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5:45 PM ET, February 3, 2025

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 Top Items: 
Alexander Ward / Wall Street Journal:
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 …
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Democrats push back after Musk says Trump agrees to close USAID and workers are kept out  —  Democrats have delivered a strong rebuke against the Trump administration's attempts to gut an agency that provides crucial aid overseas to fund education and fight starvation and disease …
Lauren Kent / CNN:
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 …
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Advisers Weigh Plan to Dismantle Education Department  —  Administration officials are discussing executive order that could shut down key functions of the agency  —  Trump administration officials are weighing executive actions to dismantle the Education Department as part of the campaign …
Washington Post:
Trump preps order to dismantle Education Dept. as DOGE probes data  —  Closing the agency would require congressional approval, so the new administration hopes to diminish it in the meantime.  —  President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order aimed at eventually closing the Education Department and …
Discussion: Forbes and CBS News
NBC News:
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz puts a hold on Trump's State Department nominees  —  The move comes after Elon Musk said he and Trump would shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Monday he's placing a “blanket hold” …
Discussion: RedState and Reuters
Nicholas Wu / Politico:
Hakeem Jeffries wants funding freeze ‘choked off’ in spending deal  —  House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a key demand Monday as a March 14 government funding deadline approaches, saying President Donald Trump's recent federal spending freeze “must be choked off” …
Politico:
Trump administration moves to further undercut USAID
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
The GOP's meek acquiescence to Trump's power grabs
Discussion: NOTUS and Wall Street Journal
Arthur Jones II / ABC News:
‘Paid administrative hell’: Some Department of Education staff put on leave after Trump's DEI order
Reuters:
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.
RELATED:
New York Times:
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.
John Paul Tasker / CBC News:
Trump to pause promised tariffs for 30 days after speaking with Trudeau
David Edwards / Raw Story:
Trump backs down on Mexico tariffs after Mexican president pledges border troops
Sam Sutton / Politico:
The oracle of Biden's inflation woes has a warning for Trump
Denise Cana / Slate:
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.
more at Techmeme »
RELATED:
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
The Twitter Files Playbook Comes For The US Government
Discussion: Advocate
Courtney Cohn / Democracy Docket:
DOJ Says Trump Administration Doesn't Have to Follow Court Order Halting Funding Freeze  —  The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Monday that a federal court order blocking President Donald Trump's federal funding freeze doesn't halt the administration's efforts.
RELATED:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Judge Says She Will Further Block White House Spending Freeze  —  The statement, along with a similar order from Friday, amounted to a rebuke of the move as an overreach that likely lacked legitimate authority.  —  A federal judge said on Monday that she intended to temporarily block …
Politico:
Judge signals plan to further block Trump spending freeze
Discussion: USA Today and Associated Press
Reuters:
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.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Trump Signs Action Directing Creation of Sovereign Wealth Fund
CNN:
Elon Musk is serving as a ‘special government employee,’ White House says  —  Elon Musk is officially serving under President Donald Trump as a special government employee, according to a White House official.  —  That designation means Musk - the billionaire tech entrepreneur …
RELATED:
Andrew Prokop / Vox:   What Trump and Musk are doing could change the American system forever
John Zangas / DCMediaGroup:   Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach
Lisa Friedman / New York Times:
E.P.A. Tells More Than 1,000 They Could Be Fired ‘Immediately’  —  A spokeswoman for Lee Zeldin, the new head of the agency, said the goal was to create an “effective and efficient” federal work force.  —  The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees …
RELATED:
Dell Cameron / Wired:
Pronouns Are Being Forcibly Removed From Government Email Signatures
Discussion: Advocate and PinkNews
Burgess Everett / Semafor:
‘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 …
RELATED:
Meredith Shiner / New Republic:
Primary Every Democrat
Discussion: Punchbowl News
Moira Donegan / The Guardian:
Why are the Democrats so spineless?  —  No wonder the American public thinks of Democrats …
Discussion: The Hill
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
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 …
RELATED:
Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day:
Musk's superteam of former iPad babies  —  Read to the end for Plimbo … Many other government websites faced outages throughout the weekend as they scrambled to figure out exactly how to comply with the instructions being sent out by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
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 …
Rochelle Raveendran / CBC News:
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 …
Reuters:
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: The Independent and Reuters
Washington Post:
RFK Jr. vote poses key test for Bill Cassidy, endangered Louisiana senator  —  The fate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to run HHS may rest with a Republican wrestling with his training as a physician and his instincts as a politician.  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to serve …
Discussion: Politico and Fox News
Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:
No, Elon: It Isn't Illegal To Boycott X  —  While news cycles in the first Donald Trump presidency were dominated by Trump's erratic social media pretense, news cycles during Trump 2.0 seem so far to be dominated by the erratic social media titan Elon Musk.  The X CEO and leader …
New York Times:
Why Are Investigators Focused on Night-Vision Goggles in the Deadly Midair Crash?  —  Investigators have yet to determine whether the crew of an Army helicopter was wearing the devices when the Black Hawk crashed into a civilian airliner last week.  —  As divers and salvage crews begin pulling parts …
Associated Press:
Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow preparing to enter US Senate race in Michigan, AP sources say  —  Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is preparing to enter the Democratic primary for an open U.S. Senate seat in the state, multiple people familiar with her plans confirmed on Monday.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Executive Functions:
The Trump Executive Orders as “Radical Constitutionalism”
NOTUS:
Key State Department Programs ‘Wiped Out’ After Dozens of Contractors Fired
Nick Wadhams / Bloomberg:
Trump-Appointed DC Attorney Offers to Protect Musk's DOGE Staff
Discussion: USA Today and Reuters
Charlotte Graham-McLay / Associated Press:
RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa's health chief says
Kate Brumback / Associated Press:
Justice Department restores funding for programs that provide guidance in immigration courts
Discussion: WUSA and Associated Press
Bryan Metzger / Business Insider:
Elon Musk is officially an employee of the US government — but he's not getting a paycheck
 Earlier Items: 
Christopher Ingraham / Minnesota Reformer:
Senator's ‘flatly unconstitutional’ proposal would lock in Republican control of chamber for years
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump's meme coin made nearly $100 million in trading fees, as small traders lost money
Discussion: MSNBC and DNyuz, more at Techmeme »
 

 
From Techmeme:

Punchbowl News:
Sources: Trump has tasked JD Vance and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz with overseeing a potential sale of TikTok

Hayden Field / CNBC:
Sources: SoftBank is set to invest $40B in OpenAI at a $260B pre-money valuation; investors last valued OpenAI at $157B, when it raised $6.6B in October 2024

Reuters:
Sources: Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence is in talks to raise funding at a $20B+ valuation, up from a $5B valuation in its September 2024 funding round
 
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