Closing summary
Our live coverage is coming to a close. We’ll be back on Tuesday. Here is a summary of today’s developments:
The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve, a significant escalation in Donald Trump’s extraordinary attack on the US central bank. Several Republican lawmakers have begun speaking out against the probe, with one senator going so far as to threaten all Fed nominations as a result. The responses come days after the justice department subpoenaed the Federal Reserve as part of an investigation rooted in Powell’s testimony before the Senate in June about the ballooning costs of the Fed’s headquarters renovation. More here and here.
Donald Trump is “unafraid to use military force on Iran” the White House said as the Iranian regime still faces widespread unrest across the country. Speaking to Fox News, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that although diplomacy remained Trump’s “first option”, he was “unafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary.” More here.
Donald Trump said any country that does business with Iran will face a tariff rate of 25% on trade with the US, as Washington weighs a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years. “Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” the US president said in a post on Truth Social. Tariffs are paid by US importers of goods from those countries. Iran has been heavily sanctioned by Washington for years. More here.
The Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, announced a lawsuit against the federal government, seeking to end the surge of ICE agents in the state. The lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials comes in the aftermath of an ICE agent fatally shooting resident Renee Nicole Good behind the wheel of her vehicle last week, leading to protests across the city, and country. More here.
Democratic US senator Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the “chilling” attempt by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to reduce the military veteran’s rank and pension as punishment for speaking out against the Trump administration. Hegseth had previously issued a formal censure to Kelly, a decorated retired navy captain and Nasa astronaut, for alleged “seditious statements” he made urging service members to resist unlawful orders. It began a process that could lead to Kelly, a senator for Arizona since 2021, being demoted and having his pension cut. More here.
A federal judge cleared Danish offshore wind developer Ørsted to resume work on its nearly finished Revolution Wind project, which Donald Trump’s administration halted along with four other projects last month. The ruling by US district judge Royce Lamberth is a legal setback for Trump, who has sought to block expansion of offshore wind in federal waters. Ørsted’s Revolution Wind lawsuit is one of several filed by offshore wind companies and states seeking to reverse the interior department’s 22 December suspension of five offshore wind leases over what it said were national security concerns. More here.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth today continued what he has dubbed his “Arsenal of Freedom” tour, with a stop in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 production line in Fort Worth, Texas.
Hegseth addressed the thousands of workers at Lockheed Martin, the country’s largest military contractor, saying its production is just one part of President Donald Trump’s plan to increase the nation’s defense budget next year. He also said the company’s aircraft played a pivotal role in the US intervention in Venezuela.
“You are a core function of the arsenal of freedom,” Hegseth said.
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The justice department said it charged a man shot by a border patrol agent near a hospital in Portland, Oregon, with aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Luis Nino-Moncada, who is accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, was also charged with damage to federal property exceeding $1,000.
Nino-Moncada is one of two people shot by a border patrol official in Portland last week.
According to prosecutors, Nino-Moncada admitted in an interview that he had intentionally rammed a border patrol vehicle “in an attempt to flee and stated that he knew it was an immigration enforcement vehicle”.
According to the DoJ release, border patrol agents were conducting an immigration enforcement operation involving a vehicle they believed belonged to a woman suspected of working in a prostitution ring. She was sitting in the passenger seat when agents ordered Nino-Moncada to exit the vehicle, and he allegedly put the car into reverse and slammed into an unoccupied border patrol vehicle.
After the incident, Oregon senator Ron Wyden said in a post on X that “Trump’s deployment of federal agents in my hometown is clearly inflaming violence”.
NYC Council employee detained by immigration officials, says mayor
A New York City Council employee was detained by federal officials during a routine immigration appointment on Long Island, according to Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials at a routine immigration appointment”, Mamdani said in a post on X. “This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation”.
City Council speaker, Julie Menin, said the employee “had legal authorization to remain in the country until October of this year”.
“We are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release, and we demand swift and transparent action by the federal government on this apparent overreach”, Menin said in a statement.
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My colleague Richard Partington writes about how the White House’s pressure on the US central bank to cut interest rates could put the economy in danger:
Donald Trump’s attempts to influence the US Federal Reserve could risk plunging America into a period of 1970s-style inflation and trigger a global backlash in financial markets, economists have warned.
After the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the current Fed chair, investors said efforts by the White House to pressure the US central bank to cut interest rates would put the world economy at risk.
Analysts drew parallels with the 1970s when US inflation soared after the then president, Richard Nixon, pressured the then Fed chair, Arthur Burns, to ease monetary policy to help smooth his 1972 election campaign.
Atakan Bakiskan, US economist at Berenberg bank, said: “If the Fed pursues an ultra-accommodative monetary policy despite higher inflation, the result could resemble the 1970s in a worst-case risk scenario.
“Moreover, if the Fed acts on politics rather than data, foreign investors could pull back on financing the US debt and seek new safe havens.”
Read the full story here:
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The New York Times reports that the Pentagon carried out a lethal strike on a boat by using an aircraft that resembled a civilian plane, killing 11 people in September. Officials told the Times that the boat was suspected of smuggling drugs.
“The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings”, reads the report.
According to legal experts who spoke to the Times, the aircraft’s civilian appearance is significant because the Trump administration has argued the attacks are lawful acts of war.
But the move could imply perfidy, a war crime that prohibits deceptive acts based on the abuse of the good faith of an adversary, according to Oxford Public International Law.
Officials familiar with surveillance footage of the strike told the Times that the aircraft descended low enough to be visible to those on the boat, and that the vessel appeared to turn back toward Venezuela after the people aboard noticed it.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate nearly $12 million in funding to the American Academy of Pediatrics, including grants supporting rural health care and early screening for disabilities in young children.
The ruling comes after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) terminated several multimillion-dollar grants to the association in December after it criticized secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s public health policies.
US district judge Beryl Howell issued a preliminary injunction on Sunday, finding that the move to terminate the grants was likely motivated by retaliation.
“This is not a case about whether AAP or HHS is right or even has the better position on vaccinations and gender-affirming care for children, or any other public health policy”, Howell wrote in her decision. “This is a case about whether the federal government has exercised power in a manner designed to chill public health policy debate by retaliating against a leading and generally trusted pediatrician member professional organization focused on improving the health of children”.
The former deputy national security advisor to President Donald Trump, Dina Powell McCormick, was named as the president and vice chair of the tech giant Meta.
Trump congratulated Powell McCormick earlier today in a post on Truth Social.
“She is a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!”, he said.
Powell McCormick is the second former Trump administration official Meta has brought on in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the company announced it hired Curtis Joseph Mahoney, who previously served as a deputy US trade representative during Trump’s first term, as its new chief legal officer.
President Donald Trump called New York City’s congestion pricing program “a disaster”, claiming “it’s never worked before, and it will never work now”. In a post on Truth Social, he said it should be ended “immediately”.
However, data have shown that the policy, which began in January 2025, has reduced traffic, increased transit ridership, and decreased pollution over the course of a year.
After New York’s congestion pricing was installed, most drivers were charged $9 during peak travel times to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.
The move led to about 73,000 fewer vehicles entering the central business district each day, according to a New York Times analysis. That adds up to about 27 million fewer vehicles entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, resulting in an 11 percent reduction in traffic.
According to a Cornell University study, the city’s program led to a drop in pollution in parts of the city.
“Our overall conclusion is that congestion pricing in New York City, like many other cities in the world that have implemented it, helped not only improve traffic, but also helped reduce air pollutant concentration, improve air quality and should be good for public health,” said the study’s senior author and director of Cornell’s Center for Transportation, Environment and Community Health, Oliver Gao, in a statement.
Count Louisiana senator John Kennedy among the Republican skeptics of the justice department’s criminal investigation of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
“We don’t need this,” the senator told reporters at the Capitol on Monday evening.
Kennedy serves on the Senate banking committee, where fellow Republican Thom Tillis has vowed to oppose any Fed nominees that come before the committee as long as the investigation remains open.
Kennedy declined to say if he would endorse a similar step.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said any country doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff “on any and all business being done with the United States of America”.
That new tariff is “effective immediately”. Further details remained unclear.
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Minnesota sues Trump administration over surge of federal immigration agents
Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, state attorney general Keith Ellison said on Monday, asking a federal court to halt the ramped-up immigration crackdown in the state.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the surge unconstitutional and unlawful, with officials claiming the crackdown has led to racial profiling and disruptions to everyday life.
“The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota,” said Ellison. “People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing.”
The lawsuit comes just days after the death of Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot to death by an Ice agent in Minneapolis, which has led to heated demonstrations in Minnesota.
A US judge ruled that Ørsted, a European offshore wind developer, can continue development of a windfarm project off the coast of Rhode Island after the Trump administration had suspended work along with several other projects.
Last month, officials from the Department of the Interior halted the leases for five large offshore wind projects that are under construction in US waters over “national security risks”, which were unclear. Earlier this month, Ørsted announced it had filed a legal challenge against the administration’s decision to suspend the lease for its Revolution Wind site.
Today’s ruling marks the latest move in an ongoing clash between the renewable energy industry and Donald Trump, whose administration has sought to block offshore wind projects since he returned to office.
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Illinois sues Trump administration over immigration crackdown
The state of Illinois sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security, with officials alleging that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents used “unlawful and dangerous tactics” across the state.
The lawsuit, filed by Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul and backed by governor JB Pritzker, argues that federal agents exceeded their authority under US law by making arrests without warrants or probable cause, indiscriminately deploying teargas, and carrying out other enforcement actions not authorized by Congress.
“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” said Pritzker. “In the face of the Trump administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people.”
More than 4,300 people were arrested in “Operation Midway Blitz” in 2025, according to the AP.
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Senator Coons to lead congressional delegation to Copenhagen amid Trump threats to annex Greenland
Democratic senator Chris Coons will lead a congressional delegation of at least nine lawmakers to the Danish capital this week, according to a source familiar with the trip. Republican senator Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, will also be on the trip to Copenhagen, the source confirmed.
The delegation will meet with Danish officials, as Donald Trump repeats his threats to seize Greenland, the semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
The White House has called the annexation of Greenland a “national security priority”, and the president has warned that if the US doesn’t acquire the territory it will open the door for Russia and China to act first.
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Senator Kelly sues defense secretary over attempts to reduce military rank and pension
Democratic US senator Mark Kelly filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to nullify the “chilling” attempt by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to reduce the military veteran’s rank and pension as punishment for speaking out against the Trump administration.
Hegseth had previously issued a formal censure to Kelly, a decorated retired navy captain and Nasa astronaut, for alleged “seditious statements” he made urging service members to resist unlawful orders. It began a process that could lead to Kelly, a senator for Arizona since 2021, being demoted and having his pension cut.
The lawsuit, filed in Washington DC federal court, argues that comments made by Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers – all military or intelligence veterans – in a short video to service members in November were protected free speech.
The 46-page court filing accuses Hegseth, the Department of Defense, the US navy, and John Phelan, the navy secretary, of “trampling” on constitutional protections “essential to legislative independence”. The filing said the defense secretary was attempting to dismantle the “bedrock principles of our democracy”, freedom of speech and the separation of powers.
“His unconstitutional crusade against me sends a chilling message to every retired member of the military: if you speak out and say something that the president or secretary of defense doesn’t like, you will be censured, threatened with demotion, or even prosecuted,” Kelly said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
Treasury secretary told Trump that Powell investigation 'made a mess' – report
Treasure secretary Scott Bessent told Donald Trump on Sunday that the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell “made a mess” and could be bad for financial markets, according to a report from Axios, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the call.
One of the sources said that Bessent “isn’t happy, and he let the president know”.
A reminder that earlier today, Karoline Leavitt said that Trump did not instruct the justice department to launch an investigation into Powell, but “the president has every right to criticize the Fed chair”.
Sources told Axios that the office of the US attorney for Washington DC, Jeanine Pirro, launched the investigation “without giving a heads-up to treasury, top White House officials or the main justice department”.
My colleagues report that economists also have warned that Trump’s attempts to influence the Fed risk plunging the US into a period of 1970s-style inflation, and triggering a global backlash in financial markets.
Updated
The number two prosecutor in the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia has been fired, according to two people familiar with the matter.
It’s the he latest in a series of dismissals in an office that is leading controversial criminal prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James.
Robert McBride, a former federal prosecutor in Kentucky, was brought in late last year to serve as the deputy to Lindsey Halligan, a Trump ally who the president installed as the acting US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia in September. McBride was dismissed after declining to lead the Comey prosecution, which a judge threw out in November after ruling Halligan was unlawfully appointed, one of the people said. (The justice department is appealing the ruling.)
McBride refused to take on important cases in the district, another person familiar with the matter said, and had met privately with judges in the district with the goal of being appointed himself to the top prosecutor job. The person said top justice department officials supported McBride’s firing.
Natalie Baldassarre, a justice department spokeswoman, referred a request for comment to the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Virginia. That office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Earlier, we reported on Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren’s speech about the future of the party, and particularly the need to focus on economic policy and messaging for working-class Americans.
She noted that after her speech – in which she criticized the Trump administration for raising the cost of living for families, the ongoing criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good and federal immigration agents’ response to protesters in Minneapolis – that the president called her.
“I delivered this same message on affordability to him directly. I told him that Congress can pass legislation to cap credit card rates if he will actually fight for it,” she said in a statement. “I also urged him to get House Republicans to pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the Senate with unanimous support and would build more housing and lower costs.”
On Capitol Hill today, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson replied with “of course not” when asked by a reporter whether the justice department was being weaponized against Fed chair Jerome Powell.
He also told reporters that he would let the investigation into Powell “play out”.
Leavitt once again praised federal immigration agents in Minneapolis today, while speaking to reporters.
“ICE is doing an incredibly important job that’s not just important to our homeland security, but our national security,” she said.
Leavitt added that the administration continues to support Jonathan E Ross – the officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good. The press secretary repeated, without evidence, that Ross was “absolutely justified in using self-defense against a lunatic who is part of a group, an organized group, to interject and to impede on law enforcement operations”.
White House says Trump did not instruct DoJ to investigate Powell
Speaking to reporters outside the White House today, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Donald Trump did not instruct the justice department to investigate Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
“The president has every right to criticize the Fed chair. He has a first amendment right, just like all of you do,” Leavitt said. “And one thing’s for sure, the president has made it quite clear, Jerome Powell is bad at his job. As for whether or not Jerome Powell if a criminal, that’s an answer for the Department of Justice.”
A Republican congressman, French Hill, who chairs the House financial services committee, has said that Jerome Powell is “a person of the highest integrity”.
While Hill noted that he’s shared policy disagreements with the head of the central bank, he said that any pursuit of criminal charges against him is “an unnecessary distraction”.
“This action could undermine this and future Administrations’ ability to make sound monetary policy decisions,” he said in a statement. “We must stay focused on our work to foster more opportunities with higher wages and faster economic growth for the American people.”
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Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland represents an existential crisis for Nato, the senior Democratic US senator Chris Murphy has warned, with the demise of the decades-old alliance of western nations certain to follow any American military intervention.
“It would be the end of Nato, right? Nato would have an obligation to defend Greenland,” the Connecticut senator and member of the chamber’s foreign relations committee said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. Murphy added that it would mean “clearly … we would be at war with Europe, with England, with France”.
Murphy’s comments came as Trump ramped up his fixation with the Arctic territory, with the US president telling reporters on Air Force One yesterday that “one way or the other, we are going to have Greenland”.
Trump had ordered a plan to be drawn up for an invasion of Greenland, the Mail on Sunday reported, adding that “it is being resisted” by military leaders on grounds of illegality.
A bipartisan group of US senators, including the Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, is planning to visit Copenhagen to meet politicians from the Danish parliament’s Greenland committee, it was announced yesterday.
More on this story here:
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Trump to meet Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at White House on Thursday
CNN is reporting that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel peace prize winner, is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump on Thursday, citing a senior White House official.
Since the US’s capture Nicolás Maduro on 3 January the future governance of Venezuela has been an open question, with Trump dismissing the idea of working with Machado, saying “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country”.
But in a Fox News interview on Thursday, he said that Machado was “coming in next week sometime”, adding: “I look forward to saying hello to her.”
Asked whether he would accept Machado’s Nobel peace prize if she gave it to him (an idea which the organizers of the prize have since rejected), Trump said: “I’ve heard that she wants to do that. That’d be a great honour.”
This will be the pair’s first meeting, and Machado said last week that she had not spoken to the US president since she won the prize in October.
Trump hasn’t publicly made the same offer to Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president, although he told the New York Times on Thursday that the US was “getting along very well” with her government and that they were “giving us everything that we feel is necessary”.
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Greenland can’t ‘under any circumstances’ accept US takeover and is boosting defences
Jon Henley, and Miranda Bryant in Nuuk
Greenland’s government has said it “cannot under any circumstances accept” Donald Trump’s desire to take control of Greenland, as Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, said the organisation was working on ways to bolster Arctic security.
At the start of a critical week for the vast Arctic island, a largely self-governing part of Denmark, the US president restated his interest in the strategically located, mineral-rich territory, saying the US would take it “one way or the other”.
Trump has rocked the EU and Nato by refusing to rule out military force to seize Greenland, which is covered by many of their protections since Denmark belongs to both.
Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, and her Danish counterpart, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, are due to meet the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in Washington on Wednesday.
Greenland’s government said today that the island was “part of the kingdom of Denmark” and “as part of the Danish commonwealth, a member of Nato”. It would increase its efforts to ensure its defence took place “in the Nato framework”, it said.
The statement added that the territory’s ruling coalition “believes Greenland will for ever be part of the western defence alliance”, and that “all Nato member states, including the US, have a common interest” in the island’s defence.
Trump has said the US needs to control Greenland to increase Arctic security in the face of an alleged threat from China and Russia. Rutte said today that Nato was “working on the next steps to make sure that we collectively protect what is at stake”.
Read my colleagues’ full report here:
Joining the chorus of lawmakers who have criticized the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into Jerome Powell is Republican senator Kevin Cramer.
The North Dakota lawmaker also sits on the Senate banking committee, responsible for confirming any future Federal Reserve chair.
Cramer said that while he considers Powell a “bad” leader of the central bank, “I do not believe however, he is a criminal.”
In a statement today, Cramer joined his Senate colleagues Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski in urging the end of the investigation into Powell.
“We need to restore confidence in the Fed,” he added.
Updated
Murkowski calls justice department probe into Powell 'an attempt at coercion'
Senate Republican Lisa Murkowski said that she spoke with embattled Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell earlier today.
“It’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion,” the Alaska lawmaker said in a statement. “If the Department of Justice believes an investigation into Chair Powell is warranted based on project cost overruns – which are not unusual – then Congress needs to investigate the Department of Justice.”
Murkowski, who the president chided last week for supporting a Democratic war powers resolution that would prevent the Trump administration from taking any further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval, said the “the stakes are too high to look the other way” when it comes to the criminal investigation into Powell.
“If the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer. My colleague, Senator Tillis, is right in blocking any Federal Reserve nominees until this is resolved,” she said.
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Trump's economic policy 'undermines America all around the world', Warren says
On the situation with the Federal Reserve board, Trump had made it clear that he wants to influence how interest rates are set, Warren said.
“He’s saying, ‘I want to put my hands on the dials on monetary policy,’ and Jerome Powell and some of the Fed have resisted him and have said, very calmly, that they’re going to continue to look at the economic data and make decisions based on what the economic data says.”
That’s a challenge to Trump, Warren said.
“What Trump is trying to do is terrible for our economy but it undermines America all around the world … The Fed has been the gold standard for that style of monetary policy decision making and Donald Trump is just burning that to the ground and that’s going to be costly to the United States.”
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I’m at Elizabeth Warren’s speech in DC, where she is now taking questions from reporters.
In response to a question about the Democratic National Committee’s decision not to release its 2024 election autopsy, the Massachusetts senator did not respond directly but said the party needed to focus its economic agenda on working people.
She also said that Democrats can learn something from Trump’s rhetoric. “Donald Trump stood up pretty much every day for a solid year and promised that on day one he would lower costs for American families.” Instead, costs are up because of Trump administration policies, she said, “so this is the moment for Democrats to stand up and first call Trump to account for his betrayal to the American people but also to lay out our own agenda.”
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Former fed chairs condemn criminal investigation into Powell
All living former chairs of the Federal Reserve have condemned the criminal investigation into Jerome Powell.
In a joint statement, the former chairs – which include Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and Janet Yellen – said that the investigation was “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence”.
“This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly,” the signatories, which includes several chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers, wrote.
“It has no place in the United States whose greatest strength is the rule of law, which is at the foundation of our economic success.”
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Republican senator vows to block any future nominations for Fed chair following investigation into Powell
A Republican senator has vowed to block all Federal Reserve nominations after the justice department opened a criminal investigation into the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, inflaming tensions over the central bank’s independence.
Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the banking committee that oversees Fed appointments who is retiring at the end of his term later this year, said on Sunday he would oppose any nominee for the Fed, including the upcoming chair vacancy, “until this legal matter is fully resolved”.
“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” Tillis wrote on X.
“It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question.”
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Warren outlines electoral strategy for Democrats, highlights 'trust' and economic populism
At a speech at the National Press Club, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said that in order to build a “sturdy big tent, it is not enough to simply attack Trump”.
“A Democratic party that worries more about offending big donors than delivering for working people is a party that is doomed to fail – in 2026, 2028, and beyond,” she said today. “Democrats need to earn trust – long-term, durable trust-across the electorate … even when that means taking on the wealthy and well connected.”
Warren also noted that Democrats were once “trusted” by working people, and went on to list – what she sees – as some of the party’s crowning policy achievements: from Medicaid to union building to the Affordable Care Act.
“I understand the temptation – in this moment of national crisis – to sand down our edges to avoid offending anyone, especially the rich and powerful who might finance our candidates,” she added. “We can’t rebuild trust by staying silent about abuses of corporate power and tax fairness simply to avoid offending the delicate sensibilities of the already-rich and powerful.
Warren, who serves as the ranking member on the Senate banking committee, noted that if her party were to “pick up the broken pieces of 2024” they “must acknowledge a hard truth”.
“Either we politely nibble around the edges of change, or we throw ourselves into the fight,” she said. Either we carefully craft our policies to ensure that the rich keep right on getting richer, or we build a party that ferociously and unapologetically serves the needs of working people.”
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Warren delivers speech on future of Democratic party, slams investigation into Powell
Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren is delivering remarks on the future of the Democratic party today. However, she kicked off her speech today with a laundry list of rebukes against the Trump administration.
“Trump is trying to push out the chairman of the Federal Reserve board and complete his corrupt takeover of America’s central bank – so it serves his interests, along with his billionaire friends,” she said.
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In a post on Truth Social a short while ago, Donald Trump praised himself for the his work with Nato.
“I’m the one who SAVED NATO!!!,” he wrote in a post on Monday. The president has routinely taken credit for the decision of member countries to increase their defense and security spending from 2% to 5% last year.
Top White House economic adviser says 'not involved' in DoJ's decision to investigate Powell
In an interview with CNBC today, the White House economic council director Kevin Hassett said that he was “not involved” in the justice department’s decision to launch a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
When asked about Powell’s claims that the investigation into his handling of the central bank’s ongoing investigation is merely a “pretext” to “put pressure on him to do the president’s bidding on lowering rate”, Hassett said that theyw ould discover whether this is accurate “in the fullness of time”.
He added that there are “dramatic cost overruns” on the Federal Reserve renovations, and “plans for the buildings that look inconsistent with the testimony”.
“I’ve not been briefed on what the justice Department is thinking, and I expect the president has not as well,” Hassett reiterated.
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Trump 'doing right things for Nato' by encouraging higher defense spending, Rutte says, as he avoids criticizing president over Greenland
Nato’s general secretary Mark Rutte has just been asked about Trump’s comments on Greenland on his visit to Croatia, where he met the country’s prime minister Andrej Plenković.
Rutte responded to criticism of his charm offensive and repeated flattery of Trump (most famously with his “daddy” comment), as he insisted that “I believe that Donald Trump is doing the right things for Nato by encouraging us all to spend more” in Europe to match the US spending.
He said he was “absolutely convinced” that “without Donald Trump we would never have had that result at the summit in The Hague” last year, increasing the GDP defence threshold to 5%.
“So when I praise somebody, it is based on facts, and I believe the facts are there,” he said.
He did not address the specific question on Trump’s comments on Greenland, but said he welcomed the other allies’ discussion on “come together and work together” and get more involved in the Arctic and the High North.
You have seen some announcements by the Brits and the Germans today, we are working now together to see how we can basically [come] together as an alliance, including our seven members, allies bordering on the high north, on the Arctic, to work together to indeed build that next step, which is crucial.
Rutte also said that Denmark was “already speeding up their investments when it comes to defence,” including “unique capabilities to defend territories like Greenland”.
“So we are really working together here. And my only worry is, how do we stay safe, against the Russians, against any other adversary – look at what China is doing in rapidly building up its own armed forces, but also North Koreans and others who might wish us ill or not well, at least. Therefore that’s my role, and I think we will get there,” he said.
You can follow along with the latest news out of Europe at our dedicated live blog:
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Warren says banking committee should not confirm Trump's nominee for Fed chair
In response to the news overnight that Donald Trump’s justice department has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, the Senate banking committee’s top Democrat – Elizabeth Warren – has warned that her colleagues should not move forward with the president’s nominee for the role when Powell’s term expires at in May of this year.
Warren accused the president of wanting to “install another sock puppet to complete his corrupt takeover of America’s central bank”.
She added:
Trump is abusing the authorities of the Department of Justice like a wannabe dictator so the Fed serves his interests, along with his billionaire friends.
This Committee and the Senate should not move forward with any Trump nominee for the Fed, including Fed Chair.
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Donald Trump is in Washington today. He’s due to hold a closed-press meeting with secretary of state Marco Rubio at 10:30am ET, about several foreign policy matters, including the developing situation in Iran.
The president will have a number of other meetings throughout the day – including with the archbishop of Oklahoma City. Currently, these aren’t open to the media, but we’ll let you know if that changes.
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What type of action could Trump take in Iran?
He has warned he is considering “very strong” military action over the regimes crackdown on protesters.
Possible actions for the US include military strikes, deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military and civilian sites, placing more sanctions on Iran’s government and boosting anti-government sources online, sources say.
But military strikes will be fraught with difficulties, and could fuel the fire of an Iranian government narrative that the protests are being manipulated by the US and Israel.
Tehran’s population density means it is hard to mount a targeted campaign from the air without risking many civilian casualties; and key potential US targets – such as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – have upped their personal security precautions.
Democrats focusing on affordability to turn voters against Trump
In their quest to undo Donald Trump’s grip on voters, Democrats have staked their hopes on one word above all others: affordability.
It has become a staple of press conferences, a priority of candidates and a subject of legislation ahead of the November midterm elections.
When Democrats don’t like something that Trump does – a frequent occurrence – their counter-argument is that Americans would have been better off if the president instead concentrated on making life less expensive.
“Democrats in the House and Senate [are] focusing on lowering your costs, dealing with affordability. Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are focused on spending treasure and, God forbid, lives on military adventurism overseas,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told reporters this week, just before the chamber voted to advance a resolution halting further attacks on Venezuela without congressional permission.
It’s a turning of the tables for Democrats, who spent much of Joe Biden’s presidency struggling to respond as a historic wave of pandemic-related inflation rippled through the US economy and sent his presidency to a desultory end after a single term.
Trump says 'Iran called' for talks, as more than 500 killed in protests
The US president said late Sunday that “Iran called, they want to negotiate” and his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran.
But he cautioned he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths in protests against the Islamic Republic regime.
Activists say at least 544 people have been killed so far, and more than 10,000 people have been arrested.
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Iran has not directly acknowledged Trump’s comments, but a foreign ministry spokesman said the communication channel remained open with US officials.
Tehran has previously warned the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America were to use force to protect demonstrators.
Goldman Sachs: Powell investigation has ‘reinforced’ concerns about Fed independence
Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jan Hatzius has warned this morning that the criminal indictment threat facing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has reinforced worries that central bank independence is being undermined.
Reuters reports that Hatzius told a 2026 Goldman Sachs Global Strategy Conference:
“Obviously there are more concerns that Fed independence is going to be under the gun, with the latest news on the criminal investigation into Chair Powell really having reinforced those concerns.”
Hatzius added, though, that he expected the Fed to continue to make decisions based on data:
“I have no doubt that he (Powell) in his remaining term as chair is going to make decisions based on the economic data and not be influenced one way or the other, cutting more or refusing to cut on the back of data that could push in that direction.”
Fed chairman Jerome Powell being investigated
Powell announced on Sunday he is facing criminal investigation by federal prosecutors – a decision he said should be “seen in the broader context of the [Trump] administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”
Trump has repeatedly criticised the head of the Federal Reserve for refusing to set monetary policy according to his preferences.
“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation,” Powell said in a video on Sunday disclosing the investigation.
“I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No one, certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve is above the law, but this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”
Powell said the US justice department had threatened a criminal indictment over testimony he gave to a Senate committee about renovations to Federal Reserve buildings.
Powell is just the latest federal official to get on the wrong side of Trump and then face criminal investigation by the justice department.
Trump denied any prior knowledge of the investigation in a NBC News interview on Sunday.
“I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed, and he’s not very good at building buildings,” he said of Powell.
Minneapolis protesters – already outraged by last Wednesday’s fatal shooting of Renee Good by an immigration officer – braced for a new onslaught as the Department of Homeland Security sent more agents in to the area, carried out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.
As door-to-door raids began, protesters screamed at heavily armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.
There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. Agents later took one man away in handcuffs.
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'Hundreds more' federal officers sent to Minnesota
The widespread outcry over Renee Good’s killing led to more protests on the weekend against ICE, in Minneapolis as well as New York, Austin, Seattle and LA.
Minneapolis police said “tens of thousands of people” attended the march which was peaceful, said Mayor Jacob Frey.
Still, Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem announced on Sunday that “hundreds more” federal officers would be sent to Minnesota, arriving “today and tomorrow”, to quell tensions and to suppress protesters.
“If they conduct violent activities against law enforcement, if they impede our operations, that’s a crime, and we will hold them accountable to those consequences,” she said.
The Trump administration has sought to spin the ICE officer’s killing of Good as an act of self-defence, claiming the mother-of-three had “weaponised” her car to try and attack the officials. The videos that have emerged and continue to emerge of the incident show Good attempting to drive away from the scene.
Some Democrats have said accused the White House of a cover-up.
Mayor Frey told CNN: “Anybody can see that this victim is not a domestic terrorist”, saying her actions were of someone trying to do a three-point turn to escape the scene.
In a sobering note, he added that the city’s local law enforcement were “outnumbered by the number of ICE agents and beyond”.
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Opening summary
Welcome to our US politics blog. There are several major stories around this morning:
“Hundreds more” federal agents are being deployed to Minneapolis after an officer shot dead a woman in her car last week. Renee Good’s killing has sparked protests across several cities. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said more officers were being sent for their own protection.
Fed chair Jerome Powell – who has been slammed by Trump for refusing to lower interest rates – announced Sunday he’s facing criminal investigation by federal prosecutors over renovations to Federal Reserve buildings. He’s made clear the “unprecedented” probe is driven by political motives.
All eyes are on how the US might respond to Iran’s deadly crackdown on protesters, and whether it might mete out further military action, in addition to its strikes last year. Trump said on Sunday he was in contact with the opposition, and US officials might meet with Iranian counterparts.
Trump is also threatening Cuba with withholding oil supplies from Venezuela, warning them to “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE” in a Sunday post on Truth Social. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” His threats to the traditional ally of Venezuela come in the wake of the US kidnapping and removing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last week, while concerns also remain over the White House’s claims on Greenland.
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