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5:30 PM ET, February 13, 2025

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 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Danielle Sassoon and Other Officials Resign After Order to Drop Eric Adams Case  —  The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials with the federal public integrity unit all quit after the Justice Department ordered the charges against Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped.
RELATED:
NBC News:
Top federal prosecutor in N.Y. resigns after being told to drop Adams charges  —  Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in a statement that does not refer to the DOJ directive.  —  Danielle R. Sassoon …
New York Times:
Read the letter from Emil Bove accepting Danielle Sassoon's resignation  —  A letter from Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, accepting the resignation of Danielle R. Sassoon, Manhattan's acting U.S. attorney, over her refusal to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams. … Around the New York Region
New York Post:
Prosecutors were prepping to charge Eric Adams with destroying evidence, Manhattan US attorney's resignation letter reveals  —  Manhattan federal prosecutors were prepared to bring a new bombshell indictment charging Mayor Eric Adams with destroying evidence and instructing people to lie to the FBI …
New York Times:
Read Danielle Sassoon's Letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi  —  Danielle R. Sassoon, Manhattan's acting U.S. attorney, writes to Attorney General Pam Bondi, refusing to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams.
Discussion: Reuters and The City
Brian Beutler / Off Message:
Run Eric Adams Out Of Office
Discussion: The Contrarian and Politico
Matthew Gault / Gizmodo:
The $400 Million Armored Tesla Story Is a Fake Scandal In a Sea of Real Graft and Horror  —  The State Department does a lot of business with a lot of different companies and has bought Tesla's before.  But freaking out and editing a spreadsheet when it's pointed out is weird.
RELATED:
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million ‘armored Tesla’ contract  —  The Trump administration was expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Jack Ewing / New York Times:
State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks
Politico:
DOGE bites Ro
Discussion: The Independent and Raw Story
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections  —  Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
RELATED:
New York Times:
As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth Flipped
Discussion: Politico and NOTUS
Nicholas Florko / The Atlantic:
RFK Jr. Won. Now What?
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
The Hill:   Trump blasts McConnell for voting against RFK Jr., disregarding his childhood polio
Natasha Korecki / NBC News:
Senate votes to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling … - NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.  — U.S. troops will not be deployed …
RELATED:
Politico:
Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Washington Post:
Federal judge blocks Trump order on health care for transgender youth  —  The lawsuit filed by families and LGBTQ advocates challenges an order that aims to end federal support for gender transition care for people under 19.  —  A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed …
RELATED:
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge blocks Trump's gender-affirming care executive orders nationwide  —  BALTIMORE — A federal judge Thursday blocked parts of two executive orders issued by President Trump that collectively seek to restrict gender-affirming care.  —  U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson at the conclusion …
New York Times:
Judge Temporarily Stops Trump's Plan to End Funds for Trans Youths' Health Providers
Ashley Harrell / SFGATE:
‘Honestly terrifying’: Yosemite National Park is in chaos  —  California's beloved national park is on the brink of disaster  —  Yosemite National Park is in trouble.  Hamstrung by President Donald Trump's hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs …
Wall Street Journal:
Trumponomics and Rising Inflation  —  The President calls for easier money even though consumer prices keep rising.  Does he want even higher prices?  —  Does President Trump understand money?  Not money as in cash, but the supply of money, the price of money as measured by interest rates, and their impact on inflation?
RELATED:
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Trump and Musk can't seem to locate much evidence of fraud  —  They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that's actually fraudulent.  —  President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt …
RELATED:
Yashar Ali / The Reset:
Exclusive: Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a bar, witnesses say.  —  Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC convention, allegedly engaged in lewd conduct and allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a restaurant …
Politico:
Walz considering Minnesota Senate run  —  Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection.  —  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
RELATED:
Emily Woodruff / The Advocate:
Louisiana Department of Health ends mass vaccinations, bans seasonal vaccine promotion  —  Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham sent a directive to state health workers Thursday ending long-standing mass vaccination clinics and banning staff from promoting seasonal vaccines …
Luis Martinez / ABC News:
Aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman collides with ship in Mediterranean Sea  —  There are no reported injuries, nor is there flooding aboard the carrier.  —  The US warship USS Harry S. Truman is pictured anchored in The Solent, Oct. 8, 2018, near Portsmouth, England.
Wall Street Journal:
DOGE Staffer Arrives at Internal Revenue Service Headquarters  —  IRS is latest federal agency under review by Elon Musk's cost-cutting group  —  WASHINGTON—A key staff member of the Department of Government Efficiency arrived Thursday at the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service …
Washington Post:
Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting  —  Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said.  —  Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …
Discussion: CBS News
Politico:
JD Vance snubs Germany's Scholz at Munich Security Conference  —  “We don't need to see him, he won't be chancellor long,” a former U.S. official said of Vance's thinking.  —  MUNICH, Germany — United States Vice President JD Vance will not meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz …
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Pa.'s Sean Parnell as the face of Trump's Pentagon is another assault on women  —  There was a moment just over three years ago when it was clear not only that Sean Parnell — a highly decorated Army veteran and an acolyte of Donald Trump — would have to end his 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate campaign …
Jory Heckman / Federal News Network:
OPM advises agencies to fire probationary employees after ‘deferred resignation’ deadline  —  The Office of Personnel Management is advising all federal agencies to fire their probationary employees with less than a year on the job, after it stopped accepting new offers for its “deferred resignation” program last night.
Joseph Choi / The Hill:
NIH reportedly loses 2 top leaders in 2 days  —  Two key staff members at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are reportedly leaving the agency amid ongoing efforts by the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk to drastically cut down the size of the federal workforce.
Discussion: STAT and CBS News
Oren Cass / New York Times:
The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda  —  We're not even a month into Donald Trump's new term and already, a cadre of Republican activists appears poised to fritter away his popularity and derail his administration's agenda with a maximalist demand for a budget-busting tax cut.
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump signs off on proposed reciprocal tariffs  —  President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies.  —  The reciprocal tariffs will be customized …
Irina Ivanova / Fortune:
Some federal workers are ‘getting wealthy at taxpayer expense,’ says Elon Musk, whose companies have received at least $20 billion from the government  — World's richest man and government official Elon Musk accused federal workers of unfairly getting rich off the taxpayer's dime, citing …
Discussion: Reuters
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How to stop Trump's power grab  —  At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order.  Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Hegseth team invites far-right activist Jack Posobiec on overseas trip
Elie Mystal / The Nation:
Elon Musk's Vision Is Coming Into Focus—and It Looks a Lot Like Neo-Apartheid
Julia Shapero / The Hill:
State says $400 million armored EV contract on hold
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Some Follow Up Questions For Elon Musk, After He Admits He Gets Stuff Wrong Sometimes
Discussion: CNN
Vox:
Trump's new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo
 Earlier Items: 
David Gilbert / Wired:
DOGE's Website Is Just One Big Twitter Ad
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Senate panel votes ‘yes’ on Trump's pick to lead the FBI
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
Musk Claims To Know The Net Worths Of Federal Employees - But How?
Axios:
Behind the Curtain: Masculine maximalism
Discussion: The Bulwark and Mediaite
Sadanand Dhume / Wall Street Journal:
If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans?
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Trump praises Jeff Bezos for changes at WaPo, says he doesn't think media's treatment of him has changed so far, but he sees a shift among tech giants

Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
UMG files a motion to dismiss Drake's lawsuit, says he's suing because he “lost a rap battle” with Kendrick Lamar and took legal action to “salve his wounds”

Ben Smith / Semafor:
How Breitbart became “legacy” MAGA media, as Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow says the outlet is “trying to be the historical record of the Trump administration”

 
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