'Legend!' Trump's border boss joined feds in gushing over agent who shot teacher 5 times

'Legend!' Trump's border boss joined feds in gushing over agent who shot teacher 5 times
Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino looks on at a gas station, as immigration enforcement continues after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on January 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Newly-released communications reveal that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino did not discipline or investigate an agent who shot a U.S. citizen, and instead immediately praised him and offered to exempt him from the retirement age.

The documents, flagged by the Chicago Tribune, come as a federal court reviews the incident during last year's "Operation Midway Blitz" in which Marimar Martínez, a local teacher, was shot five times.

The agent in question has been identified as Charles Exum. Body camera footage shows the agent's Chevrolet Tahoe collided with Martínez's vehicle, after which Exum got out of the vehicle, and five shots could be heard off camera.

The government's assault charges against Martínez have since fallen apart, and she is moving to sue over her ordeal.

"The materials, obtained by the Tribune through an open records request after a judge agreed to lift a protective order, also included an email to Exum from Bovino ... praising the agent on the afternoon of the shooting," said the report. "'Good afternoon,' read the email, which was sent at 3:11 p.m. on Oct. 4, when Martínez was still hospitalized and had not yet been charged. 'I would like to extend an offer to you to extend your retirement beyond age 57…. In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much left to do!!'"

While this was going on, said the report, Exum "exchanged a series of texts with his wife as well as a group of fellow agents under the name 'Posse Chat.' In one of them, someone Exum identified as 'the guy from Vermont' wrote, 'Good job brother, glad you are unharmed and get to live to tell the story.'" The Vermont agent replied, “You are a legend among agents you better f------ know that. Beers on me when I see you at training.”

Following nationwide outrage and protests over a crackdown in Minneapolis that left two people dead, the Trump administration transferred Bovino back to his old position in California, seen by many observers as a demotion and a tacit acknowledgement of the backlash.

Bovino was shortly after ejected from a Las Vegas bar for "safety" reasons.

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A Rio Rico, Arizona, woman told reporters late Tuesday night that authorities raided her home amid the rapidly unfolding investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie – but insisted that she and her family have no connection to the case.

“They’re investigating my son-in-law,” the woman told CNN late Tuesday night, adding that authorities were acting on a tip. “I just have nothing to do with that either. I don’t know what’s going on. They’re just invading my property.”

According to the woman, deputies and federal agents suddenly stormed her residence, ordering occupants out as they searched and documented the scene. “They’re going in and out of my house taking a lot of pictures,” she said.

“I mean, like I told them, we’re not hiding anything,” she added. The woman told reporters Tuesday that she permitted investigators to search her home.

“I gave them permission to go and search. There’s nothing in the house. You won’t find anything because we don’t have nothing to hide,” she said, adding that her family had no prior knowledge of the 84-year-old missing of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

“Nothing. Nothing,” she said when asked whether her son-in-law, who CNN reported had been the individual taken into custody, had ever mentioned Guthrie.

“If I knew anything about her…I said I saw her on Facebook, but I didn’t read what was going on with her because I don’t know her.”

The woman identified herself as the mother-in-law of the man detained earlier Tuesday during a traffic stop in Rio Rico, about 60 miles south of the Guthrie home. Authorities have confirmed the individual is being questioned, but no charges have been announced.

Investigators were seen probing a vehicle at the scene as the investigation continued.

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Details continued to emerge Tuesday night in the abduction investigation of Nancy Guthrie, as authorities confirmed that a person of interest has been detained near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a statement posted to X that deputies “detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson” Tuesday evening. “The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” the department said, adding that additional information will be released as it becomes available.

A law enforcement source involved in the investigation confirmed to TMZ that the detained individual is not a member of the Guthrie family. The outlet reported that the stop occurred in Rio Rico, a small town roughly 60 miles south of the 84-year-old Guthrie’s home and about nine miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Multiple outlets, including CNN, identified the location as Rio Rico, while the New York Post reported that the individual was headed toward the border when deputies, with assistance from the FBI, stopped the vehicle. Sources told the Post it was unclear whether the individual was attempting to flee to Mexico.

The development comes hours after authorities released footage showing a masked individual disabling a doorbell camera at the Guthrie home during the early-morning window when investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken.

The individual’s identity has not been released, and no charges have been announced.

House Republicans suffered a surprise setback Tuesday after three members broke ranks to defeat a procedural rule designed to block votes challenging President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

According to Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman, the House voted 214-217 to reject the rule, which would have prevented lawmakers from bringing resolutions to the floor aimed at undoing Trump’s tariffs. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Kevin Kiley (R-CA), and Don Bacon (R-NE) joined Democrats in voting no.

“This will open [the] door to a flurry of tariff votes,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported Tuesday, noting in a social media post that Speaker Mike Johnson had expressed confidence earlier in the day that he had the votes to pass the rule.

Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported that Democrats now have legislation ready to move that would unwind certain tariffs.

The outcome is “a major defeat for Mike Johnson,” according to MS Now executive producer Kyle Griffin.

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