ICE Under Scrutiny
US Attorney’s offices in Los Angeles, Washington, and Chicago have all experienced an exodus of experienced prosecutors following White House pressure to prosecute protesters—including in cases where grand juries took the rare step of rejecting indictments. Now add Minneapolis to that list.
Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned yesterday, including two top investigators of the daycare scandal that’s been animating Trump’s base, Ben Penn reports.
The New York Times reported that the exits stemmed from a decision not to investigate the ICE officer who fatally shot a woman, and from pressure to probe her widow. It’s part of the multi-layered fallout from President Donald Trump’s push to remove undocumented foreign citizens from the US.
The pattern has been for a surge of immigration enforcement resources, including around schools, churches and courthouses, followed by protests and then a spike in charges for impeding or assaulting officers. The handling of protests — and especially the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota — is already having an impact on Capitol Hill, where Democrats want to use the Homeland Security funding bill to exert influence over the way ICE agents behave.
Today, federal lawyers will be in court in Los Angeles to argue over the importance of ICE agents staying masked.
New state laws require US officers to unmask during their official duties in California, plus display their names and agencies if not in uniform. Maia Spoto reports that their request for a preliminary injunction argues that if forced to comply, “federal agents will face increased incidents of doxxing and harassment, and law enforcement operations will be compromised.”
And Erik Larson is following a case in which Minneapolis protesters are seeking a court order restricting the use of force by ICE agents. They want an injunction to bar using chemical irritants against people who do not pose a threat of imminent harm.
In its filings, the Justice Department wrote that “Large crowds have surrounded ICE officers in the process of making an arrest and individuals have hurled projectiles at them to the point where the officers were ‘panicked’ and had to call for backup.”
The judge in that case said she would issue a ruling by early Friday.
Discussing Greenland
Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers are to meet today with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance here in Washington. Their goal: to work out the real intentions of the Americans and convince them there’s no need to take over Greenland.
The potential result could involve Copenhagen increasing its military presence and investment on the island. Another move labeled the off-ramp option would be for Greenland to offer Trump a Ukraine-style minerals deal where the US gets access to the island’s rare earths in exchange for security guarantees.
Off the table: Greenlanders have ruled out selling their land regardless of how much money would be offered. Read More
Another NATO ally, Germany, sent members of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet to Washington this week for some diplomatic conversations about what the US is after in the Arctic territory — but they left empty-handed and alarmed, Arne Delfs and Kamil Kowalcze report.
And on Capitol Hill, Roxana Tiron reports that Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are taking the lead on legislation that would prohibit the use Department of Defense or Department of State funds to blockade, occupy, annex “or otherwise assert control over the sovereign territory of a NATO member state without that ally’s consent or authorization from the North Atlantic Council.”
Tariff Money
Thanks mainly to Trump’s tariffs, the budget deficit shrank to $1.67 trillion for the 2025 calendar year, the smallest in three years, according to new government data.
Daniel Flatley reports thattariff revenue came in at $264 billion, up some $185 billion from the year before.
There’s an offset, though: Because of Trump’s signature tax law, December data showed a drop in corporate tax receipts to $65 billion, down 28% from the same month a year before.
As for the tariffs, in part their fate is up to the Supreme Court. The justices don’t reveal ahead of time which rulings will come out, but it’s possible that the challenge to Trump’s “emergency” tariffs will be resolved today.
Also Read: Trump’s Options If Supreme Court Says His Tariffs Are Illegal
Number to Know: 1.4 Million
Consumers have until Jan. 15 to elect new Obamacare plans for the year. Through early January, 22.8 million people had signed up, a number that’s about 6% lower than last year’s total enrollment, according to a snapshot released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
That means about 1.4 million fewer people have signed up for plans so far after a federal tax credit expired and Americans who relied on that subsidy face significantly higher premiums.
Reporter Caitlin Reilly talked to Cynthia Cox, senior vice president at the nonpartisan health care research organization KFF. Cox cautioned that the totals include people who were automatically re-enrolled. Given the sharp increase in costs this year, people are likely to drop coverage in the coming months, she said.
Meanwhile, efforts to negotiate a revival or partial extension of the expired tax credits haven’t stopped on Capitol Hill, and Trump says he’ll be out this week with his own proposal. Read More
Senate action on a health-care compromise slipped to later in the month — and that’s not the only issue cramming the agenda for January, Lillianna Byington reports in today’s Congress Tracker.
Does It Come With Fries?
Wall Street loves few things more than a good acronym to describe a trading thesis, Geoffrey Morgan reports. The latest may be the Big MAC trade, a play on Big Midterms Are Coming.
The chief US strategist at Ned Davis Research, Ed Clissold, coined the moniker to capture what he thinks will be the main theme of 2026: the policy implications in the runup to and fallout from this fall’s Congressional vote.
As Trump tries to address “affordability,” the implications for the market may be profound. In the past week, Trump sent bank stocks into a tailspin after demanding credit card issuers cap interest at 10%, military contractors took a hit when the president demanded they halt dividends and invest in production, and much of Wall Street shuddered after the latest administration attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve. Read More
Meanwhile, CEOs are learning that when Trump’s personal involvment in an issue can shape business as profoundly as any economic force, Matthew Boyle and Nancy Cook report.
From public attacks on media conglomerates to the ever-present threat of new tariffs, Trump has spent the past year blowing past the norms that have traditionally governed relations between the Oval Office and titans of industry.
It’s a tension that now defines the corporate operating environment. Companies are constantly recalibrating strategy, weighing when to signal political fealty against the risk of damaging their share price or reputation. Read More
Also Read:
- Banks Go Silent on Trump Plan to Weaken Racism-in-Lending Rules
- Pirro Defends Powell Subpoena, Saying ‘No One Is Above the Law’
Attendance Matters
The Republican majority is so slender in the House now that a couple absences left Speaker Mike Johnson with no maneuvering room when some of his conference’s moderates opposed a GOP bill yesterday.
At issue was legislation (H.R. 2262) to let employers hold uncompensated voluntary training outside normal work hours. Parker Purifoy and Maeve Sheehey report that after that bill went down, leaders abruptly cancelled planned votes on two other workforce bills, including one to expand the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Read More
How To Get a Seven-Figure Job
Want a job that pays in the high six figures, or even $1 million? Get into a Wayback Machine and go to work for the Trump administration — last year.
Kate Ackley reports that corporate and lobbying interests are willing to pay a premium to scoop up people with experience inside Trump 2.0.
“The demand is pretty high, and we’ve seen some fairly impressive growth by firms that market themselves as tight with the administration,” said Stewart Verdery, founder of the bipartisan lobbying firm Monument Advocacy. “If you’ve got to pay over-market for Republicans, there are three more years.” Read More
Before You Go
Clinton Defies House GOP Subpoena in Clash on Epstein Probe
Former President
Bessent Says Health-Care Announcement Coming This Week
Treasury Secretary
Trump Says He’ll End Sanctuary City Payments By Month’s End
President
Luxury Retailer Saks Files Bankruptcy After Turnaround Fails
Saks Global Enterprises filed for bankruptcy in Texas to address mounting losses and a substantial debt load that has weighed down the iconic luxury retailer.
Netflix Weighs Amending Warner Bros. Bid to Make It All Cash
US Reverses Deep Cuts to Safety Agency, Reinstating Hundreds
The Trump Administration is reversing its deep staffing cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, reinstating hundreds of employees.
Iran’s Death Toll Jumps as Tehran Shrugs Off Trump Threats
More than 2,500 people have been killed in Iranian protests that have swept the nation, activist groups said, as Tehran continued its crackdown despite US President
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