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8:30 PM ET, February 5, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
NBC News:
Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice  —  Trump fired Linda Fagan, the first female Coast Guard commandant, on his second day in office.  A Trump official told her she had three hours to leave her house on Tuesday.
New York Times:
C.I.A. Sends White House an Unclassified Email With Names of Some Employees  —  The list of partial names was provided in an effort to comply with an executive order to trim the federal work force.  —  The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired …
RELATED:
Daniel W. Drezner / Drezner's World:   The Story That Perfectly Encapsulates Trump 2.0's Foreign Policy Carnage
Dana Hull / Bloomberg:
White House Says Musk Will Police His Own Conflicts of Interest  —  The White House said Elon Musk, the billionaire leading President Donald Trump's government cost-cutting efforts, will determine if there are conflicts of interest between his work reviewing federal spending and his overlapping empire of six companies.
RELATED:
Mike Brock / Techdirt:
The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk's Impossible Power Grab And America's Crisis  —  There are twenty-four hours in a day.  This isn't a matter of political opinion or technological disruption—it's as immutable as the fact that two plus two equals four.  No amount of genius, innovation …
David Corn / Mother Jones:
Trump White House Moves to Allow for a Musk Takeover of Government IT  —  The Office of Personnel Management is trying to make it easier to put ideologues and cronies in key tech roles.  —  It's a rather wonky position in the US government: chief information officer.  Most federal agencies and departments have one.
Joey Cappelletti / Associated Press:
Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president's Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments  —  A group that played a key role in Donald Trump's voter outreach to the Arab American community alongside his allies is rebranding itself after the president said that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip.
RELATED:
The Guardian:
Trump officials try to walk back president's comments on Gaza ‘takeover’ - live
Associated Press:
Trump's suggestion that US ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip is rejected by allies and adversaries alike
Washington Post:
White House tries to soften Trump's mass displacement proposal for Gaza
Politico:
Pam Bondi issued a flurry of orders on Day 1 as Trump's attorney general  —  Trump's newly sworn in AG released a series of directives.  —  Pam Bondi is officially in control of the Justice Department — and she's gone right to work.  —  President Donald Trump's attorney general issued …
Discussion: Associated Press and Breitbart
RELATED:
ABC News:
Judge issues nationwide injunction blocking Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship
Chris Strohm / Bloomberg Law:
Bondi Becomes Trump's Attorney General Amid DOJ Shake-Up
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Considers Labeling Migrants a Measles, Tuberculosis Risk
Discussion: Lifeway Research
Brooke Singman / Fox News:
Bondi's DOJ Day 1 directives: Fight weaponization of justice, eliminate cartels, lift death penalty ban
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
There Is No Going Back  —  Even if anyone had elected Elon Musk to anything, the past week would still be one of the most serious examples of executive branch malfeasance in American history.  —  Musk has seized hold of critical levers of power and authority within the federal government …
Discussion: Marketplace and DNyuz
RELATED:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Why Elon Will Be Trump's Undoing
Wall Street Journal:
DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud  —  Elon Musk's allies have been on site at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offices this week  —  Representatives of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …
Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to FOIA  —  Employees working for the agency now known as DOGE have been ordered to stop using Slack while government lawyers attempt to transition the agency to one that is not subject …
Discussion: Can We Still Govern?
Nicholas Wu / Politico:
New Democratic bill targets Elon Musk  —  A veteran House Democrat is introducing new legislation to respond to billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk's overhaul of the federal government: Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Wednesday rolled out the Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy …
Discussion: TechCrunch and Fortune
RELATED:
Wired:
This DOGE Engineer Has Access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  —  Sources tell WIRED that NOAA employees were ordered to give an engineer from Elon Musk's DOGE task force access to all of the agency's Google sites by the end of business Wednesday.
RELATED:
Dell Cameron / Wired:   NOAA Employees Told to Pause Work With ‘Foreign Nationals’
NBC News:
Trump signs executive order banning trans women from women's sports  —  This is the fourth order directly targeting transgender people the president has signed since taking office Jan. 20.  —  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports.
RELATED:
CNN:
Trump takes action to ban transgender women from women's sports
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Judge weighs short-term block on Musk allies' ability to share Treasury records outside the department  —  A lawsuit alleges that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is compromising Treasury's payment system.  —  A federal judge on Wednesday declined to immediately block …
Discussion: The Daily Wire
RELATED:
Laura Italiano / Business Insider:
Judge weighs interim ban on Elon Musk's DOGE accessing the financial data of millions of Americans
Discussion: Reuters and Ars Technica
Morgan Lee / Associated Press:
Thousands protest Trump administration policies in cities across the US  —  A movement to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump's administration took off Wednesday, as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana.
RELATED:
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab  —  In the radical opening weeks of his second term, President Trump has appeared to feel little constraint by any need to show respect for the rule of law.  —  In his first term, President Trump seemed to relish ripping through …
Discussion: The Daily Caller
RELATED:
New York Times:   List: Examples of Trump's Actions That Are Defying Legal Limits
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Collins: Trump has empowered Musk ‘far beyond’ what is appropriate  —  Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) says that President Trump has empowered billionaire businessman Elon Musk “far beyond what I think is appropriate,” reflecting growing angst on Capitol Hill …
RELATED:
Emma Dumain / Politico:
Senate's top appropriator says Elon Musk has gone too far
Discussion: Mediaite and OutsideTheBeltway
Benjamin Guggenheim / Politico:
Two Dem lawmakers barge into House speaker's office in backlash against Musk  —  Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) barged into House Speaker Mike Johnson's office unscheduled on Wednesday and challenged him about Elon Musk's team gaining access to a sensitive payment system at the Treasury Department.
Discussion: Axios, NewsNation and Raw Story
Sarah Longwell / The Bulwark:
The Real Reason Musk Is Mad at Us  —  ELON MUSK, OUR NEW UNELECTED OVERLORD, is mad at Bill Kristol.  Very, very mad.  And because this is the world we live in now, his hordes of online minions are mad, too.  —  Let me explain.  This week, Elon has been amplifying several tweets alleging …
Fox News:
Politico pays employees late; staffers believe Elon Musk's crackdown on government spending played a role  —  Politico has received at least $8.2 million from the US government  —  Politico staffers received their bi-weekly direct deposits late this week, irking staffers who believe Elon Musk's crackdown …
RELATED:
Axios:
DOGE targets government media subscriptions after MAGA attacks
Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo:
Elon Musk's Enemy, USAID, Was Investigating Starlink's Contracts in Ukraine  —  The agency was in the midst of a probe into the billionaire's equipment at the time of Musk's assault. … Since coming into power, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has barraged USAID …
New York Times:
Cows Have Been Infected With a Second Form of Bird Flu  —  A new version of the virus is widespread in wild birds but had not previously been detected in cows.  —  Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds …
April Rubin / Axios:
Trump-voting states have more to lose if Education Department dismantled … - States that voted for Trump last November, on average, use more federal funding in their education apportions than states that voted for former Vice President Harris.  — “That dependence is, in large part …
Discussion: Democrats and USA Today
David Dayen / American Prospect:
L.A. Times Owner Has Financial Motivations for Boosting RFK Jr.  —  Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's biotech firm is preparing three applications needing approval from the Food and Drug Administration.  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies during a Senate HELP Committee hearing for his pending confirmation …
Discussion: New Republic
 
 
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 More Items: 
Tara Suter / The Hill:
Kinzinger says Democrats ‘suprised and flat footed’ after Musk actions on federal government
David Bauder / Associated Press:
‘60 Minutes’ publicly releases transcripts of interview at heart of its dispute with Trump
Zeb Larson / Dame Magazine:
We're Living in a New Age of Robber Barons
Discussion: Resolute Square
Miles Kruppa / Wall Street Journal:
Google Kills Diversity Hiring Targets
Politico:
Phil Murphy hands Republicans an attack line with immigrant housing gaffe
Discussion: New York Post
 Earlier Items: 
Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without H.I.V. Treatment
Discussion: Washington Blade
Janus Rose / 404 Media:
You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism  —  If there's one thing I'd hoped people had learned …
Aaron Wiener / Washington Post:
Trump ordered workers back to the office. They ask, where, exactly?
Discussion: The Independent
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell slips and falls outside Senate Chamber
Shannon Pettypiece / NBC News:
Head Start childcare programs are still unable to access federal money after Trump's funding freeze
Discussion: NHSA, Associated Press and Daily Kos