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Tackling an issue with huge ramifications for both the economy and the structure of government, the Supreme Court on Wednesday considers President Donald Trump’s attempt to oust Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook. With Trump seeking to exert control over the central bank, which, among other things, sets interest rates, the case has taken on even greater importance after it emerged that the Justice Department is investigating Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Congress set up the Federal Reserve to be independent, so it would not be influenced by immediate political concerns in fulfilling its mandate to maintain price stability and low unemployment. Under the Federal Reserve Act, presidents are restricted from removing governors unless it is “for cause,” meaning there is evidence of wrongdoing. Trump has said he wants to fire Cook for cause, over allegations of mortgage fraud made by one of his political appointees, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Cook has denied the allegations, and bank documents obtained by NBC News appear to contradict the fraud claim. The Supreme Court in October refused to allow Trump to fire Cook immediately, instead scheduling oral arguments in the case, suggesting the administration may face an uphill battle over his claim that the decision to remove her cannot be challenged in court. Cook’s lawyers argue she should have notice and a chance to rebut Trump’s stated reasons for firing her before she can be removed. They say Trump’s rationale does not meet the threshold for “for cause” removal. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, says in court papers that Cook has no right to any kind of hearing challenging her firing. It is up to the president alone to decide whether the “for cause” hurdle is met under the powers allocated to him under Section 2 of the Constitution, he said. Powell is expected to attend Wednesday’s argument. Trump has long been critical of the Fed, and Powell in particular, for not doing more to lower interest rates, though he originally appointed Powell to the position in 2017. Trump has not moved to fire Powell, though the Justice Department investigation, related to testimony Powell gave to Congress about refurbishments at the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, could similarly give him a reason. Although Powell’s term as chair ends in May, he could stay as a board member until 2028. President Joe Biden appointed Cook to a term that ends in 2038. Trump administration Jan 20 Jerome Powell to attend Supreme Court arguments in case on Trump's power to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook Trump administration Sep 18, 2025 Trump asks the Supreme Court to allow him to fire Fed member Lisa Cook Trump administration Sep 15, 2025 Senate confirms Trump Fed pick; appeals court blocks removal of Lisa Cook The Trump administration’s handling of Cook and Powell has raised alarm among former Fed officials and Trump critics who say the Federal Reserve must maintain its independence to be effective and fear it could be directly controlled by the White House. “We are in an unprecedented moment right now. President Donald Trump is doing everything he can to take over America’s central bank so that it works for him, along with his billionaire friends,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told reporters last week. While Warren has been a critic of Fed policies that she sees as favoring Wall Street and big banks, she added, “I think we can all agree that the Fed works best when its decisions are based on data.” Economists warn that lower rates in the short term to achieve Trump’s political goals could have negative long-term consequences. “This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly,” former Fed chairs and other former…

It looks like the Philadelphia area will get snow for the second weekend in a row. But, just how much we will see is — both literally and figuratively — up in the air as things could change significantly between Wednesday and Saturday evening when the National Weather Service expects the snowfall to begin. NBC10’s First Alert Weather team say to expect snow in the region but just how much is unclear because it’s still too early to determine the path of the weekend storm. But, the National Weather Service expects a “significant storm” to impact the region from Saturday through Sunday night — potentially into Monday — bringing with it “several inches of snowfall.” This could amount to the region seeing six or more inches of snow this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. In order to prepare for the potential storm, communities throughout the region were preparing ahead of this weekend. On Wednesday morning, NBC10’s Neil Fischer was in Plymouth Meeting, in Montgomery County to see how preparations were going. He found the municipality recently got a new shipment of salt, a much needed resource after a storm over the past weekend brought snow, freezing rain and ice to the region. PennDOT, however, has plenty of salt and, officials said, they plan on helping support communities once they see how much the potentially storms impact the community this weekend. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

President Donald Trump’s plane, Air Force One, returned to Joint Base Andrews about an hour after departing for Switzerland on Tuesday evening. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the decision to return was made after takeoff when the crew aboard Air Force One identified “a minor electrical issue” and, out of an abundance of caution, decided to turn around. A reporter on board said the lights in the press cabin of the aircraft went out briefly after takeoff, but no explanation was immediately offered. About half an hour into the flight reporters were told the plane would be turning around. Trump boarded another aircraft, an Air Force C-32, a modified Boeing 757 normally used by the president for domestic trips to smaller airports, and continued on with his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos shortly after midnight. People walk off of Air Force One toward the tarmac after returning to Joint Base Andrews on Jan. 20, 2026 in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The two planes currently used as Air Force One have been flying for nearly four decades. Boeing has been working on replacements, but the program has faced a series of delays. The planes are heavily modified with survivability capabilities for the president for a range of contingencies, including radiation shielding and antimissile technology. They also include a variety of communications systems to allow the president to remain in contact with the military and issue orders from anywhere in the world. Last year, the ruling family of Qatar gifted Trump a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet to be added into the Air Force One fleet, a move that faced great scrutiny. That plane is currently being retrofitted to meet security requirements. Leavitt joked to reporters on Air Force One Tuesday night that a Qatari jet was sounding “much better” right now. Last February, an Air Force plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Germany had to return to Washington because of a mechanical issue. In October, a military plane carrying Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had to make an emergency landing in United Kingdom due to a crack in the windshield.

Prince Harry entered the witness box Wednesday for his testimony against the publisher of the Daily Mail in the final round of his battle against the British tabloids. Harry says in his lengthy witness statement that he was distressed and disturbed by the intrusion of his early life by the Mail and its sister Sunday newspaper and it made him “paranoid beyond belief.” Harry and six other prominent figures, including Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, allege that Associated Newspapers Ltd. invaded their privacy by engaging in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for two decades. British Royal Family Jan 18 Prince Harry says Daily Mail scoops made him ‘paranoid beyond belief' British Royal Family Oct 22, 2025 Prince Harry, Meghan join call for ban on development of AI ‘superintelligence' British Royal Family Sep 15, 2025 Prince Harry says explosive memoir ‘not about revenge' and he has no regrets Defense lawyer Antony White immediately began cross-examining Harry on his written evidence. The company has vehemently denied the allegations and says witnesses from the newspapers will name names of sources when they testify in the nine-week trial. Harry was dressed in a dark suit as he stepped up to the witness box. He held a small Bible in his right hand as he swore on “almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” The Duke of Sussex said he preferred to be addressed simply as Prince Harry. It is his second time testifying after he bucked House of Windsor tradition and became the first senior royal to testify in a court in well over a century when he took the stand in his similar lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror in 2023.

President Donald Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, after a minor electrical issue aboard Air Force One had forced a return to Washington to switch aircraft. Shortly after he landed in Zurich, his Marine One helicopter took him to the site of the international gathering. The White House said arriving late wouldn’t push back his scheduled address at the forum in the Swiss Alps — where his ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark could tear relations with European allies and overshadow his original plan to use his appearance at the gathering of global elites to address affordability issues back home. Trump’s speech is set to focus on domestic policy. But it may touch on Greenland as well as the U.S. military operation that led to the recent ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. On Thursday, Trump plans to more heavily lean into foreign policy, including discussing hemispheric domination by Washington, and the “Board of Peace” he’s creating to oversee the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas. That’s according to a White House official who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that haven’t been made public. Trump will also have around five bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, though further details weren’t provided. Tariff threat looms large Trump comes to the international forum at Davos on the heels of threatening steep U.S. import taxes on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territory — a concession the European leaders indicated they are not willing to make. Trump said the tariffs would start at 10% next month and climb to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to increase costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to tamp down the high cost of living. The president in a text message that circulated among European officials this week also linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.” In the midst of an unusual stretch of testing the United States’ relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what might transpire during Trump’s two days in Switzerland. On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Davos panel he and Trump, a Republican, planned to deliver a stark message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy,” he said. “This will be an interesting trip,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday evening for his flight to Davos. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented.” In fact, his trip to Davos got off to a difficult start. There was a small electrical problem on Air Force One, leading the crew to turn around the plane about 30 minutes into the flight out of an abundance of caution. That pushed the president’s arrival in Switzerland back hours. Wall Street wobbled on Tuesday as investors weighed Trump’s new tariff threats and escalating tensions with European allies. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its biggest drop since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.4%. “It’s clear that we are reaching a time of instability, of imbalances, both from the security and defense point of view, and economic point of view,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in his address to the forum. Macron made no direct mention of Trump but urged fellow leaders to reject acceptance of “the law of the strongest.” Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that should Trump move forward with the tariffs,…