The state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the federal government to stop an enforcement surge by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer.
The state and cities filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday, along with a request for a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement action or limit the operation.
The Department of Homeland Security says it’s surging more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota, and that it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the city since the push began last month. ICE has called the Minnesota surge its largest enforcement operation ever.
The lawsuit alleges that the operation violates federal law because it’s arbitrary and capricious, since it says other states aren’t seeing commensurate crackdowns. And while the Trump administration says it’s about fighting fraud, the lawsuit says ICE agents have no expertise in combating fraud in government programs.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok will be joining Google’s generative AI engine in being able to operate inside the Pentagon network
“Very soon we will have the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department,” Hegseth said in a speech before a crowd of a several hundred at Musk’s space launch company, SpaceX, in Texas.
The announcement comes just days after Grok, which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk, drew renewed scrutiny and controversy for generating highly sexualized images of people without their consent. The UK’s independent online safety watchdog, Ofcom, announced an investigation into Grok and X on Monday.
Hegseth said Grok will live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would “make all appropriate data” from the military’s IT systems available for “AI exploitation.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth toured a SpaceX facility in Texas on Monday as he continued his push to overhaul the Pentagon’s research, development and procurement efforts.
Billionaire CEO Elon Musk gave Hegseth a warm welcome, telling a gathering of employees about his dream of interstellar travel. SpaceX, he said, is working toward a day of “epic, futuristic spaceships with lots of people in them traveling to places we’ve never been to before.”
“We want to make Star Trek real,” Musk said.
Hegseth thanked Musk for his vision and then spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, including new autonomous weapons systems and artificial intelligence.
“We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose,” Hegseth said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Trump was “fairly animated on that subject” when they spoke ahead of last week’s war powers vote on Venezuela.
Trump’s views though could not stop the roll call of five Republican senators who joined Democrats to advance the resolution, which would limit the president’s ability to conduct military attacks against Venezuela.
Trump then started calling the five.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said Trump’s message on the call was that “this really ties my hands.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said her call was not a friendly exchange and that “it wasn’t much of a conversation.”
The resolution is headed to a final vote this week.
“I don’t think anybody should be surprised by his reaction,” Thune said. “He was very, very fired up.”
Hawley said he’s reconsidering his support for the resolution.
A new video shows more of what happened before a federal immigration officer shot and killed a woman during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis, adding context to a shooting that has sparked national debate.
The video was filmed by a bystander and was posted Sunday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the social platform X. It shows federal officers and vehicles on a snowy street as a car horn blares.
The camera swings to the left, showing a red SUV sitting perpendicular and blocking part of the road, the woman inside, Renee Good, pressing the horn repeatedly. After over a minute, Good pulls the SUV back slightly and appears to wave at cars to pass. Two vehicles drive past her.
After a blare from sirens, a dark truck with a flashing light pulls to a stop a few feet from Good’s SUV. Two officers exit the truck and walk toward Good’s car just before the video goes dark.
▶ Read more about what bystander videos from the shooting show
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Monday with the president-elect of Honduras and Germany’s foreign minister as the Trump administration grapples with multiple foreign policy crises from Iran and Greenland to Ukraine and Venezuela.
In a statement, the State Department said Rubio and Honduran President-elect Nasry Asfura spoke mainly about Western Hemisphere issues, including the situation in Venezuela and the promotion of stability there since last week’s ouster of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a U.S. military raid.
With German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, Venezuela was also a topic but also efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and the importance of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the department said in a separate statement.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, voted to advance the resolution last week to limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela. But following a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this morning, Hawley says many of his concerns about the campaign have been answered.
Hawley said Rubio told him, “Point blank, we’re not going to do ground troops.”
The conversation showed the intense pressure campaign underway by the Trump administration to stop the Senate from passing the war powers resolution later this week. If two Republicans change their support, the legislation will fail.
North Korea accused the United States of trying “to imagine, fabricate and propagate” a “cyber threat” as the U.S. held a meeting Monday at the U.N. urging all countries to work to prevent the North’s illegal actions.
The country’s U.N. mission also called a U.S.-led group that monitors sanctions against Pyongyang “an illegal ghost organization” cooked up by some Western nations.
The 11-nation Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team issued a report in October detailing how North Korean hackers pilfered about $1.6 billion in the first nine months of 2025 by breaking into cryptocurrency exchanges and creating fake identities to get remote tech jobs at foreign companies.
Jonathan Fritz, U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told U.N. reporters Monday that since the report’s release, the U.S. thinks the North Koreans got over $2 billion during 2025 and are using the money to buy weapons.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.
Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the bishops’ conference, confirmed Coakley also met with Vice President JD Vance and other officials to discuss “areas of mutual concern, as well as areas for further dialogue.” She said the archbishop “is grateful for the engagement and looks forward to ongoing discussions.”
The meeting comes as Catholic leaders have criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics and mass deportations. Pope Leo and the Catholic Church hierarchy strongly support the rights of migrants, even as they acknowledge the rights of nations to control borders.
Republicans’ already narrow House majority has shrunk since the start of the year following the resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. The margin is expected to tighten further this week, with Rep. Jim Baird still recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash and Rep. Derrick Van Orden planning to be out beginning Monday as his wife undergoes a scheduled surgical procedure.
As long as Baird and Van Orden remain sidelined, House Republicans can afford to lose only a single vote on their side if Democrats have full attendance and are unified against a bill.
U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations Tammy Bruce told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that the U.S. deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the nearly four-year war and condemns Russia’s continuing and intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.
“At a moment of tremendous potential, due only to President (Donald) Trump’s unparalleled commitment to peace around the world, both sides should be seeking ways to de-escalate,” she said. “Yet Russia’s action risks expanding and intensifying the war.”
Bruce reminded Russia that nearly a year ago it voted in favor of a Security Council resolution calling for an end to the conflict in Ukraine
“It would be nice if Russia matched their words with deeds,” she told Monday’s council meeting called by Ukraine. “In the spirit of that resolution, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe must pursue peace seriously and bring this nightmare to an end.”
Republican Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania objects to the Justice Department’s investigation of Powell.
“I think the Federal Reserve renovation may well have wasted taxpayer dollars, but the proper place to fix this is through Congressional oversight,” McCormick said in a statement.
He said he believes strongly in an independent Fed, and he also agrees with Trump that Powell “has been slow to cut interest rates.”
But he said, “I do not think Chairman Powell is guilty of criminal activity.”
American oil companies agree that Venezuela must reform its contract laws before they can have confidence investing a significant amount of money to revitalize crude oil production there.
The head of the American Petroleum Institute trade group, CEO Mike Sommers, said it’s too soon to predict when oil companies will move back into Venezuela because it has to be clear that country won’t just seize companies’ assets and kick them out of the country again in the future, and more needs to be done to ensure the security and safety of oil workers.
“There are going to have to be these key prerequisites if investment is going to flow,” Sommers said.
But he said the industry believes Trump understands that and is committed to addressing those concerns.
Over the weekend, Trump suggested that ExxonMobil should be left out of Venezuela after that company’s CEO said Friday that Venezuela is uninvestible right now. But Sommers said oil companies are unified in the view that some things have to change before they will invest.
The state of Illinois and its largest city are suing the Trump administration over a “menacing, violent, and unlawful” immigration crackdown.
More than 4,300 people were arrested in “Operation Midway Blitz” last year. Roving patrols of masked and armed agents hit Chicago neighborhoods and many suburbs.
Among other things, the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court alleges the crackdown had a chilling effect, making residents afraid to venture out or use public services.
“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.
One man was killed in the crackdown.
The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security and two of its immigration agencies. DHS didn’t immediately return a message Monday.
Just under half, 45%, of U.S. adults now identify as independents, a new Gallup survey found. That’s a substantial shift from 20 years ago, when closer to one-third of Americans identified as independent.
Younger people, in particular, are rejecting the parties at much higher rates than older generations. More than half of Generation Z and Millennials say they are political independents. Independent identity is softer in older generations, where only about 4 in 10 in Gen X currently call themselves independents and roughly 3 in 10 older adults do.
▶ Read more about the Gallup poll
Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered a brief but stern response Monday as he arrived at the U.S. Capitol, reacting to news that the Trump administration has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“I haven’t seen the case or whatever the allegations or charges are, but I would say they better, they better be real and they better be serious,” said Thune.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., had just given a speech calling on Trump to use his leverage to address high prices — and in an unusual move, he gave her a phone call.
While on the phone, she said she gave him advice about his recent push to cap credit card rates and lower housing costs. “No more delays. It’s time to deliver relief for American families.”
The White House did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Earlier in the day, Warren accused Trump of raising costs for American families and doing little to address affordability. “He sure knows how to get on the phone,” regarding Venezuela and the Epstein files, Warren said during her speech. “But is he on the phone to say, ‘Move that housing bill so that we can start right now?’”
That prompted Trump to call the Democratic senator he has goaded for years.
He plans to tour a Dearborn factory that is boosting hiring to make more Ford F-150 trucks. Trump also will give a speech to the Detroit Economic Club, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday.
Trump is under pressure to show his economic policies are helping voters ahead of the midterm elections later this year. Leavitt said Trump will be “talking about all of the great economic news,” including mortgage rates falling below 6%.
House Speaker Mike Johnson wants to “let the investigation play out” when it comes to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
After opening the House on Monday, Johnson was asked by reporters if he was concerned about the ramifications of the DOJ’s investigation.
He said there have been “concerns about cost overruns and whatever the allegations are. I don’t know what’s involved in that.”
“I think you have to let the process play out. If Chairman Powell is innocent, then he can prove that and it will all come out,” Johnson said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump is “keeping all of his options on the table” but that “airstrikes would be one of the many, many options” that he’s considering.
“Diplomacy is always the first option for the president,” Leavitt said.
Trump on Sunday evening told reporters as he made his way back from Florida that Iranian officials have reached out to his administration for talks. Trump has threatened to take military action against the Islamic Republic for its brutal crackdown against protests that started more than two weeks ago and have spread across the country.
“What you’re hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite different from the messages the administration is receiving privately, and I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages,” Leavitt said. “However, with that said, the president has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran.”
Venezuela’s powerful interior minister said Monday that his government is taking steps to reestablish diplomatic relations with the United States and wants to open a consulate that will look out for the interests of Venezuela’s captured leader, Nicolás Maduro.
“We are advancing in reopening a Venezuelan embassy in the United States and an American embassy in Venezuela,” Cabello said in a press conference. “This will enable us to have a consulate that can look out for the safety and the tranquility of our President Nicolás Maduro.”
Venezuela and the United States cut diplomatic ties and shut down embassies in 2019 after the first Trump administration backed an effort to remove Maduro from office. But after Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3, both countries' governments have been looking into reestablishing diplomatic ties with a U.S. delegation that visited Caracas last week.
Cabello has described Maduro’s capture as a “kidnapping” and is one of the officials who has demanded his return to Venezuela.
Maria Corina Machado is scheduled to make her highly anticipated White House visit on Thursday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump has expressed skepticism since the ouster of Nicolás Maduro that Machado could ever be the South American country’s leader, saying she “doesn’t have the support within, or the respect within, the country.”
Machado, for her part, has offered unending praise for the American president, including dedicating her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump and backing his administration’s campaigns to deport Venezuelan migrants and attack alleged drug traffickers in international waters.
Machado rose to become Maduro’s strongest opponent in recent years, but his government barred her from running for office to prevent her from challenging — and likely beating — him in the 2024 presidential election. She chose retired ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia to represent her on the ballot.
Officials loyal to the ruling party declared Maduro the winner mere hours after the polls closed, but Machado’s well-organized campaign stunned the nation by collecting detailed tally sheets showing González had defeated Maduro by a 2-to-1 margin.
▶ Read more about the Venezuelan opposition
The president had a stark warning in a social media Monday morning that it would be “be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay” back the money the U.S. has collected from his sweeping tariffs if the high court rules he doesn’t have the unilateral ability to impose many of them.
Trump has increasingly posted warnings on social media about the court’s looming decision, including similar posts many days last week about how complicated it would be for the government to issue refunds.
“It may not be possible,” Trump said in his Monday post about repaying the tariffs. But, “if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay.”
The department said Monday that the revocations, a 150% increase over 2024, have targeted foreign nationals “charged or convicted with crimes” ranging from assault and theft to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It did not offer a breakdown of those who had been actually convicted of crimes or had only been charged with offenses.
It comes as the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to deport or otherwise remove foreigners it believes are a threat to the United States or U.S. citizens.
“The Trump administration will continue to put America first and protect our nation from foreign nationals who pose a risk to public safety or national security,” the department said, adding that it had stood up a “Continuous Vetting Center” to look at all visa holders and evaluate them for potential non-compliance with U.S. laws.
The department last offered an update on visa revocations in early December when it said more than 85,000 visas had been pulled.
Another Republican is speaking out against the Justice Department’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska says that if the DOJ believes an investigation into Powell is warrants based on project cost overruns, which she says are not unusual, then Congress needs to investigate the DOJ.
“The stakes are too high to look the other way: if the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer,” Murkowski wrote on X.
She also notes that she spoke with Powell on Monday morning, adding “it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion.”
London’s murder rate fell in 2025 to its lowest level in decades, officials said Monday. Mayor Sadiq Khan said the figures disprove claims spread by Trump and others on the political right that crime is out of control in Britain’s capital.
Police recorded 97 homicides in London in 2025, down from 109 in 2024 and the fewest since 2014. The Metropolitan Police force says the rate by population is the lowest since comparable records began in 1997, at 1.1 homicides for every 100,000 people.
That compares to 1.6 per 100,000 in Paris, 2.8 in New York and 3.2 in Berlin, the force said.
“There are some politicians and commentators who’ve been spamming social media with an endless stream of distortions and untruths, painting an image of a dystopian London,” Khan told The Associated Press. “And nothing could be further from the truth.”
▶ Read more about crime in London
The Democratic Party regained the partisanship edge when independents were asked whether they lean more toward the Democratic or Republican Party in a new Gallup poll.
Nearly half, 47%, of U.S. adults now identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party, while 42% are Republicans or lean Republican.
This is an indication of how Americans are feeling about their political affiliations, and it may not be reflected in voters’ actual registration.
Independents appear to be driven by their unhappiness with the party in power. That’s a dynamic that could be good for Democrats for now, but it doesn’t promise lasting loyalty. Attitudes toward the party haven’t gotten warmer, suggesting the Democrats’ gains are probably more related to independents’ sour views of Trump.
That comes a day after Trump threatened the Caribbean island in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.
Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”
The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Díaz-Canel added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence.”
Cuba’s president stressed on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of migration.”
About 8 in 10 U.S. adults said the Federal Reserve Board should be independent of political control, according to Marquette/SSRS polling from September, while roughly 2 in 10 said the president should have more influence over setting interest rates and monetary policy. There was bipartisan consensus that the Fed should remain independent. About 9 in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of Republicans said the Fed should not be subjected to political control.
That poll found about 3 in 10 Americans said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in The Federal Reserve Board. Nearly half — 45% — had some confidence, and roughly one-quarter had “very little” confidence or “none at all.”
Stocks are falling on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Department of Justice had served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony about the Fed’s building renovations.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% in early trading Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 384 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.
Powell characterized the threat of criminal charges as pretexts to undermine the Fed’s independence in setting interest rates, its main tool for fighting inflation. The threat is the latest escalation in Trump’s feud with the Fed.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
She says she had “a very good conversation” with Trump on Monday morning about topics including “security with respect to our sovereignties.”
Last week, Sheinbaum had said she was seeking a conversation with Trump or U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. president made comments in an interview that he was ready to confront drug cartels on the ground and repeated the accusation that cartels were running Mexico.
Trump’s offers of using U.S. forces against Mexican cartels took on a new weight after the Trump administration deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Sheinbaum was expected to share more about their conversation later Monday.
A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country’s fractured relations with the world’s second-largest economy — and reduce Canada’s dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies.
The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States — the world’s No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far.
Carney aims to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports in the next decade in the face of Trump’s tariffs and the American leader’s musing that Canada could become “the 51st state.”
▶ Read more about relations between Canada and China
The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. Trump has said he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.
Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO.
▶ Read more about the U.S. and Greenland
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One from Florida, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Denmark’s foreign minister said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with President Donald Trump after talks in Washington with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But the two sides agreed to create a working group to discuss ways to work through differences as Trump continues to call for a U.S. takeover of Denmark’s Arctic territory of Greenland.
Trump is trying to make the case that NATO should help the U.S. acquire the world’s largest island and says anything less than it being under American control is “unacceptable.”
Denmark has announced plans to boost the country’s military presence in the Arctic and North Atlantic as Trump tries to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover of the vast territory by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their designs on Greenland.
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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the leaders of Columbia University and New York University for information on tuition payments that Jeffrey Epstein made on behalf of young women, including some who were minors.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee, said that his staff had received reports from survivors that Epstein “repeatedly lured young women into his network by promising to help them gain admission into colleges and universities.”
The request showed how Democrats are expanding their investigation into Epstein as they try to uncover how the late financier used his wealth and connections to coerce and abuse teenage girls. They are also seeking testimony from Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant who now control his estate.
Federal officials are reinstating hundreds of U.S. health workers who were laid off last year from a small U.S. health agency that aims to protect workers.
Last April, the Trump administration gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Agency scientists, engineers and others conduct research and recommend ways to prevent work-related injury, illness, disability and death.
Government officials laid off close to 900 of NIOSH’s 1,000 employees. Some were brought back last year after legal challenges and political pressure.
But union officials said Wednesday that all the terminations are being rescinded. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed that but didn’t explain why.
Leaders from Denmark and Greenland say they don’t agree with Trump on the U.S. controlling the island, but are ready to work toward common ground.
“It is in everybody’s interest — even though we disagree — that we agree to try to explore whether it is doable to accommodate some of the concerns while at the same time respecting the integrity of the Danish kingdom’s territory and the self-determination of the Greenlandic people,” Løkke Rasmussen said.
Following the discussions with Vance and Rubio, Løkke Rasmussen, said, “Even though our view on the situation right now around Greenland differs from public statements in the U.S., we share the concerns in the longtime perspective.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’s been texting with President Donald Trump, establishing a line of communication with the Republican who once called him a “total nut job.”
Though, Mamdani said his latest reach out to the president — over Trump’s threat to withhold money from states with sanctuary cities — hasn’t yet elicited a response.
“Whenever I reach out to the president or the president reaches out to me, I always make the case for our city,” Mamdani told reporters Wednesday, saying he and Trump have “exchanged a handful of text messages.”
Earlier this month, after the U.S. military removed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and he was brought to New York to stand trial, Mamdani said he called Trump to “register my opposition.”
The ongoing conversations came after a surprisingly chummy Oval Office meeting last year.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Denmark and Greenland will continue the dialogue with the U.S. despite a “fundamental disagreement” about the future of the Arctic island.
“We have decided to form a high-level working group to explore if we can find a common way forward,” Rasmussen said during a press conference following his and his Greenlandic’s counterpart meeting with Vance and Rubio in Washington D.C. on Wednesday.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
The minister said the working group would meet for the first time “within a matter of weeks.”
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Wednesday vowed to continue releasing prisoners detained under former President Nicolás Maduro during her first press conference since Maduro was ousted by the United States earlier this month.
Rodríguez served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, running Venezuela’s feared intelligence service and managing its crucial oil industry. A 56-year-old lawyer and politician, Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president two days after the Trump administration snatched Maduro from his fortified compound and claimed the U.S. would be calling the shots in Venezuela.
Addressing journalists from a podium at the presidential palace, Rodríguez said the process of releasing prisoners had begun under Maduro and “has not yet concluded.”
“That process remains open,” she said, adding that the releases sent a message that Venezuela was opening “to a new political moment.”
▶ Read more about Venezuela prisoner release
The Maine Republican is one of five GOP senators whom Trump is trying to pressure to change their vote Wednesday on a war powers resolution that would require congressional approval before any further attacks on Venezuela.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who voted to advance the legislation last week, has indicated he may vote to dismiss the measure. Meanwhile, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have both indicated they are also sticking to their votes in favor.
That likely leaves Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, with the crucial vote. He has repeatedly declined to discuss his position, saying he was “giving it some thought.”
Voto Latino leaders announced their full support for the three articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The impeachment articles brought forward by Representative Kelly today have been a long time coming,” Voto Latino leaders said in a statement. “Since taking office Secretary Kristi Noem has operated without restraint or accountability. Secretary Kristi Noem has used her cabinet position to benefit herself at the expense of the American people — regardless of immigration status.”
Along with their support, Voto Latino leaders are launching a digital campaign in Republican led districts, aimed at pressuring members of Congress to support the impeachment efforts. The digital campaign urges constituents in the districts to contact their representative and demand support for the impeachment efforts.
About 9 in 10 registered voters oppose the U.S. trying to take Greenland by military force, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll, while only 9% are in favor.
Buying Greenland is still not broadly popular, but voters are more divided about an acquisition involving money. Just over half, 55%, of voters oppose the U.S. trying to buy Greenland, while 37% are in favor.
Republican voters, in particular, are much keener on the idea of an attempt to buy Greenland, rather than a military invasion. About two-thirds of Republican voters oppose trying to take Greenland by military force.
On the other hand, a similar percentage of Republican voters support an attempt to buy Greenland.
Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois says she has introduced three articles of impeachment to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from office and that she has support from almost 70 Democrats so far.
A growing number of Democrats are calling for Noem’s impeachment in the wake of the killing of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, though the effort stands little chance in a Republican-controlled House and Senate.
Kelly said in a press conference Wednesday announcing her resolution that “real people are being hurt and killed” from ICE enforcement actions. She was joined by 10 other Democrats at the event who voiced frustration and anger with the Trump administration’s deportation efforts – many focused on their districts.
“If we do nothing, nothing will happen,” Kelly said.
It’s unclear when Kelly may seek to force a vote on her resolution.
Rep. Angie Craig, who represents a swing district in Minnesota, said ICE actions “have crossed a line.”
“Minnesotans, we want safe and secure borders. We want violent criminals to not be in our country. But this is not what we signed up for.”
The State Department will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries whose nationals are deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.
The State Department said Wednesday that it had instructed consular officers to halt immigrant visa applications from the countries affected in accordance with a broader order issued in November that tightened rules around potential immigrants who might become “public charges” in the U.S. The suspension will begin Jan. 21 and will not apply to applicants seeking non-immigrant, or temporary tourist or business visas.
“The Trump administration is bringing an end to the abuse of America’s immigration system by those who would extract wealth from the American people,” the department said in a statement. “Immigrant visa processing from these 75 countries will be paused while the State Department reassess immigration processing procedures to prevent the entry of foreign nationals who would take welfare and public benefits.”
The statement did not identify which countries would be affected by the pause, but the administration has already severely restricted immigrant and non-immigrant visa processing for citizens of dozens of countries, many of them in Africa.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said in a post on the social platform X that the ceasefire deal was entering a phase focused on demilitarizing Gaza, establishing a technocratic government and reconstruction.
Witkoff did not offer any details Wednesday about the new transitional Palestinian administration that would govern Gaza.
The White House did not immediately offer any details, either. Witkoff said that the U.S. expects Hamas to immediately return the final deceased hostage as part of its obligations under the deal.
Denmark’s Rasmussen and Greenland’s Motzfeldt were spotted exiting the Eisenhower Executive Office Building about an hour after the talks started.
The two foreign ministers are scheduled to head to Capitol Hill later in the day for talks on Capitol Hill.
While Trump says he will take action on Greenland whether its people “like it or not,” his new handpicked U.S. special envoy is setting off on his own approach.
Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who was appointed as U.S. special envoy to Greenland in December, has not visited the Arctic island but plans to attend a dogsled race there in March. He has suggested Greenlanders would feel right at home in Louisiana, saying he heard they like to hunt, fish and “have a good time.”
Landry has brought his thick Cajun accent and reputation for confrontational politics to the effort to acquire the world’s largest island, elevating his national profile on a mission that has showcased his ties to the president and rattled partners in the military alliance.
“Russia does not harbor aggressive plans toward its Arctic neighbors, does not threaten them with military action, and does not seek to seize their territory,” Russia’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, told TV2, according to a statement published on social media by the Russian Embassy in Denmark.
“To successfully develop its Arctic potential, Russia is interested in stability and good relations between the states in the Arctic region,” he said.“Disputes and disagreements between Arctic states should be resolved in accordance with international law and through negotiations. Escalation in the Arctic must be avoided. It is necessary to restore broad international cooperation in the Arctic, which is capable of ensuring security more reliably and at lower cost than the unchecked drive by NATO countries to militarize the region.”
Denmark’s Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Vivian Motzfeldt are now at the White House campus for their high-stakes meeting with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ahead of their arrival, the office of Greenland Representation to the U.S. and Canada pushed back against Trump’s continued insistence that the Arctic territory become part of the United States.
“Why don’t you ask us, kalaallit?” the office said in a social media post, referring to the island’s indigenous Inuit people. The office noted that polling showed a vast majority of Kalaallit and Greenlanders oppose joining the United States.
Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota is venting some of his frustration in a Senate floor speech, sharply criticizing a war powers resolution vote that would require Trump to get congressional approval before carrying out further attacks on Venezuela.
The president has been hurling insults at five Senate Republicans who voted to advance the measure last week, and Republican Senate leaders were looking for ways to defuse the conflict, including possibly challenging whether the war powers resolution should be prioritized under chamber rules.
“We have no troops on the ground in Venezuela. We’re not currently conducting military operations there,” Thune said. “But Democrats are taking up this bill because their anti-Trump hysteria knows no bounds.”
Republican leaders could move to dismiss the measure under the argument that it is irrelevant to the current situation, but that procedure would still receive a vote.
The Trump administration is easing the review process to allow U.S. chip company Nvidia to sell advanced chips such as H200 and its equivalents to China. The move is a reversal from the Biden administration’s policy to restrict China’s access to advanced chips when the two countries are locked in a tech rivalry.
A rule by the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce this week says it would no longer presume denial on exports of H200 chips to China but conduct a case-by-case review on criteria such as whether the needs of U.S. users have been sufficiently met and if security concerns are addressed. The change has raised concerns among U.S. lawmakers, who are worried it could boost China’s computing powers, which are crucial in developing artificial intelligence capabilities.
It’s unclear if China would allow the imports of H200 chips, as it pursues self-sufficiency in high technology.
The Democratic former secretary of state did not show up for a scheduled deposition by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday morning despite threats from Republicans to hold her and former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress.
The Clintons released a letter this week to Rep. James Comer, the committee chairman, explaining that they see the attempt to force their testimonies in the committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein as “legally invalid” and biased against them. Bill Clinton also did not show up for a scheduled deposition on Tuesday morning.
Comer is planning to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against the Clintons next week.
The clash showed how House Republicans are using the powers of the oversight panel to focus on high-profile Democrats who are associated with Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in 2019.
Dozens of people holding Greenlandic flags have gathered to protest against U.S. militant rhetoric as Danish and Greenlandic officials are preparing to meet their counterparts in Washington.
The FBI searched journalist Hannah Natanson’s devices and seized a phone and a Garmin watch at her Virginia home, the Post said. Natanson covers the Trump administration’s transformation of the federal government and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources, leading a colleague to call her “the federal government whisperer.”
While classified documents investigations aren’t unusual, the search of a reporter’s home marks an escalation in the government’s efforts to crack down on leaks.
An affidavit says the search was related to an investigation into a system administrator in Maryland who authorities allege took home classified reports, the newspaper reported. The system administrator, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, was charged earlier this month with unlawful retention of national defense information, according to court papers.
Perez-Lugones, who held a top secret security clearance, is accused of printing classified and sensitive reports at work. In a search of his Maryland home and car this month, authorities found documents marked “SECRET,” including one in a lunchbox, according to court papers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he expects Trump to try to interfere with the midterm elections, and he says raids by immigration agents in major cities are creating a sense of chaos that voters will reject in November.
The comments were part of a wide-ranging, 20-minute Associated Press telephone interview with the New York Democrat, who argued former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola’s entry into the Senate race gives his party a path to the majority.
Schumer said that economic concerns have begun to cement in the minds of voters and that Democrats have plans to build their campaign around the costs, chaos and corruption they attribute to the Trump administration.
The White House has called such Democratic statements “fearmongering” to score political points.
▶ Read more from AP’s interview with Schumer
Senate Democratic leaders believe they have a path to winning the majority in November, though it’s one with very little wiggle room.
The party got a new burst of confidence when former Rep. Mary Peltola announced Monday she’ll run for the Senate in Alaska. Her bid gives Democrats a critical fourth candidate with statewide recognition in states where Republican senators are seeking reelection this year. Nationally, Democrats must net four seats to edge Republicans out of the majority.
That possibility looked all but impossible at the start of last year. And while the outlook has somewhat improved as 2026 begins, Democrats still almost certainly must sweep those four seats.
First, they must settle some contentious primaries, the mark of a party still struggling with its way forward after Republicans took full control of Washington in 2024. Importantly, they must also beat back challenges to incumbents in some of the most competitive states on the map.
▶ Read more about what Democrats are facing
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin has been notified that the Trump administration is investigating her after she organized and appeared in a video with other Democrats urging military service members to resist “illegal orders.”
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, first disclosed to The New York Times that prosecutors were investigating her. A person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak about it publicly confirmed the matter to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Slotkin, who organized the 90-second video and first posted it on her X account in November, learned this month of the inquiry from the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the Justice Department’s chief prosecutor in the nation’s capital. Pirro’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday to messages seeking comment.
▶ Read more about the inquiry
The Washington Post says FBI agents have searched a reporter’s home as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of sharing government secrets.
The Post says journalist Hannah Natanson had her phone and a Garmin watch seized by agents at her Virginia home.
An FBI affidavit says the search was related to an investigation into a system administrator in Maryland who, authorities allege, took classified reports home.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment. Justice Department officials haven’t responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Natanson covers the Trump administration’s transformation of the federal government and recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources, leading a colleague to call her “the federal government whisperer.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has made an American takeover of Greenland a focus of his second term in the White House, calling it a national security priority while repeating false claims about the strategic Arctic island.
In recent comments, he has floated using military force as an option to take control of Greenland. He has said that if the U.S. does not acquire the island, which is a self-governing territory of NATO ally Denmark, then it will fall into Chinese or Russian hands.
▶ Take a closer look at the facts
China’s trade surplus surged to a record of almost $1.2 trillion in 2025, the government said Wednesday, as exports to other countries made up for slowing shipments to the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s onslaught of higher tariffs.
China’s exports rose 5.5% for the whole of last year to $3.77 trillion, customs data showed, as Chinese automakers and other manufacturers expanded into markets across the globe. Imports flatlined at $2.58 trillion. The 2024 trade surplus was over $992 billion.
In December, China’s exports climbed 6.6% from the year before in dollar terms, better than economists’ estimates and higher than November’s 5.9% year-on-year increase. Imports in December were up 5.7% year-on-year, compared to November’s 1.9%.
▶ Read more about how economists expect exports to impact China’s economy
Although he doesn’t always follow through, Trump seems intent on doubling and tripling down whenever possible.
“Right now I’m feeling pretty good,” Trump said Tuesday in Detroit. His speech was ostensibly arranged to refocus attention on the economy, which the president claimed is surging despite lingering concerns about higher prices.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he’s only doing what voters elected him to do, and his allies in Washington remain overwhelmingly united behind him.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels predicted that voters will reward the party this year.
“Voters elected President Trump to put American lives first — and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” she said. “President Trump is making our country safer, and the American people will remember it in November.”
It’s only two weeks into the new year, and Trump has already claimed control of Venezuela, escalated threats to seize Greenland and flooded American streets with masked immigration agents. That’s not even counting an unprecedented criminal investigation at the Federal Reserve, a cornerstone of the national economy that Trump wants to bend to his will.
Even for a president who thrives on chaos, Trump is generating a stunning level of turmoil as voters prepare to deliver their verdict on his leadership in midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
Each decision carries tremendous risks, from the possibility of an overseas quagmire to undermining the country’s financial system, but Trump has barreled forward with a ferocity rattling even some of his Republican allies.
“The presidency has gone rogue,” said historian Joanne B. Freeman, a Yale University professor.
▶ Read more about the turmoil Trump is creating ahead of this year’s votes
Nearly half of Americans — 45% — want the U.S. to take a “less active” role in solving the world’s problems, the new AP-NORC poll found.
About one-third say its current role is “about right,” and only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say they want the country to be more involved globally.
Democrats and independents are driving the desire for the U.S. to take a “less active” role. At least half of them now want the U.S. to do less, a sharp shift from a few months ago.
Republicans, meanwhile, have grown more likely to indicate that Trump’s level of involvement is right. About 6 in 10 Republicans — 64% — say the country’s current role in world affairs is “about right,” which is up slightly from 55% from September.
About half of Americans believe the U.S. intervening in Venezuela will be “mostly a good thing” for halting the flow of illegal drugs into the country, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
And 44% believe the U.S. actions will do more to benefit than harm the Venezuelan people. But U.S. adults are divided on whether intervention will be good or bad for U.S. economic and national security interests, or if it simply won’t have an impact.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to see benefits to the U.S. action, particularly its effects on drug trafficking. About 8 in 10 Republicans say America’s intervention will be “mostly a good thing” for stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the country.
▶ Read more about the poll’s findings
Most U.S. adults — 56% — say President Trump has “gone too far” in using the U.S. military to intervene in other countries, according to a new AP-NORC poll conducted from Jan. 8-11, after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
Democrats and independents are driving the belief that Trump has overstepped. About 9 in 10 Democrats and roughly 6 in 10 independents say Trump has “gone too far” on military intervention, compared with about 2 in 10 Republicans.
The vast majority of Republicans — 71% — say Trump’s actions have been “about right,” and only about 1 in 10 want to see him go further.
▶ Read more about the poll’s findings
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Trump said in a social media post on Monday that he would impose a 25% tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran. The sanctions could hurt the Islamic Republic by reducing its access to foreign goods and driving up prices, which would likely inflame tensions in a country where inflation is running above 40%.
But the tariffs could create blowback for the United States, too, potentially raising the prices Americans pay for imports from Iranian trade partners such as Turkish textiles and Indian gemstones and threatening an uneasy trade truce Trump reached last year with China.
The Trump administration has offered scant details since announcing the new tariffs targeting Iran. It’s also unclear what legal authority the president is relying on to impose the import taxes. He invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify his most sweeping tariffs last year. But businesses and several states have gone to court arguing that Trump overstepped his authority in doing so.
▶ Read more about Trump’s threat of new tariffs
The Smithsonian Institution gave the White House new documents on its planned exhibits Tuesday in response to a demand to share precise details of what its museums and other programs are doing for America’s 250th birthday.
For months, Trump has been pressing the Smithsonian to back off “divisive narratives” and tell an upbeat story on the country’s history and culture, with the threat of holding back federal money if it doesn’t.
By Tuesday, the Smithsonian was supposed to provide lists of all displays, objects, wall text and other material dedicated to this year’s anniversary and other purposes. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III told staff, in an email obtained by The New York Times and The Washington Post, that “we transmitted more information in response to that request.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment, leaving it unclear whether it was satisfied with the material it received.
▶ Read more about the Smithsonian
Trump said Wednesday that anything less than U.S. control of Greenland is “unacceptable,” hours before Vice President JD Vance was to host Danish and Greenlandic officials for talks.
In a post on his social media site, Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. “needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security.” He added that “NATO should be leading the way for us to get it” and that otherwise Russia or China would.
“NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES,” Trump wrote. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as Trump is insisting he wants to own the island, and the residents of its capital, Nuuk, say it is not for sale. The White House has not ruled out taking the Arctic island by force.
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
