Business

Epstein files fight in court heats up as congressmen accuse DOJ of ‘serious misconduct’

Published

5 hours ago

January 18, 2026

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Friday that a judge lacks the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of documents in the sex trafficking probe of financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer was told in a letter signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton that he must reject a request this week by the congressional cosponsors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act to appoint a neutral expert.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, say they have “urgent and grave concerns” about the slow release of only a small number of millions of documents that began last month.

In a filing to the judge they said they believed “criminal violations have taken place” in the release process.

Clayton, though, said Khanna and Massie do not have standing with the court that would allow them to seek the “extraordinary” relief of the appointment of a special master and independent monitor.

Engelmayer “lacks the authority” to grant such a request, he said, particularly because the congressional representatives who made the request are not parties to the criminal case that led to Maxwell’s December 2021 sex trafficking conviction and subsequent 20-year prison sentence for recruiting girls and women for Epstein to abuse and aiding the abuse.

Khanna said Clayton’s response “misconstrued” the intent of their request.

“We are informing the Court of serious misconduct by the Department of Justice that requires a remedy, one we believe this Court has the authority to provide, and which victims themselves have requested,” Khanna said in a statement.

“Our purpose is to ensure that DOJ complies with its representations to the Court and with its legal obligations under our law,” he added.

Epstein died in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.

The Justice Department expects to update the court “again shortly” regarding its progress in turning over documents from the Epstein and Maxwell investigative files, Clayton said in the letter.

The Justice Department has said the files’ release was slowed by redactions required to protect the identities of abuse victims.

In their letter, Khanna and Massie wrote that the Department of Justice’s release of only 12,000 documents out of more than 2 million documents being reviewed was a “flagrant violation” of the law’s release requirements and had caused “ serious trauma to survivors.”

“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” the congressmen said as they asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure all documents and electronically stored information are immediately made public.

They also recommended that a court-appointed monitor be given authority to prepare reports about the true nature and extent of the document production and whether improper redactions or conduct have taken place.

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Business

EU mulls responding to Trump by reviving €93 billion tariff move

Published

57 minutes ago

January 18, 2026

Jace Porter

European Union member states are discussing several options for how to respond to President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat, including imposing retaliatory levies on €93 billion ($108 billion) of US goods, according to people familiar with the talks.

EU ambassadors met Sunday evening in Brussels as they tried to devise a joint response to Trump’s announcement that he would put 10% tariffs on eight European countries on Feb. 1 in relation to their actions in Greenland.

Among the other options being discussed is using a powerful tool known as the anti-coercion instrument, added the people, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive conversations. French President Emmanuel Macron suggested on Sunday the bloc should consider using that new tool, although France backed away from using it in the past after Trump threatened to retaliate.

Last year, the EU had approved retaliatory tariffs on €93 billion of US products but suspended their implementation after the two sides reached a trade pact. European lawmakers suggested over the weekend that they will hold off on approving that trade pact, citing Trump’s latest move.

The Financial Times reported earlier on the discussions over reviving retaliatory tariffs.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Business

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder bid for Fed chair is gaining traction

Published

1 hour ago

January 18, 2026

Jace Porter

The candidacy of BlackRock’s Rick Rieder to be the next Federal Reserve chair has gained late momentum, people familiar with the matter say, as President Donald Trump weighs congressional blowback in his bid to put a friendlier face at the head of the central bank.

Trump’s interview Thursday with Rieder went well, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.

Key senators such as Republican Banking Committee member Thom Tillis have warned that Trump’s Fed picks will get more scrutiny after the Justice Department subpoenaed the Fed last week over statements by Chair Jerome Powell related to a renovation project at the bank’s headquarters. But Powell, whose term expires in May, contends the criminal probe is a pretext to punish him for not cutting rates quickly enough.

Trump, asked Friday about the selection process, said he had a candidate in mind, while declining to name him. “I think I have it — in my mind, done,” he said.

The search is now a four-man race, some of the people said, among Rieder, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Fed Governor Christopher Waller and former governor Kevin Warsh, the people said.

Hassett was an early frontrunner and continued to be until Trump said this week he may not want to lose Hassett from his current role. It’s not clear if it was a signal of a shifting internal deliberation, or an offhand remark.

“Nobody knows who President Trump will choose for the Fed, except President Trump himself. As the president recently said, he will announce his final decision soon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a written statement Saturday.

The decision to subpoena the Fed a week ago sparked a wave of backlash, including a pledge by Tillis — who sits on the committee that would first consider a nominee — to oppose any Fed nomination until the matter is resolved.

Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, is viewed as potentially easier to confirm, some of the people said. A spokesperson for BlackRock declined to comment on Rieder’s status.

Hiring data released earlier this month suggested the labor market remained fragile at the end of the year, and the outlook for hiring is guarded. Economists see another year of limited job opportunities and cooling pay gains, likely exacerbating voters’ affordability concerns going into this year’s midterm elections.

Fed officials cut rates three consecutive times at the end of 2025, but have signaled they’re in no rush to lower them again until they see more data on inflation and the labor market. Policymakers are expected to hold rates steady at their next meeting on Jan. 27-28.

Rieder has called the Fed’s independence “critical,” but has also echoed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in saying the central bank could be more “innovative” in how it uses its balance sheet.

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Business

Army readies 1,500 paratroopers specializing in arctic ops for possible Minnesota deployment

Published

2 hours ago

January 18, 2026

Jace Porter

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, where federal authorities have been conducting a massive immigration enforcement operation, two defense officials said Sunday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army’s 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders. The unit is based in Alaska and specializes in operating in arctic conditions.

One defense official said the troops are standing by to deploy to Minnesota should President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely-used 19th century law that would allow him to employ active duty troops as law enforcement.

The move comes just days after Trump threatened to do just that to quell protests against his administration’s immigration crackdown.

In an emailed statement, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell did not deny the orders were issued and said the military “is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon.”

ABC News was the first to report the development.

On Thursday, Trump said in a social media post that he would invoke the 1807 law “if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job.”

He appeared to walk back the threat a day later, telling reporters at the White House that there wasn’t a reason to use it “right now.”

“If I needed it, I’d use it,” Trump said. “It’s very powerful.”

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act throughout both of his terms. In 2020 he also threatened to use it to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police, and in recent months he threatened to use it for immigration protests.

The law was most recently invoked by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 to end unrest in Los Angeles after the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat and frequent target of Trump, has urged the president to refrain from sending in more troops.

“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Walz said last week on social media.

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