memeorandum: Trump administration tests the power to email every federal employee at once (NBC News)

4:10 PM ET, January 24, 2025

Top Items:

Kaitlan Collins / CNN:

Trump has pulled Fauci's security detail, source says — President Donald Trump has terminated Dr. Anthony Fauci's security detail that was being provided and paid for by the National Institutes of Health, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN. It was pulled on Thursday night.

Discussion: The Guardian, Washington Examiner, HuffPost, Fox News, USA Today, The Hill, UPI, WNYW-TV, Raw Story, The Independent, IJR, Forbes, Associated Press, WUSA, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, The Post Millennial, DNyuz and Mediaite

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Trump returns — and so does his astounding ignorance — If you feel off-kilter, you're in good company. The president seems downright bewildered. — “I think we're going to do things that people would be shocked at,” President Donald Trump declared on his second day in office.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Signal, New Jersey Online and NOTUS

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Fauci Stripped of Government Security Protection

Discussion: Daily Mail, Axios, Bloomberg, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, WHDH-TV, DNyuz and Politico

Reuters:
Trump says he ended security for former top COVID official Anthony Fauci

Discussion: One America News Network

Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Wall Street Journal knocks Trump for leaving former aides unprotected

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Free Press, Mediaite, HuffPost, Raw Story, CBS News and The Gateway Pundit

Ashleigh Fields / The Hill:
Former Secret Service agent: Trump put Bolton, Pompeo ‘at significant risk’

Discussion: Salon, The Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, Daily Mail, DNyuz, New Republic, Bloomberg, Grabien, New York Post and Breitbart

Steve Strunsky / New Jersey Online:

Newark mayor: ICE raided business without a warrant, detained U.S. citizens — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out a raid on a Newark business Thursday, detaining non-citizens and citizens alike, according to Mayor Ras J. Baraka. — The incident, which could not immediately …

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
Trump Leaves Democrats Dazed and on the Defensive

Discussion: HotAir, UnHerd, NBC News, ABC News and Washington Examiner

Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
The Border Debate Is Over. Dems Lost.

Discussion: Capitol News Illinois, Associated Press, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Fox Business and DNyuz

Washington Post:
Trump immigration raids alarm cities, but ICE arrests fewer than in 2017

Discussion: IJR, Associated Press and Turning Point USA

The Hill:
White House says migrant deportation flights with military aircraft have begun

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Reuters, CBS News, RedState, Forbes, Daily Mail, Instapundit, The Post Millennial and Task & Purpose

Hamed Aleaziz / New York Times:
Trump Officials Move to Quickly Expel Migrants Biden Allowed In Temporarily

Discussion: CBS News, The Hill, ABC News, The Guardian, Fox News, Block Club Chicago, The Status Kuo and El País

Brandy Zadrozny / NBC News:

Experts saw Samoa's plunging vaccination rates as a crisis. RFK Jr. saw an opportunity. — New details show how Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then chair of an anti-vaccine group and now Trump's pick for health secretary, sought to exploit a deadly vaccine accident.

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, New Republic, DNyuz, Scripps News and The Hill

Adam Cancryn / Politico:
RFK Jr.'s allies have a plan to upend childhood vaccination

Discussion: Raw Story

Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
Donald Trump is not waiting for RFK Jr. — he has already started his war on public health

Discussion: New York Times, Townhall, RedState, Bloomberg and Axios

Financial Times:

Donald Trump in fiery call with Denmark's prime minister over Greenland — US president insisted he wants to take over Arctic island — Donald Trump insisted he was serious in his determination to take over Greenland in a fiery telephone call with Denmark's prime minister, according to senior European officials.

Discussion: Politico, RTÉ, Semafor, Raw Story and Alternet.org

Christopher Flavelle / New York Times:

Trump Says States Should Manage Disasters. Former FEMA Leaders Agree. — “I'd rather see the states take care of their own problems,” the president said. Federal emergency managers from both parties have made the same argument. — President Trump plans to tour damage on Friday …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Bloomberg, NPR, Rolling Stone, Semafor, Forbes, DNyuz, The Guardian, MeidasTouch News, Digby's Hullabaloo, Reuters, The Hill, Salon, Associated Press, Raw Story, Washington Examiner, Alternet.org, New Republic and Washington Times

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Newsom plans to crash Trump's LA wildfire visit

Kevin Breuninger / CNBC:
Trump recommends ending FEMA ahead of California fire site visit

Discussion: CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Hill, Associated Press, The Gateway Pundit, Reuters, DNyuz, The Independent, UPI, WVEC, IJR, USA Today, Scripps News and Saywhat Politics

Associated Press:
Trump Proposes ‘Getting Rid Of FEMA’ While Visiting North Carolina

Charles Kaiser / Columbia Journalism Review:

Paul Krugman on Leaving the New York Times — The paper wanted to take away his newsletter or make him write less frequently, he says. — For two and a half decades, Paul Krugman's columns in the New York Times were beacons of intelligence and common sense.

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Trump's Plan to Crush the Academic Left — Last year, Chris Rufo, the influential right-wing strategist who spearheaded the campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., initiatives, told me about his ambitions for a second Trump presidency. He hoped, he said …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Baltimore Sun and Fox News

Jessica Blake / Inside Higher Ed:

Rutgers Center Cancels Conference in Response to Trump DEI Orders — The Rutgers University Center for Minority Serving Institutions announced Thursday that it has canceled an upcoming virtual conference about registered apprenticeship programs as a result of President Trump's executive …

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:

Elon Musk doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt — Since Donald Trump's rise to power, some liberals have developed a bad habit of seeing secret Nazi imagery everywhere on the right. — Be it Laura Ingraham allegedly sieg-heiling at the 2016 Republican National Convention …

Discussion: Colorado Times Recorder, PolitiFact, The Hill, Jewish Insider, HuffPost and The Forward

William Kristol / The Bulwark:

Musk Tells a ‘Joke’ — The board and shareholders of Costco overwhelmingly rejected a proposal for the big-box giant to revise its diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. You might call it the first act of wholesale resistance. — Happy Friday. — Stick to Rockets — by William Kristol

Discussion: CNN, OutsideTheBeltway, MPR News, VINnews and The Hill

Politico:

State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid — The “stop-work orders” appear to apply to US aid for all countries except Israel and Egypt. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday issued new guidance halting spending on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days.

Discussion: Reuters and DNyuz

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

DOJ asks judge to drop order barring Oath Keepers from visiting Capitol — Stewart Rhodes, previously sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy, was at the Capitol Wednesday chatting up lawmakers and reporters. — The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to drop …

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR, Associated Press, Fox News, New Republic, Mediaite and Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:
Freed Jan. 6 Convicts Are Back on the Street and Ready to Help Trump

Discussion: The Guardian and New York Post

Ella Lee / The Hill:
Judge bars Rhodes, other Oath Keepers from entering DC without court permission

Discussion: Axios, Talking Points Memo, Al Jazeera, Alternet.org and New York Post

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Dems Worry Sen. Whitehouse Considering Vote for RFK Jr — Wanted to share some information on the RFK Jr. nomination before the Senate. — It probably won't surprise you that RFK Jr., along with Tulsi Gabbard, are among the few Trump nominees who might actually not get confirmed.

Discussion: New Republic

Vi Nguyen / NBC Chicago:

ICE agents ‘showed up’ at Chicago school amid heightened concerns of raids — Schools across the Chicago area have released guidance about potential situations after the Trump Administration revoked previous guidance prohibiting immigration arrests at schools, churches and hospitals

Discussion: Block Club Chicago, WUSA, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Wirepoints

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Trump enlists attorney general to investigate Biden administration — President has thrown weight of justice department behind two politically charged reviews into his personal grievances — Donald Trump has tasked the attorney general in two executive orders to conduct far-reaching investigations …

Rolling Stone:

Team Trump Says Mark Zuckerberg Has ‘More Ass-Kissing’ to Do — Trump's aides and allies aren't ready to buy the Facebook chief's right-wing conversion. “He can't just snap his fingers and make the past not happen” … The Meta CEO and Facebook co-founder reportedly promised the administration …

Discussion: Raw Story, Futurism and Wired, more at Techmeme »

Steve Benen / MSNBC:

New GOP bill would let Trump (but not Obama) run for a third term — Rep. Andy Ogles' bill to amend the Constitution and empower Donald Trump to seek a third term will inevitably fail. That doesn't mean it's irrelevant. — About a week after Donald Trump was elected to a second term …

Discussion: HuffPost, The Gateway Pundit, CNBC, The Independent, TheGrio, Raw Story and Representative Ogles

Andrew Solender / Axios:
House GOP measure would let Trump seek third term

Discussion: HotAir, Scripps News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Forbes, The Hill, New Republic, Hollywood Life, Mediaite, IJR, Daily Mail, Raw Story, Fox News, Washington Examiner and Alternet.org

New York Times:

Sensing Political Support, Abortion Opponents Raise Ambitions — The March for Life on Friday will bring together a movement invigorated by some early moves of the second Trump administration. — Anti-abortion activists are charging ahead with their ultimate mission to end all abortions nationwide …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Associated Press, The Daily Signal, Washington Post, Michigan Advance, NOTUS, Axios, NBC News and The 19th

Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:

Two Words and a World of Trouble — Let me tell you a story about clowns evolving into velociraptors. — ∙ Paid — Bill Kristol sat in for Sarah on the Secret Pod today and it was dark. Just a warning. If you're not in good head-space to begin with today, maybe skip this episode?

NBC News:

Trump administration tests the power to email every federal employee at once — The new feature, announced by the Office of Personnel Management, aligns with the goals of DOGE. — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's administration is testing a new capability that would allow officials …

Discussion: The Root

Associated Press:

Justice Department curtails prosecutions for blocking reproductive health care facilities — President Donald Trump's new Justice Department leadership issued an order Friday to curtail prosecutions against people accused of blocking reproductive rights facilities, calling the cases an example of the “weaponization” of law enforcement.

Discussion: The Daily Caller

John Cole / Pennsylvania Capital-Star:

Fetterman touts new federal rule boosting wages for thousands of federal workers in Pa. — Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is hailing a new rule that ends a longstanding pay disparity between hourly and salaried federal workers. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Vittoria Elliott / Wired:

DOGE Will Allow Elon Musk to Surveil the US Government From the Inside — A former USDS employee called the repurposing of the Digital Service into DOGE an “A+ bureaucratic jiujitsu move.” It will give Musk and his associates access to unclassified data in every government agency.