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5:10 PM ET, February 3, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Alexander Ward / Wall Street Journal:
Democratic Senator Says He Will Stall Trump Nominees Until USAID Is Back  —  Schatz said he would hold up Trump's diplomatic confirmations  —  WASHINGTON—Sen. Brian Schatz (D., Hawaii) said he would place a “blanket hold” on all of President Trump's State Department nominees until …
RELATED:
Lauren Kent / CNN:
USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email  —  The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in …
Associated Press:
Democrats push back after Musk says Trump agrees to close USAID and workers are kept out  —  Democrats have delivered a strong rebuke against the Trump administration's attempts to gut an agency that provides crucial aid overseas to fund education and fight starvation and disease …
NBC News:
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz puts a hold on Trump's State Department nominees  —  The move comes after Elon Musk said he and Trump would shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Monday he's placing a “blanket hold” …
Discussion: RedState and Reuters
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Advisers Weigh Plan to Dismantle Education Department  —  Administration officials are discussing executive order that could shut down key functions of the agency  —  Trump administration officials are weighing executive actions to dismantle the Education Department as part of the campaign …
Andrew Freedman / Axios:
Ending USAID climate programs could increase security risks
Politico:
Trump administration moves to further undercut USAID
Denise Cana / Slate:
I'm a Federal Worker.  Elon Musk's Government Data Heist Is the Entire Ballgame.  —  On Friday night, reports emerged that Elon Musk's aides had tussled with Office of Personnel Management and Treasury staffers while demanding access to troves of information about federal employees.
RELATED:
Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day:
Musk's superteam of former iPad babies  —  Read to the end for Plimbo … Many other government websites faced outages throughout the weekend as they scrambled to figure out exactly how to comply with the instructions being sent out by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Caleb Ecarma / Popular Information:
Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees  —  Several of Elon Musk's associates installed at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have received unprecedented access to federal human resources databases containing sensitive personal information for millions of federal employees.
Discussion: New Republic, USA Today and Raw Story
CNN:   Elon Musk is serving as a ‘special government employee,’ White House says
John Zangas / DCMediaGroup:   Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach
Andrew Prokop / Vox:   What Trump and Musk are doing could change the American system forever
Reuters:
White House: Mexico is ‘serious’, Canada appears to have ‘misunderstood’ Trump's executive order  —  The White House said on Monday it has noticed that Mexico is “serious” about President Donald Trump's executive order on tariffs but Canada has “misunderstood” it.
RELATED:
John Paul Tasker / CBC News:
Trump to pause promised tariffs for 30 days after speaking with Trudeau  —  Trump, Trudeau spoke last hour for the second time today  —  Trump, Trudeau have 2nd phone call as tariff deadline nears  —  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump will hold off …
New York Times:
Live Updates: Mexico Reaches Deal With U.S. to Delay Trump Tariffs  —  President Trump said he would pause tariffs on Mexico for a month, but levies on Canada and China were still set to take effect on Tuesday.  U.S. shares fell at the opening bell, following drops in Asian and European markets, amid fears of a trade war.
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Trump backs down on Mexico tariffs after Mexican president pledges border troops
Kevin Shalvey / ABC News:
Trump 2nd term live updates: Marco Rubio made acting administrator of USAID: Sources
Courtney Cohn / Democracy Docket:
DOJ Says Trump Administration Doesn't Have to Follow Court Order Halting Funding Freeze  —  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Monday that a federal court order blocking President Donald Trump's federal funding freeze doesn't halt the administration's efforts.
Discussion: USA Today
RELATED:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Judge Says She Will Further Block White House Spending Freeze
Discussion: WNYW-TV, Roll Call and Law & Crime
Politico:
Judge signals plan to further block Trump spending freeze
Discussion: USA Today and Associated Press
Reuters:
Trump orders creation of US sovereign wealth fund, says it could buy TikTok  —  U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ordering the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments to create a sovereign wealth fund and said it may purchase TikTok.  —  “We're going to stand this thing up within the next 12 months.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Trump Signs Executive Action to Create Sovereign Wealth Fund
Burgess Everett / Semafor:
‘Trump will screw up’: Schumer plots the Democratic comeback  —  Chuck Schumer's advice for Democrats staring at a long two or more years out of power: Just wait.  —  “Trump will screw up,” he told Semafor in an interview.  —  The Senate minority leader and his 47-member caucus finally got …
RELATED:
Meredith Shiner / New Republic:
Primary Every Democrat
Discussion: Punchbowl News
Moira Donegan / The Guardian:
Why are the Democrats so spineless?  —  No wonder the American public thinks of Democrats …
Discussion: The Hill
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
Warren Questions Bessent Over Musk Access to Treasury Payment System  —  In a letter to the Treasury secretary, the Democratic senator warned against meddling with a system that processes trillions of dollars of transactions.  —  Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter …
RELATED:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
CFPB halts work after Trump appoints Bessent as acting head  —  The consumer watchdog agency was formed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.  Elon Musk wants to “delete” it.  —  President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the acting director …
RELATED:
Lisa Friedman / New York Times:
E.P.A. Tells More Than 1,000 They Could Be Fired ‘Immediately’  —  A spokeswoman for Lee Zeldin, the new head of the agency, said the goal was to create an “effective and efficient” federal work force.  —  The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees …
RELATED:
Dell Cameron / Wired:
Pronouns Are Being Forcibly Removed From Government Email Signatures
Discussion: Advocate and PinkNews
Reuters:
Trump plans to invoke obscure 18th century wartime law in bid for mass deportations  —  President Donald Trump is set to test the limits of his immigration crackdown by invoking a wartime law to deport immigrants alleged to be gang members without court hearings, a broad authority …
Discussion: The Independent and Reuters
Rochelle Raveendran / CBC News:
Ford ‘ripping up’ Ontario's $100M contract with Elon Musk's Starlink in wake of U.S. tariffs  —  Musk part of President Donald Trump's team that wants to destroy families, Ford says  —  Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is “ripping up” Ontario's nearly $100 million contract …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
The Twitter Files Playbook Comes For The US Government  —  Remember the Twitter Files?  That carefully orchestrated “exposé” where incredibly gullible hand-picked journalists were given selective access to internal documents to manufacture misleading outrage about Twitter's content moderation?
Discussion: Advocate
Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:
No, Elon: It Isn't Illegal To Boycott X  —  While news cycles in the first Donald Trump presidency were dominated by Trump's erratic social media pretense, news cycles during Trump 2.0 seem so far to be dominated by the erratic social media titan Elon Musk.  The X CEO and leader …
Associated Press:
Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow preparing to enter US Senate race in Michigan, AP sources say  —  Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is preparing to enter the Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in the state, multiple people familiar with her plans confirmed on Monday.
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump's meme coin made nearly $100 million in trading fees, as small traders lost money  —  Entities behind President Donald Trump's crypto coin have accumulated close to $100 million in trading fees in less than two weeks, according to estimates from three blockchain analysis firms …
Discussion: MSNBC and DNyuz, more at Techmeme »
Jordain Carney / Politico:
Lindsey Graham and the Freedom Caucus join forces  —  Graham is ready and waiting if Johnson's plan for the Trump agenda blows up.  —  Speaker Mike Johnson already has to worry about a clutch of hard-line conservative ideologues inside the House Republican ranks as he tries to pass the heart …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Charlotte Graham-McLay / Associated Press:
RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa's health chief says
New York Times:
Why Are Investigators Focused on Night-Vision Goggles in the Deadly Midair Crash?
Washington Post:
RFK Jr. vote poses key test for Bill Cassidy, endangered Louisiana senator
Discussion: Politico and Fox News
Heather Richards / Politico:
Trump's hiring freeze creates ‘scary time’ at National Park Service
Kate Brumback / Associated Press:
Justice Department restores funding for programs that provide guidance in immigration courts
Discussion: WUSA and Associated Press
Annabella Rosciglione / Washington Examiner:
Kyrsten Sinema's campaign spent thousands on travel to Saudi Arabia in final months in office
Discussion: NBC News and Arizona Republic
 Earlier Items: 
Bryan Metzger / Business Insider:
Elon Musk is officially an employee of the US government — but he's not getting a paycheck
Christopher Ingraham / Minnesota Reformer:
Senator's ‘flatly unconstitutional’ proposal would lock in Republican control of chamber for years
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Agence France-Presse:
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty head Stephen Capus says the US government turned off satellite services that transmit its Russian-language program into Russia

Ethan Shanfeld / Variety:
Director Carl Rinsch pleads not guilty to fraud and money laundering after allegedly taking $11M from Netflix for an unfinished series; trial is set for Sept. 8

Janko Roettgers / Lowpass:
In a new lawsuit, the trustee for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's bankruptcy case says ex-CEO Bill Rouhana neglected “the most basic corporate duties”
 
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