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9:45 AM ET, February 23, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Washington Post:
Feds must answer email on what they did last week — or lose jobs, Musk says  —  Emails began going out to the 2.3-million federal employees Saturday asking for five bullet points of their accomplishments.  —  Federal workers began receiving emails Saturday asking them to describe what they did last week …
RELATED:
Politico:
Musk says all federal employees need to explain their work immediately — or be let go  —  Federal employees received an email Saturday afternoon, and gave them a deadline of Monday night.  —  All federal government employees will have to share what they've been working on in the last week or face dismissal, Elon Musk said Saturday.
CNN:
Federal employees told to justify jobs in email or Musk says they face dismissal  —  Federal workers began receiving emails Saturday asking them to explain what work they did last week, as Elon Musk announced that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Nicholas Bednar / Just Security:
What Just Happened: Musk-OPM Send Email to Federal Employees Asking for Five Accomplishments  —  On Saturday, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent an email to federal employees instructing them to respond with five things they accomplished last week.
Discussion: ABC News
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:   New Doge/Musk Email Goes Seriously Sideways
Zoë Schiffer / Wired:
Elon Musk Threatens FBI Agents and Air Traffic Controllers With Forced Resignation If They Don't Respond to an Email
Brian Barrett / Wired:   DOGE Email Throws Federal Agencies Into Chaos and Confusion
NBC News:
FBI Director Kash Patel to be named ATF chief  —  Patel is set to lead an agency that's been a frequent target of Republicans, including an effort to abolish it altogether.  —  President Donald Trump's newly-confirmed FBI director, Kash Patel, is expected to take on another top law enforcement role …
Discussion: RedState, Twitchy and The Hill
RELATED:
ABC News:
Trump expected to name Kash Patel as acting ATF director: Sources  —  An official said Patel will likely be sworn into the position early next week.  —  FBI Director nominee Kash Patel gestures as he walks on stage to speak during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025.
Discussion: KHOU-TV, Washington Examiner and KGW-TV
Greg Jaffe / New York Times:
In Pursuit of a ‘Warrior Ethos,’ Hegseth Targets Military's Top Lawyers  —  The defense secretary has repeatedly derided the military lawyers for war crime prosecutions and battlefield rules of engagement.  —  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to fire the top lawyers for the Army …
Discussion: OutsideTheBeltway
RELATED:
Reuters:
Trump fires top US general in unprecedented Pentagon shakeup
Discussion: PBS NewsHour, HotAir and Politico
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Joy Reid's MSNBC Show Canceled in Major Shake-Up  —  Ms. Reid's 7 p.m. program will be replaced by a panel show co-hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele.  —  Joy Reid's evening news show on MSNBC is being canceled, part of a far-reaching programming overhaul orchestrated …
Associated Press:
States threaten fines and jail time for local officials who resist Trump's immigration crackdown  —  Republican state lawmakers seeking to aid President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration are threatening local officials who resist with lawsuits, fines and even potential jail time.
Discussion: The Virginian-Pilot
RELATED:
Asawin Suebsaeng / Rolling Stone:
CPAC 2025: Conservative Elites Celebrate Trump as America Self-Immolates
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Congress ignores looming shutdown to focus on tax cuts, agency layoffs
Discussion: Politico
Gregory Thomas / San Francisco Chronicle:
Photos: ‘Distress flag’ towers over Yosemite to protest cuts as crowds view firefall  —  A group of frustrated Yosemite National Park staffers hoping to draw attention to the federal government's sweeping workforce cuts hung an upside-down American flag Saturday thousands of feet off the ground on the side of El Capitan.
Peter Baker / New York Times:
Condoms for Gaza?  Ukraine started the war with Russia?  The president's manipulations of the truth lay the groundwork for radical change.  —  The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas.  Diversity programs caused a plane crash.  China controls the Panama Canal.  Ukraine started the war with Russia.
Travis M. Andrews / Washington Post:
As sales drop, artists weigh canceling Kennedy Center shows in protest  —  Ticket sales dropped roughly 50 percent week-over-week after Trump announced his takeover, sources said.  Meanwhile, performers are mulling their options.  —  W. Kamau Bell was scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center …
RELATED:
New York Times:
U.S.A.I.D. Appointees Fire Hundreds Working on Urgent Humanitarian Aid  —  The firings added to doubts about whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agency's acting head, supports lifesaving humanitarian assistance, as he has said he does.  —  Trump administration appointees running …
Discussion: Axios and Business Insider
Betsy Klein / CNN:
Melania Trump returns to Washington after four-week absence  —  After a four-week absence from Washington, first lady Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday for an annual dinner and reception with the nation's governors.  —  “She worked very hard on making sure that everything was beautiful.
Annie Karni / New York Times:
Chris Murphy Emerges as a Clear Voice for Democrats Countering Trump  —  The second-term senator from Connecticut is eschewing caution and throwing out the traditional political playbook as he seeks a broader audience for his critiques of the president and his agenda.
Washington Post:
With Pentagon purge, Trump thrusts military into uncharted territory  —  The abrupt removal of six top officers has deepened concern among the president's critics, who fear he intends to impose his political will on the nonpartisan institution.  —  President Donald Trump's Friday night purge …
Henry J. Gomez / NBC News:
DOGE for Ohio?  Vivek Ramaswamy enters governor's race pushing cuts and merit pay  —  Ramaswamy, 39, ran for president in 2024 before becoming a Trump surrogate and briefly working with Elon Musk on Trump's Department of Government Efficiency team.  —  CLEVELAND — Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy …
MSNBC:
I'm a former U.S. intelligence officer.  Trump's Ukraine betrayal will have terrible consequences.  —  Trust is so hard to gain, and yet so easily lost.  —  The United States is doing it again: walking away from allies.  It is almost as if each U.S. presidency needs to practice betrayal as a form of statecraft.
New York Times:
The Death of Competition in American Elections  —  A vast majority of 2024 races for Congress and state legislatures were decided by low-turnout or meaningless primaries.  The trend is making politics more polarized and eroding public trust.  —  President Trump's return to Washington …
Katie Livingstone / Agence France-Presse:
‘Trump Recruited as Moscow Asset,’ Says Ex-KGB Spy Chief  —  Alnur Mussayev, former head of Kazakhstan's security service, who rose up the ranks of the Soviet KGB, claims Moscow groomed Trump under pseudonym “Krasnov” in 1987.  —  US President Donald Trump was groomed 37 years ago …
Sophie Kiderlin / CNBC:
Germans head to the polls in critical election with far-right gains expected … Germans headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in the 2025 federal election, which is all but guaranteed to result in a new chancellor taking over from Olaf Scholz to lead Europe's largest economy.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jared Gans / The Hill:
Hochul ratchets up fight with Trump amid competitive reelection bid
Discussion: Politico
Washington Post:
U.S. pressures Kyiv to replace U.N. resolution condemning Russia
Discussion: CBS News and Washington Examiner
Donna Ferguson / The Guardian:
Man killed intervening in knife attack on French police officers
Maegan Vazquez / Washington Post:
Trump's lawsuit barred by the First Amendment, pollster's team argues
 Earlier Items: 
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
CDC Shutters PRAMS Program on Maternal and Infant Health
Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:
Amid Changes at the National Archives, the Carter Library Cancels a Civil Rights Book Event
Associated Press:
Pope Francis is in critical condition after long respiratory crisis, requiring oxygen at high flow
Steve Saideman / Saideman's Semi-Spew:
Why Civ-Mil People Are Freaking Out?
Discussion: The Mahablog
Bernard Condon / Associated Press:
Musk's cost-cutting team is laying off workers at the auto safety agency overseeing his car company
Discussion: The Independent and New York Times
Jaclyn Diaz / NPR:
Federal prisons prep to move trans inmates as early as next week
Discussion: Owl