by Brad Reed | Jan 12, 2026 | Article, doj, Economy, Economy and Inequality, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Trump
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 12, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
The US Department of Justice’s decision to open a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has ignited a major backlash that even has some Republican senators drawing a line in the sand.
Shortly after Powell released a video on Sunday accusing the Department of Justice (DOJ) of waging an “intimidation” campaign against him on behalf of President Donald Trump, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) blasted the administration, accusing them of trying to compromise the independence of America’s central bank.
“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none,” said Tillis, who further vowed to “oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed—including the upcoming Fed chair vacancy—until this legal matter is fully resolved.”
On Monday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) backed up Tillis’ pledge to oppose any nominees for the Federal Reserve until the criminal probe of Powell, whose term as Fed chair is due to end in May, has been resolved.
Murkowski also revealed that she spoke with Powell and determined that “it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion” aimed at affecting his decisions on US monetary policy.
“The stakes are too high to look the other way,” Murkowski emphasized. “If the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the stability of our markets and the broader economy will suffer.”
Trump can only afford to lose the support of four Republican senators in a vote for a new Fed chair, which means Tillis and Murkowski’s vows not to support any nominee until the case
by Corey G. Johnson | Dec 22, 2025 | Crypto Industry, doj, Donald Trump, News, Todd Blanche
Before Todd Blanche could be confirmed as the second-highest official at the Justice Department, he had to satisfy the concerns of ethics officials. Blanche, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney during his New York criminal trial last year, was a cryptocurrency investor with holdings of between $159,000 and $485,000, records show. To prevent possible violations of the federal…
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by Adam Mahoney | Dec 20, 2025 | Contamination, disaster, disaster relief, doj, EPA, explosion, Flint, forever chemicals, Louisiana, News, Oil, oil accidents, oil spills, PFAS, Pollution, Racial Justice, Recovery Aid, Trump Administration, Water, Water Contamination, Wildlife
Four months have passed since a Louisiana oil facility burst apart, spewing a dense black sludge that drifted across homes, farms, and waterways as far as 50 miles away. Since then, the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana environmental regulators have filed a sweeping lawsuit against Smitty’s Supply, the company that ran the facility storing oil and vehicle lubricants.
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by Jonathan Shorman | Dec 19, 2025 | Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Justice (DOJ), DHS, doj, elections, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, News, SAVE Act, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Trump Administration, US Department of Justice, Utah, Virginia, voter roll purges, Voter Rolls, Voter Suppression, Voting Rights, Wisconsin, Wyoming
The U.S. Department of Justice has sent a confidential draft agreement to more than a dozen states that would require election officials to remove any alleged ineligible voters identified during a federal review of their voter rolls. The agreement — called a memorandum of understanding, or MOU — would hand the federal government a major role in election administration…
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by Adam Rhodes | Dec 5, 2025 | Anti-trans, Department of Justice, Department of Justice (DOJ), doj, Donald Trump, Executive Orders, Intersex, Intersex Rights, Jails, LGBTQ Rights, News, PREA, prison rape, Prisons, Sexual Violence, Trans Rights, US Department of Justice
The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to dismantle protections for trans and intersex people in federal, state, and local prisons, jails, and youth detention facilities, according to a government memo obtained by Prism. The memo, dated Dec. 2, takes aim at existing standards of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) that the department says do not comport with the Trump administration’s…
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