Things Trump Did... Day 18 | Blog#42
Where are the cogs in the Trump wheel?
I am repeating a few items from last night’s news as they may have been missed
Yesterday’s post
Note from Rima: Someone wrote the headline and subhead with a straight face…
Democrats escalate attacks as Trump EPA holds back climate spending
DOGE representatives have fanned out to multiple federal agencies in recent days, including at least one at EPA.
Democrats ramped up their pressure against the EPA spending freeze for several Inflation Reduction Act climate programs on Thursday, blasting the move as an illegal impoundment of congressionally mandated spending that violated a court ruling issued earlier this week.
Lawmakers staged a rally at EPA’s downtown headquarters that drew about 100 people to protest actions by the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led “Department of Government Efficiency” for efforts they said were designed to intimidate agency staff and flout the legal orders to resume spending on climate and environment programs enacted under the Biden administration.
Continue reading at Politico
DOJ appeals block of birthright citizenship executive order
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has appealed a federal judge’s order indefinitely blocking President Trump’s executive order that would restrict birthright citizenship.
In a short notice Thursday night, the government said it would appeal the nationwide preliminary injunction U.S. District Judge John Coughenour granted earlier Thursday at the request of four Democratic state attorneys general and a group of private plaintiffs.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration moves to suspend national EV charger rollout
The bid to freeze the money upends how the federal government delivers funding to states and may violate court orders issued this week.
The Trump administration on Thursday moved to halt a $5 billion initiative to build electric vehicle charging stations by instructing states not to spend federal funds previously allocated to them under the Biden administration program.
The move to stop the flow of money to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program appears to upend years of precedent in which federal promises of funds for highway projects had given states an all-but-guaranteed assurance that they were free to spend them. It also raises legal questions as two federal judges have already ordered the Trump administration to lift freezes imposed on federal funding.
Continue reading at Politico
FEC commissioner says Trump has moved to fire her
Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said Thursday evening President Trump has moved to fire her, but she indicated she won't be removed from office without a fight.
The big picture: Weintraub shared on X a copy of a letter she said was from "POTUS today purporting to remove" her from her role at the FEC.
"There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn't it. I've been lucky to serve the American people & stir up some good trouble along the way," Weintraub said. "That's not changing anytime soon."
Continue reading on Axios
Today’s news start here
House Democrat leaves DOGE Caucus over Musk's tactics
Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) said Thursday she is leaving the Congressional DOGE Caucus due to Elon Musk's slash-and-burn tactics as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign of rising Democratic frustration with Musk even from the centrist lawmakers who were most eager to work with him.
Continue reading at Axios
DOGE's Treasury access limited amid privacy lawsuit
A federal judge signed an order on Thursday temporarily restricting the Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency's access to sensitive Treasury payment system information.
Why it matters: The order limits Treasury Department employees affiliated with DOGE to just two individuals with "read-only" access to the data. This comes in response to a lawsuit aiming at blocking DOGE's access to sensitive information.
State of play: U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is overseeing the case in Washington, D.C., signed the order, which Department of Justice lawyers earlier agreed to on Wednesday.
Continue reading at Axios
Speaker Johnson: House lawmakers to work through weekend amid Trump agenda stalemate
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said discussions over how to pass President Trump’s legislative agenda will continue through the weekend — including Super Bowl Sunday — as lawmakers race to complete the final details of the sprawling package as the Senate threatens to move on its contrasting strategy.
Leaving the Capitol just before midnight on Thursday after a marathon day of meetings, Johnson said he was pleased with the progress made on the legislation, but noted that there are still matters that need to be hashed out.
Continue reading at The Hill
RNC Chair says there may be ramifications if Republicans don’t support Trump’s agenda: ‘I would not be surprised’
Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Michael Whatley said during an interview there may be ramifications for Republican lawmakers if they do not support President Trump’s legislative agenda.
“Well, I certainly think that the American people certainly expect that Congress is going to work with the president to hammer out this agenda,” Whatley said during his Thursday appearance on NewsNation’s show “The Hill.”
“And so would there be ramifications if there are folks that aren’t going to engage? I would not be surprised if that’s the case,” he told host Blake Burman. “But right now, what we fully expect is we are going to have a unified Republican caucus that is going to move forward with President Trump’s agenda.”
Continue reading on The Hill
Trump's 'Most Dangerous' Nominee
The Fiscal Times Newsletter
Senate Confirms Vought as Dems Warn He's Trump's 'Most Dangerous Nominee'
Senate Republicans just confirmed Russell Vought as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, but not without controversy.
The 53-47 vote came after Democrats held the Senate floor all night Wednesday to protest Vought and delay his confirmation as much as they could as the minority party.
Vought served as Trump's budget director late in his first term and then was a key architect of the ultraconservative Project 2025 policy playbook. As head of the budget office, he would play a key role in implementing Trump's agenda, with influence that stretches across federal agencies. It was the Office of Management and Budget that issued a memo last week ordering a halt to federal grants, loans and assistance payments, creating widespread chaos before courts blocked the administration's funding freeze and the memo was rescinded.
Continue reading at The Fiscal Times
Oliver Darcy’s Status Newsletter (Subscription)
The Report
On the final Monday of December, just as 2024 was coming to a close, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong convened a meeting with staffers who make up the opinion division of his troubled newspaper. Earlier in the month, opinion staffers had sent a note to Executive Editor Terry Tang, expressing concern over a number of steps that the billionaire owner had taken to meddle in their affairs.
Red Pilled and Reviled
Meanwhile, Soon-Shiong continues to involve himself in the opinion section. While he has not yet rolled out his anticipated “bias meter,” he continues to exert influence over its editorial direction. On Thursday, I learned that three of the left-leaning opinion columnists — Robin Abcarian, Jackie Calmes, and LZ Granderson — were recently directed to reduce their output. They all usually write at a cadence of about two times a week. But they have now been restricted to a single piece a week, I'm told. A spokesperson for the Times did not respond to a request for comment. But the widely held suspicion amongst staffers is that, by reducing their output, it will help move the opinion pages toward the right, something that Soon-Shiong has openly said he would like to do. It is hard to imagine, after all, that if Soon-Shiong’s new BFF Scott Jennings were filing pieces every day, they would be rejected.
Indeed, Soon-Shiong is quite open these days about his leap to the right. On Wednesday morning, Bari Weiss' The Free Press published a 2,500-word piece about Soon-Shiong having taken "the red pill." The story, written by Peter Savodnik, featured an on-the-record interview with Soon-Shiong, in which he effectively sought to atone with the conservative movement for his supposed sins as a one-time champion of social justice causes. Savodnik wrote that Soon-Shiong, who he characterized as previously being "one of the enablers and enactors of woke," now "sounded remorseful."
Continue reading at Status News
I highly recommend this newsletter by former CNN media critic, Oliver Darcy.
Flu is so bad right now that schools across the country are closing
Schools around the U.S. are closing due to surges of flu and other illnesses which are sickening students and staff. Here's what parents need to know.
Schools across the United States are closing due to spikes in influenza and other seasonal illnesses. As the 2024–2025 flu season rages on with no peak yet in sight, some school systems are overwhelmed with sick students and staff.
Schools and even entire school districts are temporarily closing in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and other states.
Continue reading at Today
Arab, Muslim Americans blast Trump’s ‘grotesque’ Gaza proposal
Arab American and Muslim American leaders are blasting President Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza, warning that it’s antithetical to their beliefs and amounts to ethnic cleansing.
The backlash comes after Trump made significant inroads among these groups’ voters in the November election, peeling them away from the Democratic Party, which has been their home for decades, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Continue reading at The Hill
Cuomo leads NYC mayor’s primary in new poll
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has a clear lead in the Democratic primary for the New York City mayoral race this year before he’s entered the contest, according to a new poll.
Cuomo, who has not confirmed that he is running but appears likely to join the race as soon as this month, is in front of the Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill poll with 33 percent of the vote. Embattled incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is in second with 10 percent, followed by former City Comptroller Scott Stringer with 8 percent and a three-way tie among state Sen. Jessica Ramos, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Comptroller Brad Lander with 6 percent.
Continue reading at The Hill
Musk provokes battle among Democrats over how to fight back
Democrats are grappling with how to take on Elon Musk and his unprecedented efforts to remake the federal government, with some favoring direct attacks on the tech mogul and others wondering if they should aim more at President Trump.
Democrats have struggled to find their footing in the second Trump presidency, even as Trump has offered hundreds of thousands of federal employees buyouts and sought to eliminate entire parts of the government.
Musk as been the point of Trump’s spear as he and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have dug into federal agencies, seeking access to payment systems and working to talk federal workers out of their jobs.
Continue reading at The Hill
GOP senators to press Trump to take their side against House Republicans
Republican senators say they want to convince President Trump to support their plan to take the lead on a budget reconciliation package when they meet with him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
Republican senators say getting Trump to pick a side in the standoff between Senate and House Republicans over which chamber should move first on the president’s legislative agenda is one of several topics they hope to discuss at a two-hour dinner reception scheduled for Friday evening.
“In the end it will take presidential leadership. It will take him twisting arms. He might have to twist them hard,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), referring to what many GOP senators see as Trump’s need to crack down on House Republicans who are holding up the process.
Continue reading at The Hill
The death of American soft power
President Trump is taking a sledgehammer to a bedrock of U.S. foreign policy, ripping up decades of "soft power" in favor of a highly personalized, transactional, coercive style of dealmaking.
Why it matters: For Trump, results speak loudest. Less than three weeks into office, his administration already has struck deals of varying substance with Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and even Venezuela.
Most were secured through threats of tariffs and other leverage, with Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, occasionally serving as the good cop.
But the headlines obscure a longer-term risk: Trump is gutting key aspects of America's global influence and the workforce that promotes it — leaving a vacuum that U.S. adversaries are eager to fill.
Continue reading at Axios
Exclusive: Jewish groups rebuke Trump on immigration, Musk moves
A coalition of reform and conservative Jewish organizations is denouncing President Trump over his "scapegoating" of immigrants and transgender people, and says his empowering of Elon Musk "to force ideological conformity" threatens the country's "democratic norms."
Why it matters: The open letter, to be released Friday, is signed by more than 100 groups. It's the latest criticism of Trump by religious organizations over his immigration and cost-cutting policies.
Zoom in: The groups say Trump's moves to deport huge numbers of undocumented immigrants, freeze federal funds and dismantle international programs "fundamentally threaten the freedoms and safety of all Americans."
Continue reading at Axios
Vought wants to dismantle the ‘deep state.’ As he takes office, it’s already happening.
The administration’s early moves to fire thousands of federal workers and dismantle entire agencies even before Vought took office reflect his influence at the White House.
Russell Vought takes office as President Donald Trump’s budget chief today with the goal of turning the federal bureaucracy into rubble. But his work has already started.
The administration’s early moves to fire thousands of federal workers and dismantle entire agencies even before Vought took office reflect his influence at the White House. They also illuminate the depths of his detailed plan for fundamentally reshaping the foundations of American government.
Trump has issued reams of executive orders and actions in his frenzied 19 days in office — including those axing civil service protections for federal workers, freezing the hiring of new federal employees and mandating a line-by-line review of federal spending to ensure no dollars are going toward diversity, equity and inclusion programs and other causes antithetical to his agenda.
The orders have the incoming Office of Management and Budget director’s fingerprints all over them and align with Trump’s broader goal of tearing down a federal “deep state” he believes worked to stymie his agenda during his first term, Trump insiders and those close to Vought say.
Continue reading at Politico
What does Trump really want from Canada?
“The current game is maximum chaos,” one industry leader says of the current state of Canada-U.S. relations
OTTAWA — Canada has promised Donald Trump that within 30 days, it will appoint a fentanyl czar and list drug cartels as terrorists. But what if that’s not enough to neutralize U.S. tariff threats?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian business leaders are gathering in Toronto on Friday to discuss the economic threat. Whether Trump can be mollified is a question on everyone’s mind.
“It’s not clear to a lot of folks at the present time exactly what the president is aiming for,” Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s national resources and energy minister, said Thursday after three days of meetings in Washington. “Even senior Republican senators are somewhat unclear about some of those issues.”
Continue reading at Politico
Workers' rights caught in collision of Trump's priorities
The independent federal agency in charge of enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws is caught in a bind under President Trump.
Why it matters: The White House crackdown — on transgender people; diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; and the independence of federal agencies — all comes to a head at the the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The civil rights of Americans are at stake, according to advocates for workers and former EEOC officials.
Staff are "in revolt" over concerns that fulfilling Trump's anti-DEI and anti-transgender orders would break the law, as the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
Continue reading at Axios
What we all lose in Trump and Musk's attack on government data
President Trump and Elon Musk's assault on government data is fueling concerns in business, academia, newsrooms and beyond that critical information about vital subjects may be unreliable — if it exists at all.
Why it matters: Everything from how we allocate Congressional seats to the weather app on your phone relies at least in part on accurate government data. If that data becomes unavailable or is seen as untrustworthy, it could have far-reaching consequences across politics, business, health and beyond.
Government data collection is taxpayer-funded — Americans have paid to collect this knowledge, so we're all entitled to use it.
Continue reading at Axios
Note from Rima: If you’ve been wondering how far down the rabbit hole Chris Cuomo has fallen, look no further
Bill O’Reilly: Musk can’t stage a coup; he ‘doesn’t have any power’
Watch the video of O’Reilly and Cuomo at The Hill
Protesters in cities across the US rally against Trump’s policies, Project 2025 and Elon Musk
Demonstrators gathered in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.
“I’m appalled by democracy’s changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks — but it started a long time ago,” Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. “So I’m just trying to put a presence into resistance.”
Continue reading at the Associated Press
1 big thing: Trump's EEOC takes a new view
The independent federal agency in charge of enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws is caught in a bind under President Trump.
Why it matters: The White House crackdown — on transgender people, diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and the independence of federal agencies — all comes to a head at the the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The civil rights of Americans are at stake, according to advocates for workers and former EEOC officials.
Staff are "in revolt" over concerns that fulfilling Trump's anti-DEI and anti-transgender orders would break the law, as the Wall Street Journal reported this week.
The big picture: The situation is a big change from the fairly hands-off way Trump treated the agency in his first term.
Continue reading at Axios
Modi Heads to the US Bearing Gifts for Trump
Ahead of his visit, Modi has sent a series of not-so-subtle hints to Trump to go easy on India. In his government’s annual budget last week, he unveiled cuts to India’s own (notoriously high) tariffs, including on Harley-Davidson motorcycles — a clear concession to Trump on a longtime grievance.
He has offered no resistance to accepting the return of undocumented Indian migrants — despite reports that deportees may have been mistreated — and has made clear India will stick to the dollar as a trading currency.
Continue reading at Bloomberg
Elon Musk’s net worth drops as Trump imposes new tariffs
Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s net worth has declined following the Trump administration’s attempts at imposing new tariffs.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s net worth has fluctuated in recent months, primarily due to his recent business and political ventures, including his role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Tesla’s stock dropped 5.2 percent on Monday, a loss attributed to the threat of tariffs targeting imports from Canada, Mexico and China, Newsweek reported. It’s down 3.3 percent as of Feb. 6.
Continue reading at The Hill
Capitol agenda: Battle of the budgets coming next week
Despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s stated intentions to unveil a budget framework today, he said late Thursday night that House Republicans would be working on it all weekend.
Next week is shaping up to be a battle of the budgets.
House Republicans spent hours Thursday reworking their one-bill plan in two separate meetings — one at the White House, with some limited involvement from President Donald Trump. But despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s stated intentions to unveil a framework today, he told reporters late Thursday night that House Republicans would be working on it all weekend.
Continue reading at Politico
From the new grift department…
Tucker Carlson Says His New Nicotine Pouches Could Launch a Revolution. So We Tried Them.
It all started, Tucker Carlson told me, with a “boner joke.”
In October 2023, the former Fox News host sat down with the internet comedian Theo Von in a Las Vegas hotel room to record an episode of Von’s popular podcast “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.” Having been fired from Fox News just six months earlier, Carlson was in the midst of a personal rebranding, hitting the podcast circuit to tell his side of the story and build buzz around his soon-to-be-launched platform, the Tucker Carlson Network.
The two men sat facing each other in a pair of leather armchairs, Von wearing an oversized Arizona Diamondbacks baseball jersey and a backward trucker cap and Carlson wearing his typical prep-school uniform of a blue V-neck sweater and a blue gingham shirt. To Carlson’s left, on a white side table, sat three items: a bottle of Perrier sparkling water — Carlson’s preferred beverage — an unopened can of the energy drink Celsius and two tins of Zyn, the tobacco-free nicotine pouches that Carlson had been aggressively promoting on air.
“You’ve gotta try this product,” Carlson said to Von, popping a mini-marshmallow-sized pouch into his mouth as the cameras started to roll. A sly grin spread across his face: “The truth is, Zyn is a powerful work enhancer,” and, he added in a mischievous stage whisper, “a male enhancer — if you know what I mean.”
Continue reading at Politico
US added 143k jobs in Biden’s last month as president
The U.S. economy added 143,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in January, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.
The January jobs report, which covered the final month of former President Biden’s term, was largely in line with expectations. Economists expected the U.S. to have added roughly 170,000 jobs and maintain a jobless rate of 4.1 percent, according to consensus estimates.
Continue reading at The Hill
New Time Magazine cover
House GOP tees up hearing on Trump’s foreign aid overhaul
The Foreign Affairs Committee meeting Thursday is titled "The USAID Betrayal."
The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing next week on the U.S. Agency for International Development amid the Trump administration’s contentious efforts to shrink the institution, according to a notice obtained by POLITICO.
The hearing, announced Thursday night to panel members by chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), is titled “The USAID Betrayal” and is set to examine concerns over U.S. foreign aid policies. The hearing is set for Thursday at 8:30 a.m., and former Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho and Bill Steiger, who served as the agency’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration, are set to testify.
Continue reading at Politico
Politico Playbook
Changing tides for the Coastal Commission
THE BUZZ: SEA CHANGE — The once-untouchable California Coastal Commission has taken hit after hit in the wake of the Los Angeles fires — and state lawmakers see an opening to check their power.
Assembly Democrats are trying to pass legislation that would expedite construction of ocean-front housing by sidestepping the commission. Several bills are in the works that aim to limit the panel’s authority to block or delay housing over permitting issues or gripes like neighborhood character — concerns about coastal views and aesthetics.
In recent weeks, the commission has faced a confluence of criticism from both ends of the political spectrum — from Gov. Gavin Newsom to President Donald Trump — all over the idea that it makes building housing too burdensome and too expensive.
The escalating tension was laid bare last week, when Newsom’s aides chided the commission for getting sideways with his efforts to help LA quickly rebuild from last month’s wildfires.
Continue reading at Politico
Palantir’s Billionaire CEO Just Can’t Stop Talking About Killing People
Alex Karp, the creepy CEO of creepy defense contractor Palantir, just can’t stop talking about killing people. During a recent call with investors, the billionaire let it slip that he doesn’t mind a little bloodshed, just so long as the money keeps pouring in.
“Palantir is here to disrupt and make the institutions we partner with the very best in the world and, when it’s necessary, to scare enemies and on occasion kill them,” Karp said, with a smile on his face. The CEO added that he was very proud of the work his firm is doing and that he felt it was good for America. “I’m very happy to have you along for the journey,” he said. “We are crushing it. We are dedicating our company to the service of the West, and the United States of America, and we’re super-proud of the role we play, especially in places we can’t talk about.”
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Meet the Ideologue of the “Post-Constitutional” Right
Russell Vought, one of the architects behind Project 2025, believes there is nothing left to conserve. He desires revolution – and to burn down the system
From economist, Jared Bernstein
Essential California newsletter (Los Angeles Times
Newsom is looking to strike a balance between collaboration and confrontation.
Shortly after Trump’s election victory, Newsom told donors that his goal was “not to wake up every single day and get a crowbar and try to put it in the spokes of the wheel of the Trump administration.”
“In that spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist, that’s how we want to proceed,” the governor said. “[But] I’m not naive either, and we’re pragmatic and we will stand firm.”
Luna and Pinho noted that Trump’s visit to fire-ravaged L.A. kicked off with a meeting with Newsom on the tarmac, which represented a congenial shift after recent years of contentious crossfire between the two leaders.
“After the brief airport chat and a 30-minute phone call the next day, Trump’s daily barrage of criticism of the governor has mostly stopped,” they wrote. “Newsom has been careful not to immediately react to everything Trump says or does, but also walk the fine line of speaking out when he feels California’s values are under attack.”
One example of that fine line: the recent discharge of water from two dams in Tulare County by the Army Corps of Engineers, which said it was acting on an earlier order from the president.
Trump celebrated dumping billions of gallons downstream into the San Joaquin Valley, saying it would flow to farmers and aid firefighting efforts in L.A.
In reality, much of the water ended up seeping into the ground, my colleague Ian James reported this week, as it’s not irrigation season and the Central Valley waterway does not lead to L.A. Local and state water experts criticized the action as a wasteful political stunt that will hurt farmers.
Continue reading at the Los Angeles Times
FCC Investigates SF Radio Station for ICE Reporting, Sparking Press Freedom Fears
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating San Francisco-based KCBS for its coverage of immigration enforcement actions in San José last month, sparking concerns from press freedom advocates and drawing right-wing backlash to the radio station.
In an interview on Fox News, Trump-appointed commission chair Brendan Carr said he opened the investigation after KCBS shared the live locations and vehicle descriptions of immigration officials on Jan. 26.
“We have sent a letter of inquiry, a formal investigation into that matter, and they have just a matter of days left to respond to that inquiry and explain how this could possibly be consistent with their public interest obligations,” Carr said.
Continue reading at KQED
What is influenza A, the type of flu making people so sick right now?
(NEXSTAR) – The flu is spreading far and wide across the U.S. – and influenza A is largely to blame. Of all the flu tests reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since the start of flu season last fall, about 97% have turned up positive for influenza A.
Influenza A is further divided into subtypes. You may have heard of H1N1 or H3N2 – those are the two dominant types of influenza A circulating right now, according to the CDC.
“Influenza A typically causes worse symptoms compared to influenza B, and patients are more likely to get hospitalized with influenza A compared to influenza B,” said Dr. Donald Dumford, an infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic.
Continue reading at The Hill
Delays in federal health funding
Last week, federal officials ordered a blanket freeze on most federal funding before rolling the order back on Monday. At least two judges have also ordered a suspension of the blanket freeze. At the same time, state Medicaid payment portals experienced an outage, causing confusion nationwide.
The downstream effects of the funding freeze have become clearer this week. Here are some key impacts.
— Some community health centers, which primarily serve low-income patients, have said they haven’t received the federal funding that keeps them afloat, forcing some to temporarily shutter.
— Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said a safety-net hospital in her state couldn’t provide medical services last month because of a freeze in Medicaid funds.
— Dozens of Head Start providers serving nearly 20,000 children report delays in accessing federal grant dollars, according to survey data from the National Head Start Association, an industry group representing the providers. That’s despite officials later clarifying that Head Start was excluded from the freeze. HHS has said “technical issues,” now resolved, affected the payment management system last week, but some providers may experience lags, Mackenzie reports.
On Thursday, several Democratic lawmakers demanded answers from the Trump administration. Senate health leaders Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to the administration asking why the Medicaid platform was inoperable.
Continue reading at Politico
Public Citizen steps up fight against DOGE access with Education Department lawsuit
The University of California student government sued Friday to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from gaining access to government data on millions of student borrowers.
The students, represented by Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer advocacy group, argued that DOGE’s access to the Education Department’s systems containing the personal data of over 42 million people would violate federal privacy law and the Internal Revenue Code.
Continue reading at The Hill
Red states pursue their own DOGE-style reforms
Numerous Republican-led states are seeking to implement measures to slash the size and cost of state governments in an effort to mirror the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Washington.
Governors in Oklahoma and New Hampshire have used their executive authority to establish DOGE-like commissions, while state lawmakers in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri have introduced measures to establish their own versions of the department.
Continue reading at The Hill
Bondi signals limited use of special counsels
Attorney General Pam Bondi signaled limited use of special counsels as she praised the judge that quashed charges against President Trump in the classified documents case.
“Special counsels from here on out in our country will be legally appointed, and they won’t be done constantly like they have been done in the past,” she told Sean Hannity during an appearance on Fox News.
“The weaponization of government will end. No more special counsels out there targeting anyone.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrat rips Axelrod over advice for engaging Trump: ‘Pundit-brain, poll-tested bulls—‘
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) criticized political strategist David Axelrod for slamming individuals who defend agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), that President Trump has been working to restructure.
“That’s the kind of pundit-brain, poll-tested bulls— that got us into this mess,” Schatz told The New Yorker in an interview. “We are constantly being told that something isn’t polling well enough yet.”
“And one of the things that Republicans do well is not allow their pollsters to tell them everything,” he added. “They invent whole stories and then the polling follows.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Charlamagne tha God warns Republicans: Musk is ‘coming for your red states’
Charlamagne tha God says it’s not just Democrats who need to take a stand against Elon Musk, but Republicans, too, because the tech billionaire is “coming for your red states.”
“Forget the Democrats. And let me talk to Republican politicians for a second,” the media personality said during a Thursday segment on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
“I get you want to cut government spending down to the bone, but remember, Musk isn’t just coming for poor kids that you don’t care about. He’s coming for your red states,” the “Breakfast Club” co-host, who was born Lenard McKelvey, said.
Continue reading at The Hill
EPA puts employees who tackle pollution in overburdened communities on leave
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put more than 160 workers who tackle pollution in overburdened communities on leave.
The employees were part of the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice, which sought to help people in areas with significant levels of pollution — including minority neighborhoods.
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou confirmed that 168 staff members in the office were placed on leave since “their function did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work.”
Continue reading at The Hill
DOJ disbands foreign influence task force, unit tasked with seizing Russian oligarchs’ asset
Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanded a Biden-era initiative targeting Russian oligarchs as well as another designed to combat foreign influence.
Task Force KleptoCapture was created in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, coordinating a global effort to seize yachts and what President Biden referred to as “ill-begotten gains” of Russian oligarchs.
Continue reading at The Hill
Mike Johnson says Democrats 'unresponsive' ahead of shutdown deadline
But the House's top appropriators say otherwise.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown.”
“We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a top-line number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so,” Johnson said.
The speaker weighed in as anxieties are spiking about the coming March 14 deadline for extending government funding. Democrats have grown wary about cutting a deal with Republicans as President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk move swiftly to unilaterally cut agency funding
Continue reading at Politico
The era of big-time job gains may be drawing to a close
A striking percentage of job growth has consisted of immigrant workers — with one bank estimating they accounted for as much as two-thirds of the net gains over the last year.
A surge of immigrants boosted the labor market and helped cool inflation during Joe Biden’s administration. Under Donald Trump, the flow of new workers could become a trickle.
A striking percentage of the job growth under Biden consisted of immigrant workers, economists say — with one major bank recently estimating they accounted for as much as two-thirds of the net gains over the last year.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added 143,000 jobs in January, with the jobless rate slipping to 4 percent. The growth in payrolls was lifted by new arrivals whose legal status runs the gamut. The labor force participation rate among foreign-born individuals was 66 percent in January, compared with 61.4 percent among native-born workers, according to the release. If Trump delivers on his pledge to shut down the border and conduct mass deportations, a critical supply of workers would be shut off.
Continue reading at Politico
Exclusive: Oversight Dems open probe into Trump's USAID purge
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee launched an inquiry Friday into the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Why it matters: The speed at which USAID, the U.S. government's lead humanitarian aid arm, has been gutted has stunned U.S. allies and humanitarian groups around the world.
The teardown of USAID, coupled with the administration's freeze on foreign aid, is posed to endanger millions of lives around the world and diminish U.S. influence.
Driving the news: Ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and committee member Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) on Friday outlined the scope and goals of the probe in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the new acting administrator of USAID.
Continue reading at Axios
Members of Congress denied access to Department of Education
Multiple members of Congress were denied entry to the Department of Education on Friday, according to videos and social media posts from lawmakers.
“They are blocking members of Congress from entering the Department of Education! Elon is allowed in and not the people? ILLEGAL,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said in a post on X, referring to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Multiple people are seen in the videos arguing with what appeared to be a security guard outside the building.
Continue reading at The Hill
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.
Elon Musk’s unceasing attempts to access the data and information systems of the federal government range so widely, and are so unprecedented and unpredictable, that government computing experts believe the effort has spun out of control. This week, we spoke with four federal-government IT professionals—all experienced contractors and civil servants who have built, modified, or maintained the kind of technological infrastructure that Musk’s inexperienced employees at his newly created Department of Government Efficiency are attempting to access. In our conversations, each expert was unequivocal: They are terrified and struggling to articulate the scale of the crisis.
Continue reading at The Atlantic
Harris on running for governor: ‘I have been home for two weeks and three days’
Former Vice President Harris on Friday pushed aside questions about a potential gubernatorial bid in California, saying she’d barely been home and wanted to connect with her local community.
“I have been home for two weeks and three days. My plans are to be in touch with my community, to be in touch with the leaders and figure out what I can do to support them,” she told reporters on Friday after touring areas impacted by the Palisades wildfire.
“I am here and would be here regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to do, which is to show up in your community and thank the folks who are on the ground,” she added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump says he’ll sign order promoting plastic straws
President Trump on Friday said he plans to sign an executive order promoting plastic straws after his predecessor sought to phase out single-use plastics from government operations.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!”
The post appears to be referring to Biden’s goal of phasing out single-use plastic in federal food service by 2027 and government operations at large by 2035, which includes plastic straws.
Continue reading at The Hill
New York shuts down NYC-area live poultry markets after bird flu detected
All live bird markets in New York City and several neighboring counties were ordered to be closed on Friday after inspectors found seven cases of bird flu.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) issued the closure order for live bird markets in New York City, Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau Counties.
Westchester County includes New York City’s northern suburbs. Nassau and Suffolk counties cover all of Long Island to the east of the city.
Continue reading at The Hill
Leaks hindered immigration raids in Colorado: Homan
Tom Homan, President Trump’s “border czar,” is seething after an immigration raid in a suburb of Denver was allegedly leaked, allowing targets in the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua (TDA) gang to escape.
“This isn’t a game. We know that TDA is dangerous,” Homan said Thursday in a statement to reporters outside the White House.
“Everybody can agree to that, but when they get a heads-up that we are coming, it’s only a matter of time before our officers are ambushed,” he added, according to The Associated Press. “Their job is dangerous enough. So we are going to address this very seriously.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump doubles USAID staff he’s keeping while calling for agency shutdown
After initially planning to keep only about 300 employees, the figure has risen to 600.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he was all-in on shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“CLOSE IT DOWN!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. He accused the agency of spending money fraudulently and said that there’s nothing “the radical left” can do about it.
But the administration at the same time has revised upward the number of USAID staff it plans to keep from 300 to 600 out of more than 10,000 previously, according to three people familiar with its plans granted anonymity to discuss the details.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump says US doesn’t have ‘very good security’ amid DOGE access concerns
President Trump on Friday lamented how the U.S. does not have “very good security” when discussing how Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gained access to sensitive federal information this week.
When asked why DOGE needs access to American’s personal information like Social Security numbers, Trump said, “Well, it doesn’t. But they get it very easily.”
“I mean, we don’t have very good security in our country,” the president continued at a press conference Friday alongside Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Continue reading at The Hill
Musk says he’ll bring back DOGE staffer under fire for racist posts
Elon Musk said Friday he will rehire a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who resigned after several of the aide’s racist social media posts were exposed.
“He will be brought back,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform he purchased in 2022.
“To err is human, to forgive divine.”
The DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, resigned Thursday after The Wall Street Journal revealed several racist posts he appeared to have made from a now-deleted account.
“Normalize Indian hate,” the account associated with Elez posted in September.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump to direct Musk to review Pentagon, Education spending
President Trump on Friday said he plans to direct Elon Musk to review spending at the Defense and Education departments as the new administration works to overhaul the federal government.
“Pentagon, Education, just about everything. We’re going to go through everything,” Trump said during a presser alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
“I’ve instructed him to go check out Education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military. And, you know, sadly, you’ll find some things that are pretty bad,” the president said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Zelensky says he’s open to Trump’s rare earth request: ‘Let’s do a deal’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled a willingness Friday to work with President Trump to supply the U.S. with rare earth elements in exchange for continued military aid in his war against Russia.
In an interview with Reuters, Zelensky said: “If we are talking about a deal, then let’s do a deal, we are only for it.”
He emphasized that Ukraine is not “giving away” its resources but is offering the U.S. a partnership.
“The Americans helped the most, and therefore the Americans should earn the most. And they should have this priority, and they will. I would also like to talk about this with President Trump,” he told Reuters.
Continue reading at The Hill
Duffy says he can offer air traffic controllers chance to stay past mandatory retirement age
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during an interview that he plans to encourage air traffic controllers to keep working past the mandatory retirement age of 56, which he says would enhance safety.
“I’m going to make an offer to air traffic controllers to let them stay longer. That’s my authority. I can offer them the chance to stay longer, past the mandatory retirement age of 56, pay them more, give them a bonus, keep them on the job, make the system safer, alleviate the pressure on the controllers. They will make more money,” Duffy said during his Thursday night appearance on Fox News’s “Hannity.”
Duffy, a former Wisconsin lawmaker, said he hopes the air traffic controllers will accept the offer he plans to make “in the coming days.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Leaders squabble, appropriators stoic as shutdown deadline approaches
The parties are far from converging on a deal with five weeks to go.
Five weeks away from a government funding deadline, tensions are spiking among lawmakers and shutdown fears are rising.
Top-level relations soured Friday, with Speaker Mike Johnson accusing Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of “trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown” and saying Democrats were “unresponsive.”
Jeffries then shot back, telling reporters Johnson’s comments were “projection” as Democrats remain at the negotiating table. He had backing from the top House GOP appropriator, who said he had spoken with his Democratic counterparts Thursday.
Continue reading on Politico
Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Silicon Valley donors in bid to ‘mend fences.’
The meeting comes as the tech world has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era.
Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries quietly met with more than 150 Silicon Valley-based donors last week in California — an early step in Democrats’ efforts to repair relationships with a once-deep blue constituency.
The meet-and-greet, in tony Los Altos Hills, came at a precarious moment for Democrats in the tech world, which has lurched rightward in the second Donald Trump era. The world’s wealthiest tech mogul is upending Washington, and Democratic leaders are facing criticism from their own base for their halting response. Jeffries, meanwhile, was on the West Coast seemingly trying to avoid the next Elon Musk.
Continue reading at Politico
Treasury elevates Musk ally to lead government payment system
The elevation of Tom Krause to a more powerful role at Treasury will likely inflame an ongoing backlash over DOGE.
The Trump administration has installed an associate of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency group to oversee the Treasury Department’s massive financial operations, including running the federal payments system and managing the cash and debt that finances the government.
Tom Krause, the CEO of Cloud Software Group who has been leading DOGE’s review of federal payments, is now performing the duties of Treasury’s fiscal assistant secretary, according to the agency’s website.
Continue reading at Politico
House GOP still has big problems to solve on its budget
GOP leaders are trying to lasso various factions as the Senate races ahead with its own plan for President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and other priorities.
House Republicans are still far from finalizing several key details of a budget blueprint that Speaker Mike Johnson is pledging to advance in the House next week, with negotiations expected to continue through the weekend as the Senate races ahead with its own plans.
While House GOP leaders trumpeted tremendous progress coming out of a White House meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday, key holdouts on Trump’s sweeping agenda of tax cuts, border security and energy initiatives indicated Friday that they remained unconvinced about the level of spending cuts in the bill.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump continues federal purge, gutting cyber workers who combat disinformation
Roughly half a dozen employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who previously worked to counter election-related disinformation have been put on administrative leave.
The Trump administration has moved to push out a swathe of federal workers previously involved in combating election-related disinformation, according to three people familiar with the matter, amid allegations from congressional Republicans that their work unfairly targeted conservative speech online.
Roughly half a dozen employees from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who once worked in its Election Security and Resilience division were notified Thursday night they were being put on administrative leave, said the three people, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
Continue reading on Politico
Trump calls Gaza takeover a "real estate" deal but says there is "no rush"
President Trump said on Friday that there is "no rush" moving forward with his "Gaza takeover" plan, which he also described as a "real estate transaction" between America and Israel.
Why it matters: Trump's comments at the top of his Oval Office meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seem to be putting the brakes on the plan after it stunned the middle East and generated alarm among America's Arab allies.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday called the plan "tantamount to ethnic cleansing,"
The UN lists forced relocation of populations as a crime against humanity.
Catch up quick: On Tuesday Trump presented a plan to displace two million Palestinians from Gaza and take over the enclave.
Continue reading at Axios
Democrats dig in against Mike Johnson on government shutdown
Democrats are locking arms against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on government funding, vowing to use the process to try to roll back many of President Trump's efforts to upend the federal government.
Why it matters: Johnson attempted to shift the blame for a potential shutdown onto House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) shoulders Friday morning.
The Democratic leader, Johnson told reporters, seems "to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown" and has been "unresponsive the past two days or so."
Jeffries pushed back on that claim, telling Axios later on Friday he is "continuing to negotiate a bipartisan agreement" ahead of the March 14 federal funding deadline.
Republicans had still not released their proposed budget bill as of Friday, Jeffries also noted at a press conference.
Continue reading at Axios
Senate prepares to blow past Mike Johnson on Trump's reconciliation bill
Senate Republicans are running a hurry-up offense ahead of Super Bowl Sunday that's putting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on his heels.
Why it matters: The House is unlikely to reach an agreement on taxes and spending cuts before Johnson and President Trump meet in a New Orleans skybox on Sunday, aides and lawmakers conceded today.
That gives Senate Republicans all weekend — and a dinner Friday at Mar-a-Lago — to make their case for a two-bill approach, while House Republicans still debate how much to cut from the federal budget.
The latest deadline for Johnson's one-bill plan is "probably closer to Monday," he said this morning.
Continue reading at Axios
Judge to issue ‘very limited’ order temporarily pausing USAID purge
A federal judge on Friday said he intends to temporarily block the Trump administration’s plan to place thousands of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees on leave at midnight.
Unions representing government employees sued to stop the shutdown of agency operations and restart the flow of foreign aid frozen by President Trump, who has accused the agency of fraud and corruption to justify its imminent shuttering.
Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Trump during his first term, said he would issue a formal order later Friday but that a “limited, very limited” order temporarily pausing the plan would be handed down.
Continue reading at The Hill
DOGE Is Coming for Your Social Security, States Prepare to Sue
As Musk's group heads to more agencies, more legal challenges are cropping up.
On Thursday, an anonymous source communicated to Semafor that DOGE would soon be training its sights on the Social Security Administration. At least one DOGE staffer is preparing to “work with the agency,” the outlet reported. While there’s little information available as to what Musk’s group plans to do to America’s popular public benefits program, DOGE’s whole modus operandi has been to take a butcher’s knife to the agencies it “works” with, so it’s difficult to imagine that the changes will be helpful to the average American.
“It’s going to depend on what we find,” an anonymous source with knowledge of DOGE’s plans told Semafor. “There’s going to be reworks across the government, every agency.” Another person interviewed by the outlet said, of DOGE’s general strategy towards the government: “I think there’s an impulse to clean house, and to maybe freeze funding now. And then, if something’s really important, it will distinguish itself, and we’ll bring it back online … You’ve got to just move fast, integrate fast, and then fix it as you go.”
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Where MAGA goes after dark
HEYYY BESTIE: President DONALD TRUMP on Friday hosted a foreign leader at the White House for the second time in three days — and for the second time in three days, that leader made it a priority to communicate just how much he appreciated Trump.
“I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television, to see in-person,” SHIGERU ISHIBA, the Japanese prime minister, told reporters after the two dined together privately. “On television, he is frightening, and he has a very strong personality. But when I met with him, actually, he was very sincere and very powerful.”
Ishiba quickly added he was not trying to “suck up.”
That meeting came on the heels of Trump’s White House confab with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU on Wednesday, when the president announced the U.S. would “take over the Gaza Strip.”
Unlike Ishiba — who on Friday met Trump for the first time and was trying to fill the shoes of the late former Japanese Prime Minister SHINZO ABE, a friend of the American president — Netanyahu and Trump are close allies who have worked together to advance Netanyahu’s archconservative government’s agenda in the region.
Still, the Israeli prime minister came to the White House ready to make his closeness to Trump abundantly clear — gifting the president a golden pager in reference to the deadly military operation Israel launched last year in Lebanon.
Continue reading at Politico (newsletter)
Trump: We will have relations with North Korea
President Trump on Friday said the U.S. will have relations with North Korea, touting his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un, who rules the nuclear-armed country with an iron fist and has soldiers fighting on the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump made his remarks standing next to Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who welcomed U.S. engagement with Pyongyang as “positive.”
“We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un, I got along with them very well,” Trump said during a press conference with Ishiba at the White House.
Continue reading at The Hill
Person stabbed at Trump immigration policy protest in downtown L.A.
What started as a peaceful protest turned bloody in Los Angeles, as a group of students walked out of school for the fourth day to protest immigration policies set forth by President Donald Trump.
Images taken by KTLA’s Sky 5 helicopter over downtown L.A. showed the aftermath of the brawl, which included a bloodied person. Several groups from different schools across Los Angeles congregated in front of city hall on Friday afternoon.
Continue reading at KTLA
‘Reciprocal’ tariffs on every country to be announced next week, Trump says
President Donald Trump shifts from his previous threat to impose an across-the-board tariff on all imports from across the world.
President Donald Trump on Friday said he would be announcing tariffs next week that match the duties imposed by other countries, in an apparent shift from his previous threat to impose an across-the-board tariff on all imports from across the world.
“I’ll be announcing that next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries,” he told reporters at a press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. “We don’t want any more, any less.”
Trump, who said the tariffs would apply to every country, added that the announcement would likely come “Monday or Tuesday.”
Continue reading at Politico
This is two days old but still relevant
Elon Musk’s Enemy, USAID, Was Investigating Starlink’s Contracts in Ukraine
The agency was in the midst of a probe into the billionaire's equipment at the time of Musk's assault.
Since coming into power, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has barraged USAID, the international aid agency that dispenses food and supplies to nations all over the world. It is likely that the agency will soon be shuttered and could be subsumed into the U.S. State Department. Now, new reporting shows USAID was actually investigating equipment from one of Musk’s companies at the time that he attacked the agency.
The Lever reported Tuesday that USAID’s inspector general was in the process of investigating its own public-private partnership between Musk’s Starlink and the Ukrainian government at the time that the billionaire’s DOGE crippled the agency. Publicly available information about that probe is still online. An announcement from last May reads: “The USAID Office of Inspector General, Inspections and Evaluations Division, is initiating an inspection of USAID’s oversight of Starlink satellite terminals provided to the Government of Ukraine. Our objectives are to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals.”
Musk has called the agency “evil” and a “criminal organization,” though the fact that USAID was investigating the Starlink activities may suggest ulterior motivations for the billionaire’s vitriol. It’s unclear what the Starlink probe’s status is right now.
Continue reading at Gizmodo
Kash Patel was paid by Russian filmmaker with Kremlin ties, documents show
Patel, President Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, was paid $25,000 last year by a film company that has promoted anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin, documents show.
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be FBI director, was paid $25,000 last year by a film company owned by a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship and has produced programs promoting “deep state” conspiracy theories and anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin, according to a financial disclosure form Patel submitted as part of his nomination process and other documents.
Continue reading at the Washington Post
Trump revokes Biden's security clearance: 'Joe, you're fired'
President Trump said he will be revoking former President Biden’s security clearance and stopping the former commander-in-chief's daily intelligence briefings.
“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information. Therefore, we are immediately revoking Joe Biden’s Security Clearances, and stopping his daily Intelligence Briefings,” Trump announced in a Friday Truth Social post.
Continue reading at The Hill
Elon Musk is still a Boer.
Trump orders freeze of aid to South Africa, citing country’s land expropriation law
Elon Musk, who is from South Africa, has highlighted the law in recent social media posts.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday formalizing his announcement earlier this week that he’ll freeze assistance to South Africa for a law aiming to address some of the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era — a law the White House says amounts to discrimination against the country’s white minority.
“As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country,” the White House said in a summary of the order. The White House said Trump is also going to announce a program to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees.
Continue reading at Politico
Appeals court looks set to let Pentagon out of 9/11 plea deals
An appeals court signaled it will override a military judge’s ruling that the agreements avoiding the death penalty were binding.
A federal appeals court appears poised to rule that the Pentagon has the authority to withdraw from plea deals ruling out the death penalty that were negotiated with three Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In a one-page order Friday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay the government sought to prevent a military judge from accepting guilty pleas from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.
Continue reading at Politico
19 states sue Trump, Treasury to halt DOGE access
New York leads the suit in Manhattan federal court alleging highly sensitive data is at risk.
NEW YORK — Democratic state attorneys general continued their legal resistance to President Donald Trump’s early policies Friday, filing a new lawsuit accusing Trump and the Treasury Department of violating federal law by granting Elon Musk’s aides access to a sensitive federal payments database.
Coalitions of states have also challenged the president’s orders to end birthright citizenship and freeze federal funding — both now halted by courts.
Continue reading at Politico
Graham’s plan for Trump tax cuts
Graham rolls out plan to tackle Trump agenda
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) rolled out a resolution laying the groundwork for Republicans to ramp up work on President Trump’s agenda.
Read the newsletter at The Hill
Newsom approves $50M in ‘Trump-proofing’ funds for California
The Democratic governor just returned from a 90-minute meeting with Trump at the White House.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday approved $50 million for legal defenses against the Trump administration, following a special legislative session he called soon after the president’s election late last year.
Newsom signed the bills after a trip to the White House on Wednesday where he said he had a “productive” meeting with President Donald Trump on wildfire aid for Los Angeles. The deadly January wildfires that leveled entire neighborhoods have forced the Democratic governor to straddle the line between working with the federal government to secure disaster assistance and pushing back on the White House’s aggressive early moves, including threats to withhold federal dollars as a policy cudgel.
Continue reading at Politico
Labor unions expand lawsuit to protect multiple agencies from DOGE
They announced the decision during a Friday hearing, where they sought to protect the Labor Department’s data systems.
Federal employee unions tried Friday to protect an expanding number of government agencies from Elon Musk’s attempts to obtain sensitive data and cut personnel.
During a hearing in D.C. District Court, unions said they would broaden the scope of a lawsuit — which initially sought to block the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Labor Department systems — to cover additional agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services , Education Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Continue reading at Politico
Leaked document says ‘large scale’ immigration enforcement action coming soon to L.A.
Federal law enforcement agents are planning to carry out a “large scale” immigration enforcement action in the Los Angeles area before the end of February, according to an internal government document reviewed by The Times.
The operation, which would be spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will focus on people who do not have legal status in the country or who already have pending orders of removal, according to the document, which was circulated among some federal law enforcement officials this week.
Continue reading at the LA Times
Top Trump prosecutor in DC opens probe based on referral from Elon Musk
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's top federal prosecutor in Washington, announced on Friday he has launched an investigation into government employees accused of stealing property and making threats based on a referral by Elon Musk.
"After your referral, as is my practice, I will begin an inquiry," Martin wrote in a letter made public on X to Musk and Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, who has been working with Musk and others at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Continue reading at Reuters
Self-care!
Developer creates endless Wikipedia feed to fight algorithm addiction
WikiTok cures boredom in spare moments with wholesome swipe-up Wikipedia article discovery.
On Wednesday, a New York-based app developer named Isaac Gemal debuted a new site called WikiTok, where users can vertically swipe through an endless stream of Wikipedia article stubs in a manner similar to the interface for video-sharing app TikTok.
It's a neat way to stumble upon interesting information randomly, learn new things, and spend spare moments of boredom without reaching for an algorithmically addictive social media app. Although to be fair, WikiTok is addictive in its own way, but without an invasive algorithm tracking you and pushing you toward the lowest-common-denominator content. It's also thrilling because you never know what's going to pop up next.
Continue reading at Ars Technica
Transgender Americans sue over Trump passport policy
Seven transgender or non-binary Americans sued the Trump administration Friday over its new policy preventing people from obtaining passports with sex designations that match their gender identities.
Continue reading at The Hill
DOGE working with two Trump health appointees to examine Medicare and Medicaid books
The Trump political appointees are leading the agency’s “collaboration” with Elon Musk’s team.
The Trump administration has tasked two top political appointees with monitoring the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to key systems inside the health agency responsible for managing Medicare and Medicaid, according to internal emails obtained by POLITICO.
The appointees, Kim Brandt and John Brooks, are leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ “collaboration” with the unofficial cost-cutting group led by Elon Musk, including “ensuring appropriate access to CMS systems and technology.”
Continue reading at Politico
New York City officials blast Eric Adams over ICE memo
A directive from the New York City mayor’s office has sparked controversy as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement.
NEW YORK — The administration of New York City Mayor Eric Adams took more incoming fire Friday for a memo outlining what city workers should do when confronted with federal immigration agents.
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was among the latest to disapprove of the directive, which instructs staff to allow agents from U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement into municipal facilities if they “reasonably feel threatened or fear for your safety or the safety of others around you.”
Continue reading at Politico
Democratic AGs sue over DOGE access to Treasury payment systems
A coalition of 19 Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration Friday night over the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s access to Treasury Department payment systems that dole out trillions of dollars in payments annually.
The lawsuit, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and announced earlier in the week, is the latest legal resistance against billionaire Elon Musk’s sweeping moves to reshape and dismantle parts of the federal bureaucracy
Continue reading at The Hill
‘Grow up’: Vance, Khanna spar over rehiring DOGE staffer
Vice President Vance and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) sparred on social media platform X over the proposed rehiring of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who resigned after his racist social media posts came to light.
Marko Elez, a 25-year-old DOGE aide, had “read-only” access to sensitive Treasury Department payment systems. He resigned on Thursday, a White House official told The Hill after The Wall Street Journal first uncovered his past posts espousing racist beliefs.
“Normalize Indian hate,” one account associated with the aide said, according to the Journal.
“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” the account said on X, the paper reported.
Continue reading at The Hill
Ro Khanna is of Punjabi Hindu ethnicity. Mrs. Vance is of Telugu, Indian ethnicity
Judge denies union demand to block DOGE’s access to Labor Department data
A federal judge on Friday night rejected labor unions’ push to block Elon Musk’s government efficiency team from accessing sensitive data at the Labor Department.
District Judge John Bates, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said that the groups failed to properly show the standing necessary to win the temporary restraining order they sought against the Department of Government Efficiency, while expressing sympathy for their concerns that the Musk-led effort presents privacy risks.
“This data includes the medical and financial records of millions of Americans,” Bates wrote in a nine-page order. “But on the current record, plaintiffs have failed to establish standing.”
Continue reading at Politico
A lot of people are preserving information that has been wiped out by the Trump boors. She is only one such person
It’s Black History month and one of the history professors I follow posted the following thread in honor of it.
Trump dismisses Archivist of the United States
President Trump dismissed Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan, a decision he previewed a month earlier before assuming office on Jan. 20.
“At the direction of @realDonaldTrump the Archivist of the United States has been dismissed tonight. We thank Colleen Shogan for her service,” said White House Director of Presidential Personnel Sergio Gor in a Friday post on the social platform X.
Shogan was the first woman to serve as the leader of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Continue reading at The Hill
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