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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 …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Politico, Reuters, Washington Examiner, RedState, OutsideTheBeltway, The Gateway Pundit, Al Jazeera and Digby's Hullabaloo
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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 …
Discussion:
Business Insider, Mediaite, United States Senate Committee …, Fortune, UPI, The Federalist, OutsideTheBeltway, Reuters, RedState, CBS News, ABC News and Bloomberg


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?


USAID staffers told to stay out of Washington headquarters after Musk said Trump agreed to close it — Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency's Washington headquarters on Monday, according to a notice distributed to them …


Trump Administration Closes USAID Headquarters
Discussion:
Axios, NOTUS, ABC News, NBC News, Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit and Bloomberg

Behind DOGE's Standoff at USAID: Desk Searches and Elon Musk Calling
Discussion:
CNN, NBC News, CBS News, Scripps News, Letters from an American, Axios, DNyuz, New York Post, Associated Press, Townhall, UPI, Politico and The Independent

Musk: I'm Closing Entire Federal Agency Down Right Now
Discussion:
Blaze Media, Daily Mail, New Republic and Baltimore Sun

Elon Musk Is Permanently Deleting Government Agencies
Discussion:
Financial Times, LewRockwell and New York Times, more at Techmeme »

Elon Musk says he and Trump are shutting down USAID
Discussion:
Forbes, Politico, The Hill, Fox News, Reuters, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Hollywood Life, Breitbart, Associated Press, DNyuz, The Independent, The Daily Wire, USA Today, Mediaite, The National Pulse, Grabien and ABC News


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.
Discussion:
Retail Dive, The Free Press, Breitbart, CNN, Associated Press, Baltimore Sun, Daily Mail, Truthout and New York Post
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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.
Discussion:
Reuters, NPR, The Contrarian, HotAir, freebeacon.com, Slate, Kansas Reflector, WTTG-TV, The Fucking News, The Guardian, Fortune, New Republic, The Free Press and The Independent


Trump 2nd term live updates: Marco Rubio made acting administrator of USAID: Sources — The news comes amid turmoil at the agency. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio addresses employees and families during a meet-and-greet at the United States Embassy in Panama City Panama City, Feb. 2, 2025.

McConnell: Trump tariffs ‘will drive the cost of everything up’
Discussion:
Financial Times, Washington Examiner, CBS News, Business Insider, Digby's Hullabaloo, The Guardian and HuffPost

Trump backs down on Mexico tariffs after Mexican president pledges border troops

More Dangerous than Watergate — In case you missed it—or if you don't subscribe to The Triad …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Law & Crime, emptywheel, Mediaite and NBC News

Trump and Trudeau speak and plan to do so again before tariffs start on Tuesday
Discussion:
New Republic, Fox News, Tangle, New York Post, The Guardian, NPR, MeidasTouch News, Politico, Washington Examiner, RedState, Fox Business, Breitbart, Al Jazeera, MPR News, WTOP News, DNyuz, The Daily Wire, The Fucking News, E&E News, WAGA-TV, Associated Press, Global News, Chicago Tribune, Townhall, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, CBS News, The Message Box, NBC News, USA Today, The Post Millennial, Instapundit and Bloomberg

Markets Tumble as Trump Tariffs Loom
Discussion:
The Guardian, Al Jazeera, CNN, DNyuz, Daily Mail, Associated Press, Variety, The Dispatch, New Republic, Politico, MPR News, HuffPost, E&E News, Kyodo News+ and Mother Jones

Follow the Money — Hey guys, I'm sending out Monday's Triad on Sunday night for reasons that will be clear when you read it.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog

Canada's tariff list targets Republican states, Trump allies
Discussion:
Reuters, New Republic, DNyuz, Canadian Press, New York Times, The Poke, UnHerd, TMZ.com, Daily Mail and CTV News

Beijing Prepares Its Opening Bid to Talk Trade With Trump
Discussion:
New York Times, The Daily Caller, Townhall, New York Post, 19FortyFive, Fortune, Bloomberg and Reuters


‘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 …
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Primary Every Democrat — I spent almost a decade covering the United States Senate. So, believe me when I tell you that I do not want to be a United States senator. Imagine having a job where your mere existence in the role is a symbol of democratic backsliding, where your leaders torture …
Discussion:
Punchbowl News


Former Biden spokesperson: Trump doesn't want Democrats to talk about promise to lower prices
Discussion:
Fox News


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 …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Verge, Fortune, MeidasTouch News, Mother Jones, Robert Reich and Wall Street Journal
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Elon Musk Wants to Get Operational Control of the Treasury's Payment System. This Could Not Possibly Be More Dangerous
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, Baltimore Sun, The Guardian and The Lens


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.
Discussion:
DCMediaGroup
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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:
USA Today and GovExec.com


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 …
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‘Ripping up the contract’: Canadian premier scraps Musk business amid tariff fight
Discussion:
Global News, DNyuz, Quartz, The Verge, NBC News, New York Post, Bloomberg and Saywhat Politics


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.
Discussion:
TechCrunch, ABC News, CBS News, The Post Millennial and New Republic
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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:
Reuters and The Independent


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 »


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 …
Discussion:
NPR, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, Roll Call, RedState and Fox Business


N.Y. Attorney General Warns Hospitals Against Canceling Transgender Care — A White House executive order last week threatened to pull federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care. But not providing the care could violate state law, Letitia James said in a letter on Monday.
Discussion:
The Guardian and WTOP News