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Trump Called Elizabeth Warren

January 12, 2026 at 7:30 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she’s “absolutely” willing to work with President Trump after they spoke on Monday, pointing to a potential cap on credit card interest rates as an area for collaboration, Bloomberg reports.

Washington Post: “This was the first time Trump has called Warren, according to an aide to the senator. More typically, he has disparaged her left-leaning politics and derisively called her ‘Pocahontas’ — reveling in the nickname as recently as last month — as a way to mock her claims of Native American heritage.”

Senate Has Little Appetite for Powell Probe

January 12, 2026 at 7:23 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that the Justice Department’s targeting of Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell “better be real” and “better be serious,” raising concerns about “political interference” in monetary policy, Punchbowl News reports.

Thune is the highest-ranking Republican to raise concerns about the unprecedented criminal investigation of the Fed chair.

Financial Times: Top Republicans denounce justice department’s criminal probe into Fed chair Jay Powell.

U.S. Attacked Boat With ‘Civilian Plane’

January 12, 2026 at 7:17 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September… The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings,” the New York Times reports.

“The nonmilitary appearance is significant, according to legal specialists, because the administration has argued its lethal boat attacks are lawful — not murders — because President Trump ‘determined’ the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels.”

“But the laws of armed conflict forbid combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called ‘perfidy.’”


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Trump Puts Tariff on Countries Doing Business with Iran

January 12, 2026 at 5:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump said countries doing business with Iran will be subject to a 25 percent tariff on trade with the U.S., a move that could hit major economies such as China, Russia and India, the Financial Times reports.

Bessent Warned Trump Over Probe Into Fed Chair

January 12, 2026 at 4:40 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A perturbed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told President Trump late Sunday that the federal investigation into the Federal Reserve chair ‘made a mess’ and could be bad for financial markets,” Axios reports.

“Sunday night, Trump appeared to distance himself from the investigation of Fed chair Jerome Powell for allegedly misrepresenting the costs of renovations to the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in DC.”

Harvard’s Foreign Enrollment Hits Record

January 12, 2026 at 4:38 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Harvard University enrolled a record number of international students in the current academic year, even as the Trump administration sought repeatedly to curb student visas and funding for the Ivy League school,” Bloomberg reports.

Trump Turns on Pam Bondi

January 12, 2026 at 4:10 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump has complained to aides repeatedly in recent weeks about Attorney General Pam Bondi, describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The criticisms appear to be part of an intense campaign by Trump to pressure the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue his priorities… Trump has previously criticized Bondi at times but his vocal concerns about his attorney general have grown more frequent in recent months.”

“This month, Trump has talked with allies about how he could appoint special counsels at the Justice Department because he is so frustrated with what he sees as the slow progress of its work.”

Probe Into Jerome Powell Backfires on Capitol Hill

January 12, 2026 at 3:58 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Trump administration’s decision to open a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is backfiring,” Punchbowl News reports.

“GOP lawmakers and former Federal Reserve officials are rallying to show support for Powell and the Fed’s role as an independent regulator of the U.S. economy. And it’s not just rank-and-file Republicans coming to Powell’s defense.”

“House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-AR), whose panel oversees the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, said he believes that the criminal charges are ‘an unnecessary distraction’ when policy makers should be focused on ‘the nation’s economy.'”

White House Weighs Iran’s Nuclear-Talks Offer

January 12, 2026 at 3:31 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The White House is weighing a last-ditch Iranian offer to engage in diplomacy over curbing its nuclear program even as President Trump currently leans toward authorizing fresh military strikes on Iran,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Some senior administration aides, led by Vice President JD Vance, are urging Trump to try diplomacy before retaliating against Iran for killing protesters during a two-week uprising over a flailing economy and regime repression.”

Democrats Make Health Care Deal Offer

January 12, 2026 at 3:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Democrats sent Republicans a proposal over the weekend to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years, paired with extensions of other expiring health programs,” Axios reports.

“Sunday’s offer shows there’s increasing bipartisan sentiment to address long-stalled priorities like overhauling pharmacy benefit manager business practices — even if prospects for the ACA subsidies are much murkier.”

U.S. Lawmakers to Visit Denmark About Greenland

January 12, 2026 at 3:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen later this week in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark as President Donald Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of the NATO ally,” the AP reports.

Prosecutor Who Declined to Prosecute Comey Fired

January 12, 2026 at 3:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Justice Department has fired the No. 2 official in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia after he declined to lead the controversial prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey,” MS NOW reports.

Eric Adams Launches New Crypto Token

January 12, 2026 at 3:20 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “The fresh-out-of-a-job former New York City mayor blew back into his hometown Monday in between jaunts to Dubai, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Dallas to promote his new crypto coin with a cause.”

“Proceeds from the $NYC Token will go toward combating antisemitism and anti-Americanism, he said.”

Mark Kelly Sues Pete Hegseth

January 12, 2026 at 2:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) has filed a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying attempt to demote his retirement rank and pay was “unlawful and unconstitutional,” Politico reports.

The Real Purpose of ICE

January 12, 2026 at 1:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Traveling through Morocco a dozen years ago, we kept seeing military barracks and checkpoints on the outskirts of nearly every town.

It felt excessive. So I asked our guide why they were everywhere.

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EPA to Stop Considering Lives Saved

January 12, 2026 at 1:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Under President Trump, the EPA plans to stop tallying gains from the health benefits caused by curbing two of the most widespread deadly air pollutants, fine particulate matter and ozone, when regulating industry.”

“It’s a seismic shift that runs counter to the EPA’s mission statement, which says the agency’s core responsibility is to protect human health and the environment.”

Fed Changes Course and Takes On Trump

January 12, 2026 at 1:16 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Jerome Powell wanted to avoid a fight. That had long been his approach to handling President Trump and his relentless attacks on the Federal Reserve, which in his second term had taken on heightened intensity,” the New York Times reports.

“Between an executive order wresting more control over the Fed’s oversight of Wall Street to Mr. Trump’s attempt to oust a sitting member of the policy-setting board of governors, the Fed had stuck to a time-tested strategy: Avoid provoking the president. At times, that meant bending to meet his demands in areas like climate change and bank regulation. But Mr. Powell, the Fed chair, drew the line when it came to protecting the central bank’s autonomy to set interest rates.”

“A criminal investigation into whether Mr. Powell lied to Congress… has prompted the central bank to cast aside that approach and instead fight, the outcome of which could determine whether the Fed remains an independent entity.”

Washington Post: Former Fed chiefs rebuke Justice Department probe into Fed chair.

Trump Is Getting Creative to Bypass Congress

January 12, 2026 at 1:11 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump wants to spend. He also wants, where possible, to avoid congressional interference and bigger deficits. Enter the balance sheet,” Axios reports.

“The president is going through the couch cushions of government — $200 billion from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for mortgage bonds, $20 billion from a Treasury fund for Argentina — to advance his policy priorities.”

“Critics say it’s nontraditional at best, and autocrat-adjacent at worst.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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