Post Reports

For years, President Donald Trump has complained about Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell. He’s called him names, said he should be fired and has tried to pressure the Fed leader into lowering interest rates.

Trump’s feud against Powell escalated over the weekend, when Powell revealed that the Justice Department launched a criminal inquiry against him, alleging that Powell lied about the cost of renovations to the Federal Reserve buildings.

Host Elahe Izadi speaks to banking reporter Andrew Ackerman about what this probe could mean for Powell, the Fed and whether Trump’s consistent pressure on Powell could undermine America’s central bank forever.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Conflicting narratives of Renée Good’s killing in Minneapolis have quickly emerged – federal officials claim the ICE officer who shot her was acting in self-defense, while others believe her death was easily avoidable and that ICE’s tactics are overly aggressive. 

Host Martine Powers speaks with immigration reporter Maria Sacchetti about how law enforcement officials are scrutinizing the shooting and what accountability in this case could look like.

The turmoil started in late December, when some Tehran merchants closed up shop to protest the free fall of Iran’s currency. 

That initial outcry sparked a wave of protests across the country. Demonstrators demanded not just economic reform, but a total overhaul of Iran’s government and an end to repression. Some called for the ouster of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Now the government has cracked down, and there are reports that hundreds of protesters have been killed. The country has been under a communications blackout since Thursday, making it nearly impossible to assess the extent of the bloodshed.

Elahe Izadi speaks with Iran correspondent Yeganeh Torbati about how things boiled over - and what might be happening inside the country.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff with help from Sabby Robinson. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. 

You can learn more about Torbati's forthcoming book on Iran here. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Decades after a brazen art theft drove Merry White’s father to despair, federal agents closed in on the missing work. For White, the search is personal.

Read more:

Merry White is the daughter of a Harvard professor who was close friends with painter Jackson Pollock. White’s parents came to own several of the painter’s artworks, and one hung over White’s bed when she was a child. It was stolen in 1973, along with two other paintings by Pollock. The theft destroyed White’s father's peace of mind, and left White with complicated feelings.

On this weekend episode of “Post Reports,” art critic Sebastian Smee reconstructs the provenance and theft of these precious works of art. Audio production and original music by Bishop Sand, with help from Sean Carter.

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This week, the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis has drawn new scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement push, and reactions have become something of a political Rorschach test. Meanwhile, Democrats such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Mark Kelly (Arizona) are facing new challenges as they navigate attacks from Republican leaders. And the Trump administration continues to project defiance in the aftermath of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s removal.

“This is just one expression of raw American power after another,” says White House reporter Michael Birnbaum on this week’s “Post Reports” politics roundtable.

Michael spoke with host Colby Itkowitz and Dan Merica, co-anchor of the Early Brief newsletter, to unpack a jam-packed week of political news. 

Today’s show was produced by Thomas Lu and Josh Carroll. It was edited by Martine Powers with help from Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Go to sleep earlier. Read more books. Eat better. Exercise. 

Changing our behavior is hard, but what if some simple – and dare we say fun – tricks could help us keep our resolutions for the new year?

From temptation bundling to buddying up, Optimist reporter Maggie Penman shares the science on how to make your New Year’s resolutions, whatever they are, stick in 2026. Plus, on the eve of national “Quitters Day,” we explore why making resolutions can actually be beneficial – even if you don’t stick to them perfectly. 

Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Dennis Funk and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks to Allison Klein and Theresa Tamkins.

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Just hours before U.S. aircraft surged into Caracas as part of an operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, an anonymous person placed a final online bet that the Venezuelan president would soon be ousted. 

The mystery gambler netted more than $400,000 on that long-shot bet – raising questions about whether they had inside knowledge of the operation. 

The payout has drawn attention to the growing world of prediction markets, online bets on real-world scenarios that some critics warn could have unintended negative effects. Today, Martine Powers talks with banking reporter Andrew Ackerman about the loosely regulated prediction market industry and what we know about the mystery gambler who won big on the Maduro ouster.

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick with help from Dennis Funk and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held many titles during Donald Trump’s presidency. He may have just acquired his most challenging one yet: viceroy of Venezuela.

The national security adviser, acting archivist and administrator of the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development was central to masterminding the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. And with no immediate successor to govern the country of roughly 29 million, Trump is leaning on Rubio to help “run” Venezuela, divvy up its oil assets and usher in a new government, a fraught and daunting task for someone with so many other responsibilities.

Today on “Post Reports,” State Department reporter John Hudson explains how Rubio has become so influential, and what that could mean for Venezuela’s future. 

Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy, with help from Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sam Bair.

After U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, President Donald Trump declared: “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”

The world is still digesting the consequences of the intervention, which the Trump administration has characterized as a law enforcement mission against Maduro rather than a military operation in a foreign country. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy and machine gun possession.

White House reporter Michael Birnbaum joins host Martine Powers to explain the political ramifications of Maduro’s arrest, the next steps of the Trump administration and the reactions of Venezuelans. 

We also hear from Ana Vanessa Herrero, The Post’s reporter in Caracas. 

Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy and Reena Flores. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. 

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Today we share one of our favorite episodes, from Optimist reporter Maggie Penman about the new science of aging, and a hopeful research finding that getting stronger and healthier in old age is possible for many of us – even after a health setback. 

If you want to hear more stories like this, please let us know. You can reach the whole team at [email protected] or email Maggie at [email protected].

Today’s episode was reported and produced by Maggie Penman. It was edited by Allison Klein and Ted Muldoon who also mixed the show.

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