Monday, Jan. 16

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No news to report.

Tuesday, Jan. 17

• The United States imposed visa restrictions on 25 Belarusian officials due to the Eastern European government’s “continued repression” of opposition figures like the leader of the Belarusian democratic movement Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski. These officials are in addition to a prior 297 officials restricted by the U.S. government since Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in 2020 in an election that is widely considered to have been a sham.
• President Joe Biden and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met at the White House to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain protections, and an upcoming summit for democracy hosted by the two countries alongside Costa Rica, South Korea and Zambia.

Wednesday, Jan. 18

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, largely to discuss the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets and Turkey’s refusal to approve Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. “We are close allies and partners,” Blinken said, “that doesn’t mean we don’t have differences, but when we have differences, precisely because we are allies and partners, we work through them.”
• U.S. authorities arrested Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national living in Shenzhen, China, who is accused of laundering a total of $700 million through a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency exchange called Bitzlato. Legkodymov was arrested in Miami after a multinational criminal investigation into Bitzlato.
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms.
• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) called on the Justice Department to investigate federal, state and local law enforcement access to a database of more than 150 million money transfers without court oversight. Wyden said this access disproportionately affects minorities and low-income people. The demand is part of Wyden’s larger call for government accountability in surveillance and national security programs.

Thursday, Jan. 19

• The federal government hit its $31.4 trillion debt limit, triggering the Treasury Department to use “extraordinary measures” like temporarily suspending investments in retirement funds for government employees, per Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to continue paying its bills.
• Biden toured California to assess the damage from storms that hit the western U.S. throughout December and January, damaging homes, killing people, causing floods and mudslides, downing trees, and triggering widespread power outages.
• The Supreme Court released a report on the May 2022 leak that revealed a draft version of its ruling overturning Roe v Wade. It did not identify who was behind the leak. “Whether or not any individual is ever identified as the source of the disclosure, the court should take action to create and implement better policies to govern the handling of court-sensitive information and determine the best IT systems for security and collaboration,” the report read.
• The State Department launched a new program called the “Welcome Corps” to permit groups of people and organizations in the U.S. to “sponsor” refugees seeking sanctuary in the country by enabling them to cover the costs of resettlement for refugees arriving through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
• National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the highest level in-person talks between the two nations since Israel inaugurated its new far-right, conservative government. A spokesperson said Sullivan “stressed that the [Biden] administration will continue to support the two-state solution, and will discourage policies that endanger its viability.”
• The Defense Department, along with some European nations, announced new arms donations to Ukraine that are worth $2.5 billion and include armored vehicles and heavy weaponry.

Friday, Jan. 20

• A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for removing an elected official from office for signing a national pledge to not prosecute women and doctors for violating state abortion laws or families seeking treatments for transgender minors. The federal judge ruled that DeSantis violated the First Amendment, but dismissed the case anyway because he decided that the court lacked the authority to reinstate the official.
• A federal judge sanctioned former President Donald Trump and his lawyers for nearly $1 million for a lawsuit claiming that Hillary Clinton had tried to rig the 2016 election. The judge said Trump exhibited a “continuing pattern of misuse of the courts” and had filed the suit “in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
• The Agriculture Department announced plans to spend about $930 million to fund forest-thinning operations in 10 western states to help curb the devastating impact of wildfire season. The funds will go toward financing projects to clear hazardous trees and overgrown underbrush in fire-prone areas.
• Central Command reported that a drone attack, likely directed by ISIS, hit a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Syria, wounding two allied Syrian opposition fighters.
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Senegal for a business incubator to discuss U.S. economic strategy in Africa. “The United States is all in on Africa, and all in with Africa,” Yellen said.

Saturday, Jan. 21

• Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer said U.S. officials discovered six more classified documents in Biden’s Delaware home.

Sunday, Jan. 22

• Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech on the 50th anniversary of the now-defunct Roe v Wade ruling. Harris warned that abortion rights are under attack across the U.S. “America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. But let us ask: Can we truly be free if a woman cannot make decisions about her own body?” Harris said.