Author: Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register

Trump posted on Truth Social early Tuesday morning that he is a target of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has pledged not to endorse any candidate ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa.

DeSantis, who is expected to jump into the presidential race imminently, did not discuss Trump by name.

“This is a cycle where we certainly will need to winnow out who’s a pretender and who’s a contender,” said one Iowa Republican political consultant.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will make his Iowa debut March 10 ahead of an expected 2024 presidential run as a major Trump challenger.

Several Republican county parties have voted to condemn Iowa’s U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in the wake of her vote. “I stand by my vote,” she said Monday.

Both Iowa and New Hampshire have vowed to follow their state laws and hold their presidential nominating processes first, risking punishment.

The Democratic National Committee had been slated to make a decision about Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses as early as this week.

The Democratic National Committee’s rules committee is meeting in Washington, D.C., and may move forward on key changes to the presidential calendar.

President Donald Trump now leads by 7 percentage points in Iowa over former Vice President Joe Biden, 48% to 41%. In September, they were tied.