After the shocking death of Renee Good last week, erstwhile opponents Vice President JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz agreed on one thing: that Good’s untimely and violent demise was a tragedy. But otherwise, both of the 2024 running mates, along with the overwhelming majority of their respective partisan allies, quickly embraced altogether contradictory descriptions of what had actually occurred when the two crossed paths.

President Donald Trump says the US military is considering "very strong options" in Iran, as anti-government protests which have reportedly killed hundreds enter a third week. The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) says it has verified the deaths of nearly 500 protesters and 48 security personnel in Iran, while sources tell the BBC the death toll could be much higher. Trump has threatened to intervene, and said on Sunday that Iranian officials had called him "to negotiate" - but added "we may have to act before a meeting". Iranian leaders have described the demonstrators as a "bunch of vandals", and called on their supporters to take part in pro-government marches on Monday.

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of Iranian protesters have been killed by government security forces since late last year, in what may be the largest - and possibly most consequential - wave of protests in Iran since 2009. The killings, difficult to verify because Iran has for days imposed a sweeping internet blackout, may force President Donald Trump to intervene militarily. He has said he is weighing up military strikes, having pledged to take some kind of action in Iran if protesters were killed. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency says it has verified the deaths of nearly 500 protesters. Anti-government demonstrators have taken to the streets across Iran over the last two weeks to protest economic corruption, spiralling costs and a currency crisis. There is also widespread discontentment in Iran with social and cultural restrictions mandated by Iran's clerical leadership.

The Iranian regime on Jan. 11 threatened to strike Israeli and U.S. military bases if Washington attacks the Islamic nation, as thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest rising inflation and a crumbling economy. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Jan. 11 reported 538 deaths amid the protests, and far more are feared to be dead. The human rights agency, which relies on supporters in Iran to cross-reference its information, said at least 490 of the deceased were protesters and 48 were members of Iran's security forces. The agency said it is still assessing reports that larger numbers may have been killed amid the more than 10,600 people who are believed to have been put in detention by the regime's security forces in recent weeks.

With total certainty, this is going to rile up the political class and the liberal media. It will be viewed as overreach, and maybe it is, but we sort of got a preview of this when President Trump accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of not being forthcoming about the cost of renovations to the central bank's office. The president alleged gross mismanagement of the project last year. Now, the Justice Department has slapped Powell with a federal subpoena. He addressed this story last night (via NBC News): "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday that the Justice Department subpoenaed the central bank Friday with the threat of a criminal indictment, the latest move in a yearlong pressure campaign from the Trump administration. Powell said the threatened indictment related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings."

The Trump administration and some Democrats have drawn divergent conclusions from bystander video of the fatal shooting of a woman in Minnesota by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. How can one side say the agent was "recklessly using power" and the other determine he "fired defensive shots"? Experts told us it's common for people to view the same video differently, and that the early evidence isn't enough to reach definitive conclusions. Shortly after the Jan. 7 incident, in which 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was killed by the agent in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social a video clip of the shooting, captured from a distance, and said that the woman "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense." Additional bystander video, captured closer to the shooting, showed the agent wasn't run over but left unclear whether the vehicle struck him. Republicans and Democrats have still disagreed on wh…

If the Senate is going to strike a deal to revive a signature Democratic policy, it will be in part because of an unlikely broker: a freshman Republican from the party's MAGA wing. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio is, on paper, an odd fit in the core group of about a dozen senators in talks to extend Obamacare credits that lapsed on Jan. 1. Most are well-known bipartisan dealmakers, such as Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Moreno, on the other hand, joined the Senate a year ago as a Trump-anointed presidential loyalist who had just defeated longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown with hard-line attacks focused mainly on immigration. But he has a key asset — a close relationship with Trump, who will need to bless or at least tacitly accept any agreement to smooth its passage through Congress.

President Donald Trump told reporters he may exclude Exxon Mobil from his coordinated effort to provide security guarantees for American oil companies in Venezuela following their response to his administration's offer. "I didn't like Exxon's response. We have so many that want it. I'd probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response, they're playing too cute," Trump said. Following the U.S.'s capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, Trump has been vocal about the increased investment opportunities for American oil companies in Venezuela, a country with hundreds of billions of barrels in untapped oil reserves.

The Supreme Court could reshape U.S. elections for years to come as it hears a number of cases with implications for the country's political landscape. In perhaps the most high-stakes example, the country is waiting to see whether the justices weaken a section of the Voting Rights Act. Other rulings expected this year could alter how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates, or affect the deadline for casting ballots on time. Here are some of the key cases to watch.

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