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.
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.
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.
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 U.S. assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, a former vice chair of the California Republican Party.
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.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
