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9:30 PM ET, February 5, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
NBC News:
Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice  —  Trump fired Linda Fagan, the first female Coast Guard commandant, on his second day in office.  A Trump official told her she had three hours to leave her house on Tuesday.
New York Times:
C.I.A. Sends White House an Unclassified Email With Names of Some Employees  —  The list of partial names was provided in an effort to comply with an executive order to trim the federal work force.  —  The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired …
RELATED:
Daniel W. Drezner / Drezner's World:   The Story That Perfectly Encapsulates Trump 2.0's Foreign Policy Carnage
Dana Hull / Bloomberg:
White House Says Musk Will Police His Own Conflicts of Interest  —  The White House said Elon Musk, the billionaire leading President Donald Trump's government cost-cutting efforts, will determine if there are conflicts of interest between his work reviewing federal spending and his overlapping empire of six companies.
RELATED:
Mike Brock / Techdirt:
The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk's Impossible Power Grab And America's Crisis  —  There are twenty-four hours in a day.  This isn't a matter of political opinion or technological disruption—it's as immutable as the fact that two plus two equals four.  No amount of genius, innovation …
Benjamin Guggenheim / Politico:
Two Dem lawmakers barge into House speaker's office in backlash against Musk  —  Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) barged into House Speaker Mike Johnson's office unscheduled on Wednesday and challenged him about Elon Musk's team gaining access to a sensitive payment system at the Treasury Department.
RELATED:
Emma Dumain / Politico:
Senate's top appropriator says Elon Musk has gone too far
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:   Collins: Trump has empowered Musk ‘far beyond’ what is appropriate
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Inside the Elon Musk-Jim Jordan ‘mind meld’ shaking up Capitol Hill
Discussion: Twitchy and Raw Story
Politico:
Pam Bondi issued a flurry of orders on Day 1 as Trump's attorney general  —  Trump's newly sworn in AG released a series of directives.  —  Pam Bondi is officially in control of the Justice Department — and she's gone right to work.  —  President Donald Trump's attorney general issued …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Considers Labeling Migrants a Measles, Tuberculosis Risk
Discussion: Lifeway Research
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Bondi's DOJ Day 1 directives: Fight weaponization of justice, eliminate cartels, lift death penalty ban
Joey Cappelletti / Associated Press:
Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president's Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments  —  A group that played a key role in Donald Trump's voter outreach to the Arab American community alongside his allies is rebranding itself after the president said that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip.
RELATED:
CNN:
How Trump arrived at his stunning idea to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip
David Remnick / New Yorker:
The Madness of Donald Trump
Washington Post:
White House tries to soften Trump's mass displacement proposal for Gaza
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
There Is No Going Back  —  Even if anyone had elected Elon Musk to anything, the past week would still be one of the most serious examples of executive branch malfeasance in American history.  —  Musk has seized hold of critical levers of power and authority within the federal government …
Discussion: Marketplace and DNyuz
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump-Musk Purge Scandal at Treasury Takes Yet Another Unsettling Turn  —  In an effort to tamp down the outcry around Elon Musk's autocratic and illegal power grabs, the Treasury Department has sent a new letter to Congress that casts Musk's takeover of the agency in benign terms.
Andrew Roth / The Guardian:
Doge v USAid: how Elon Musk helped his acolytes infiltrate world's biggest aid agency
Dell Cameron / Wired:
NOAA Employees Told to Pause Work With ‘Foreign Nationals’  —  An internal email obtained by WIRED shows that NOAA workers received orders to pause all “ALL INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS.”  —  A number of federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) …
RELATED:
Wired:
This DOGE Engineer Has Access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  —  Sources tell WIRED that NOAA employees were ordered to give an engineer from Elon Musk's DOGE task force access to all of the agency's Google sites by the end of business Wednesday.
New York Times:
List: Examples of Trump's Actions That Are Defying Legal Limits  —  Other presidents have occasionally claimed a constitutional right to bypass particular laws.  But in the opening weeks of his second term, President Trump and his administration have opened the throttle on blowing through …
RELATED:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab
Discussion: The Daily Caller
NBC News:
Lawsuits imminent over Trump's dismantling of USAID
Discussion: Associated Press
Sarah Longwell / The Bulwark:
The Real Reason Musk Is Mad at Us  —  ELON MUSK, OUR NEW UNELECTED OVERLORD, is mad at Bill Kristol.  Very, very mad.  And because this is the world we live in now, his hordes of online minions are mad, too.  —  Let me explain.  This week, Elon has been amplifying several tweets alleging …
Discussion: New Republic
Wall Street Journal:
DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud  —  Elon Musk's allies have been on site at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offices this week  —  Representatives of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to FOIA  —  Employees working for the agency now known as DOGE have been ordered to stop using Slack while government lawyers attempt to transition the agency to one that is not subject …
Jennifer Bendery / HuffPost:
Democrats To Take Over Senate Floor All Night To Oppose White House Budget Office Nominee  —  “He's the architect of the dismantling of our federal government,” Sen. Brian Schatz, one of dozens taking part in a 30-hour talkathon, said of Russell Vought.  —  LOADING
Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo:
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 …
David Dayen / American Prospect:
L.A. Times Owner Has Financial Motivations for Boosting RFK Jr.  —  Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's biotech firm is preparing three applications needing approval from the Food and Drug Administration.  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a Senate HELP Committee hearing for his pending confirmation …
Discussion: New Republic
New York Times:
Cows Have Been Infected With a Second Form of Bird Flu  —  A new version of the virus is widespread in wild birds but had not previously been detected in cows.  —  Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds …
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Judge weighs short-term block on Musk allies' ability to share Treasury records outside the department  —  A lawsuit alleges that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is compromising Treasury's payment system.  —  A federal judge on Wednesday declined to immediately block …
ABC News:
Judge issues nationwide injunction blocking Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship  —  The judge heard arguments from lawyers for five pregnant undocumented women.  —  President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order to create a US sovereign wealth fund …
April Rubin / Axios:
Trump-voting states have more to lose if Education Department dismantled … - States that voted for Trump last November, on average, use more federal funding in their education apportions than states that voted for former Vice President Harris.  — “That dependence is, in large part …
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell slips and falls outside Senate Chamber  —  Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) slipped and fell on the stairs leaving the Senate Chamber on Wednesday afternoon, prompting concerned aides to rush to help the 82-year-old lawmaker.  —  McConnell appeared to slip …
Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Head Start childcare programs are still unable to access federal money after Trump's funding freeze  —  Programs serving 20,000 children have faced funding delays since Trump's administration announced (and then announced rescinding) a temporary freeze on federal aid last week.
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Democrats' phones bombarded with calls to “fight harder” … - Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Axios: “What I think we need to do more is: Put the onus on Republicans, so that the calls that we're getting are directed toward Republicans.”  — “There has definitely been some tension …
David Bauder / Associated Press:
‘60 Minutes’ publicly releases transcripts of interview at heart of its dispute with Trump  —  CBS' “60 Minutes” posted online Wednesday the unedited transcripts of its October interview with Kamala Harris that sparked a lawsuit by Donald Trump, saying that they proved its broadcast was not “doctored or deceitful.”
Zeyi Yang / Wired:
US Shoppers Face Fees of Up to $50 or More to Get Packages From China  —  Consumers and small businesses are already feeling the impact of President Donald Trump's new tariffs, which eliminated a key trade exemption for parcels worth less than $800.  —  One day after US president Donald Trump's …
Discussion: The Verge and Raw Story
Jake Lahut / Wired:
Elon Musk's Takeover Is Causing Rifts in Donald Trump's Inner Circle  —  “He's getting too big for his britches,” says one Trump world source.  —  Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, publicly at least, are on good terms.  —  Yet when it comes to the staff in and around the new administration, it's a different story.
Discussion: Raw Story, HuffPost and NBC News
 
 
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 More Items: 
Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing / Politico:
The US is ‘no longer the America we used to know,’ warns Germany's Merz
Zeb Larson / Dame Magazine:
We're Living in a New Age of Robber Barons
Discussion: Resolute Square
The White House:
Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports
Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal:
Google Kills Diversity Hiring Targets
Fox News:
Trump signs 'No Men in Women's Sports' executive order
 Earlier Items: 
Brooke Migdon / The Hill:
Trump says transgender athletes will not be permitted entry to 2028 Olympic Games
Discussion: Politico and freebeacon.com
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without H.I.V. Treatment
Janus Rose / 404 Media:
You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism  —  If there's one thing I'd hoped people had learned …
Associated Press:
The House speaker defends Trump's Gaza plan, while other Republicans express doubts.
Fox News:
Politico pays employees late; staffers believe Elon Musk's crackdown on government spending played a role
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Paramount says it expects its merger with Skydance to close on August 7; the new company will trade on Nasdaq as PSKY

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta will no longer accept political, election, or social issue ads in the EU from October, like Google, with both citing incoming regulation

Ellie Wolfe / The Baltimore Banner:
The Johns Hopkins University Press will license its authors' books to train AI models, citing concerns that “the window may be closing” for making AI deals

 
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