Summary
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending now. In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
On the first anniversary of his second inauguration, Donald Trump joined White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a press briefing, where he launched into a two-hour-long, rambling address that drew from a prepared binder of “accomplishments” since he took office last year. During the briefing, Trump called Renee Nicole Good’s death a ‘tragedy’ after learning her parents were fans of hist administration; and said the world will “find out” how far he is willing to go to acquire Greenland.
In a spree of Truth Social posts overnight, Trump posted an altered image of himself, planting a US flag in Greenland, alongside JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio. Asked during a press conference today about the risk his Greenland plan poses to the future of the Nato alliance, Trump said: “Something is going to happen which will be very good for everybody.” Meanwhile, at Davos, California governor Gavin Newsom decried Europeans for their “complicity” in failing to stand up to Trump’s demands.
The justice department subpoenaed several top officials in Minnesota as part of its investigation into whether Minneapolis officials have conspired to impede federal immigration efforts there. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, and St Paul’s mayor, Kaohly Her, all Democrats, received subpoenas.
A federal judge in Washington DC ruled that the homeland security department (DHS) can continue to insist that lawmakers provide a week’s notice of their intention to inspect immigration facilities, even though she blocked an identical policy last month.
Multiple democrats say they will not vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, hours after the Appropriations Committees released the text of the Homeland Security funding bill.
Louisiana congresswoman Julia Letlow officially announced her bid for Senate after receiving a “complete and total” social media endorsement from Donald Trump over the weekend. Letlow, a Republican, is issuing a primary challenge to two-term GOP incumbent Bill Cassidy.
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s former personal lawyer who was appointed interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September, has left her position, says attorney general Pam Bondi.
The California Republican Party has asked the state supreme court to block a redistricting measure voters approved in November that would flip up to five House seats in Democrats’ favor.
Trump signed an executive order today aimed at “stopping Wall Street from competing with Main Street homebuyers” following recent social media posts from the president regarding the affordability of housing.
JD Vance is expected to travel to Minneapolis on Thursday, the Associated Press reports, citing a source familiar with the vice president’s plans.
Vance will meet with local leaders and community members, and is also expected to give remarks.
Lindsey Halligan, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who was appointed interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in September, has left her position, says attorney general Pam Bondi.
The news comes after Halligan’s interim role expired and two Virginia judges filed strongly-worded orders over the legitimacy of her appointment.
Trump appointed Halligan late last year to lead the prosecutions of two political figures with whom he had frequently clashed: James Comey, the former director of the FBI, and Letitia James, attorney general for the state of New York. In November, a judge ruled that her appointment was invalid.
In separate orders, two federal judges prohibited Halligan from referring to herself as a United States attorney and solicited applicants to replace her.
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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado spoke with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee during her second trip to Capitol Hill this week.
“We want the Venezuelan people that were forced to leave to come back home,” she told reporters in response to a question about Venezuelans who have had their temporary legal status terminated in the United States. “And that’s going to happen once we have democracy in Venezuela.”
Reflecting on Donald Trump’s two-hour press briefing earlier today, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the presser “bizarre even for him”.
In a social media post, Grisham wrote, “It’s all the usual rambling, off-topic tales, half-truths, lies, “I’ve fixed everything - no one has ever seen anything like it” stuff…but it’s low-energy & feels like he’s…mentally slipping. Congress-plz wake up.” She added the hashtag #EmperorHasNoClothes.
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The California Republican party has asked the US supreme court to block a redistricting measure voters approved in November that would flip up to five House seats in Democrats’ favor.
In an emergency filing, the party asked Justice Elena Kagan, who is assigned to the ninth circuit, to issue an injunction before 9 February, the beginning of California’s candidate filing period for the June 2026 primaries.
“California cannot create districts by race, and the state should not be allowed to lock in districts that break federal law,” said California Republican party chairwoman Corrin Rankin. “Our emergency application asks the Supreme Court to put the brakes on Prop. 50 now, before the Democrats try to run out the clock and force candidates and voters to live with unconstitutional congressional districts.”
A California-based firm, the Dhillon Law Group, filed the emergency application on behalf of the California Republican party. The firm was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, now the US assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, a former vice chair of the California Republican party.
This post was amended on 21 January 2026. California Republicans filed the appeal to the US supreme court, not to the state supreme court as an earlier version stated.
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Donald Trump signed an executive order today aimed at “stopping Wall Street from competing with Main Street homebuyers” following recent social media posts from the president regarding the affordability of housing.
The action orders government agencies to define “large institutional investor” and “single-family home” within 30 days of the order, and then issue guidance to prevent the “acquisition by a large institutional investor of a single-family home that could otherwise be purchased by an individual owner-occupant” within 60 days.
House prices soared to record levels in the US during the pandemic, before slipping back. The median sale price stood at $410,800 last year, according to the US Census Bureau.
Nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires have released an open letter calling on global leaders to increase taxes on the super-rich, as leaders meet for the World Economic Forum in Davos.
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more on the letter, “signed by luminaries including the actor and film-maker Mark Ruffalo, the musician Brian Eno and the film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney, says extreme wealth is polluting politics, driving social exclusion and fuelling the climate emergency.”
Congressman Ro Khanna denounced Donald Trump’s desire to buy or invade Greenland in an apperance on CNN tonight, calling it “a mockery of those American principles” that “freed the world from Nazism and Communism”.
“The America I believe in, engaged in wars of liberation, not wars of conquest,” he said.
Khanna is one of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who have introduced legislation “affirming the United States’ partnership with Denmark and Greenland and recognizing our responsibility to comply with treaty obligations and solve any disputes peacefully”.
Maryland Democrats have designed a concept map that would give Democrats all of the state’s eight congressional seats if approved by the state legislature, the political news outlet Punchbowl News reports.
The concept map was created by the Maryland Redistricting Advisory Commission, which was formed by Democratic governor Wes Moore. Moore convened the commission in response to Republican-led states’ efforts to redistrict their congressional maps following Donald Trump’s plea to do so in order to keep Republicans in power in the House of Representatives following this year’s midterm elections.
JD Vance and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child, a boy, in July, the vice president’s wife shared in a statement on social media.
“During this exciting and hectic time, we are particularly grateful for the military doctors who take excellent care of our family and for the staff members who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children,” the Vances said.
My colleage Lauren Gambino reports:
Throughout his political career, the vice-president has repeatedly raised concerns about declining birth rates in the US, and in a speech at the anti-abortion March for Life rally last year, declared: “ I want more babies in the United States of America.”
In an interview last year with conservative commentator Meghan McCain, Usha Vance had said her husband “thinks he might like to have a fourth”. She laughed then, and added: “We’ll see where that leads.”
While this pregnancy marks the first second lady to have a baby while in office, two first ladies have given birth during their husbands’ White House term. Frances Cleveland, wife of former president Grover Cleveland and the youngest first lady in history at 21 years of age, gave birth to daughter Esther in 1893. Esther was the Cleveland’s second child and was born in a bedroom on the second floor of the White House.
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Number of Democrats say they won't vote for DHS funding amid alarm over ICE tactics
Multiple democrats say they will not vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, hours after the Appropriations Committees released the text of the Homeland Security funding bill.
“The proposed Appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security released today puts no meaningful constraints on the growing lawlessness of ICE, and increases funding for detention over the last Appropriations bill passed in 2024,” said Connecticut senator Chris Murphy. “Democrats have no obligation to support a bill that not only funds the dystopian scenes we are seeing in Minneapolis but will allow DHS to replicate that playbook of brutality in cities all over this country.”
“I am a hard no on funding this out-of-control agency. The American people demand accountability,” said New Mexico congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.
“Congress is voting on a bipartisan bill to triple ICE funding. I’m leading the opposition,” said California congressman Ro Khanna.
“I will not vote to give ICE a single cent,” said Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar. “No more blank checks for a rogue agency that operates above the law, escalates violence, and erodes our most basic freedoms.”
In a statement following the release of the funding bill, House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut said:
“I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE. I share their frustration with the out-of-control agency,” she said. “The Homeland Security funding bill is more than just ICE. If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the U.S. Coast Guard will be adversely affected. All while ICE continues functioning without any change in their operations due to $75 billion it received in the One Big Beautiful Bill. A continuing resolution will jettison the guardrails we have secured while ceding authority to President Trump, Stephen Miller, and Secretary Noem.”
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House Oversight chair James Comer has rejected an offer to interview former president Bill Clinton about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, teeing up contempt proceedings to begin this week.
“I have rejected the Clintons’ ridiculous offer,” Comer wrote in a social media post, describing an offer the Clintons’ lawyer made to interview Bill Clinton alone, and not his wife Hillary, in New York without the recording of an official transcript. “Contempt proceedings begin tomorrow.”
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, was denied entry to an immigration detention center in Texas today, the senator shared on social media.
“I flew down to south Texas today to do my job - investigate why people are dying in ICE detention centers. I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide,” he wrote.
In a linked video, Murphy explained that he had given the facility 24 hours notice, but was still denied entry by officials who said the center only received funding from the Big Beautiful Bill.
As you may recall, my colleage Yohannes Lowe reported earlier today that:
A federal judge has refused to temporarily block the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy requiring a week’s notice before members of Congress can visit – and thereby inspect – immigration detention facilities.
Judge Jia M. Cobb of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t violate an earlier court order when it reimposed a seven-day notice requirement for congressional oversight visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities (you can read her judgment here).
Judge Cobb, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden, had blocked a virtually identical policy by the DHS last month, citing a clause in the appropriations law that funds the department and requires facilities to be open to congressional scrutiny.
However, ICE reestablished the visitation policy on 8 January 2026, with the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, ordering the DHS to re-impose the seven-day notice requirement – but “exclusively with money appropriated by the (One Big Beautiful Bill Act),” not regular appropriations, effectively bypassing the previous court order.
“That is patently illegal,” Murphy said in the video. “I’m not going to stop, I’m going to go to another facility down the road.”
Here’s more on the recent history of lawmakers being blocked from inspecting ICE facilities:
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A Minneapolis area police chief said multiple officers have been pulled over by ICE agents while off duty, and noted that all were people of color.
During a press conference of Twin Cities police chiefs today, Brooklyn Park police chief Mark Bruley described an incident where one of his officers was “boxed in” by ICE agents who “demanded her paperwork”. Because the officer was a US citizen, she did not have any paperwork with her. When she tried to film the interaction, Bruley said, her phone was knocked out of her hands. The officer observed that ICE agents had their guns drawn throughout the incident.
“I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident. In fact, many of the chiefs standing behind me have similar incidents with their off-duty officers,” Bruley said. “If this is happening to our officers, it pains me to think how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day.”
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The Department of Homeland Security said it “will FLOOD THE ZONE in Minnesota to arrest the worst of the worst,” in a social media post, linking to a Fox News clip of Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino speaking at a Minneapolis press conference today.
“Our operations are lawful, they are targeted, and they are focused on individuals who pose a serious threat to this community. They are not random and they are not political,” Bovino said at the press conference.
The US military has seized a seventh sanctioned oil tanker transporting Venezuelan crude oil, as the Trump administration aims to take control of the Venezuelan oil industry.
US Southern Command announced the seizure of the Motor Vessel Sagitta in a social media post. “The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” it wrote.
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With Donald Trump slated to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos tomorrow, his proxies have already arrived.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, met with Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Davos today. Dmitriev told reporters after that “more and more people realize the correctness of Russia’s position”.
Dmitriev has led Russia’s efforts to draft a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine that would impose draconian terms on Ukraine.
Here, my colleague Pjotr Sauer, shares more about Dmitriev:
• This post was amended on 21 January 2026. An earlier version said that Jared Kushner had said “more and more people realize the correctness of Russia’s position” when it was Kirill Dmitriev speaking.
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The S&P 500 fell 2.1% today, the first day of trading on Wall Street since Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European countries over their opposition to his desire to buy or invade Greenland.
Here’s a look at the economic situation that my colleagues Lauren Almeida, Heather Stewart and Graeme Wearden shared from Davos earlier today:
The justice department subpoenaed several top officials in Minnesota on Tuesday as part of its investigation into whether Minneapolis officials have conspired to impede federal immigration efforts there.
A copy of a subpoena to the office of the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, obtained by the Guardian, requests guidance and policies related to immigration enforcement in Minnesota since last year. It also requests communication regarding those policies with other state agencies, as well as documents related to “hindering, doxxing, identifying, or surveilling immigration officers”.
The offices of Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, and St Paul’s mayor, Kaohly Her, all Democrats, also received subpoenas, the New York Times reported.
“When the federal government weaponizes its power to try to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs, every American should be concerned. We shouldn’t have to live in a country where people fear that federal law enforcement will be used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with,” Frey said in a statement. “In Minneapolis, we won’t be afraid. We know the difference between right and wrong, and, as mayor, I’ll continue doing the job I was elected to do: keeping our community safe and standing up for our values.”
The justice department is investigating the officials, claiming that they conspired to impede federal immigration agents. Legal experts have said the claim is flimsy.
Trump says he will 'have to use something else' to tax allies who disapprove of plans to annex Greenland if supreme court says sweeping tariffs are illegal
When a reporter asked Trump about what would happen to the tariffs he has slapped on allies (in response to their disapproval over his plans to annex Greenland) should the supreme court rule that his use of duties without congressional approval is illegal, the president said that he would “have to use something else”.
He added: “I mean we have other alternatives, but what we’re doing now is the best, the strongest, the fastest, the easiest, the least complicated.”
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Asked about the risk his Greenland plan poses to the future of the Nato alliance, Trump said: “Something is going to happen which will be very good for everybody.”
He added: “We will work out something out where Nato will be very happy and we will be very happy. We need it for national security and global security.”
Trump says prices of groceries 'have come way down', despite inflation data that shows rising costs
When asked about Americans who are still feeling the impact of high prices, the president chalked it up to reporting by the “fake news”.
“Many of the groceries have come way down. It’s all happening, and it’s happening strong,” Trump said. He blamed Democrats for creating the “affordability problem” and his administration is “solving it”.
According to most recent data, inflation persists and the cost of food rose by 0.7% at the end of 2025.
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Asked how far he is willing to go to acquire Greenland, Trump kept his answer short and said: “You’ll find out.”
Earlier, Trump urged the supreme court to rule in favor of the president’s sweeping global tariffs. The justices are now deliberating the legality of the administration’s duties on dozens of countries.
“We have a perfect system right now We’re making a fortune. We’ve never been stronger, and I hope the supreme court does the right thing for our country,” Trump said. “It would be so sad. We’re doing so well because of tariffs.”
Trump teases deal with Harvard over anti-semitisim lawsuit
Speaking at the White House today, Donald Trump said the administration is “working with Harvard right now”.
“We have a deal, but who the hell knows with them,” the president said of the ongoing antisemitism lawsuit with the US’s oldest university. Last year, a judge restored billions of dollars in research funding to Harvard, a decision the Trump administration appealed.
A quick note, Donald Trump has been speaking for over an hour at this point. He’s run through several of his talking points, and repeated several baseless claims.
Earlier, the president made the mathematically impossible claim that the administration has secured “300, 400, 500 and even 600%” drug pricing reduction with leading pharmaceutical companies. In this scenario, Americans would be getting payouts for their prescription drugs.
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'We're not going to pay sanctuary cities,' Trump threatens in meandering briefing
“I hope our people know that we’re not going to pay sanctuary cities,” Trump repeated at the White House today. The president has routinely insisted that he plans to scrap funding to states that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. However, his administration has been blocked from withholding funds by a federal judge.
Trump noted that his actions will probably result in those affected suing the government.
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White House touts baseless claim that DC crime is 'almost down to nothing'
The president just claimed, falsely, that crime in Washington DC is “almost down to nothing”.
A reminder that last year Donald Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployed national guard troops to the nation’s capital, citing a public safety emergency.
According to MPD data, total crime in the district only decreased by 17% by the end of 2025, compared to the previous year. There were still 2,476 violent crimes committed throughout 2025.
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Trump calls Renee Nicole Good's death a 'tragedy' after learning her parents were fans of administration
The president, in a departure from much of his administration’s rhetoric, called the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good “a tragedy”.
Many Trump officials, including the president himself, have claimed – without evidence –that Good was a “paid agitator” and part of a “radical left-wing network”.
Today, in the White House briefing room, Trump called Good’s death “a horrible thing” and “ICE would say the same thing”.
The president said he recently learned that Good’s parents –particularly her father – were “tremendous” Trump fans.
“He was all for Trump. Loved Trump, and it’s terrible,” the president said. “I was told that by a lot of people. They said, ‘oh, he loves you’… I hope he still feels that way.”
When it comes to economic policy, Trump said that the US has “very little inflation” adding that the administration has reduced inflation “to a normal number now”. However, the most recent inflation data from December showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7%. A reminder that when Joe Biden left office, the CPI rose to around 2.9% (after hitting a historic high of 9.1% in June 2022).
Throughout his appearance at today’s press briefing, Trump repeated baseless claims that Joe Biden “rigged” the 2020 election.
Trump continues to attack Minnesota and Ilhan Omar
The president continued to disparage representative Ilhan Omar today, calling her “a crooked congressman”, and repeated a xenophobic rant about the Somali community in Minnesota.
“They don’t have anything that resembles a country. And if it is a country, it’s considered just about the worst in the world. They come here and they become rich and they don’t have a job,” the president said.
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Trump addresses reporters at White House briefing
The president has appeared at the White House press briefing. Stunned by the number reporters in the room, Trump said he thinks it’s “a record”.
He started the briefing today by showing the press a binder of “accomplishments”.
“I could stand here and read it for a week and we wouldn’t be finished,” Trump said. My colleague, David Smith, is in the briefing room and captured the moment below.
At White House press briefing. Donald Trump: “These are accomplishments - a lot of accomplishments.” pic.twitter.com/NzPPOYgrx9
— David Smith (@SmithInAmerica) January 20, 2026
The Trump administration won a legal victory on Monday that temporarily allows it to keep elected officials out of immigration detention camps, while it advanced two other court actions in support of its surge into Minnesota.
A federal judge in Washington DC ruled that the homeland security department (DHS) can continue to insist that lawmakers provide a week’s notice of their intention to inspect immigration facilities, even though she blocked an identical policy last month.
Separately, justice department lawyers urged a district court judge in Minneapolis to allow the administration’s immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota to continue, in response to a lawsuit filed by the state seeking to end what it called a “federal invasion”.
And in a related development, the justice department said it was appealing an injunction issued on Friday curbing aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies in dealing with protesters.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, backtracked on Sunday on her insistence that federal agents had not used chemical substances including pepper spray against crowds protesting ICE actions, and claimed instead they were necessary to “establish law and order”.
Trump to join White House press briefing
We’ll be hearing from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a short while, where she will brief reporters on Donald Trump’s first year back in office and will no doubt face questions on his preoccupation with Greenland. Per the press pool, the president will also be there. We’ll bring you all the key lines here, so stay tuned.
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There was no debate about record crowd sizes this time. With the temperature plunging to 27F (-3C) and a wind chill making it feel far colder, Donald Trump’s second inauguration was held in the rotunda at the US Capitol in Washington on 20 January 2025.
The great and the good of the political elite were there, including former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama and outgoing president Joe Biden. So were tech oligarchs such as Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. At 12.10pm, they listened intently as Trump began a half-hour-long inaugural address.
The 47th president painted a bleak picture of America as a country where government was suffering a crisis of trust, failing to defend national borders and stumbling from catastrophe to catastrophe abroad. Reflecting on how he had narrowly escaped assassination, Trump declared:
I was saved by God to make America great again.
He promised a flurry of executive orders and made bold promises about immigration, the economy and America’s standing in the world. Here is a review of 10 key pledges – and what happened in the year since:
California governor Gavin Newsom has decried Europeans for their “complicity” in failing to stand up to Donald Trump’s demands that he be allowed to buy or annex Greenland.
Newsom, a frontrunner among Democratic candidates for president in 2028, told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier today that Europeans were being “played” by Trump and that their efforts to negotiate with him were “not diplomacy, it’s stupidity”.
It’s time to buck up, it’s time to get serious and stop being complicit. I can’t take this complicity. People rolling over. I should have brought kneepads for all the world leaders … this is pathetic.
Newsom regularly suggests that US politicians who cosy up to Trump should be given kneepads – making it easier to kneel – and he sells them on his website. “For all your groveling to Trump needs now in Republican red,” reads the advertisement for the kneepads, which bear a copy of Trump’s signature. “For the low low price of your soul.”
Donald Trump has just posted on Truth Social claiming that “no single person, or president, has done more for Nato than president Donald J. Trump”.
He added:
“If I didn’t come along, there would be no Nato right now!!!
It would have been in the ash heap of History.
Sad, but TRUE!!! President DJT”
Somewhat confusingly, he also earlier “re-Truthed” a post claiming that China and Russia were “the boogeymen,” and “the real threat” was from the UN, Nato, and Islam.
Republican congresswoman officially launches Louisiana Senate bid after Trump's endorsement
Louisiana congresswoman Julia Letlow officially announced her bid for Senate on Tuesday after receiving a “complete and total” social media endorsement from Donald Trump over the weekend.
Letlow, a Republican, is issuing a primary challenge to two-term GOP incumbent Bill Cassidy.
“I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!,” the president wrote on Truth Social, after hearing that Letlow was considering entering the Louisiana Senate race. “RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”
A reminder that Cassidy, a former physician who serves as chair of the Senate health, labor and pensions committee, was one of seven senators who voted to convict the president of inciting an insurrection during his second impeachment trial after the 2021 Capitol riots.
In the year since Trump returned to the White House, Cassidy has sought to avoid the president’s ire by casting the deciding vote to confirmhealth secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. This, despite the lawmaker’s numerous misgivings about Kennedy’s past comments undermining the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
Cassidy has since pushed back against Kennedy’s handling of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including at a bipartisan committee hearing in September when the senator accused the health secretary of “effectively denying people the vaccine”, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved new Covid-19 inoculations but placed restrictions on who would be able to access them.
In a video announcement on Tuesday, explaining her decision to enter the race, Letlow said that in “a state as conservative as ours [Louisiana], we shouldn’t have to wonder how our senator will vote when the pressure is on.”
The lawmaker, who won a 2021 special election after her husband – Luke Letlow – died from complications of Covid-19 five days before he was set to be sworn into office, thanked Donald Trump for his backing and praised his policy agenda.
“Our president is keeping his promises,” she said. “I have fought alongside President Trump to put America first, standing up for our parents, securing our borders, supporting law enforcement, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse that drives up inflation, and fighting to fix an education system to focus on woke ideology instead of teaching.”
In response to Letlow’s announcement, Cassidy said that he had heard from the congresswoman this morning – when she called him to say she was running for office. “She said she respected me and that I had done a good job. I will continue to do a good job when I win re-election. I am a conservative who wakes up every morning thinking about how to make Louisiana and the United States a better place to live,” Cassidy said in a statement.
Three cardinals in the US Catholic church have criticized the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying its push to obtain or otherwise seize Greenland, recent military action in Venezuela, and cuts to humanitarian aid risk “destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering”.
“Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” said a joint statement from Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, respectively the archbishops of Chicago, Washington DC, and Newark, New Jersey.
“And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity’s wellbeing now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies,” it added.
Without naming Donald Trump, the statement on Monday continued: “We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance.”
Supreme court does not issue decision on legality of Trump's global tariffs
The supreme court did not issue a decision today on the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.
It’s not immediately clear the next date the court will issue opinions.
Two boxes have been brought out at the supreme court, which means there could be up to four decisions released today.
As we wait on today’s opinions from the supreme court, it’s worth remembering that justices on the bench appeared skeptical of the administration’s arguments justifying the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to slap duties on dozens of countries, citing a national emergency. A reminder that the ability to institute taxes is a power normally only afforded to Congress.
Per my last post, my colleagues Jakub Krupa and Yohannes Lowe are reporting the latest developments out of Europe at our dedicate live blog. While Graeme Wearden is providing updates from Davos on our business blog.
Graeme notes that at an earlier press conference today, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that there are four “fantastic candidates” for Federal Reserve chair. He expects the Trump administration to make an announcement “maybe as early as next week”.
In a spree of Truth Social posts overnight, Donald Trump posted an altered image of himself, planting a US flag in Greenland, alongside JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio.
In another post, also featuring a doctored photo, it shows Trump behind the resolute desk speaking to European leaders while he shows off a map that shows an American flag covering the US, Canada and Greenland.
Trump’s campaign to acquire the autonomous territory, that remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has reached fever pitch in recent days after he threatened tariffs against allied countries who have spoken out against his moves on Greenland. We can expect more friction as the president heads to Davos today.
Earlier, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen repeatedly criticized Trump for his levy threats, saying they would be “a mistake” and could send the relations into “a downward spiral” that benefits geopolitical rivals. She also pledged her solidarity and support with Denmark and Greenland.
Second man dies at Texas ICE detention facility in two weeks
A second man being held at a US immigration detention facility in Texas has died in two weeks, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Monday.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, originally from Nicaragua, was found “unconscious and unresponsive in his room” on 14 January at the Camp East Montana detention facility in El Paso, ICE said in a press release.
“They immediately notified contract medical staff on site to conduct life saving measures,” it said, adding that emergency medical technicians arrived to the facility but could not revive Diaz, who was pronounced dead just after 4pm. ICE asserted that Diaz “died of a presumed suicide” but that the “official cause of his death remains under investigation”.
Diaz was detained on 6 January during the Trump administration’s controversial deportation blitz in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He initially entered the US through the Mexican border in March of 2024, when border patrol agents picked him up and he was given a court date with an immigration judge, then released on parole.
On 26 August of last year an immigration judge ordered Diaz’s removal “in absentia”. ICE detained him on 12 January in order to deport him. The extensive tent facility is located on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso …
Another man, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, who immigrated to the US from Cuba, died in the same detention camp on 3 January. ICE said Campos was “experiencing medical distress” and that staff provided emergency treatment in the hopes of saving him. His death is potentially being investigated as a homicide.
You can read the full story here:
Judge refuses to block new DHS policy limiting Congress members’ access to ICE facilities
In other news, a federal judge has refused to temporarily block the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy requiring a week’s notice before members of Congress can visit – and thereby inspect – immigration detention facilities.
Judge Jia M. Cobb of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) didn’t violate an earlier court order when it reimposed a seven-day notice requirement for congressional oversight visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities (you can read her judgment here).
Judge Cobb, an appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden, had blocked a virtually identical policy by the DHS last month, citing a clause in the appropriations law that funds the department and requires facilities to be open to congressional scrutiny.
However, ICE reestablished the visitation policy on 8 January 2026, with the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, ordering the DHS to re-impose the seven-day notice requirement – but “exclusively with money appropriated by the (One Big Beautiful Bill Act),” not regular appropriations, effectively bypassing the previous court order.
The background to this is that last June, a dozen House Democrats who were blocked from visiting immigration detention facilities sued the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully obstructing their efforts to visit federal immigration detention centers.
Members of Congress had tried to visit the facilities amid reports of inhumane and unsanitary conditions. Thirty-two people died in ICE custody last year, the highest number of fatalities in two decades. At least five people have reportedly died in ICE custody so far this year.
In her ruling on Monday, Judge Cobb said the plaintiffs’ attorneys representing Democratic members of Congress used the wrong “procedural vehicle” to challenge the new policy and said the lawmakers would need to revise their complaint. She did not rule on the legality of the policy.
Donald Trump will head to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later today.
He’ll be joining several of the ally countries that he’s been lambasting, and threatening with tariffs, in recent days over his longstanding goal to annex Greenland.
The president is due to leave the White House after a closed-door signing. We’ll bring you the latest in case he decides to speak to the press before he heads off.
Later today we’ll also hear from Karoline Leavitt when she holds a briefing for reporters at 1pm ET. We’ll be covering that and provide updates here.
US supreme court to hear challenge to Hawaii’s strict gun law
Hawaii, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States, will see its regulations challenged before the supreme court on Tuesday.
The court will consider the legality of the state’s law that bans people from bringing firearms on private property open to the public unless they have permission from the property owner.
The case, Wolford v Lopez, was brought by three Maui residents with concealed-carry permits and a local gun group.
US supreme court ruling on Trump's tariffs could come as early as Tuesday
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. The much-anticipated US supreme court ruling on the legality of Donald Trump’s tariffs is expected in the coming weeks, and possibly as early as Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency.
Those challenging the tariffs, which include some small businesses and US states, argue the president exceeded his authority when imposing the sweeping levies last year.
Two lower courts have already found that the president did not have the authority to impose global tariffs, which were brought in using emergency powers allowing the president to issue immediate orders and bypass Congress.
The supreme court, which is dominated by conservative justices, could throw out the tariffs – the cornerstone of Trump’s economic agenda – and force the president to send refunds to the US importers that paid them.
But if the supreme court does rule Trump overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose the tariffs, the White House has other ways it can bring in import taxes.
In a 15 January interview with the NY Times published on Monday, the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said the administration would “start the next day” to replace the tariffs with other levies if the ruling went against Trump.
“The reality is the president is going to have tariffs as part of his trade policy going forward,” Greer said. Last week, Trump said it would be “a complete mess” if the court were to strike down his trade tariffs, which he said would be difficult to reverse because businesses and countries could claim refunds.
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