By JOSEPH FREDERICK, Associated Press

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, an auction in New York will feature rare items that trace the nation’s history.

The event Friday at Christie’s, dubbed “We the People: America at 250,” will bring together foundational political texts, iconic American art and rare historical artifacts.

Among the highlights is a rare 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence produced in New Hampshire by printer Robert Luist Fowle, estimated at $3 million to $5 million.

“It’s historically significant because you get to see what people at the time actually saw,” said Peter Klarnet, senior specialist for books, manuscripts and Americana at Christie’s.

While the initial printing was produced by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776 — with about 200 copies printed and only 26 known to survive — other printers quickly began producing their own versions.

“This is the way that everyday Americans would have encountered the Declaration of Independence whether it was tacked to a wall or read from the pulpit of their local congregation,” Klarnet said.

Another founding document up for sale is Rufus King’s edited draft of the U.S. Constitution, estimated at $3 million to $5 million. Printed just five days before the final version was issued on Sept. 17, 1787, the document captures the nation’s founding charter as it was being finalized.

“This is the Constitution taking final form,” Klarnet said. “You can see the edits being made in real time.”

King was a delegate from Massachusetts to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He was also a member of The Committee of Style, a five-member group tasked with refining the text.

“This puts you directly in Independence Hall as they’re drafting and making the final changes and edits to this remarkable document,” Klarnet said.

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The auction also includes a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. The authorized printed edition was commissioned for the Great Central Fair, a Civil War-era fundraiser held in Philadelphia in June 1864 to raise money for Union troops. The Proclamation is estimated at $3 million to $5 million.

“Lincoln, together with his Secretary of State William Seward and his Secretary John Nicolay, signed 48 copies of this,” Klarnet said, noting they were originally sold for $20 each — and not all sold at the time.

American art plays a major role in the sale as well. Leading the category is Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington — thought to have inspired the face on the U.S. dollar bill. The painting was commissioned by James Madison. It is estimated to bring between $500,000 and $1 million.

Other artworks include a Jamie Wyeth painting of John F. Kennedy accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination at the Los Angeles Coliseum estimated at $200,000 to $300,000.

There is also Grant Wood’s original pencil sketch of American Gothic drawn on the back an envelope estimated at $70,000 to $100,000.

Beyond the founding documents, the sale features rare historical objects like the only known flag recovered by U.S. forces from the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn. The flag is expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million.

Historians say auctions like these underscore the role of private collectors in preserving the nation’s material past.

“Private collectors play an important role,” historian Harold Holzer said. “They save things, they preserve things, and ultimately they pass on their collections.”

For Holzer, the emotional power of the items remains meaningful.

“You almost feel the electricity from these relics,” Holzer said, “their impact on the people, who not only read these documents, but fought for what they were calling for.”

He calls the documents “great words fought for with blood.”

By GEIR MOULSON and JAMES BROOKS, Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s prime minister insisted that her country can’t negotiate on its sovereignty on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with the head of NATO.

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Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership” — though he also said he would not use force.

He said “additional discussions” on Greenland were being held concerning the Golden Dome missile defense program, a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space. Trump offered few details, saying they were still being worked out.

NATO said its secretary general, Mark Rutte, hadn’t proposed any compromise to Danish sovereignty.

Denmark insists on territorial integrity

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said security in the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it is “good and natural” that it be discussed between the U.S. president and Rutte. She said in a statement that she had spoken with Rutte “on an ongoing basis,” including before and after he met Trump in Davos.

She wrote that NATO is fully aware of the kingdom of Denmark’s position that anything political can be negotiated on, including security, investment and economic issues — “but we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.”

“I have been informed that this has not been the case,” she said, adding that only Denmark and Greenland can make decisions on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.

An Aurora Borealis is seen in the sky above Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Frederiksen said that Denmark wants to continue engaging in constructive dialogue with allies on how to strengthen security in the Arctic, including the U.S. Golden Dome program, “provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity.”

Asked in an interview with Fox News whether Greenland would remain part of the kingdom of Denmark under the framework deal Trump announced, Rutte replied that “that issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president.”

“He’s very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that huge Arctic region, where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and Russians are more and more active, how we can protect it,” he said. “That was really the focus of our discussions.”

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said Thursday that Rutte “did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with President Trump.” She said that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. “will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold – economically or militarily – in Greenland.”

Welcome and skepticism for Trump’s switch

On the streets of Copenhagen, some were skeptical about Trump’s switch.

President Donald Trump talks to media after a meeting about Greenland during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

“I think the man has said many things and done a lot of different things to what he says,” said Louise Pedersen, 22, who works with a startup company. “I have a hard time believing it. I think it’s terrifying that we stand here in 2026.”

She said it’s for Greenlanders to decide what happens with their land — “not Donald Trump.”

“I don’t really trust anything Mr. Trump is saying,” said Poul Bjoern Strand, 70, an advertising worker.

On the possibility of ceding territory, he said: “That’s not what the Greenlanders want, that’s not what the Danish people want, and … I cannot believe that Danes are going to follow that.”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of the European countries that had faced Trump’s threat of tariffs over Greenland, underlined the need for European NATO allies to do more to secure the Arctic region and stressed that it is “a common trans-Atlantic interest.”

“We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the north from the threat posed by Russia,” he said at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “We will uphold the principles on which the trans-Atlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We support talks between Denmark, Greenland (and) the United States on the basis of these principles,” aiming for closer cooperation, Merz said. “It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction. I welcome President Trump’s remarks from last night — this is the right way to go.”

Moulson reported from Berlin. Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

By ERIC TUCKER, MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers are poised to grill former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday at a congressional hearing that’s expected to focus fresh attention on two criminal investigations that shadowed Donald Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Smith testified behind closed doors last month but returns to the House Judiciary Committee for a public hearing likely to divide along starkly partisan lines between Republican lawmakers looking to undermine the former Justice Department official and Democrats hoping to elicit new and damaging testimony about Trump’s conduct.

Smith will tell lawmakers that he stands behind his decision as special counsel to bring charges against Trump in separate cases accusing the Republican of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” Smith will say, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”

“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith will say.

The hearing is unfolding against the backdrop of an ongoing Trump administration retribution campaign targeting the investigators who scrutinized the Republican president. The Justice Department has fired lawyers and other employees who worked with Smith, and an independent watchdog agency responsible for enforcing a law against partisan political activity by federal employees said last summer that it had opened an investigation into him.

“In my opinion, these people are the best of public servants, our country owes them a debt of gratitude, and we are all less safe because many of these experienced and dedicated law enforcement professionals have been fired,” Smith said of the terminated members of his team.

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Smith was appointed in 2022 by Biden’s Justice Department to oversee investigations into Trump. Both investigations produced indictments against Trump, but the cases were abandoned by Smith and his team after Trump won back the White House because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

The hearing will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who told reporters on Wednesday that he regards Smith’s investigations as the “culmination of that whole effort to stop President Trump from getting to the White House.”

“Tomorrow he’ll be there in a public setting so the country can see that this was no different than all the other lawfare weaponization of government going after President Trump,” Jordan said, advancing a frequent talking point from Trump, who pleaded not guilty in both cases and denied wrongdoing.

At the private deposition last month, Smith vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigation was motivated by politics or was meant to derail Trump’s presidential candidacy. He said the evidence placed Trump’s actions squarely at the heart of a criminal conspiracy to undo the election he lost to Biden as well as the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” Smith said. “These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.”

Smith is also expected to face questions about his team’s analysis of phone records belonging to more than half a dozen Republican members of Congress who were in touch with the president on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021. The records contained data about the participants on the calls and how long they lasted but not their contents.

It is unlikely that Smith will share new information Thursday about his classified documents investigation. A report his team prepared on its findings remains sealed by order of a Trump-appointed judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, and Trump’s lawyers this week asked the court to permanently block its release.

By JOSH BOAK, AAMER MADHANI and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday inaugurated his “ Board of Peace ” to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, insisting that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.

President Donald Trump arrives for a Board of Peace charter announcement during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In a speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump sought to create momentum for a project to map out a future of the war-torn Gaza Strip that has been overshadowed this week, first by his threats to seize Greenland, and then by a dramatic retreat from that push.

“This isn’t the United States, this is for the world,” Trump said, adding, “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”

The event came as Ali Shaath, head of new technocratic government in Gaza, said the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions next week. That’s after Israel said in early December it would open the crossing, which runs between Gaza and Egypt, but has yet to do so.

The new board was initially envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the ceasefire, but has morphed into something far more ambitious — and skepticism about its membership and mandate has led some countries usually closest to Washington take a pass.

Trump tried not to let who wasn’t there ruin his unveiling party, saying 59 countries had signed on. He told a group of participating world leaders and top diplomats from Azerbaijan to Paraguay to Hungary, “You’re the most powerful people in the world.”

Trump said of those assembled “every one of them is a friend of mine” and noted that in “most cases” they were “very popular leaders. Some cases — not so popular. That’s the way it goes.”

President Trump stands on the podium at the beginning a session on the Board of Peace initiative of US President Donald Trump at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Attending were Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’ son-in-law and a key overseas negotiator for his administration on several fronts.

Among those also on-hand were Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan; Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev; Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan. Many are Trump allies, including Argentina President Javier Milei and Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto.

Trump has spoken about the board replacing some UN functions and perhaps even making that entire body obsolete one day.

But he was more conciliatory in his remarks on the sidelines of the forum in the Swiss alps, saying “We’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” even has he denigrated the UN for doing what he said wasn’t enough to calm some conflicts around the globe.

Rubio noted during the event that some countries’ leaders have indicated that they plan to join but still require approval from their parliaments, and the Trump administration says it has also gotten queries about membership from countries that hadn’t been invited to participate yet.

Why some countries aren’t participating

Big questions remain, however, about what the eventual board will look like.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is still consulting with Moscow’s “strategic partners” before deciding to commit. The Russian president on Thursday is due to host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for talks in Moscow.

Others are asking why Putin and other authoritarian leaders had even been invited to join. Britain’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said her country wasn’t signing on “because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.”

“And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine,” she told the BBC.

Norway and Sweden have indicated that they won’t participate, after France also said no. French officials stressed that while they support the Gaza peace plan, they were concerned the board could seek to replace the U.N. as the main venue for resolving conflicts.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said “the time has not yet come to accept the invitation,” according to the STA news agency, with the main concern being the board’s mandate may be too broad and could undermine international order based on the U.N. Charter.

Canada, Russia, Ukraine, China and the executive arm of the European Union also have not yet indicated their response to Trump’s invitations. Trump calling off the steep tariffs he threatened over Greenland could ease some allies’ reluctance — but the issue is still far from settled.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin plans to discuss his proposal to send $1 billion to the Board of Peace and use it for humanitarian purposes during his talks with Abbas. But he noted that the use of those assets will require the U.S. action to unblock them.

Board grew out of ceasefire proposal

The idea for the Board of Peace was first laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan and even was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

Invitation letters to world leaders ahead of Davos indicated that the panel may not confine their work to Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he’s agreed to join, after his office has earlier criticized the makeup of the board’s committee tasked with overseeing Gaza.

Months into the ceasefire, Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians continue to suffer the humanitarian crisis unleashed by over two years of war. And violence in Gaza, while not at the same level as before the October ceasefire and hostage deal was agreed on, continues.

Key to the truce continuing to hold is the disarming of Hamas, something the militant group that has controlled the Palestinian territory since 2007 has refused to do and that Israel sees as non-negotiable.

Trump said Thursday that the war in Gaza “is really coming to an end” while conceding, “We have little fires that we’ll put out. But they’re little” and that they had been “giant, giant, massive fires.”

Iran protests loom in background

Trump’s push for peace also comes after he threatened military action this month against Iran as it carried out a violent crackdown against some of the largest street protests in years, killing thousands.

Trump, for the time being, has signaled he won’t carry out any new strikes on Iran after he said he received assurances that the Islamic government would not carry out the planned hangings of more than 800 protesters.

But even as he prepared to unveil his Board of Peace, Trump also made the case that his tough approach to Tehran — including strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June last year — was critical to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal coalescing. Iran was Hamas’ most important patron, providing the group hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid, weapons, training and financial support over the years.

Meeting with Zelenskyy

Trump also expects to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who arrived in Davos on Thursday morning for a meeting expected after the morning’s Board of Peace announcement.

But Trump, who continues to struggle to get Zelenskyy and Putin to agree to terms to end their nearly four-year old war, again expressed frustration with both on Wednesday.

“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done,” Trump said. “And if they don’t, they’re stupid — that goes for both of them.”

Madhani and Weissert reported from Washington.