Donald Trump

The Congressional Budget Office projects President Trump’s unprecedented domestic use of the National Guard will cost about $1.1 billion in 2026 if current deployments continue, driven largely by a 2,690‑plus‑member force in Washington, D.C. that alone could total $660 million this year. In a report requested by 11 senators led by Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, CBO estimates the remaining deployments in D.C., Memphis and New Orleans, plus 200 Texas Guard troops on standby, are burning roughly $93 million a month after similar operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland were wound down. The office says domestic Guard mobilizations cost about $496 million in 2025, while overall defense spending is poised to exceed $1 trillion under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Budget watchdogs interviewed by NPR argue it would be more cost‑effective to invest in local law enforcement, noting Guard units cannot perform routine arrests or searches, and question using federalized troops as a long‑term crime‑control tool. The White House declined comment, continuing months of silence about the deployments’ total price tag even as Guard members themselves have used encrypted chats to question the missions’ legality, duration and impact on morale.

At a Jan. 28, 2026, Washington event launching "Trump Accounts," President Trump urged employers nationwide to match the federal government's $1,000 seed deposits into workers’ children's accounts, framing the matches as a new standard workplace benefit and spotlighting corporate backers such as Dell CEO Michael Dell and Invest America founder Brad Gerstner. Bank of America announced it will match the $1,000 for children born 2025–2028 of its roughly 165,000 U.S. employees, and Visa is developing a platform to let cardholders direct cash‑back rewards into Trump Accounts, signaling early financial‑industry integration.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the Jan. raid that captured Nicolás Maduro was a law‑enforcement operation — “not a war” — insisting there are no U.S. ground troops in Venezuela, vowing the administration would seek congressional authorization for any major future military operations and warning the U.S. is prepared to use force if other methods fail; Sen. Rand Paul pressed Rubio on constitutional limits, arguing the campaign’s strikes, blockade and ouster could constitute an act of war. Congressional efforts to rein in the president faltered: the Senate used a procedural point to strip and defeat Sen. Tim Kaine’s war‑powers resolution 51–50 (Vice President J.D. Vance breaking the tie) after GOP Sens. Josh Hawley and Todd Young flipped following administration assurances, while the House also blocked a similar measure in a 215–215 vote, even as critics point to dozens of maritime strikes that have reportedly killed at least 126 people.

At a Jan. 24 Texas AFL‑CIO convention debate, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D‑Texas, said there is 'more than enough to impeach Donald Trump' and vowed to support formal impeachment proceedings if elected to the U.S. Senate, citing his use of tariffs as her starting point. Crockett, already a vocal critic of Trump’s immigration crackdown, also reiterated her comparison of his enforcement campaign to Nazi Germany and defended her co‑sponsorship of articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for allegedly weaponizing ICE and committing 'state‑sanctioned violence.' Her primary opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, agreed the administration has likely committed impeachable offenses but stopped short of explicitly backing impeachment. The debate, held before hundreds of labor union members, underscores how calls to impeach Trump over economic and immigration policy are moving from the party’s left flank into a high‑profile Senate primary in a major red state. On social media, pro‑ and anti‑Trump activists are already amplifying Crockett’s remarks, with supporters praising her toughness and critics framing her as proof Democrats intend to use impeachment as a routine political tool.

Nearly three months after expedited oral arguments in November over the Trump administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, the Supreme Court has not issued a decision, extending legal and economic uncertainty. The consolidated case—brought by companies including an educational toy maker and a family‑owned wine and spirits importer—leaves tariffs in place while hundreds of businesses seek refunds, and observers say justices’ concerns about the major‑questions and nondelegation doctrines, a possible closely divided Court, and slow opinion drafting may explain the delay.

Iran’s rial plunged to a record low of about 1.6 million to $1 on local markets amid panic over possible U.S. strikes after President Trump threatened action and a U.S. carrier group drew near the region. Regional diplomacy intensified — Egypt and Turkey spoke with Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to seek calm, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Saudi Arabia and the UAE would not allow their airspace to be used for any attack, and Iran said it was open to dialogue but would “defend itself” if attacked even as state media branded protesters “terrorists” and activists, amid a three‑week internet blackout, estimate more than 6,000 killed in the crackdown.

The historic India–EU free trade agreement, hailed by Ursula von der Leyen as the “mother of all deals” and by Prime Minister Modi as deepening ties between the two democracies, cuts Indian tariffs on imported EU autos from as high as 110% to 10%, reduces levies on EU wine, beer and olive oil, and opens easier EU market access for Indian farmers, small businesses and exporters in textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, gems and jewelry, handicrafts and engineering goods. Observers say the breakthrough — coming as EU–India trade (~$137 billion in 2024–25) now slightly exceeds U.S.–India trade (~$132 billion) — is accelerated by the unpredictability and cost of doing business with the U.S. under Trump’s tariffs and reflects a broader global rush to bilateral deals, including moves by the U.K. toward China.

After the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, corporate leaders and tech CEOs urged "de‑escalation": Apple’s Tim Cook sent an internal memo and said he spoke with President Trump, dozens of Minnesota CEOs (including 3M, UnitedHealth and Target) signed a Chamber letter calling for immediate de‑escalation, and hundreds of Amazon, Google and Meta employees pressed their companies to publicly condemn ICE and cancel contracts. Tech chiefs such as Sam Altman and Dario Amodei sent internal warnings that ICE tactics have "gone too far," while experts say firms are issuing cautious, collective statements to acknowledge employee anger without directly confronting the administration — even as DHS and local officials dispute details about an injured officer and national polls show growing public unease with aggressive ICE operations that is eroding support for the administration’s immigration push.

Nuri Kamal al‑Maliki, nominated by Iraq’s largest Shiite bloc to return as prime minister, publicly vowed Wednesday to continue pursuing the post and denounced President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off U.S. support if his nomination proceeds as “blatant American interference” and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Trump wrote Tuesday on social media that Maliki’s last term plunged Iraq into “poverty and total chaos” and warned that, if he is elected, the United States “will no longer help Iraq,” asserting the country would then have “ZERO chance of Success, Prosperity, or Freedom.” Maliki, who first rose to power in 2006 with U.S. backing but later aligned more closely with Iran and was widely blamed for sectarian policies that helped fuel the rise of ISIS, now has backing from several smaller parties inside the Coordination Framework bloc, which is meeting to decide whether to stick with his nomination. Iraq’s caretaker government has so far stayed silent, while a former senior U.S. Iraq policymaker quoted in the piece notes it is unsurprising Washington would oppose a third Maliki term but more notable that it did not act earlier in the government‑formation process. The standoff highlights how Trump’s bid to curb Iranian influence is colliding with Iraq’s internal politics and raises questions about whether the U.S. is prepared to follow through on a threat that could upend its long‑standing security and counter‑ISIS role there.

After an in‑person meeting in Minneapolis with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan that Frey called a "productive conversation," Mayor Jacob Frey reiterated that Minneapolis "does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws" and said local police will focus on keeping "neighbors and streets safe." President Trump responded on Truth Social calling Frey’s stance a "very serious violation of the Law" and warning he is "PLAYING WITH FIRE!," and Frey rebutted on X by invoking Rudy Giuliani’s sanctuary‑city policy.

Ohio Democratic attorney general candidate and former state representative Elliot Forhan is under fire after posting on Facebook that he intends to "kill Donald Trump," then elaborating that he means securing a jury conviction and a capital‑punishment sentence against the former president if Trump "tries again to end American democracy." The post triggered immediate condemnation from Republicans, including GOP AG candidate and state auditor Keith Faber, treasurer candidate Jay Edwards and conservative commentators who labeled Forhan "deranged" and called on state Democrats such as gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and Sen. Sherrod Brown to disavow him. Critics say the rhetoric normalizes political murder and comes on the heels of a wave of threats and actual violence against political figures, including the 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk, about which Forhan previously wrote "F*** Charlie Kirk" on social media. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Forhan declined to retract his language, arguing he is simply pledging to apply the law equally, including to the president, and would seek the death penalty if Trump again tried to overturn U.S. democracy. The episode feeds into a broader national debate over escalating political rhetoric, "assassination culture" and how seriously parties and law enforcement should treat statements that fantasize about executing political opponents under color of law.

The Trump White House has launched a new website and U.S. map highlighting which states have opted into a federal K‑12 'Education Freedom' scholarship tax credit set to begin Jan. 1, 2027, and is publicly branding several Democratic governors as 'failures' for resisting participation. Created under the Working Families Tax Cut Act and the broader 'big, beautiful bill,' the program will let taxpayers claim up to $1,700 in federal credits by donating to state‑approved Scholarship Granting Organizations, which then fund K‑12 scholarships and related education costs at public, private or charter schools. The Education Department says 23 states have opted in so far, calling it the largest national expansion of 'education freedom' in U.S. history, while 27 states — including Oregon, North Carolina, New Mexico and Wisconsin — have not yet signed on, meaning families there cannot access scholarships unless governors act. The website, rolled out during National School Choice Week, urges residents to 'call your governor' and warns that children in non‑participating states will miss out on aid, a pressure tactic that dovetails with a broader Republican push to expand school choice and undercuts Democratic arguments that such programs drain resources from traditional public schools. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, broke ranks in December by opting in and saying he would be 'crazy not to,' underscoring how the new federal incentive is testing party lines on education policy.

Indivisible has scheduled a nationwide "No Kings 3" protest wave for March 28, 2026, with a flagship march in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro that organizers — including co‑executive director Ezra Levin — say could draw as many as 9 million people and has been focused on Minnesota after the deployment of roughly 3,000 federal agents and the fatal ICE/Border Patrol shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good. The march follows recent coordinated walkouts that drew thousands into the streets in cities such as Atlanta, New York City, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C., including high‑school student walkouts, and is being promoted by organizers as resistance to what they describe as efforts to consolidate and expand President Trump’s power.

Organizers of the 'No Kings' protest movement have announced a third, nationwide day of demonstrations for March 28, 2026, saying they will focus on what they call President Donald Trump’s authoritarianism and his immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, where federal agents recently killed two people. Ezra Levin, co‑executive director of the Indivisible network, told the Associated Press they expect as many as 9 million participants and predict it could become the largest protest in U.S. history. The loosely coordinated coalition — which staged 'No Kings' rallies in roughly 2,000 locations last June and 2,700 in October — is explicitly linking the new protests to what it calls a 'secret police force' murdering Americans and violating constitutional rights. The movement’s earlier actions were sparked by Trump’s mass-deportation push, his deployment of National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, and a Washington, D.C., military parade they described as a 'coronation.' This new round comes as public anger over the Minneapolis deaths and Operation Metro Surge is already driving boycotts, business closures and legal challenges, raising the stakes for another large-scale, coordinated protest wave across U.S. cities.

President Donald Trump has endorsed Michael Alfonso, the son‑in‑law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Fox News host Rachel Campos‑Duffy, for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, while also backing current Rep. Tom Tiffany to run for governor. In Truth Social posts Monday and Tuesday night, Trump praised Alfonso as a lifelong 'winner' from a 'spectacular family' and gave him his 'Complete and Total Endorsement' to succeed Tiffany in the north‑central Wisconsin district. Alfonso responded on X that he would be a 'steadfast MAGA warrior' for the district, explicitly tying his bid to Trump’s movement. Trump simultaneously endorsed Tiffany for governor, with Tiffany touting Trump’s record on wages, gas prices, growth and border security as he launched his statewide campaign. The dual endorsements further lock Trump into Wisconsin’s 2026 GOP primary landscape, reinforcing his influence over both congressional and gubernatorial fields in a state that has swung between parties in recent national elections.

An NPR investigation reveals the Trump administration’s Department of Energy has quietly rewritten more than a dozen internal nuclear safety orders governing a fast‑tracked program to build at least three experimental small modular reactors by July 4, 2026, without making the new rules public. The revised DOE directives, shared only with reactor developers, cut over 750 pages of prior requirements, sharply relaxing security standards, loosening groundwater and environmental protections, eliminating at least one safety role, reducing record‑keeping obligations, and raising the radiation‑exposure threshold that triggers an official accident investigation. Former NRC chair Christopher Hanson says secretly weakening safeguards "is not the best way to engender" public trust in nuclear power, while Union of Concerned Scientists’ Edwin Lyman warns DOE is "taking a wrecking ball" to the oversight system that has prevented another Three Mile Island–type accident. DOE, which is overseeing billions in public and private investment in small modular reactors heavily backed by tech giants seeking cheap power for AI data centers, previously claimed it remains committed to "the highest standards of safety" but has not commented on the specific rule changes. The disclosure is fueling alarm among independent experts and is likely to intensify calls in Congress for transparency, formal rulemaking, and possibly external regulation of DOE‑authorized commercial reactors, given the stakes for U.S. communities and critical infrastructure.

Mass anti‑government protests sparked by economic collapse and soaring inflation have spread across dozens of cities in Iran, with rights groups reporting anywhere from hundreds to several thousand killed and thousands detained amid a near‑nationwide internet blackout and efforts to block Starlink. In response, the U.S. has publicly warned Tehran—President Trump saying America is “locked and loaded” as a carrier strike group moves toward the region and the U.S. Embassy urged citizens to leave—while Sen. Ted Cruz urged arming protesters and Iran‑backed militias (including Kataib Hezbollah) and Iranian leaders have threatened retaliation, even warning U.S. bases and forces would be legitimate targets.

A Tazewell Circuit Court judge, Jack Hurley Jr., voided a proposed mid‑decade constitutional amendment that would have allowed Democrats to redraw Virginia’s U.S. House maps, finding the Democratic‑led General Assembly improperly added the measure during a budget‑focused special session without the unanimous‑consent/supermajority its rules require and failed to meet statutory publication and three‑month pre‑election timing requirements. Hurley also held that the 2025 House election had effectively begun when early voting started—making subsequent legislative votes ineffective—issued injunctions blocking further action, and the pro‑amendment group Virginians for Fair Elections said it will appeal, accusing Republicans of court‑shopping.

Composer Philip Glass has withdrawn the premiere of his new "Lincoln" symphony from the Kennedy Center, saying it conflicts with the venue’s current leadership after Donald Trump became chairman in February 2025 and the board voted in December 2025 to rename it the "Trump–Kennedy Center." The National Symphony Orchestra’s executive director Jean Davidson said the orchestra learned of Glass’s decision at the same time as the press, while Kennedy Center PR chief Roma Daravi dismissed the cancellations as driven by "leftist activists" and President Richard Grenell blamed previous "far left leadership" for politically biased bookings.

PolitiFact, writing for PBS, examined President Donald Trump’s repeated claims this month that anti‑ICE demonstrators in Minnesota are 'highly paid professional agitators,' 'paid agitators and insurrectionists' and 'professional troublemakers,' and found no evidence to support them. The fact‑check notes that neither the White House nor other officials such as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Vice President JD Vance or Sen. Markwayne Mullin have produced proof that Minnesota’s large, weeks‑long protests are funded operations rather than local grassroots actions. Reporters reviewed viral social‑media posts that purported to show 'paid' protesters and concluded those examples did not hold up, while experts and on‑the‑ground reporting point instead to long‑standing volunteer networks of labor, faith and immigrant‑rights groups organizing walkouts, marches, food drives and mutual‑aid efforts. The analysis situates Trump’s accusations in the broader rhetoric around Operation Metro Surge and recent fatal ICE and Border Patrol shootings, where labeling protesters as paid 'insurrectionists' is being used to justify a hardened federal response and calls in Congress to investigate protest funding. The piece underscores that, as of now, the 'paid agitator' narrative is a political assertion without substantiating evidence, even as it spreads widely in pro‑administration media and social feeds.

The Trump administration has named 15 additional drugs — including Type 2 diabetes medicine Trulicity, HIV treatment Biktarvy and Botox when used for covered medical conditions — for Medicare’s next round of government‑run price negotiations under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Tuesday the picks, which include both Part D retail prescriptions and Part B doctor‑administered drugs, account for about 6% of all Medicare drug spending and were used by roughly 1.8 million enrollees last year, with negotiated prices scheduled to take effect in 2028. The list brings the total number of negotiated drugs to 40 after two earlier rounds that covered 25 high‑spend medicines, including GLP‑1 blockbusters Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy, and CMS will also reopen talks on Tradjenta, a diabetes drug previously negotiated. AARP praised the announcement as a 'significant step forward' for older Americans, while PhRMA condemned the underlying law as government 'price setting' and urged Congress to target insurers and pharmacy benefit managers instead. The negotiations are being closely watched by drugmakers, seniors’ groups and fiscal hawks because they directly affect future Medicare outlays and could influence list‑price and launch‑price strategies across the pharmaceutical industry.

Speaking at a Jan. 27 event in Clive, Iowa, Trump kicked off a series of planned midterm stops touting a "booming" economy — saying inflation has been defeated, growth is "exploding" and real wages are up — as the White House frames the tour as an affordability push. That message was undercut by independent data and local indicators (Moody’s/Mark Zandi flagging Iowa at recession risk; Philadelphia Fed ranking Iowa last for growth; November unemployment rising to 3.5%), KFF projections that about 80,000 Iowans could lose coverage and premiums could roughly double for another 117,000, protesters interrupting the event, and the political fallout from the Minneapolis federal‑agent killings and scrutiny of DHS leadership, while Democrats pushed back and Trump repeated an unsubstantiated $18 trillion investment claim.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has opened a probe into whether the new U.S. version of TikTok is suppressing anti‑ICE and anti‑Trump content after users reported, among other issues, that messages referencing "Epstein" in connection with former President Trump were blocked. TikTok says the problems are technical glitches rather than deliberate political censorship, but the platform and its proposed U.S. joint venture are now under scrutiny and being watched for potential investor and market impacts.

In a Jan. 27 MS NOW interview, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro praised Minneapolis residents protesting DHS’s Operation Metro Surge as 'inspiring,' said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is 'acting outside the bounds of the law,' and warned Pennsylvania is preparing legally and in communities as though it could be the next target of a federal interior‑enforcement surge. Asked what he would do in Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s place, Shapiro said he would bring state charges against federal officers who shot peaceful protesters, signaling a willingness to push state prosecutorial power directly against federal agents. He called on Congress to 'put some guardrails around ICE spending' by tightening appropriations, framed 2028 as needing a 'national referendum on Donald Trump and his policies,' and recounted last year’s hammer‑and‑Molotov attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, which ended with a 25‑ to 50‑year attempted‑murder sentence. Shapiro also revisited the 2024 Harris VP vetting, saying a staffer’s question about whether he was a 'double agent for Israel' offended him and that he later asked to be taken out of contention, while still saying the country would have been better off if the Harris–Walz ticket had won. The interview positions Shapiro more clearly on the national stage as a 2028 aspirant who intends to run directly against Trump’s immigration agenda and to test the limits of state resistance to federal ICE operations.

The Census pegs the U.S. population at 341.8 million as of July 2025, up 1.8 million in 12 months — the slowest post‑COVID growth — with a 1.3 million rise in the foreign‑born population (down from 2.7 million the year before) while births exceeded deaths by only about 500,000. Experts attribute the slowdown to a mix of late‑Biden asylum restrictions and Trump‑era deportations and border crackdowns, and census forecasters warn net immigration could fall by another 1 million this year; the Trump administration says deportations have eased housing pressures in immigrant‑heavy communities. State changes were uneven — Vermont declined 0.3% while South Carolina grew 1.5%, with Idaho, North Carolina and Texas among the fastest‑growing — and analysts note some of the prior surge reflected pent‑up demand from COVID border closures and shifting global policies that may be diverting migrants.

DHS and Border Patrol publicized arrests in "Operation Metro Surge," releasing a curated list of detainees — including convicted sex offenders and other prior offenders — and framing the sweep as taking the "worst of the worst" off the streets, a narrative Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin tied to local non‑cooperation with ICE detainers and that has been echoed by the White House and GOP surrogates; Minnesota Democrats and local officials have denounced the raids as politically toxic and say they have terrified communities, with Hmong businesses reporting 60–70% revenue losses and residents saying children are being kept home. The enforcement wave has been marked by violent incidents and contested law‑enforcement accounts: DHS alleges a protester bit off an HSI officer’s finger and officials described assaults on officers, while CBP told Congress two officers fired in the fatal Alex Pretti encounter even as internal reports do not allege Pretti fired his weapon and note irregular handling of his handgun.

MLK Day was marked by protests and efforts to "reclaim" the holiday as activists and community leaders warned the fraught U.S. political climate could enable civil‑rights rollbacks under the Trump era. Tensions were amplified by sharp rhetoric from public figures, including a former DHS official who called Gov. Tim Walz's comparison of immigrant children to Anne Frank "disgusting" and inflammatory.

After President Trump threatened Canada with 100% tariffs over its limited new trade deal with China, Carney said he told Trump on a follow‑up call that he "meant what I said" in his Davos remarks, directly contradicting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s account that he had softened his stance. Carney also outlined a plan to sign 12 new trade deals across four continents within six months and double non‑U.S. exports over the next decade to reduce dependence on the U.S., reiterated Canada has no interest in a comprehensive China deal, and said he and Trump discussed Ukraine, Venezuela and Arctic security.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said ICE has removed more than 670,000 people in the past year, and the department has publicly highlighted a holiday‑time surge of arrests — including named noncitizens with violent and sexual convictions across operations in Minnesota, Ohio, California and New Orleans — framing the actions as “ICE’s Christmas gift to Americans” and asserting more than 2.5 million people have left the U.S. since President Trump returned to office. The enforcement push, which DHS says includes roughly 70% of arrestees with U.S. criminal convictions, has prompted protests and criticism from sanctuary officials and lawmakers (including Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey) and sparked disputes over deaths in custody and the scope of federal operations.

The Gateway Development Commission has formally notified contractors that funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project will expire on Feb. 6, requiring them to begin winding down active construction over the next two weeks. The mandated wind‑down will affect current work sites in New York, New Jersey and under the Hudson River unless the Trump administration restores the funding.

President Donald Trump issued a formal White House statement for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, honoring the six million Jews and millions of other victims murdered by Nazi Germany and marking 81 years since the liberation of Auschwitz‑Birkenau. Trump’s message explicitly included Slavs, Roma, people with disabilities, religious leaders, LGBT people and political prisoners among those targeted, and he said that since returning to office he has made it a priority to direct the federal government to use 'all appropriate legal tools' to combat antisemitism and to champion Jewish Americans’ right to practice their faith without fear. Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a parallel statement emphasizing that Holocaust remembrance underpins a U.S. commitment to inherent human dignity and to 'counter antisemitism worldwide, champion justice for Holocaust survivors and heirs, and defend the integrity of Holocaust memory.' The article juxtaposes those messages with backlash to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s recent comparison of Trump‑era ICE raids to Anne Frank’s story, a remark Trump’s antisemitism envoy and others have condemned as trivializing the Holocaust. The statements are part of a broader political fight over how the administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement and its rhetoric fit with its claimed role as a defender of Jews and Holocaust memory.

The article reports that the Trump White House has posted an AI‑edited, photorealistic image of Minneapolis civil‑rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying during her arrest, after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s account shared the original photo, prompting misinformation scholars to warn that official use of such imagery further erodes public trust in government communications. The doctored image, circulated amid a flood of AI‑altered content after the fatal Border Patrol shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, was defended by senior aides as just another 'meme,' with Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr writing that 'the memes will continue' and Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson mocking critics. Experts like Cornell information scientist David Rand say casting the realistic arrest edit as a meme appears designed to shield the White House from accountability for manipulated media, while Northwestern media‑literacy researcher Michael Spikes argues it 'crystallizes an idea' rather than showing reality and accelerates an 'institutional crisis' of distrust in federal information. Republican digital strategists note the posts are aimed at Trump’s most online supporters, who recognize meme culture, but that older or less digitally fluent Americans may read the images as authentic, deepening confusion. The episode comes as AI‑generated misinformation and selective editing are already complicating public understanding of high‑stakes law‑enforcement incidents and raising alarms among officials in the U.S. and Europe about the integrity of civic discourse ahead of future elections.

Alex Vindman, the Army veteran who testified in former President Trump’s first impeachment, has formally launched a Democratic bid for the 2026 special U.S. Senate election in Florida to challenge GOP Sen. Ashley Moody, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to complete Marco Rubio’s term. Vindman’s two‑minute launch ad titled “Patriot” uses footage of Minneapolis shootings and accuses Trump‑aligned forces of acting as “thug militias” amid a “reign of terror and retribution,” a campaign entry that comes as Trump carried Florida by 13 points in 2024 and Republicans hold a 53–47 Senate majority; Moody had not publicly commented as of Tuesday morning.

CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss has called an all‑staff meeting for late Tuesday morning, where she is expected to announce significant job cuts and a new strategy built around hiring roughly 18 paid on‑air commentators, according to multiple CBS journalists who spoke anonymously to NPR. Weiss, a former opinion writer at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal brought in by Paramount’s new controlling owner David Ellison, has already clashed with much of the 60 Minutes staff, pushed to remake the CBS Evening News, and openly questioned whether CBS reporting in recent years has been fair or trustworthy. Insiders say she has told employees she wants only "top‑flight" performers who buy into her approach to stay, and that she welcomes internal debate but "cannot abide" public dissent. Liberal critics outside the network accuse her of carrying out the agenda of owners aligned with President Trump, who previously extracted a $16 million settlement from CBS over a 60 Minutes interview and demanded an ombudsman to police ideological bias, while Weiss denies she is doing political bidding. The shake‑up signals a deeper ideological and structural pivot at one of the country’s big three network news divisions, with potential consequences for how national politics and policy are framed to mass audiences.

Gold prices have jumped about 17% so far in 2026 as global investors reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar and Treasuries and use bullion as insurance against what they see as unpredictable policy from the Trump administration. Economists and portfolio managers tell Axios that investment flows into gold reflect worries about 'policy fragmentation' in Washington and eroding faith in traditional safe havens. Central banks now hold more gold than U.S. Treasuries for the first time in roughly 30 years, a shift that began in 2025 and has continued into 2026 as countries look to diversify reserves away from dollar assets. Analysts note that broader demand for metals tied to data‑center build‑outs and geopolitical risk is also supporting gold and silver, and one BlackRock manager argues there is no clear valuation ceiling since gold’s worth is set purely by what buyers will pay. The trend underscores a growing global appetite to hedge against U.S. political and geopolitical risk, and its durability will depend on whether perceived uncertainty out of Washington persists.

Axios obtained nearly 10 minutes of secret audio from two 2025 donor meetings in which Sen. Ted Cruz harshly criticizes President Trump’s tariff strategy and Vice President JD Vance, underscoring deep internal GOP rifts ahead of 2028. On the tapes, Cruz warns donors that Trump’s April 2025 tariffs could tank 401(k)s by 30%, push grocery prices up 10–20%, cost Republicans the House and Senate in 2026, and leave Trump 'being impeached every single week'—claims he says sparked a profane 'F**k you, Ted' response from the president during a late‑night call. Cruz repeatedly portrays Vance as a creation and proxy of Tucker Carlson, alleging the two pushed out then–national security adviser Mike Waltz for backing airstrikes on Iran and helped install Army veteran Daniel Davis, whom Cruz calls 'a guy who viciously hates Israel,' in a top intelligence role before he was quickly removed. The comments, far sharper than Cruz’s public posture, reveal him staking out a traditional free‑trade, hawkish foreign‑policy lane and positioning for a possible 2028 presidential primary clash with the more protectionist, less interventionist Vance wing of the party. The leak will fuel online chatter about a looming civil war inside the GOP over tariffs, Ukraine and Iran, and about how many Republicans privately fear Trump’s trade agenda could backfire economically and politically even as they stay publicly loyal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two days of U.S.‑brokered trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi with U.S., Russian and Ukrainian delegations were "constructive," with parties agreeing to report back to capitals and military representatives identifying issues for a possible follow‑up meeting as soon as next week. The sessions — hosted by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and preceded by four‑hour Kremlin talks between Trump envoys and Vladimir Putin — advanced discussion of U.S. peace‑framework elements but left the core sticking point unresolved: Moscow’s demand for territorial concessions in the Donbas amid ongoing Russian drone and missile strikes.

President Trump sparked an uproar after saying the U.S. had “never needed” NATO allies in Afghanistan and accusing allied troops of staying “a little off the front lines,” drawing criticism from European veterans, families of the fallen and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the remarks “insulting” and “appalling.” After the backlash, Trump posted on Truth Social praising U.K. soldiers as “GREAT and very BRAVE,” noting 457 British deaths and the unbreakable U.S.–U.K. military bond, a point Starmer raised in a weekend phone call and one echoed by Prince Harry, who urged respectful acknowledgment of sacrifices.

Court documents say 28-year-old Christian Joel Young has been charged with aggravated burglary, assaulting an elected official and simple assault after allegedly unlawfully entering a private CAA talent party at the High West Saloon during the Sundance Film Festival and punching Rep. Maxwell Frost while using racist threats and a slur — Frost said the man told him “Trump was going to deport” him and that he was not injured. Police and the affidavit allege Young also grabbed and shoved a woman, reportedly bragged about being white before the attack, and was ordered held without bail by Judge Richard Mrazik as a flight risk and substantial danger to the community.

At Davos, President Trump said he and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had reached a "framework" on Greenland and tied that understanding to his decision to back off threatened European tariffs. Rutte told reporters the talks focused on Arctic security rather than Danish sovereignty, but European allies, Denmark, Greenland's premier and NATO officials say they were blindsided, that the deal's terms are unclear, and that further bilateral talks will now be set up with participants, timing and details to be determined.

At a televised Jan. 22, 2026 House Judiciary hearing, former special counsel Jack Smith testified under oath that his investigation produced proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump was “by a large measure the most culpable” and caused what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and he defended subpoenas for phone and location data (including records for members of Congress) as lawful and evidence‑driven while saying charges were dropped after Trump’s 2024 victory pursuant to DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Smith said he could not discuss sealed portions of his classified‑documents report because of Judge Aileen Cannon’s order and grand‑jury secrecy, and rejected GOP accusations of politicization as unfounded amid questions about gag orders, subpoenas and payments to a confidential source.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron used keynote speeches to warn that the post‑World War II rules‑based order is breaking down as great powers weaponize trade, finance and supply chains, leaving mid‑sized democracies more exposed. Their remarks came after weeks of provocative statements by President Donald Trump about possibly using military force to seize Greenland and imposing new tariffs on eight European countries, moves that have rattled markets and forced allies to question the reliability of U.S. security guarantees. Carney told delegates "we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition" and said economic integration is being turned into a coercive tool, while Macron described a "world without rules" where international law is trampled and only the law of the strongest prevails, in comments many in the room heard as aimed at Washington as well as Moscow and Beijing. When Trump took the stage a day later, he rejected that narrative, arguing that raw U.S. military and economic power, not verbal reassurances, are what keep alliances strong and insisting he wants a "strong" Europe even as he threatens new trade penalties. The unusually public divergence at Davos underscores how Trump’s Greenland ambitions, tariff brinkmanship and Gaza policy are deepening allied doubts about U.S. leadership at the very moment Western governments face rising authoritarian rivals and a fraying global security architecture.

President Trump has threatened to withhold unspecified federal payments to jurisdictions he labels "sanctuary" beginning Feb. 1, echoing remarks at the Detroit Economic Club and an August executive order directing DOJ and DHS to compile lists and cut funds. The threat comes after DOJ identified more than 30 jurisdictions (including Minnesota), even as a federal judge has enjoined the administration from withholding funds from 16 jurisdictions, and has provoked local backlash such as a Hennepin County committee resolution condemning ICE and calling for its removal amid reports of an additional 1,000 ICE agents being deployed to the Minneapolis area.

President Donald Trump warned in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he will impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods entering the United States if Canada strikes a trade deal that effectively lets China route its exports to the U.S. through Canadian territory as a "drop off port." Trump, referencing Canadian leader Mark Carney, claimed such an arrangement would allow China to "eat Canada alive" and "destroy" its economy and social fabric, and said any such deal would trigger immediate blanket tariffs on Canadian products. The Fox report does not detail what specific Canada–China agreement is under discussion, and there is no sign yet of formal U.S. trade action or consultation with Congress or industry. Still, the public threat raises the prospect of a major escalation in U.S.–Canada trade tensions and a new front in Trump’s efforts to choke off Chinese access to the U.S. market via third countries, a move that would have sweeping implications for North American supply chains and prices if it were ever implemented.

President Donald Trump is escalating his push to end the Senate’s century‑old 'blue slip' tradition, blasting Republican Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley and others for keeping a practice he says blocks his U.S. attorney and judicial picks. The custom lets home‑state senators effectively veto nominees by withholding a blue‑paper approval, and was used last year to stop two Trump‑favored U.S. attorney choices, Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan, despite his public demand that Republicans 'get rid of blue slips.' Grassley and most senators in both parties are resisting, arguing the practice protects minority rights and home‑state input even as the GOP has pushed through 36 U.S. attorneys and 26 judges, including nominees backed by Democratic senators in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota. The piece notes that Republicans also used blue slips in the Biden years to hold seats open for Trump to fill and that, at the moment, no judicial nominee is actually being blocked by an outstanding blue slip, undercutting Trump’s claim that the system has frozen his picks. The fight spotlights a deeper power struggle between the White House and a closely divided Senate over how much control presidents should have in remaking the federal bench and U.S. attorney corps.

The Trump administration’s 2026 National Defense Strategy shifts U.S. focus toward the Western Hemisphere and emphasizes burden‑sharing, telling allies to take primary responsibility for their own defense—including European NATO members the document calls “substantially more powerful than Russia,” who it expects to spend 5% of GDP (3.5% on hard capabilities) and lead conventional defense and support to Ukraine. It also vows to guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain—explicitly naming the Panama Canal, the Gulf of America, and Greenland—and promises “credible military options” against narco‑terrorists, marking a re‑prioritization from the Biden-era emphasis on China as the pacing challenge.

One year into President Trump's second term, actions by his administration have left the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau weakened and "hanging by a thread." At the same time, the administration's defense strategy signals a shift toward asking U.S. allies to shoulder more of their own security responsibilities.

The Trump administration's new 34-page National Defense Strategy, released Jan. 23, 2026, shifts responsibility for regional security onto allies — for example directing the Pentagon to give South Korea a primary role deterring North Korea — and criticizes European and Asian partners for relying on U.S. defense "subsidies." It reorients U.S. focus to dominance in the Western Hemisphere by prioritizing guaranteed military and commercial access to Greenland and the Panama Canal, ties its Greenland language to Trump's Davos claim of a "framework" with NATO chief Mark Rutte (Danish officials say formal negotiations have not begun), and says the U.S. will engage neighbors in "good faith" while taking "focused, decisive action" if partners do not "do their part."

After U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro and the Trump administration signaled it would "run" Venezuela — seizing tankers, arranging sales of 30–50 million barrels to U.S. markets and pressing oil majors at the White House — Caracas advanced a draft overhaul to loosen state control, cut royalties and offer international arbitration to attract foreign capital. That mix of U.S. export control, promised revenue oversight and pro‑investor legal changes risks sidelining China’s state oil companies, which hold claims on more than 4 billion barrels now contingent on Washington’s policy and commercial decisions.

AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund for academics, said it will sell its roughly $100 million U.S. Treasury portfolio by the end of the month, citing "poor U.S. government finances" and will instead hold U.S. dollars and short‑duration debt; the fund said President Trump’s Greenland dispute “didn’t make it more difficult” to take the decision. The sale comes amid an escalating U.S.–European row over Mr. Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland—by purchase, coercion, or even military means—and his threatened tariffs on several allies, which has provoked Nordic and EU condemnation, large protests, diplomatic talks and legislative moves in Washington, even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the idea of a broader Treasury selloff.

At Friday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump addressed tens of thousands of anti‑abortion demonstrators in a prerecorded video while Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and evangelical figure Cissie Graham Lynch spoke in person, all casting the post‑Roe fight against abortion as unfinished. The White House said Trump signed a proclamation declaring "National Sanctity of Human Life Day" and highlighted recent steps by federal agencies to restrict abortion funding, bolster religious and conscience protections, and roll back Biden‑era guidance. Vance called treating "babies like inconveniences" a mark of barbarism and framed protection of the unborn as central to American civilization, while Johnson described himself as the child of an "unplanned teen pregnancy" whose parents rejected advice to "take care of that problem." Graham Lynch recounted how attending the March for Life years ago shifted her from silence to activism and warned that overturning Roe took nearly 50 years and "the fight isn’t over yet" because abortions continue daily. The coordinated messaging underscores how the administration and allied Christian organizations are using the high‑profile rally to claim credit for Roe’s reversal and to justify further federal limits on abortion funding and access.

National Park Service crews removed interpretive panels about the nine people enslaved at the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park—leaving bolt holes and “panel shadows,” sparking emotional public reaction—and the City of Philadelphia has sued Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting NPS Director Jessica Bowron, arguing the city shares design authority and that slavery is central to the site’s story. Interior says the removals comply with President Trump’s executive order to eliminate “divisive” content and called the lawsuit frivolous, while critics and preservation groups say the action is part of a broader administration effort to reshape museum and park narratives, from Smithsonian exhibit changes to other removals.

CBS reports that President Donald Trump, citing an impending 'record cold wave' winter storm expected to hit roughly two‑thirds of the United States, again mocked global warming on Truth Social and asked 'WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???' Climate scientists interviewed by CBS say he is conflating short‑term weather with long‑term climate trends, noting that global warming refers to the decades‑long rise in average global temperatures driven by greenhouse gases, not day‑to‑day cold snaps. Experts including Rutgers meteorologist Steven Decker and UC climate scientist Daniel Swain explain that heavy ice from this storm actually depends on layers of warmer‑than‑freezing air overrunning Arctic air, and that disruptions of the polar vortex can send frigid air south even as the planet overall warms. The piece cites new NOAA data ranking 2025 as the third‑warmest year since 1850 and confirming that the 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015, with long‑term records showing winter warming in the eastern U.S. and record‑warm winters across much of the West. The article underscores how Trump’s framing, which he has used in past cold waves, conflicts with the scientific consensus and current federal climate observations at a moment when his administration is reshaping energy and climate policy.

At oral arguments Wednesday, multiple Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s claim that a president’s “for‑cause” decision to fire a Federal Reserve governor is wholly unreviewable, with several justices — including conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh — warning such a rule would undercut 112 years of Fed independence and the Court signaling it is likely to keep Lisa Cook in her seat for now. The administration says it had “cause” based on alleged pre‑appointment mortgage misrepresentations Cook denies and for which she has not been charged; Fed Chair Jerome Powell (who will attend the arguments) and four former Fed chairs, Treasury secretaries and other economists filed warnings about the economic and credibility risks, while recent DOJ subpoenas relating to Powell have complicated the optics of the dispute.

The House passed the "AI for Main Street" bill. Meanwhile the RNC approved a rules change allowing Chair Joe Gruters to convene a midterm-year convention — promoted by Trump as a "Trump‑a‑palooza" to highlight his record, with dates and location to be announced and drawing criticism from DNC Chair Ken Martin.

The full RNC voted unanimously by voice vote to amend its bylaws and remove procedural hurdles to hold a first‑ever 2026 "midterm convention" backed by Donald Trump, with Chair Joe Gruters saying early fall is the likely timing and Dallas and Las Vegas being floated as potential host cities. Gruters said the party must "do things outside the box" to defy history and called Trump "by far the best messenger we have," and the committee also voted to posthumously honor Charlie Kirk.

Bank of America is reportedly weighing a new credit card that would carry a 10% APR after President Trump urged a one‑year 10% cap to take effect Jan. 20, but banks have largely left rates unchanged amid no statute, regulation or clear enforcement mechanism and legal experts and the CFPB say it’s unclear a president can unilaterally impose such a limit. Economists and industry groups say a hard cap could save consumers tens to hundreds of billions annually (Vanderbilt estimates about $100 billion) yet would slash bank revenue, prompt credit‑line cuts or higher‑cost alternatives, and has drawn sharp pushback from Wall Street even as some lawmakers and fintechs move to align with the proposal.

Kash Patel has expanded a personnel purge at the FBI that removed senior agents tied to probes of Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 investigations — including the special agent in charge in Atlanta, the acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office, a former SAC in New Orleans and as many as six Miami agents connected to the Mar‑a‑Lago search — with several removals tied to the "Arctic Frost" investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Critics, including the FBI Agents Association and fired executives now suing and alleging Patel acted at the behest of the White House and Trump allies, characterize the actions as retaliatory and point to earlier controversial firings (such as 12 agents disciplined for kneeling in 2020 and a veteran dismissed over displaying an LGBTQ+ flag) as part of a broader pattern that they say undermines public safety.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 23, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva and WTO Director‑General Ngozi Okonjo‑Iweala said the world economy is proving more resilient than expected even as President Trump’s tariff threats and Greenland‑related trade clashes unsettle markets. Georgieva noted the IMF has lifted its 2026 global growth forecast to 3.3% but warned that is "beautiful but not enough" to work off record public debts or protect those "falling off the wagon." Lagarde urged governments and firms to "distinguish the signal from the noise," treating the week’s Europe‑bashing and tariff brinkmanship as motivation to improve productivity and the investment climate rather than to retreat from integration. Okonjo‑Iweala emphasized that about 72% of world trade still moves under WTO rules despite what she called "the biggest disruption in 80 years," arguing trade will adapt around political obstacles much like a river flows around rocks. Their message, delivered as Trump’s Greenland threats and tariff feints draw sharp criticism online and from allied leaders, is that structural problems like high debt, weak European productivity and AI‑driven inequality are bigger long‑run risks than any single U.S. tariff volley.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to halt demolition of the White House East Wing and construction of a $400 million ballroom, alleging the Trump administration began tearing down the wing before required independent reviews, congressional approval and public comment; White House officials say severe structural defects made demolition and reconstruction the most economical option and have proposed a roughly 90,000‑square‑foot addition (including a 22,000‑square‑foot ballroom) with possible changes to the West Wing colonnade, drawing sharp questions from NCPC and Commission of Fine Arts members about scale, process and visual impact. At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon expressed skepticism that the president has authority to authorize the project or that the privately routed funding through the National Park Service circumvents congressional oversight, calling the arrangement a “Rube Goldberg” scheme and signaling he may pause the work pending a February ruling.

A minor electrical issue about 45 minutes after takeoff for Davos — during which cabin lights went out and the plane returned to Joint Base Andrews — prompted White House spokespeople to say the incident underscored the need for a newer aircraft and even quip that a Qatar‑donated 747 "sounds much better." The Air Force says it remains committed to expediting delivery of the Qatar gift no later than summer 2026 amid bipartisan criticism of the May 2025 acceptance on espionage and constitutional grounds, while President Trump and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg have publicly pressed for faster replacement of the roughly 40‑year‑old jet.

At Davos, Trump outlined a housing-affordability package that would bar large institutional investors from future purchases of existing single‑family homes (while excluding new construction and not forcing current owners to sell) and direct the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to try to lower borrowing costs. Experts caution the investor ban would touch a small share of stock (large owners hold roughly 1% of single‑family homes), that core supply problems (zoning, land costs and underbuilding) are largely unaddressed, and that cheaper mortgages could boost demand and prices — with estimates suggesting bond buying would only modestly lower rates and many implementation details remain unclear.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D‑Texas, joined by Rep. Dan Goldman, D‑N.Y., has introduced the TRACK ICE Act, a bill that would force Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to publicly disclose details of their detention and deportation flights within 72 hours. The proposal comes amid a sharp increase in Trump‑era deportation flights—up an estimated 44% between 2024 and 2025, according to Human Rights First—and growing Democratic efforts to rein in ICE after the fatal Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. The bill would require DHS to publish each ICE Air or CBP‑commissioned flight’s aircraft identification code, departure and arrival times, mission designation, and anonymized demographics of detainees, including age group, nationality, sex and family status. Crockett calls current operations "ghost flights" that tear families apart without oversight, while critics warn that granular disclosure could endanger agents and targets or compromise operations. DHS has not yet commented, but the measure signals a push by progressive Democrats to drag a largely opaque air‑deportation system into public view as Trump’s mass‑removal machinery ramps up.

Speaker Mike Johnson signaled he would support impeachments of “activist” judges, explicitly naming Judge James Boasberg, prompting House conservatives to revive impeachment efforts, add co-sponsors and coordinate with Johnson’s team. The White House has likewise embraced impeaching judges it calls “rogue,” linking that backing to the Senate Judiciary inquiry into Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, while GOP leaders say the push supplements—not replaces—earlier legislation to curb nationwide injunctions.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Donald Trump delivered a combative address attacking Joe Biden’s economic record and urging European leaders to abandon what he called an old 'consensus' of high spending, mass migration and reliance on 'Green New scam' energy. Trump labeled the Biden years a period of 'stagflation' with low growth and high inflation and claimed that after one year back in office the U.S. now has 'virtually no inflation and extraordinarily high economic growth,' asserting his administration has secured record investment commitments of $18–20 trillion after Biden 'secured less than $1 trillion' over four years—figures that sharply conflict with independent data cited by fact‑checkers. The speech comes as Trump is threatening tariffs on several European nations as leverage in his push to acquire Greenland, a move that has already alarmed U.S. allies and drawn criticism from economists who warn new trade shocks could undercut the global expansion he touts. Trump told the Davos audience that when 'America booms, the entire world booms' and cast his rapid turnaround narrative as proof that his economic and energy policies should become the new playbook for Western governments, even as markets and foreign leaders weigh the credibility and risks of his claims. The remarks also extend his domestic political messaging overseas, with heavy emphasis on contrasting his first year back in office with Biden’s tenure as he works to frame 2026 midterm debates around inflation, investment and immigration.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, have expanded a probe into a November video urging troops to refuse “illegal orders,” reaching out to or seeking interviews with several lawmakers involved — notably Sen. Elissa Slotkin and House members Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan and Maggie Goodlander — while the FBI has also interviewed participants amid threats tied to the controversy. Separately, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued a formal letter of censure and opened retirement‑grade proceedings that could demote retired Navy Capt. Sen. Mark Kelly and cut his pension (with 30 days to respond and 45 days for a determination), prompting Kelly to sue the Pentagon as unconstitutional retaliation after President Trump publicly denounced the video as “seditious” and “punishable by death.”

Rep. Julia Letlow formally launched a U.S. Senate bid in Louisiana after former President Trump publicly urged and endorsed her as a primary challenger to incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, who says he will remain in the race and is confident of re‑election. The endorsement prompted state Rep. Julie Emerson to exit the GOP primary, drew a $1 million pledge from MAHA PAC (tied to RFK Jr.) to back Letlow, and highlighted intraparty divisions as leaders like John Thune privately back Cassidy while some Senate-aligned super PACs signal neutrality or limited involvement.

President Trump suggested on Truth Social that the U.S. "maybe should have put NATO to the test" by invoking Article 5 to have allies defend the southern border, and has tied a purported Davos "framework" with NATO chief Mark Rutte over Greenland to explicit tariff threats (initially 10% rising to 25% on eight European NATO countries) while saying he would waive tariffs for countries that cooperate or send forces. His Greenland push — in which he publicly said he "won't use force" but pressed for U.S. access and control — has spurred emergency NATO and European meetings, sharp allied rebukes and threats of retaliation, widespread U.S. polling opposition to military action, Danish and Greenlandic insistence that sovereignty is non‑negotiable, and Pentagon officials saying they have not been ordered to plan an invasion.

President Donald Trump has filed a civil lawsuit seeking up to $5 billion from JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon, alleging the bank improperly cut him and his businesses off from financial services after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot because of what he calls its 'woke beliefs' and his conservative views. The complaint claims JPMorgan placed Trump and his companies on an internal 'blacklist' used to flag people with a history of misconduct, though it cites no evidence for the alleged list. JPMorgan told Axios the suit has 'no merit,' says it does not close accounts for political or religious reasons, and argues it shuts accounts only when they pose legal or regulatory risk, while also noting it has asked both the current and prior administrations to change the rules that put banks in this position. The case caps years of deteriorating relations between Trump and Dimon, from the bank’s 2021 decision to halt donations to Republicans who contested the 2020 results to Dimon’s 2022 remark that Trump’s election denial was 'treason' and his recent warnings against undermining Federal Reserve independence as Trump pushes an unprecedented criminal probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The lawsuit also follows Trump’s August executive order threatening to punish banks that allegedly discriminate against conservatives, underscoring how he is using both policy and personal litigation to pressure the financial sector.

Late‑night host Jimmy Kimmel used his Jan. 21, 2026 broadcast to tell viewers he "might need [their] help again" after the Federal Communications Commission issued new guidance warning the three major broadcast networks that their late‑night and daytime talk shows must comply with Section 315’s equal‑opportunities rule when they host political candidates. The FCC release reiterated that if a station lets any legally qualified candidate "use its facilities," it must offer equal opportunity to rivals, explicitly flagging talk shows like Kimmel’s as potentially covered and signaling a harder line on networks that treat them as exempt "news" programs. Kimmel, whose show was briefly suspended last fall after controversial remarks about Charlie Kirk drew public threats from FCC Chair Brendan Carr, framed the move as part of President Trump’s "war on talk shows" and said his show is "once again getting threatened" by regulators. The story underscores a growing fight over how far the administration will push regulatory levers to constrain perceived hostile media, and whether applying equal‑time rules to partisan‑leaning talk formats would chill candidate appearances or force networks to book political opponents they otherwise would avoid. Civil‑liberties and media‑law experts are already debating online whether the FCC’s posture is a neutral enforcement of long‑standing statute or a politicized attempt to pressure outlets critical of the president.

At Davos, Trump blasted the UK–Mauritius plan to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands as an “act of great stupidity,” warning it would imperil the U.S. base on Diego Garcia despite London’s plan to retain the facility under a 99‑year lease, and analysts say he is tying opposition to the handover into a broader “Trump Doctrine” that bolsters his push for control of strategic Arctic territory. He has linked that Arctic push to coercive measures — threatening tariffs on European allies over Greenland before saying he would not impose them after a reported “framework” was reached in talks with NATO secretary‑general Mark Rutte and naming negotiators — a move that sparked a market rally even as Danish officials, Arctic experts and historical records dispute his claims about Greenland’s sovereignty and foreign naval activity.

NPR details how Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become the highest‑funded U.S. law‑enforcement agency after President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, jumping from a long‑standing ~$10 billion annual budget to authority over roughly $85 billion. The law gives ICE a $75 billion multi‑year supplement on top of its base budget, meaning if spent steadily the agency would wield nearly $29 billion a year—about triple its recent funding and close to the entire Justice Department’s requested 2026 budget. DHS has set goals of deporting 1 million people annually and expanding detention capacity so ICE can hold up to 100,000 people per day, backed by $45 billion earmarked for new beds, compared with about 65,700 already detained as of Nov. 30. The piece traces the political and migration context—from Obama‑era underfunding through Trump’s first term, Title 42 under Biden, and Trump’s 2025 return—showing how rising encounters and nativist politics paved the way for this escalation. It also notes growing criticism over ICE tactics, including masked agents sweeping U.S. neighborhoods and the killing of Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis, as civil‑rights advocates warn that an agency now larger than all other federal law‑enforcement budgets combined is operating with limited transparency or oversight.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s planned World Economic Forum appearance at USA House in Davos was canceled at the last minute on Wednesday, and his office is accusing the Trump White House and State Department of leaning on organizers to keep him off the stage. The event, a Fortune‑organized "fireside chat" scheduled to follow President Trump’s Davos address, was scrapped after a USA House official told Newsom’s staff that having an elected official no longer fit their afternoon programming; Fortune later confirmed USA House had decided it "would not be able to accommodate the Governor’s participation." Newsom blasted the move on X as cowardice and said he was only offered a "nightcap reception" instead, while White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dodged the pressure allegation and instead mocked him as a "third-rate governor" unknown in Davos. USA House, run by investor Richard Stromback’s firm and advertised as independent of the U.S. government, has hosted multiple Trump cabinet officials this week, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who used a news conference there to attack Newsom as "economically illiterate." The dust‑up underscores how even quasi‑private U.S. pavilions at global gatherings can become extensions of White House message control, and it highlights the escalating personal feud between a likely 2028 Democratic contender and the sitting president.

Lindsey Halligan, a Trump‑appointed lawyer, has left her interim post in the Eastern District of Virginia after Judge Cameron McGowan Currie found her appointment unlawful, tossed indictments of James Comey and New York AG Letitia James, and Judge David Novak barred her from using the “U.S. Attorney” title and ordered her to explain its continued use. DOJ leaders including Attorney General Pam Bondi have contested the judges’ orders and are appealing while attempting to revive the prosecutions (amid internal turmoil that included the firing of Halligan’s top deputy, Robert McBride), and Chief Judge M. Hannah Lauck has authorized a vacancy announcement to fill the office.

A Ukrainian official says President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will remain in Kyiv and not travel to Davos for a meeting with President Donald Trump, despite Trump telling World Economic Forum attendees he would see Zelenskyy 'later today' and then on Thursday. In his Davos speech and a follow‑up Q&A on Jan. 21, Trump said Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be 'stupid' if they do not soon reach a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, while insisting 'we’re reasonably close to a deal' and announcing that envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner will meet Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Ukrainian officials had hoped the Davos encounter would produce signatures on two documents — one enshrining security arrangements for Ukraine in a peace framework, the other creating an $800 billion 'prosperity plan' for postwar reconstruction — but European governments balked at publicly rolling out the reconstruction package amid anger over Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland and his Gaza 'Board of Peace' scheme. Trump complained that at times Zelenskyy has refused U.S.–Russia deal terms and at other times Putin has walked away, calling it 'a very difficult balance' as he tries to sell himself as a dealmaker even while his rhetoric and unrelated territorial ambitions are undercutting allied support. For U.S. readers, the episode highlights both the high‑stakes diplomacy around Ukraine’s future and how Trump’s confrontational posture toward Europe is entangling efforts to lock in security guarantees and massive Western reconstruction funding.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that President Trump’s push to seize Greenland amounts to a “deep crisis” for NATO that undermines the Western rules‑based order, saying Moscow is watching the transatlantic rift with a mix of glee and wariness even as it denies intent to threaten the island. He also denounced the U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a “crude military intervention,” remarks made as Denmark and Greenland rebuffed U.S. acquisition efforts, European troops deployed to Greenland for Arctic exercises, and the White House floated military options and tariffs to press allies.

U.S. officials confirmed a limited number of diplomatic and technical personnel are in Caracas conducting initial assessments for a potential phased resumption of operations — including reopening the U.S. embassy and consulates — the administration’s first on‑record acknowledgment of a team on the ground. Separately, reporting says the CIA director traveled to Venezuela to meet with acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of broader engagement following Maduro’s capture.

Speaking at Davos on Jan. 21, Trump told Canada "lives because of the United States" and directly addressed former Bank of England governor Mark Carney—saying "remember that, Mark"—in response to Carney’s warning that the world order is being ruptured. He also repeated his claim that the 2020 election was "rigged," said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine "wouldn't have started" if it weren't, and asserted "people will soon be prosecuted" over the 2020 outcome without specifying who or what charges; mainstream accounts note Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 and that fraud allegations have been broadly refuted.

President Trump’s assertion that civil‑rights laws have “very badly” harmed White people has coincided with a shift at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division toward challenging state affirmative‑action and DEI policies, including a June inquiry into Rhode Island’s long‑standing hiring plan and a lawsuit against Minnesota’s statutory affirmative‑action civil‑service requirements. DOJ officials say there are “dozens of active investigations” into alleged illegal discrimination tied to DEI, while former Civil Rights Division attorney Jen Swedish calls the division politicized and NAACP President Derrick Johnson rejects the administration’s “reverse‑discrimination” narrative as false and misleading.

Air Force One carrying President Trump turned around and was diverted to Joint Base Andrews after what officials, including Leavitt, described as a "minor electrical issue." Despite the diversion and return to the U.S., Trump has since arrived in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to address the heated debate over ownership of Greenland.

The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that traffic to its website jumped 68.49% in 2025, to 102 million pageviews and 67 million unique visitors, and highlighted strong interest in a page describing self‑deportation through its CBP Home mobile app. Launched in March 2025 under President Trump’s second term, the app lets people in the U.S. illegally apply for voluntary departure, with DHS offering a $1,000 stipend plus free flights and travel assistance to those who leave, including a heavily promoted Cyber Monday 'deal.' DHS and Secretary Kristi Noem now claim that in Trump’s first year back in office nearly 3 million 'illegal aliens' exited the U.S., including an estimated 2.2 million self‑deportations and more than 675,000 deportations, and say Border Patrol apprehensions over the past year were the lowest in the agency’s history. The department is also preparing a redesigned website and has added a 'Worst of the Worst' page naming migrants it labels rapists, murderers and child predators to showcase arrests. The figures and framing are part of a broader administration effort to argue the border is 'the most secure in history' and to normalize self‑deportation as a core enforcement tool, though the underlying methodology for its exit estimates is not detailed in this piece.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and Kennedy Center trustee, has filed a federal civil lawsuit arguing the Kennedy Center board illegally added President Donald Trump’s name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a Dec. 18–19, 2025 vote, saying Congress alone can rename what it designated in the 1960s as the capital’s sole national memorial to JFK. The suit seeks a court declaration that the institution’s legal name remains “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” and that the Trump‑backed renaming vote is null and void, with the administration expected to formally respond by the end of February. Beatty’s complaint portrays the ouster of prior trustees, installation of Trump loyalists, election of Trump as board chair and appointment of Richard Grenell as interim president as an “authoritarian” power play that has damaged the center’s finances, audience and artistic mission, beyond the unknown cost of rebranding signage and websites. In parallel, Rep. April McClain Delaney has introduced a bill that would require removal of any signage or identification differing from the statutory name, and Rep. Stephen Lynch has offered a House resolution formally condemning the change, with sponsors warning that allowing a sitting president to emblazon his own name on a congressional memorial sets a dangerous precedent. A Kennedy Center spokeswoman defended the move by crediting Trump with “saving America’s cultural center after years of neglect,” while outside counsel Norm Eisen told CBS the losses to “the performing corps, to the audience base, to the bottom line of the Center, to its memorial and other activities and indeed to the arts and arts education themselves have been vast.” The fight is already drawing sharp reaction online, with critics comparing the renaming to strongman self‑monuments and supporters accusing Democrats of weaponizing culture, underscoring how even the branding of a national arts institution has become another front in Trump‑era legal and political battles.

The Trump administration in December ordered a stop‑work suspension of five East Coast offshore wind projects—Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Empire Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind—citing classified Defense Department reports and national‑security and military‑readiness concerns without disclosing details to developers. States, attorneys general and companies including Equinor, Ørsted and Dominion have sued, saying the pause is arbitrary, threatens projects far along in construction and risks billions in losses, and federal judges have issued preliminary injunctions allowing Revolution Wind and Empire Wind to resume while courts review the order. The moves come alongside White House efforts to curb NEPA reviews, prompting critics to say the administration’s actions reflect a broader political rollback of federal clean‑energy permitting.

A CBS–YouGov poll finds most Americans say President Trump hasn't done enough to address rising prices and want more focus on inflation a year into his term. The White House's affordability message has stumbled amid the president's admission of a "public relations" problem and a string of tone‑deaf staff comments — from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's remarks about retirees owning multiple homes to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins's disputed "$3 meal" example — even as Trump plans an affordability speech from Davos.

President Donald Trump used a new Truth Social post to condemn the U.K.’s plan to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an act of 'GREAT STUPIDITY' and falsely suggesting Britain is 'giving away' Diego Garcia, the Indian Ocean atoll hosting a major U.S. base. The criticism marks a sharp reversal from the Trump administration’s prior public support for the May 2025 U.K.–Mauritius agreement, under which Britain will retain Diego Garcia as a U.S.–U.K. military facility via a 99‑year lease worth at least £120 million ($160 million) annually. British officials say the deal answers U.N. and World Court pressure to decolonize the islands while legally securing the base against international challenges, and Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden publicly argued Trump’s outburst is really about his frustrated Greenland acquisition push rather than Chagos itself. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has tried to calm tensions, labeling Trump’s Greenland takeover talk 'completely wrong' and urging 'calm discussion,' even as the Chagos legislation encounters opposition in Parliament and criticism from displaced islanders who say they were not consulted. For U.S. readers, the episode highlights how Trump is now leveraging a long‑running U.K. decolonization dispute to justify his controversial Greenland ambitions and publicly pressure a core NATO ally over a base Washington itself has said is protected by the very deal he now derides.

In the days before President Donald Trump’s scheduled arrival at the World Economic Forum in Davos, violent protests broke out in multiple Swiss cities, with demonstrators burning American flags and clashing with riot police. Around 300 protesters marched in Davos on Jan. 19, accusing Swiss authorities of legitimizing what they called authoritarian and plutocratic politics by hosting Trump, while thousands rallied in Zurich and smaller groups demonstrated in Bern. Swiss police in full riot gear used water cannons, chemical irritants and rubber bullets after some masked protesters smashed shop windows and threw paint bags, fireworks and stones, with two officers reportedly struck but uninjured and the full extent of property damage still unknown. The unrest comes amid heightened tensions with European leaders over Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland, including his refusal to rule out military options, and as activists project anti‑Trump imagery onto ski slopes near Davos branding him the 'Spirit of plutocracy.' Trump, in a fresh social‑media post, called Greenland 'imperative for National and World Security' and insisted 'there can be no going back,' signaling he intends to keep the territorial dispute and his broader nationalist agenda front and center at Davos.

At his Jan. 20, 2026 one‑year press conference, Trump repeatedly claimed "we have no inflation," said gas was "$1.99 in many states," touted $18 trillion in new investment pledges, argued one‑in‑four jobs added under Biden were government positions, and highlighted tough immigration enforcement using curated ICE images and mugshots. Fact checks show December CPI was up 2.7% year‑over‑year, the mid‑January national gas average was about $2.78 with no state averaging $1.99, the White House lists $9.6 trillion in pledges (experts call even that figure implausible), roughly 11% of jobs added were government jobs, and ICE data indicate about 74% of detainees had no criminal convictions while detailed deportation breakdowns are not published.

In an NPR interview at the Detroit Auto Show, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it would be a 'mistake' to assume pro‑Trump forces—or the Trump administration itself—won’t try to disrupt ballot counting in 2026 and 2028, and argued it is 'not paranoia' to worry that Trump’s immigration crackdowns and deployments of thousands of federal agents could be repurposed as tools of election control. Whitmer said Democratic governors are conducting tabletop exercises to prepare for possible interference but declined to give operational details, citing security concerns. She also warned that Trump’s tariffs have 'taken a terrible toll' on Michigan’s auto industry, saying globalized supply chains and billions in added costs are contributing to a contraction in U.S. manufacturing even as some union leaders publicly back tariffs. Looking ahead to 2028, Whitmer—term‑limited and not currently a candidate, but often mentioned for national office—said Democrats must confront why younger and working‑class men are drifting away from the party, noting that women signed up for college, skills programs and first‑home aid at roughly twice the rate of men in Michigan. Her comments feed into broader national debates over how far Trump might go in using federal power around elections, and whether Democrats can reconnect with male voters angered by economic and cultural shifts.

President Donald Trump issued a formal Martin Luther King Jr. Day proclamation Monday evening only after civil-rights groups criticized him for breaking with recent presidential practice by neither attending public commemorations nor recognizing the holiday earlier in the day. The proclamation, released while Trump spent the holiday at Mar-a-Lago and prepared to attend the college football championship in Miami, praised King’s “extraordinary resolve” and tied his legacy to “law, order, liberty, and justice for all,” echoing the administration’s current enforcement rhetoric. Trump also claimed he honored King last year by declassifying assassination files, a move historians said produced little new information and that most of King’s family had opposed. The White House did not promote the proclamation on Trump’s or the administration’s social-media feeds, which instead focused on immigration crackdowns and football, and the timing drew fire from the NAACP and other advocates who saw it as an afterthought. Bernice King, Dr. King’s daughter, used the day to urge Americans to push for an end to “state-sanctioned and facilitated violence” against Black and Brown immigrants and others, underscoring how Trump’s immigration policies and rhetoric are reshaping the politics of a holiday meant to honor nonviolent civil-rights struggle.

In an extended CBS interview after Nippon’s takeover, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt insisted the company is “absolutely” still an American company and said U.S. Steel will invest about $14 billion “over the next few years” to expand and modernize. He called President Trump’s steel tariffs a “game changer,” explicitly tying the company’s strategy to that policy as the administration’s broader tariff authority and IEEPA powers face scrutiny at the Supreme Court.

President Trump ordered the U.S. to suspend support for 66 international organizations — including 31 UN‑linked bodies such as the UNFCCC, IPCC, UNFPA and UN Women — a move the administration cast as pruning “redundant, wasteful” or sovereignty‑threatening institutions but that raises legal questions (notably over the Senate‑ratified UNFCCC), risks funding and staffing cuts, and critics say will cede influence to rivals like China. UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned the U.S. is privileging “the law of power” over the “power of law,” while UN officials, saying they were blindsided, stressed assessed dues remain legal obligations as agencies brace for disruptions and relocations.

DHS highlighted a viral St. Paul video showing an ICE agent telling bystanders they were impeding an operation to arrest an alleged child‑sex‑offender, a clip praised by DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin and shared by White House officials. The video surfaced amid a volatile federal surge of roughly 3,000 immigration officers to the Twin Cities after the ICE killing of Renee Good, sparking frequent clashes — protesters following and blocking ICE vehicles, sit‑ins and accusations of aggressive tactics and projectiles, multiple arrests and injuries, and disputed claims between DHS and Minnesota officials over detainers and conduct.

A GOP bill would authorize annexation of Greenland — including a separate proposal by a Republican lawmaker to make Greenland the 51st state — while House Democrats, led by Rep. Gabe Amo (D‑R.I.), have introduced the "NO NATO for Purchase Act" to bar U.S. actions or spending to purchase a NATO member or NATO‑protected territory. Amo’s measure, backed by more than 20 Democratic co‑sponsors and framed as "Greenland is not for sale," is a direct response to renewed Republican talk of acquiring Greenland and follows diplomatic exchanges in which Danish officials said Copenhagen and Washington still disagree over Greenland’s long‑term security and control.

The White House is directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds as part of a broader effort by President Trump to use federal entities to enact housing policy without new legislation, a move that has prompted concern on Capitol Hill about stretching statutory authority. At the same time, Freddie Mac reports the average 30-year fixed rate has fallen to 6.06% — the lowest in more than three years — boosting purchase and refinance activity even as Attom data show affordability remains strained with record median prices and home-price gains far outpacing wages.

A new Fannie Mae ad airing this week uses an AI‑cloned version of President Donald Trump’s voice—created with the administration’s permission—to tout an 'all new Fannie Mae' and cast the government‑controlled mortgage giant as 'protector of the American Dream,' according to a video disclaimer and AP reporting. In the one‑minute spot, the synthetic Trump voice says the housing system has 'stopped working' for many Americans and promises that Fannie Mae will work with banks to approve more would‑be homebuyers at a time when affordability is a top voter concern. The ad lands as Trump prepares to push housing affordability at the World Economic Forum in Davos and after he pledged 'some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,' including exploring 50‑year mortgages, directing Fannie and Freddie to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to lower rates, and floating a ban on large institutional investors buying homes. Fannie Mae and its sibling Freddie Mac, still under federal control after the Great Recession, guarantee roughly half of the $13 trillion U.S. home‑loan market, so any shift in their mandate—or in how the White House uses them—has system‑wide implications even if many of these ideas remain vague talking points. The use of an officially sanctioned AI voice for a sitting president in a policy‑branded ad also highlights how quickly generative‑AI tools are moving from novelty into the core of political and government‑aligned messaging, in a year when deepfake abuse and demands for tighter AI rules are already front‑page issues.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered more than 200 California state parks to waive vehicle day‑use fees on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 19, 2026, directly rebuking the Trump administration’s decision to drop MLK Day, Juneteenth and National Public Lands Day from the 2026 list of fee‑free national park days. The new federal calendar instead adds dates such as Flag Day—which coincides with Trump’s birthday—Constitution Day, the National Park Service’s 110th anniversary and Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday. Newsom accused Trump of trying to "erase Dr. King’s legacy" and said California would "answer with light" by opening state parks, with the California State Parks Foundation—rather than taxpayers—covering the cost of free entry. Democratic allies framed the move as a way to keep access to public lands tied to civil‑rights history, especially as the country approaches the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. The announcement folds into a broader clash between blue states and Washington over how public institutions mark Black history and who gets affordable access to parks and monuments.

After the U.S. raid that ousted Nicolás Maduro, President Trump has made former Maduro vice president Delcy Rodríguez the Biden‑era U.S. government's primary partner in Caracas—holding calls and meetings, dispatching CIA Director John Ratcliffe, pressing for the expulsion of suspected foreign intelligence personnel, asserting indefinite U.S. control over seized Venezuelan oil (announcing 30–50 million barrels to be sold at market price), meeting with Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, and completing an initial $500 million sale while U.S. forces interdicted tankers tied to sanctioned shipments. The shift has drawn scrutiny because AP‑obtained DEA files reportedly designated Rodríguez a 2022 DEA "priority target" — a label used for major drug‑trafficking or money‑laundering suspects — and she had been previously sanctioned by the U.S., even as she publicly calls for opening Venezuela’s oil sector and continues prisoner releases amid regional protests over raid casualties.

CBS News says it decided from the outset to air anchor Tony Dokoupil’s 13‑minute interview with President Donald Trump in full, after the White House warned it would sue if any of the footage was cut. According to unaired tape described by The New York Times, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Dokoupil at a Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan that Trump’s message was, "Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape," adding, "If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off." CBS told the Times it had already independently chosen to run the interview unedited, while Leavitt said the American people "deserve" full, uncut Trump interviews and noted that CBS did air it in full. The standoff comes after Trump sued CBS in 2024 over an edited "60 Minutes" Kamala Harris interview—a case experts said lacked merit—that ended with parent company Paramount quietly paying Trump $16 million while seeking regulatory approval for a Skydance deal. Together, the threat and prior settlement raise fresh questions about whether the White House is using litigation and corporate leverage to influence how major outlets edit presidential interviews.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who this month received the Nobel Peace Prize, traveled to Washington and publicly presented her Nobel medal to President Trump, saying she wanted to "share" or give him the prize in recognition of his role in actions against Nicolás Maduro. The Norwegian Nobel Institute and the Nobel Foundation promptly issued formal reminders that Nobel Prizes cannot be revoked, shared, transferred, or symbolically passed on, even as the White House praised Trump as deserving of the honor.

A new analysis of President Donald Trump’s second-term economic record finds that his sweeping tariff strategy has sharply raised U.S. trade taxes and narrowed the trade deficit but has not delivered either a recession or the promised manufacturing boom. The effective average tariff rate has climbed to 11.2% from 2.5%, helping drive tariff collections to $195 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025—more than double the previous year—with current rates implying potential revenue of about $247 billion in 2026. Economists cited in the piece say all the tariff uncertainty is a drag on growth, with 2025 GDP expected to come in around 2%, while manufacturing employment has actually fallen and many headline‑grabbing factory announcements are years from fruition or may never materialize. So far, higher import prices have not produced a fresh inflation spike, in part because firms stockpiled goods before levies hit and some have secured exemptions, but analysts warn the full price impact may yet filter through. At the same time, a strong stock market and still‑elevated home prices have widened an affordability gap: only 21% of 2025 homebuyers were first‑timers, the lowest share since at least 1981, setting up affordability as a central political fight heading into the rest of Trump’s term.

President Donald Trump used a Saturday Truth Social post to threaten Indiana Senate Majority Leader Rodric Bray’s political career, saying he and former Indiana congressman David McIntosh will work "tirelessly" to "take out" the Republican leader after Bray’s chamber voted down a Trump‑backed congressional map. The proposed redraw, which the Indiana House had passed 57–41 with a dozen GOP defections, would have added two more right‑leaning U.S. House districts and effectively eliminated two Democratic seats, but the Senate rejected it 31–19 last month, with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats in opposition. Bray had repeatedly said there was not enough support in his caucus to move forward despite intense lobbying from Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who visited the state twice to press the case. Trump blasted Bray as a "total RINO" who "betrayed the Republican Party" and warned, "We’re after you Bray, like no one has ever come after you before!", while McIntosh echoed online that "Rod Bray is going down." The clash turns an internal Indiana redistricting dispute into a national‑level power struggle over how aggressively Republicans should gerrymander maps and how far a sitting president will go to punish state‑level skeptics ahead of the 2026 midterms.

CENTCOM said a U.S. strike in northwest Syria on Jan. 16 killed Bilal Hasan al‑Jasim, an Al‑Qaeda‑linked leader it alleges was directly connected to the Dec. 13 Palmyra ambush that killed two Iowa National Guard sergeants and an American interpreter. The strike is part of Operation Hawkeye Strike — a series of large‑scale, coalition‑supported retaliatory waves since Dec. 19 that CENTCOM says has hit more than 100 Islamic State infrastructure and weapons targets across Syria — and officials reiterated a stern deterrent that the U.S. will find and kill those who harm its warfighters.

The Trump White House, joined by a bipartisan group of PJM‑state governors and the National Energy Dominance Council, has urged PJM to run an emergency auction for 15‑year contracts in which tech companies would finance more than $15 billion of new, round‑the‑clock generation—largely natural‑gas plants—to meet rising electricity demand from data centers and ease price spikes concentrated in the Mid‑Atlantic. Supporters say the plan could reduce blackout risks, PJM’s board has vowed immediate steps and will separately assess integration of large loads, while critics contend the proposal skips fixes to the interconnection backlog and leans on fossil fuels instead of wind, solar and batteries.

President Trump issued a broad round of clemency grants that pardoned former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and her co‑defendants — banker Julio Martín Herrera‑Velutini and ex‑FBI agent Mark Rossini — who had pleaded guilty in a campaign‑finance case accusing them of funneling more than $300,000 to influence a banking regulator. The wave, which included roughly 13 pardons and 8 commutations and other controversial recipients such as Adriana Camberos and former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer, prompted White House claims the prosecutions were “political” while critics note many grants were pushed by Trump allies and involved donors with multimillion‑dollar ties to pro‑Trump groups.

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department have formally ruled that the December 2025 'Warrior Dividend'—a one‑time $1,776 payment to about 1.45 million U.S. service members—will be treated as a tax‑free 'supplemental basic allowance for housing' and excluded from federal income. In guidance released Friday, the agencies said Congress appropriated $2.9 billion last July for the supplement and that, as a 'qualified military benefit,' it falls outside gross income under federal tax law. The payments went primarily to active‑duty personnel in pay grades O‑6 and below, along with eligible reserve component members as of Nov. 30, 2025, across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the ruling ensures the full $1,776 reaches 'warfighters and their families,' and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth cast it as part of a broader quality‑of‑life push as Trump touts improved recruitment and a 'reawakened' military. The decision means troops will not see the bonus clawed back at tax time, and it locks in the administration’s political framing of the payout as a symbolic, 250th‑anniversary windfall rather than taxable income.

The Education Department on Jan. 16 announced it will postpone restarting Administrative Wage Garnishment and Treasury Offset collections for federal student‑loan borrowers in default, reversing a December plan that would have sent notices to about 1,000 borrowers the week of Jan. 7. Officials, including Secretary Linda McMahon, said the pause gives borrowers time to rehabilitate loans and evaluate repayment reforms from last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and new income‑based options due July 1; advocates warned resuming garnishment would have pushed millions of defaulted borrowers deeper into debt (estimates cite more than 5 million already in default and as many as 9 million at risk), while critics say the delay is costly to taxpayers, and the department says it has already collected roughly $500 million since restarting collections though it’s unclear whether any wages were actually garnished.

Axios reports that top pro‑Trump influencers, including Laura Loomer and White House crypto/AI adviser David Sacks, are publicly attacking House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R‑Fla.) over his AI OVERWATCH Act (H.R. 6875), which would put Congress in the driver’s seat on regulating U.S. AI‑chip sales to China. Sacks boosted a post saying Mast’s bill would undercut President Trump’s authority; Loomer called it “pro‑China sabotage disguised as oversight” and urged followers to “kill the bill.” Mast, who says the legislation is still in committee, fired back that his job is not to be a “yes‑man” to Sacks or Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and insists he is trying to tighten controls on China, not help it. A close White House ally accused Mast of acting like “Huawei’s Employee of the Month,” reflecting how Trump’s team is framing the fight as an effort to strip the president of foreign‑policy power, while Nvidia defended U.S. firms competing for “vetted and approved” business abroad. The dust‑up exposes a widening rift inside the GOP over how hard to clamp down on U.S. tech exports to China and whether Congress should rein in Trump’s unilateral control over AI and semiconductor policy.

The White House acknowledged a secret weekend meeting between Trump envoy Steve Witkoff (and reportedly other senior aides including Jared Kushner) and exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, even as President Trump publicly questioned whether Iranians would accept Pahlavi’s leadership, calling him "very nice" but saying a meeting may not yet be appropriate. Pahlavi meanwhile unveiled a six‑step plan calling for "maximum economic pressure" on Tehran — targeting IRGC leadership and command-and-control, blocking regime assets and dismantling "ghost" oil tankers, enabling uncensored internet access and cyber operations to prevent shutdowns, expelling diplomats and pursuing legal cases, securing the release of political prisoners, and preparing recognition of a transitional government.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico’s cartel and migration crackdown — highlighted by joint U.S.–Mexico operations that seized more than 1,500 pounds of meth from clandestine labs and accompanied by a steep drop in homicides, reduced migration and lower fentanyl seizures at the U.S. border — shows “very compelling results” and makes U.S. strikes on Mexican soil unnecessary to protect Mexico’s sovereignty. After a call with U.S. leaders, U.S. and Mexican officials issued a joint statement saying more must be done to confront shared threats, and Sheinbaum urged Washington to curb southbound arms trafficking and treat drug consumption as a public‑health problem.

President Donald Trump is participating in a rural health roundtable Friday as the first money begins to flow from the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion, five‑year fund created by last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to shore up rural care after deep federal cuts to rural hospitals. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said states will share $10 billion for 2026, with an average award of about $200 million, and that CMS has assigned project officers to oversee how each state spends its grant. Every state applied, but funding will not be distributed equally, and critics warn the administration could threaten to claw back money from states whose policies clash with Trump’s agenda. Oz framed the program as a way to "push states to be creative" in redesigning rural health systems, even as some analysts question whether the initiative backfills earlier cuts or uses federal leverage to enforce political litmus tests. The roundtable gives the White House a platform to claim credit for new rural spending at a time when many small hospitals remain on the brink financially.

President Trump’s "Great Healthcare Plan" is a high‑level four‑pillar framework — drug pricing, insurance reforms, price transparency and fraud protections — that the White House says would redirect federal payments “directly to you,” potentially by routing funds into health savings accounts (HSAs), but it provides no legislative text or operational details. Experts and Democrats warn it does not address the lapse of enhanced ACA premium subsidies and could leave lower‑income and ACA enrollees worse off, since HSAs skew to higher‑income users and the approach could encourage non‑comprehensive coverage that undermines ACA protections.

President Trump on Dec. 31, 2025 signed a presidential proclamation delaying for one year planned tariff hikes that would have raised tariffs on upholstered furniture from the current 25% to 30% and on kitchen cabinets and vanities from 25% to 50% (the higher rates had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2026), leaving the September-imposed 25% tariffs in place. The White House framed the move as part of a "laser-focused" affordability push and ongoing trade talks — after recently rolling back some food tariffs — while economists warn such levies have pushed up consumer prices (household furnishings +4.6% year-over-year) and strategists say delays give the administration flexibility to ease costs for voters.

Former Rep. Billy Long, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Iceland, has apologized after privately joking to House colleagues that the Arctic island would become the "52nd state" with him as its governor, remarks that leaked and triggered pushback in Reykjavík. Long told Arctic Today he was "just joking" during a reunion with former colleagues and said "if anyone took offense to it, then I apologize," but Iceland’s Foreign Ministry has already demanded an explanation from the U.S. Embassy and an Icelandic MP called the episode "very serious for a small country like Iceland." The controversy lands as Trump openly threatens to take neighboring Greenland "one way or the other," has named Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland, and has said he wants Canada as the 51st state, rhetoric European governments read as undermining NATO norms. Some Icelanders have launched a petition—now with roughly 2,000 signatures—urging their government to reject Long if the Senate confirms him, reflecting public unease that U.S. talk of forcibly acquiring Greenland could extend to other North Atlantic allies. The flap underscores how Trump’s statehood and annexation talk is complicating the normally low-drama process of staffing key embassies in allied countries critical to Arctic and NATO security.

Cincinnati and wider Ohio have seen a multi‑year decline in overdose deaths after the peak of carfentanil in the illicit fentanyl supply, according to CBS on‑the‑ground reporting. Local coalitions like Hamilton County’s Addiction Response Coalition point to a mix of targeted enforcement, expanded treatment and harm‑reduction efforts for the progress, but officials caution addiction persists and sustained funding and services are still needed.

The article recounts how Democratic attorneys general in California, Oregon and Illinois waged a coordinated, largely behind‑the‑scenes legal campaign that culminated in a recent Supreme Court ruling against the Trump administration’s federalization and deployment of National Guard units over their governors’ objections. After Trump sent more than 4,000 California Guard members and Marines into downtown Los Angeles in June 2025 to “protect” immigration officers during protests—citing a little‑used 19th‑century statute, 10 U.S.C. § 12406—the same mechanism was invoked to deploy Guard troops into other Democratic‑led cities despite crime data and lower‑court findings that undercut White House claims of rampant violence. Anticipating such moves even before Trump’s reelection, blue‑state AGs spent months researching the sparse case law, sharing drafts and strategy in real time to attack the administration’s novel reading of §12406 and to frame the issue as a constitutional overreach into state control of their own Guard units. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court sided with Illinois in a key case, prompting Trump to pull hundreds of federalized Guard troops out of California, Oregon and Illinois and marking the first major high‑court rebuke of his second‑term domestic military deployments. The piece underscores that, beyond viral protest imagery and Trump’s social‑media rhetoric, it was technical federalism doctrine and emergency litigation that ultimately checked the president’s claimed authority to put troops on U.S. streets without state consent.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Minnesota Economic Club that the Biden administration—sorry, the Trump administration—will intensify efforts to claw back an estimated $9 billion from what he called a major Minnesota welfare fraud and pursue similar recoveries nationwide, saying those funds could help make President Trump’s proposed jump in the 2027 defense budget—from $901 billion to $1.5 trillion—affordable without raising taxes. The proposal more broadly hinges on tariff revenues and tighter oversight of defense contractors (including threats to cut Pentagon business with firms like Raytheon over buybacks), has prompted immediate drops in defense stocks, and faces watchdog estimates that the plan would cost roughly $5 trillion from 2027–2035.

Speaking Jan. 8, 2026 in Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom used his final State of the State to say California has filed 52 lawsuits in a special session targeting about $168 billion in what he called “illegally frozen” federal resources for schools, hospitals and seniors, saying the state has won emergency relief in some cases. He framed the Trump administration as an “assault on our values,” highlighted state work on homelessness (saying unsheltered homelessness fell 9%), climate and health care, and pushed back against federal actions while responding to a federal probe into alleged fraud in California homelessness programs.

Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) are introducing the Special Operator Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that would make it a federal crime to publicly share identifying information about U.S. special operations forces and certain supporting personnel, as well as their immediate family members, when done with intent to threaten, intimidate or incite violence. The proposal follows journalist Seth Harp’s posts naming and photographing a man he identified as the Army Delta Force commander in the recent U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which triggered a House Oversight motion to subpoena him and a Republican referral urging the Justice Department to prosecute. The bill would bar publishing names, photos, home images, contact details and other personal data tied to units like Delta Force or SEAL Team 6, with penalties of fines and up to five years in prison, rising to a potential life sentence if the disclosure leads to death or serious injury. Harp argues he used only material already publicly available and did not share addresses or similar details, calling the commander a legitimate subject of journalistic scrutiny, while sponsors say there is “no compelling reason” for such identities to be made public given foreign‑adversary threats. The measure is likely to ignite a major First Amendment and press‑freedom fight over how far Congress can go in criminalizing publication of non‑classified but sensitive information about U.S. military and intelligence personnel.

House Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. Jared Moskowitz have formally asked Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan to open a congressional inquiry into the Trump Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling it a "sham" probe and a "systematic assault" on central‑bank independence. Their letter urges Jordan to hold public hearings and consider subpoenaing Attorney General Pam Bondi and other DOJ officials after Powell revealed Sunday that prosecutors were threatening indictment over his June 2025 Senate testimony on costly renovations of the Fed’s headquarters. The investigation is being run by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in Washington, who says Powell ignored repeated outreach about cost overruns and insists "indictment" has been raised only by Powell, not her office. Powell argues the real aim is to bully the Fed into cutting interest rates faster in line with President Trump’s public demands, while Trump denies ordering the probe but continues to attack Powell as "not very good" at the job. The clash has already rattled lawmakers in both parties, raising fresh alarms about politicization of the Justice Department and the erosion of the Fed’s traditional insulation from White House pressure at a time when it is still managing inflation and rate cuts.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that renaming the Department of Defense as the "Department of War" could cost up to $125 million. The estimate applies to President Trump’s proposed rebranding of the Pentagon.

A Colorado appeals panel questioned the nine‑year sentence handed to former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters for a voting‑system breach, pressing state lawyers on whether the trial judge factored in her election‑fraud rhetoric and possibly punished protected speech. Peters, who has received a full pardon from Donald Trump — which her lawyer says should apply to state charges and might affect the appeals court’s jurisdiction — faces resistance from Colorado officials even as Gov. Jared Polis has called the sentence harsh.

President Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, overturning 2012 limits and allowing schools in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2% milk alongside 1% and skim — including organic, flavored and lactose‑free options — and explicitly exempting milk fat from the federal saturated‑fat averaging requirement. The law also requires schools to offer nondairy milk alternatives when a parent (not just a doctor) provides a note, aligns with the new 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines’ emphasis on full‑fat dairy (prompting forthcoming USDA rulemaking on flavored milks), and drew praise from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other officials.

A new Quinnipiac University poll taken Jan. 9–12, 2026 finds 70% of U.S. voters oppose the United States taking military action in Iran in response to the regime’s killing of protesters, while just 18% favor a strike, even as President Donald Trump openly weighs bombing Iranian targets. Opposition cuts across party lines, with 80% of independents, 79% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans saying the U.S. should not get militarily involved if demonstrators are killed. The same survey shows 70% of voters believe presidents should obtain congressional approval before using military force abroad, including 95% of Democrats and 78% of independents, while a 54–35% majority of Republicans say such approval is not necessary. The findings come as rights groups estimate thousands of deaths in Iran’s nationwide protests and as Trump uses social media and TV interviews to urge Iranians to "KEEP PROTESTING" and warn Tehran of "very strong action" if it executes demonstrators. The data underscore a broad public reluctance to see another U.S. intervention in the Middle East and strong support, outside the GOP base, for reasserting congressional war‑powers limits on the presidency.