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1:40 PM ET, January 12, 2026

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 Top Items: 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:
Statement from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell  —  Good evening.  —  On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Federal Prosecutors Open Investigation Into Fed Chair Powell  —  The investigation, which is said to center on renovations of the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington, signals an escalation in the long-running clash between President Trump and the chair.
Politico:
GOP angst grows over Powell investigation  —  A growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing unease with the Justice Department's move to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a sign that the probe could become a major inflection point over GOP lawmakers' concerns about central bank independence.
Discussion: Reuters and Washington Times
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Take the Masks Off  —  For his entire second term, Donald Trump has been grousing about Fed Chair Jerome Powell's resistance to cutting interest rates, but he has always stopped short of actually trying to run Powell out of office—until now.  On Sunday, the Federal Reserve released a direct-to-camera video from Powell.
Discussion: The Hill
Max Zahn / ABC News:
Stocks fall after Trump's DOJ opens criminal probe into Fed Chair Powell  —  Powell rebuked the probe as an effort to undermine the Fed's independence.  —  Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on January 12, 2026.  —  Stocks slid in early trading …
Politico:
Fed up  —  Good Monday morning.  This is Jack Blanchard.  Get in touch.  —  LOOK WHO'S BACK: Elon Musk takes another step toward full rehabilitation within the Trump administration today, appearing in public alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Texas.
Discussion: Thom Tillis …
Colby Smith / New York Times:
Fed Changes Course and Takes On Trump's Political Fight  —  The Justice Department's decision to open up a criminal investigation of Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, is a major escalation in the pressure campaign against the central bank to cut interest rates.
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:   The news has seemed to move more and more quickly in the last week. …
Bloomberg:
Bill Pulte Seen as Key Instigator Behind Powell Subpoena
NBC News:
Republican lawmakers speak out against the Justice Department's Federal Reserve investigation
Discussion: The Independent
NBC News:
'I don't know anything about it': Trump denies involvement in DOJ's Fed subpoenas
Christopher Rugaber / Associated Press:
Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment
Erica L. Green / New York Times:
Trump Says Civil Rights Led to White People Being ‘Very Badly Treated’  —  President Trump's comments were a blunt distillation of his administration's racial politics, which rest on the belief that white people have become the real victims of discrimination in America.
RELATED:
Alexander Willis / Raw Story:
Trump appalls with attack on Civil Rights Act: ‘White people very badly treated’  —  Critics pounced on President Donald Trump Monday after he complained to the New York Times that the Civil Rights Act - the landmark 1964 legislation that outlawed racial discrimination - was “unfair in certain cases” …
Washington Post:
Trump is trying to change how the midterm elections are conducted … Five years ago, President Donald Trump pressured Republican county election officials, state lawmakers and members of Congress to find him votes after he lost his reelection bid.  Now, he's seeking to change the rules before ballots are cast.
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
Anna Betts / The Guardian:   Trump regrets not seizing voting machines after 2020 election loss
New York Times:
Trump Regrets Not Seizing Voting Machines After 2020 Election
Discussion: Democracy Docket
Michelle Cottle / New York Times:
The Rare Republican Who Brawls With Trump — and Is Ready for More  —  Heading into 2026, Thomas Massie was already the Republican House member whom President Trump most loved to hate.  —  With his libertarian leanings and a bit of a mulish streak, the Kentucky conservative repeatedly crossed …
RELATED:
Elena Schneider / Politico:
Former Rep. Mary Peltola jumps into Alaska Senate race … “Systemic change is the only way to bring down grocery costs, save our fisheries, lower energy prices and build new housing Alaskans can afford,” Peltola said.  “It's about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska First and, really, America First looks like.”
Janna Brancolini / The Daily Beast:
Trump, 79, Answers Simple Question With Bizarre Word Salad  —  WHAT KNOWS MEANS  —  The president dodged the question before giving a confused answer.  —  President Donald Trump gave a bizarre response to a simple question about what it would mean for the ICE agent who killed a woman in Minneapolis to be immune from prosecution.
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
Statement / Statement on the Federal Reserve:
Statement on the Federal Reserve  —  The Federal Reserve's independence and the public's perception of that independence are critical for economic performance, including achieving the goals Congress has set for the Federal Reserve of stable prices, maximum employment, and moderate long-term interest rates.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
New High of 45% in U.S. Identify as Political Independents  —  More independents lean Democratic than Republican, giving Democrats edge in party affiliation for first time since 2021  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — A record-high 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025 …
Maya Kaufman / Politico:
Nearly 15,000 nurses go on strike at top New York City hospitals … “It is deeply offensive that they would rather use their billions to fight against their own nurses than settle a fair contract,” union president Nancy Hagans said in a statement.  “Nurses do not want to strike, but our bosses have forced us out on strike.”
Maxine Joselow / New York Times:
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution  —  In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.  —  For decades, the Environmental Protection Agency …
New York Times:
Two Hours, Scores of Questions, 23,000 Words: Our Interview With President Trump  —  Four New York Times reporters pressed Mr. Trump about a range of topics in a nearly two-hour interview.  Here is a transcript of their conversation.  —  President Trump spoke to four New York Times reporters …
Amy Knight / Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. Could Make 2026 Even Worse for Putin Than 2025  —  The war in Ukraine has lasted as long as Soviet involvement in World War II, with no victory in sight.  —  Click for Sound  —  The year has started badly for Vladimir Putin.  As of Sunday, the war in Ukraine has lasted as long …
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Annie Linskey / Wall Street Journal:
Trump ‘Inclined’ to Keep Exxon Out of Venezuela  —  President says he didn't like comments from company's CEO during a meeting Friday at the White House  —  WASHINGTON—President Trump said he might block Exxon Mobil from drilling in Venezuela after the company's top executive publicly acknowledged …
Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:
The Week Ahead  —  Tonight's column is far longer than I like to run, perhaps the longest one ever.  But please don't give up on it.  Although I'd planned to write about developments we expect this week in various lawsuits, these are the times we live in.  The situation with ICE is critical right now.
Discussion: NBC News and Raw Story
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Kill, smear, cover-up  —  On January 7, Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis.  After her death, Good was subjected to a vicious smear campaign by the President, the Vice President, administration officials, and their allies.
Discussion: BBC and HuffPost
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
MAGA is weirdly thirsty for Barron Trump  —  The right desperately wants the youngest Trump son to be a sex symbol  —  To a non-MAGA observer, it is an odd thing that Eric Trump has lengthy opinions about his younger brother's sex life.  In an October edition of the “PBD Podcast,” …
Discussion: Raw Story
Tal Axelrod / Axios:
Bongino to resume podcast on Feb. 2  —  Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino will resume his podcast on Feb. 2, marking the grassroots return of one of the right's most prominent brawlers. … - Since leaving his administration post earlier this month, he has hammered critics within …
Eric Levitz / Vox:
The fiction at the heart of America's political divide  —  America's most impassioned Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much.  Ask the inhabitants of Bluesky and Truth Social whether a fetus is a person, or undocumented immigrants are a scourge, or trans women are women …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Elizabeth Elkind / Fox News:
Trump's Greenland push escalates as GOP lawmaker moves to make it America's 51st state
Discussion: IJR and The Gateway Pundit
Greg Jaffe / New York Times:
U.S. Citizens Are Joining the Military to Protect Undocumented Parents
Discussion: The Independent
Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:
Inside Democrats' Brewing Debate Over Which States Should Vote First in 2028
Emily Peck / Axios:
Trump funding freeze could stretch child care to a breaking point
Wall Street Journal:
Washington's New Lobbyists: Paid Online Influencers With Few Rules
Julia Shapero / The Hill:
Meta selects Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chair
Seb Starcevic / Politico:
Moldova's Sandu says she would vote for reunification with Romania
Discussion: Reuters
 Earlier Items: 
Jeet Heer / The Nation:
Renee Good's Killing Has Unleashed MAGA's Misogyny
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Iran's foreign minister and Trump's envoy discussed protests, sources say
KKCO:
Teen dies of cancer days after mother arrested by ICE: 'She's never gonna see him'
Yuliya Talmazan / NBC News:
Greenland faces ‘fateful moment’ as Trump says U.S. will take it ‘one way or the other’
Madison Mills / Axios:
Trump is getting creative to bypass Congress
Mark Olalde / ProPublica:
The Biggest Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Grazing on Public Lands
David Catron / The American Spectator:
The Media Are Agents of Propaganda
Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and The Wrap
 

 
From Techmeme:

Scott Shambaugh / The Shamblog:
A matplotlib maintainer explains how an AI agent that suggests code changes on open source repos wrote a hit piece on him after a rejection, and the aftermath

Eduardo Baptista / Reuters:
ByteDance launches Doubao 2.0, an “agent era” upgrade of China's most widely used AI app capable of executing multi-step tasks, ahead of the Lunar New Year

Jessica Brice / Bloomberg:
A deep dive into a global money-laundering ecosystem powered by crypto and messaging apps like WeChat and Telegram, used by drug cartels and criminal groups

 
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