Trump fires independent inspectors general in Friday night purge  —  The watchdogs say the removals may be invalid for failing to comply with a 2022 law requiring a 30-day notification to Congress before removals.  —  President Donald Trump fired multiple independent federal watchdogs …

McConnell sends a message  —  With a vote against Pete Hegseth, the former GOP leader makes clear he will be an unreliable ally of Donald Trump.  —  Mitch McConnell might not run the Senate anymore.  But he made clear on Friday night that he still knows how to wield power.

Through the blizzard of edicts, see Trump for what he is: an autocrat reaching for limitless power  —  In just 100 hours, the returned president has already revealed his goal and exposed the weakness of those who might challenge him  —  It's hard to see in a blizzard.

Elon Musk appears on video at German far right campaign event  —  Elon Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany's AfD (Alternative fuer Deutschland) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday, speaking publicly in support of the far right party for the second time in as many weeks.

Trump's canceling of 50 security clearances is unprecedented and partisan, experts say  —  The move is meant to please Trump voters, punish perceived enemies and represents “the most politically saturated security action since the Oppenheimer case in the 1950s.”

C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid's Origins  —  A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.'s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.  —  The C.I.A. has said for years …

Let's Get to the Marrow of What Trump Just Did  —  This is an edited transcript of an episode of “The Ezra Klein Show.”  You can listen to the conversation by following or subscribing to the show on the NYT Audio App, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

Scientists at NIH can't purchase supplies for their studies after Trump administration pauses outside communications  —  Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have been told the communications pause announced by the Trump Administration earlier this week includes a pause on all purchasing …

Scoop: Trump lifts Biden's hold on 2,000-pound bombs to Israel … - The officials said that 1,800 MK-84 bombs, which were held in storage in the U.S., will be put on a ship and delivered to Israel in the coming days.  — “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel …

A Montgomery County official mimicked Elon Musk's controversial ‘salute,’ sparking outrage online and her resignation from the local library and a nonprofit  —  A township supervisor in Montgomery County has come under fire, and resigned from her position at the local library and a nonprofit …

Kansas tuberculosis outbreak is now America's largest in recorded history  —  An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States.  —  “Currently, Kansas has the largest outbreak that they've ever had in history,” Ashley Goss …

House Speaker Invites Trump to Address Congress on March 4  —  House Speaker Mike Johnson invited President Donald Trump to address a joint session of Congress on March 4, seeking to set the stage for his first major speech to lawmakers since he returned to the White House.

Exclusive: White House in talks to have Oracle and U.S. investors take over TikTok  —  The Trump administration is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app's global operations …