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9:05 PM ET, February 3, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Inside Musk's Aggressive Incursion Into the Federal Government  —  The billionaire is creating major upheaval as his team sweeps through agencies, in what has been an extraordinary flexing of power by a private individual.  —  The billionaire is creating major upheaval as his team sweeps through agencies …
RELATED:
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 …
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 …
Matt Shuham / HuffPost:
Elon Musk Suggests Getting Rid Of All Regulations In Midnight Call  —  “If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible,” Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.  —  LOADING  —  President Donald Trump's “government efficiency” …
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 …
NBC News:
USAID personnel told to stay away from headquarters after Elon Musk's shutdown comments  —  Marocco held several national security positions during the first Trump administration, including at USAID, where he tried to consolidate power and slash funding.  —  WASHINGTON — Secretary …
Associated Press:
Democrats push back after Musk says Trump agrees to close USAID and workers are kept out  —  The Trump administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk moved to shutter an agency that provides crucial aid to fund education and fight starvation overseas, sparking a showdown with congressional Democrats …
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” …
Lauren Kent / CNN:
USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email
Josh Kovensky / Talking Points Memo:
Trump II Punishes Fed Workers For Attending Trump I Diversity Training
Discussion: ABC News
Nicholas Wu / Politico:
Hakeem Jeffries wants funding freeze ‘choked off’ in spending deal
Juan Perez Jr / Politico:   Trump administration finalizing plans to shutter Education Department
Burgess Everett / Semafor:
‘Trump will screw up’: Schumer plots the Democratic comeback
NBC News:   Republicans take a back seat as Trump steamrolls Congress with flurry of unilateral moves
Politico:
Trump administration moves to further undercut USAID
John Paul Tasker / CBC News:
Trump to pause promised tariffs for 30 days after speaking with Trudeau  —  Trump, Trudeau spoke last hour for the second time today  —  Trump, Trudeau have 2nd phone call as tariff deadline nears  —  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump will hold off …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Live Updates: Mexico Reaches Deal With U.S. to Delay Trump Tariffs
Politico:
Trump backs off tariff threat with Mexico, digs in on Canada
New York Times:
Trump's Trade Move Could Increase Costs for Many Online Goods
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.
Discussion: Vox
RELATED:
Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
Elon Musk Installs Illegal Server to Seize All Federal Workers' Data  —  Elon Musk has taken control of government employees' private data by having his cronies illegally install a commercial server at the Office of Personnel Management.  —  Musk and his handpicked associates at the fake …
Discussion: NBC News and USA Today
Cathy Gellis / Techdirt:   Musk's Takeover Of The Government's Computer Systems Needs To Be Understood As A Cyberattack, Or Worse
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:   The Twitter Files Playbook Comes For The US Government
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 …
RELATED:
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
Warren Questions Bessent Over Musk Access to Treasury Payment System
Jennifer Rubin / The Contrarian:   CONSTITUTIONAL STANDOFF  —  *Special Alert from The Contrarian*  —  Public opposition …
Laurel Wamsley / NPR:
Treasury Secretary Bessent, tapped to run CFPB, orders staff to halt work
New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Musk Says Trump Wants to Shut Down U.S. Foreign Aid Agency
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:
New York Times:
Top ‘60 Minutes’ Producer Says He Will Not Apologize Over Trump Lawsuit  —  Bill Owens, the show's executive producer, addressed his staff as CBS's parent company, Paramount, pursues a legal settlement with the president.  —  The head of “60 Minutes” told the show's staff on Monday …
RELATED:
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
A Coup Is In Progress In America  —  A coup is underway in the United States, and we must stop pretending otherwise.  The signs are unmistakable and accelerating: in just the past 48 hours, Elon Musk's DOGE commission has seized control of Treasury payment systems and gained unauthorized access …
Discussion: The UnPopulist
CNN:
Trump appoints speechwriter fired for attending conference with White nationalists to top State Department role  —  Darren Beattie, a former Donald Trump speechwriter who was fired in 2018 after CNN revealed he spoke at a conference attended by White nationalists, has been elevated to a top job …
RELATED:
Connor O'Brien / Politico:
Collins, Lankford back Gabbard for top Intel job ahead of committee vote  —  Two Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday they'll support Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's pick for director of national intelligence.  The backing by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) …
Discussion: Bangor Daily News
RELATED:
Al Weaver / The Hill:
GOP's Susan Collins to back Tulsi Gabbard confirmation
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.
Nandika Chatterjee / The Daily Beast:
Musk Says He's ‘Deleted’ Popular Free IRS Tax Filing Program  —  WHO ASKED FOR THIS?  —  The online tax filing option on the IRS website had a strong bipartisan 76% approval rating from registered voters.  —  Kanye West's Naked Grammys Stunt Could Cost Him $20M  —  THE NAKED TRUTH
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 …
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 …
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).
 
 
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 More Items: 
Grace Yarrow / Politico:
Trump's USDA pick sails through committee
Discussion: Fox News and Roll Call
US Department of Justice:
Russian and Uzbek Nationals Charged with Conspiracy to File False Voter Registration Applications
Executive Functions:
The Trump Executive Orders as “Radical Constitutionalism”
NOTUS:
Key State Department Programs ‘Wiped Out’ After Dozens of Contractors Fired
 Earlier Items: 
Charlotte Graham-McLay / Associated Press:
RFK Jr. misled the US Senate on measles deaths, Samoa's health chief says
CBS News:
Why the water Trump ordered released in California won't help Los Angeles firefighting
Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Reason:
No, Elon: It Isn't Illegal To Boycott X
Megan Messerly / Politico:
US to again withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, stop UNRWA funding
Reuters:
Trump plans to invoke obscure 18th century wartime law in bid for mass deportations
Discussion: Townhall and The Independent
 

 
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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