A leading candidate to be President Donald Trump’s choice for Federal Reserve chair says he would present the president’s views to Fed officials for their consideration but they could reject them if they chose when making decisions on interest rates. Hassett’s comments Sunday come as Trump is reportedly in final interviews with potential replacements for the Fed’s current chair, Jerome Powell. Trump’s outspokenness about interest rates has raised concerns about the Fed’s independence from day-to-day politics under any chair he appoints.

Top law enforcement officials in the Trump administration had a clear message when they announced the arrest of a man charged with placing pipe bombs outside political party headquarters in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021. The message was that people coming to the nation’s capital to attack citizens and institutions of democracy would be held accountable. Yet Justice Department leaders who announced the arrest Thursday were silent about the violence that had taken place when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol and clashed with police on Jan. 6, 2021, one day after the pipe bombs were discovered.

President Donald Trump praised the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage as they signed onto a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo. The peace signing will also open up access to eastern Congo's critical minerals for the U.S. government and American companies. The Central African nation of Congo has been battered by a decades-long conflict with more than 100 armed groups. The most potent of them is the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Congolese residents have expressed little hope Thursday's signing will quickly end the fighting that has continued in eastern Congo.

The Supreme Court is allowing the challenged Texas congressional redistricting plan to be used in next year’s election, despite a lower-court ruling that the map likely discriminates on the basis of race. The map is favorable to Republicans and was pushed by President Donald Trump. The justices acted Thursday on an emergency request from Texas for quick action because qualifying in the new districts already has begun, with primary elections in March. The Supreme Court’s order puts the 2-1 ruling blocking the map on hold at least until after the high court issues a final decision in the case. The effort to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in 2026 touched off a nationwide redistricting battle.

The FBI has arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack. It's an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021. The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Brian J. Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia. Key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump has added a new architectural firm to his $300 million ballroom construction project at the White House. A White House spokesperson said Thursday that the firm, Shalom Baranes of Washington, D.C., was needed because the project is moving into a new stage. Earlier Thursday, the Trump-appointed chairman of a federal commission with jurisdiction over construction to federal buildings said he expected the White House to submit the ballroom plans this month for review. The new firm has worked on the Pentagon and Treasury buildings, among other federal properties. The initial firm, McCrery Architects, remains as a consultant.

The Justice Department is on the clock to release files relating to Jeffrey Epstein after President Donald Trump signed a measure passed by Congress. Expectations surrounding the release are high after years of buildup by Republicans and campaign promises by Trump. The release risks deepening the party’s internal rift, particularly as administration officials insist that some coveted records, like a rumored “client list,” don’t exist. The cross-party coalition of lawmakers who defied Trump to force the release say they’re watching closely and plan to join forces again on other high-profile political fights.

President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported it. Writing on social media on Sunday night, Trump said: “We have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party." Democrats and some Republicans have been pushing a measure that would force the Justice Department to make public more documents from the case. The president’s shift is an implicit acknowledgement they have enough votes to pass the House.