a minimum security prison last year, days after she met with Trump's deputy attorney general.

And Democratic lawmakers say that more than a dozen people have come forward with whistleblower complaints, saying Maxwell is getting preferential treatment there, like unsupervised access to a laptop and being given bottled water.

And according to documents reviewed by The Times, the White House plans to slash $600 million in public health funds to four states led by Democrats starting this week.

California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota will all have programs affected.