Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.

The Department of Justice is releasing millions of pages related to the criminal investigation and death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says the DOJ is now in compliance with the law to release all the files after the Justice Department missed a December deadline.

In a news conference today, Blanche said the DOJ did not shield President Trump.

There's this mantra out there that, oh, you know, the Department of Justice is supposed to protect Donald J. Trump.

And that's what we were telling. That's not true. That was never the case.

Trump said he would cut ties with

Epstein or he had cut ties with Epstein after the financier hired away female Mar-Lago resort

staffers. He denies any knowledge of Epstein's sex crimes. The president has nominated Kevin

Warsh to be the next Federal Reserve chair. U.S. Senator Tom Tillis holds a critical vote on the Senate Banking Committee

that will determine whether to advance Warsh's nomination.

Today, Trump responded after Tillis doubled down on his pledge

not to vote in favor of Trump's nominee until the Justice Department

resolves its criminal investigation into the current Fed Chair, Jerome Powell.

If he doesn't approve, we'll just have to wait till somebody comes in that will approve it, right?

Trump has publicly disparaged Powell and the Fed for failing to more aggressively lower interest rates.

Powell and his predecessors have pushed back in defensive, maintaining the Fed's independence from political influence.

The U.S. is pressing ahead with a military buildup that would allow for a new round of strikes against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran says that if attacked, it will hit hard at U.S. interests in the Middle East.

NPR's Greg Myrie looks at the possible showdown.

The U.S. military now has an aircraft carrier, additional ships, and dozens of warplanes within striking distance of Iran.

President Trump remains noncommittal about whether he'll order an attack.

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