US Politics

Fed chair accuses DoJ of threatening criminal charges over building renovation projects because central bank defied Trump’s interest rate demandsThe 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.Powell said the Department of Justice had served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas on Friday, threatening a criminal indictment related to his testimony before the Senate banking committee in June last year, regarding renovations to the Fed’s historic office buildings in Washington DC. Continue reading… More

Possible next steps for US include military strikes, sanctions and cyber attacks – key US politics stories from 11 JanuaryDonald Trump is weighing up his options for responding to protests in Iran, including “very strong” military action, as deaths mount in a crackdown on demonstrations against the regime in Tehran.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. Continue reading… More

Jacob Frey says Trump administration is ‘so quick to jump on a narrative’ over the truth after ICE fatally shot womanKristi Noem vows to send ‘hundreds’ more agents to Minneapolis as protests erupt across USMinneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called on Sunday for the federal government to allow his state to become involved in the investigation of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, saying that the Trump administration had been “so quick to jump on a narrative as opposed to the truth”.Frey and others have expressed concerns about whether the Trump administration’s investigation into Good’s death would be fair and impartial because, among other reasons, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, immediately described Good’s actions as “domestic terrorism” when significant questions remained about Good’s intent while driving after an ICE officer attempted to remove her from her car. Continue reading… More

After killing of Renee Nicole Good, city braces for what the agency describes as its largest enforcement operation yetMinneapolis mayor urges FBI to include state officials in Renee Good inquiryMinneapolis protesters – already outraged by Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a woman 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.On Sunday, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, had pledged the agency would send “hundreds more” federal agents to the city. 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. Continue reading… More

Michael Steele argues law firms, universities and media capitulated with startling speed and voters want accountabilityThe biggest surprise of Donald Trump’s first year back in office is how quickly America’s institutions capitulated to “the bully”, said Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) turned arch critic.But with the midterm elections for Congress looming, Steele predicts a resounding Democratic victory amid a hunger among voters to hold the president and his allies accountable for threatening democracy. Continue reading… More

A group of reporters meant to hold the Pentagon to account is full of pro-Trump sycophants … what could go wrong?After US troops swarmed into Venezuela, seizing the country’s president and his wife, there was little to be heard from the Pentagon.Typically, it would be a time for defense officials to talk to the Pentagon press corps: a group of journalists made up of some of the most talented reporters in the US. The Pentagon could have been expected to be held to account over what has been criticized as a violation of international law. Continue reading… More

Much of what happened to Randall Gamboa Esquivel, 52, over his last weeks in federal custody in Texas remains a mystery to his familyFamily seeks answers after ICE deports man to Costa Rica in vegetative stateA few days before Christmas in Pérez Zeledón, a city in Costa Rica, Greidy Mata stared at two photographs of her late brother. In one image, Randall Gamboa Esquivel flashed a smile prior to his immigration to the United States a year before. In the second, he was lying in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, after being deported back home.Dinner was served, but Mata seemed indifferent. She kept switching between one photograph and the other until she suddenly recounted that a year ago, in what would become the last family reunion, Gamboa announced he would be leaving for New Jersey. Continue reading… More

Exclusive: Before Randall Gamboa Esquivel died, his health had deteriorated badly while he was in ICE custodyCosta Rican family demands answers after ICE deportation and death: ‘Have you ever smelled a cadaver?’The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers from the authorities about what happened to him while he was in detention.Randall Gamboa Esquivel had left Costa Rica in good health and crossed the United States-Mexico border in December 2024, according to his family. However, Gamboa was detained by the US authorities for re-entering American soil unlawfully, as he had previously lived there undocumented between 2002 and 2013. Continue reading… More