USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is trying to rehire them  —  In a statement, an Agriculture Department spokesperson told NBC News that officials are “working to swiftly rectify the situation.”  —  The United States Department of Agriculture on Tuesday acknowledged that …

Senior U.S. prosecutor resigns, citing demands to open probe into Biden-era contract  —  The top federal prosecutor who supervised criminal cases at the Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney's office resigned on Tuesday, citing what she described as an improper demand by officials appointed …

Trump says Ukraine ‘should never have started it’ in comments about war with Russia  —  Trump made the remark while deriding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country was invaded by Russia in February 2022.  —  President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that Ukraine was responsible …

Musk Ally Demands Admin Access to System That Lets Government Text the Public  —  A worker at the General Services Administration told colleagues in a Slack message Tuesday that they have resigned in protest after Elon Musk ally Thomas Shedd requested “admin/root access to all components …

Brazil Charges Bolsonaro With Attempting a Coup  —  Brazil's attorney general charged the former president Jair Bolsonaro with trying to overturn the 2022 elections.  —  Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's former president, was charged Tuesday with overseeing a vast scheme to try to undermine …

Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Reins in Independent Agencies to Restore a Government that Answers to the American People  —  RESTORING DEMOCRACY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order ensuring that all federal agencies are accountable …

U.S. weighs destroying $500 million in stockpiled covid tests  —  The government is reviewing proposals to shut down the program that ships free covid tests to American households and has been considering destroying 160 million tests.

Live updates: Judge declines to block Musk and DOGE from accessing federal data or laying off workers  —  Two Democratic state attorneys general spelled out their arguments ahead of a court hearing Friday on whether a temporary ban should continue that would bar Elon Musk's Department …

F.D.A.'s Food Safety Chief Resigns Over Trump Administration Layoffs  —  The chief said the loss of critical employees overseeing the nation's food supply made his work impossible.  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's new health secretary, has pledged to gut the division.

‘Good luck with that.’ Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing  —  The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers …

Trump's DOJ Erases Report On Violence Against Native American Women  —  The Justice Department has removed a report from its website that lays out recommendations for tackling the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.  —  The Not Invisible Act Commission's final report …

Judge calls prosecutors into court to explain reasons for abandoning Eric Adams case  —  Judge Dale Ho scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.  —  NEW YORK — The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered the mayor and federal prosecutors to appear …

'Stephen, let's calm down': Yelling Trump aide berates host as he loses cool live on CNN  —  White House aide Stephen Miller launched into a barrage of shouting aimed at CNN's Brianna Keilar Tuesday as she grilled him on cuts being made by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency …

Judge halts firing of intel agency personnel involved with DEI  —  The order may amount to only a temporary reprieve.  —  A federal judge has temporarily blocked the CIA and the Office of Director of National Intelligence from firing 11 people whose jobs were eliminated to comply …

Kennedy Library closes abruptly  —  “The sudden dismissal of federal employees at the JFK Library forced the museum to close today,” a statement from the foundation read.  —  The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum closed abruptly Tuesday afternoon amid a flurry of mass firings at federal agencies across the government.

Zachary Levi Begs Elon Musk Not To Fire The ‘Good’ Federal Workers Who Voted For Trump  —  The “Shazam” star was upset that Trump supporters are getting “lost in the cracks” during DOGE's firing frenzy.  —  LOADING  —  Oh, bless his heart: Zachary Levi seems to believe that a billionaire cares …

Defense Department firings expected to start soon, officials say  —  Pentagon agencies were told to submit lists of probationary employees after members of Elon Musk's DOGE arrived, people familiar with the matter said.  —  The Trump administration has directed defense agencies to turn …

“I'm Suffering:” Holiday Massacre of Federal Workforce Is a Rude Awakening for Rural Westerners  —  Park rangers, biologists, maintenance crews, wildfire prevention people—all fired arbitrarily.  —  A President's Day weekend swept by fear and grief from the sudden termination of thousands …

11-Year-Old Texas Girl Bullied Over Family's Immigration Status Takes Her Own Life  —  Students also threatened to call ICE to deport the girl's family  —  Jocelynn Rojo Carranza took her life after experiencing months of relentless bullying from her sixth grade classmates …

Not Even DOGE Employees Know Who's Legally Running DOGE  —  Despite all appearances, the White House insists that Elon Musk is not in charge of DOGE.  US Doge Service employees can't get a straight answer about who is.  —  President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have repeatedly affirmed Musk's leadership …

Moving on from 18F.  —  note: This post gets into the last few weeks of American politics.  If that's not your cup of tea, or if that's a stressful topic for you, please feel free to skip this one.  (Also, it's a bit long.  Sorry about that.)  —  Last week, I finished my tenure as a designer at 18F.

Kennedy says panel will examine childhood vaccine schedule after promising not to change it  —  To earn the vote he needed to become the nation's top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a special promise to a U.S. senator: He would not change the nation's current vaccination schedule.

Missouri bill proposes registry for pregnant women to ‘reduce preventable abortions’  —  JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KTVI) — Legislation introduced in Missouri would create a list of “at risk” pregnant women in the state in order to “reduce the number of preventable abortions.”

The House GOP budget resolution is in trouble  —  Speaker Mike Johnson is staring down at least a dozen Republican holdouts on the budget blueprint he wants to put on the House floor in the coming days — and he can only afford to lose one member and still approve the resolution along party lines.

DOGE Tipline  —  The actions taken by Donald Trump through his executive orders and Elon Musk's tampering with federal agencies and systems are creating havoc within the government.  Have you been affected by this?  —  Please use the form below to share your story with us!

Trump's FBI pick one step closer to confirmation  —  Kash Patel, the controversial nominee to lead the FBI, cleared another key procedural hurdle Tuesday.  The Senate voted 48-45 to move forward with Patel's nomination, setting up his confirmation vote in the coming days to helm the agency for a 10-year term.

Hamas says it will release bodies of four hostages, including Bibas children, on Thursday and six living hostages on Saturday  —  Hamas on Tuesday said that it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday, including the two youngest people held by the group, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers as Federal Purge Continues  —  Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.  —  The National Science Foundation fired nearly 170 workers in a Zoom call …

FAA Employees Say Trump and Musk's Purge Is a ‘Threat’ to Air Safety  —  After firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, the Trump administration is now attempting to downplay safety concerns  —  Donald Trump and Elon Musk fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration …

Birthright Citizenship  —  Since the publication of our opinion piece on birthright citizenship in the New York Times ("Trump Might Have a Case on Birthright Citizenship"), we have received numerous critiques, some quite thoughtful (others less so), both in this and other venues.

Under Trump's Mass Deportation Plan, Some Migrants Are Being Sent to Panama  —  Migrants deported from the United States are being held at the Decapolis Hotel Panama in Panama City.  The deportees come from Afghanistan, Iran, China and other nations.  —  They arrived at the United States border …