Trump Has Been Complaining About Attorney General Pam Bondi
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Trump has been criticizing his attorney general, Pam Bondi, describing her as weak and ineffective. Plus, some lawmakers and former officials criticized the investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. And think your group chat is spicy? This one is full of billionaires worried about a possible tax. on billionaires.
We're aware of dozens of billionaires that were in this signal chat called Save California. And they were complaining about the proposed tax. They were trying to suggest alternatives. And in some cases, they were sharing efforts to weaken their ties to California. It's Monday, January 12th.
I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News? The top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We begin this evening in Washington, where exclusively reporting that administration officials and other people familiar with the matter say that President Trump has complained to aides about Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly in recent weeks, describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda. Some of the officials say Trump's criticism of Bondi appears to be part of his pressure campaign on the Justice Department to more aggressively pursue his priorities. Among his grievances is what he sees as Bondi's failure to quickly and effectively prosecute former FBI Director James Comey and New York's Democratic Attorney General Letitia James.
In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Trump said he thinks Bondi is doing an excellent job. A spokesman for Bondi says she's been focused on executing Trump's directive to make America safe again. Over on Capitol Hill, Democrats' hopes of retaking the Senate in midterms got a boost when former Democratic Representative Mary Peltola said today she would challenge incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska. Right now, Republicans control the Senate 53 to 47. So even if Alaska's seat is now in play for Democrats, winning a majority remains a long shot. In the House, it's a different story, says WSJ reporter Anvi Bhutani.
The numbers are definitely looking a lot better for Democrats on the House side. Usually midterm elections end up resulting in a swing to the party that's opposite to who's in the White House. There's about 60 or so competitive seats in play, but Republicans currently hold a really small majority in the House. 218 seats compared to 213 for Democrats. So even if Democrats were to flip a handful of seats, that would push them over the edge and win them the speakership. For instance, in New York, we have Republican Representative Mike Lawler, but Kamala Harris won that district. And so potentially, Democrats are thinking that that's a place that they could win.
The Trump administration's criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is drawing criticism from some lawmakers and former officials. Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and other former officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations defended Powell. They said the investigation was an attempt to undermine the Fed's independence to set monetary policy. Senator Tom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, also criticized the investigation and said he would block any new nominee to the Fed until it's resolved. Tillis doing that could make it harder for Trump to influence the central bank. Meanwhile, Kevin Hassett, a top White House economic advisor and a finalist for President Trump's nomination to succeed Powell as Fed chair, said that the DOJ investigation is a move to promote accountability.
In an interview last night, Trump said he didn't know about the Justice Department's subpoena and that any criminal investigation isn't related to disagreements the White House has had with Powell over interest rates. The stock market reaction to the Powell investigation was muted, with the three indexes all finishing slightly higher. The Nasdaq led gains and closed up 0.3%. But what's known as the debasement trade got a revival. That's when investors worried about inflation sell the U.S.
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