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. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

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.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

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. Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.