Comer moves to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress
Oversight committee chair James Comer said that he will move to hold former president Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify as part of the ongoing investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case. Speaking to reporters, the Republican lawmaker from Kentucky said that he will begin the proceedings during the committee’s markup period next week.
This comes legal representatives for both Bill and Hillary Clinton sent an eight-page letter to Comer notifying him that they would not comply with the subpoenas compelling them to appear before the committee to deliver in-person testimony.
“To my knowledge, former president Clinton has never answered questions about Epstein, and we just had questions,” Comer said today. “I think anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together while Bill Clinton was president and post-presidency.”
Depending on the type of contempt citation, Clinton could either be forced to comply with the subpoena by a federal court, or even face prosecution by the justice department.
Key events
Earlier today, Mike Johnson told reporters that “there’s no declaration of war pending for Greenland”.
“It’s just not a thing,” he added. “I don’t anticipate any boots on the ground anywhere, anytime soon.”
This comes as vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio will meet with foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland in Washington on Wednesday.
Later this week, Democratic senator Chris Coons will lead a congressional delegation to Copenhagen to meet with Danish officials, as Donald Trump escalates his calls to annex Greenland.
“Greenland has strategic significance to us and also to other countries around the world. So we need to play that very seriously,” Johnson said today, repeating the administration’s claim that the US is racing against Russia and China for acquisition of the semi-autonomous territory.
Comer moves to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress
Oversight committee chair James Comer said that he will move to hold former president Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify as part of the ongoing investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein case. Speaking to reporters, the Republican lawmaker from Kentucky said that he will begin the proceedings during the committee’s markup period next week.
This comes legal representatives for both Bill and Hillary Clinton sent an eight-page letter to Comer notifying him that they would not comply with the subpoenas compelling them to appear before the committee to deliver in-person testimony.
“To my knowledge, former president Clinton has never answered questions about Epstein, and we just had questions,” Comer said today. “I think anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together while Bill Clinton was president and post-presidency.”
Depending on the type of contempt citation, Clinton could either be forced to comply with the subpoena by a federal court, or even face prosecution by the justice department.
Johnson says he will ‘reserve judgment’ on criminal investigation into Powell
Speaking to reporters today, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson repeated his claims that the criminal probe of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is a “serious allegation”.
“If there’s a credible allegation or concern someone’s lied to Congress, then the DoJ should investigate,” Johnson said. “Across the board, no matter who it is, no one is immune from that. If he’s innocent, as he says, then that will come out in the investigation, and all of us need to reserve judgment and wait for that to happen.”
This comes after a chorus of GOP lawmakers rebuked the investigation into Powell, and warned against any attempt to curb the central bank’s independence.
Clintons refuse to testify before oversight committee’s on Epstein investigation
Former president Bill Clinton, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton have refused to testify before the House oversight committee, as part of the ongoing investigation into the handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case.
The Clintons were due to testify today and tomorrow, but in an eight-page letter – first obtained by the New York Times – their lawyers told the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer, that they would not be testifying.
Their counsel called the subpoenas compelling the Clintons to appear in-person as “nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals” of Donald Trump, calling them “invalid and legally unenforceable”.
They add that the former president and secretary of state have received “very different treatment” from other witnesses.
‘Help is on the way’: Trump urges Iranians to keep protesting against government
Frances Mao
In a post to Truth Social, the US president, Donald Trump, has said:
Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
It is not clear what Trump means by “help is on its way” but the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told journalists yesterday that airstrikes were among the “many, many options” that the president was considering, though she added that diplomacy “was always the first option”.
Greenland PM says territory would ‘choose Denmark over the US’
A reminder that my colleague, Jakub Krupa, is covering the latest at our dedicated Europe live blog.
He just reported on the remarks by Greenland’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. Who, standing alongside Denmark’s leader – Mette Frederiksen – said that that Greenland is not for sale, and insists that if the territory was to choose, it would “choose Denmark over the US”.
“One thing must be clear to everyone: Greenland does not want to be owned by the US,” he said. “We choose the Greenland we know today, which is a part of the Kingdon of Denmark.”
Follow along here:
Trump warns of ‘reckoning and retribution’ in Minnesota amid anti-ICE protests
Prior to journeying to Detroit, Donald Trump has told the people of Minnesota to “FEAR NOT”, as a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING” to the North Star state.
In a post on Truth Social, the president slammed the ongoing protests against federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good last week.
“Do the people of Minnesota really want to live in a community in which there are thousands of already convicted murderers, drug dealers and addicts, rapists, violent released and escaped prisoners,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “All the patriots of ICE want to do is remove them from your neighborhood and send them back to the prisons and mental institutions from where they came, most in foreign Countries who illegally entered the USA though Sleepy Joe Biden’s HORRIBLE Open Border’s Policy.
One quick note. We’ll hear from House Republicans and Democrats today.
At 10am ET, speaker Mike Johnson will hold his weekly press conference with other GOP lawmakers. Then, at 10:45am ET, we’ll hear from minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democratic House members.
We’ll bring you the latest from both, particularly as more Republicans buck the ongoing criminal investigation in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
New inflation data shows that prices rose by 0.3 % in December
The latest inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that consumer prices rose 0.3 % in December and were up 2.7 % from the year prior.
It still is a far cry from the Federal Reserve’s desired 2 %, but ultimately remains constant with November’s rate. But data collection for that report was muddied due to the record-breaking US government shutdown.
A reminder that my colleagues are tracking the latest in our dedicated business blog:
Linked to the administration’s focus on affordability, we’ll have a key marker on how Americans are coping with the cost of good shortly, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its latest inflation report.
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