Top Items:
Katherine Long / Wall Street Journal:
Exclusive | DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist Posts — A staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency whose access to U.S. Treasury payment systems was approved by a federal judge on Thursday has links to a deleted social-media account that advocated for racism and eugenics.
Discussion:
CNBC, Axios, The Hill, The Verge, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Forbes, The Independent, Techdirt, Washington Post, Notes on the Crises and Business Insider, more at Techmeme »
Axios:
Scoop: Trump orders key government agency to cancel all media contracts … - The discovery, made through a U.S. government spending database that has long been publicly available, triggered erroneous theories on X about the Biden administration “funding” anti-Trump media.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Mediaite, Fox News, The Post Millennial, ZeroHedge News, IJR and The Gateway Pundit, more at Mediagazer »
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Politico:
Note to Our Readers — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false. Let's set the record straight. — POLITICO has been the subject of debate on X this week. Some of it has been misinformed, and some of it has been flat-out false.
Discussion:
HotAir, The Hill, ZeroHedge News and Dark Maga Returns, more at Mediagazer »
Liam Reilly / CNN:
White House says it will cancel $8 million in Politico subscriptions after a false right-wing conspiracy theory spreads
White House says it will cancel $8 million in Politico subscriptions after a false right-wing conspiracy theory spreads
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, Fox News, Breitbart, RedState, Digby's Hullabaloo, KRDO, DNyuz, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, The Dispatch, The Guardian, The Post Millennial, Mediaite, Blaze Media, New York Times, MeidasTouch News, Raw Story, The Independent, Louder With Crowder, Althouse, Crooks and Liars, Status, The Daily Caller, One America News Network, HotAir, Washington Post, Shore News Network, Twitchy, The Gateway Pundit, New Republic and Axios, more at Mediagazer »
CNN:
Musk associates sought to use critical Treasury payment system to shut down USAID spending, emails show — Four days after Donald Trump's inauguration, Elon Musk's top lieutenants at the Treasury Department asked its acting secretary, a career civil servant, to immediately shut off …
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New York Times:
Treasury Sought to Freeze Foreign Aid Payments, Emails Show — Trump administration appointees and allies of Elon Musk wanted to use the Treasury's sensitive payment system to block payments. — In the days after President Trump took office, as Elon Musk's team began pressing for access …
Discussion:
The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg and Fox Business
Lucas Ropek / Gizmodo:
America's Unions Sue DOGE, Launch the ‘Department of People Who Work for a Living’
Discussion:
Truthout, Washington Post, America's Unions, Daily Kos, E&E News, Axios, Business Insider and New York Times
Zach Montague / New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Judge Delays Program Offering Federal Workers Incentives to Quit — Where Things Stand — Judge delays resignation plan: A federal judge in Massachusetts has stopped, at least temporarily, the Trump administration's effort to get federal employees …
Discussion:
TechCrunch, Associated Press, CBS News, GovExec.com, Business Insider, The Verge and Eschaton
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Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Deadline for Trump's federal worker buyout proposal temporarily blocked by judge — Washington — A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Office of Personnel Management's deadline for federal employees to accept the Trump administration's “deferred resignation” offer.
Discussion:
Federal News Network, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Fortune, USA Today, Raw Story, Daily Caller News Foundation, FedScoop, The Daily Wire, UPI, Blaze Media, Associated Press, NBC News, FedSmith.com, The Guardian, KRDO, ZeroHedge News, DNyuz, The Gateway Pundit, abc7NY, Bloomberg, The National Pulse, Semafor and Scripps News
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Musk aims to hobble federal workers ahead of ‘buyout’ deadline
Musk aims to hobble federal workers ahead of ‘buyout’ deadline
Discussion:
CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Daily Kos, Washington Post, New Republic, Federal News Network, Townhall, Blue Virginia, FedSmith.com, The Guardian, Washingtonian and DNyuz
Daily Kos:
Trump taps televangelist kook to run new White House ‘faith’ office — Christian nationalism is in full swing after Donald Trump's Thursday announcement of a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias,” as well as a new White House Faith Office led by right-...
Discussion:
Reuters, Blaze Media and Washington Post
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Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Trump announces task force to ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’
Trump announces task force to ‘eradicate anti-Christian bias’
Discussion:
Associated Press, USA Today, Al Jazeera, New York Magazine, The Daily Signal, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner, UPI, Fox News, Raw Story, The Independent, NewsNation and CBS News
Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Trump team considers housing detained migrants in container offices
Discussion:
Quartz, Just Security, NCJA, New York Times, Fox News and Military.com
ProPublica:
Elon Musk's Demolition Crew — On President Donald Trump's authority alone, Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. Employees from Musk's companies and those of his allies, as well as young staffers he's recruited, are wresting authority from career workers and commandeering computer systems.
Discussion:
Reuters, USA Today, Rolling Stone, Business Insider, Just Security, Raw Story, NJTODAY.NET and American Thinker
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Washington Post:
Musk's DOGE agents access sensitive personnel data, alarming security officials — The highly restricted data includes personally identifiable information for millions of federal employees maintained by the Office of Personnel Management.
Discussion:
The Guardian, Raw Story and Reuters
Joey McFadden / The Daily Beast:
Musk's DOGE Youngins Are Terrorizing Senior Gov Staffers
David Gutman / The Seattle Times:
Judge in Seattle accuses Trump of trying to change the Constitution — A federal judge in Seattle has once again blocked the Trump administration's attempt to rescind birthright citizenship — the guarantee embedded in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution that every person born in the U.S. is an American citizen.
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Law & Crime, The Gateway Pundit, Minnesota Reformer, Bloomberg and Chicago Sun Times
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Garrett Haake / NBC News:
Trump to sign an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court
Discussion:
Fox News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Associated Press, Reuters, Raw Story, Jewish Insider, The Gateway Pundit, NewsNation, IJR, The Guardian, New York Post and freebeacon.com
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time
Judge rails against Trump in blocking birthright executive order for second time
Discussion:
BBC, The Post Millennial, Townhall, NewsNation and SCOTUSblog
Juliet Macur / New York Times:
N.C.A.A., Following Trump's Order, Excludes Transgender Athletes From Women's Sports — The decision, effective immediately, came a day after President Trump signed an order barring transgender girls and women from playing in women's sports at federally funded educational institutions.
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Washington Post:
Elon Musk's DOGE is feeding sensitive federal data into AI to target cuts — At the Department of Education, the tech billionaire's team has turned to artificial intelligence to hunt for potential spending cuts — part of a broader plan to deploy the technology across the federal government.
Discussion:
Forbes, Gizmodo, Raw Story and Axios, more at Techmeme »
ABC News:
Rubio acting director of the National Archives — In addition to being the Secretary of State and the acting director of USAID, Marco Rubio is also the acting archivist of the United States, according to a high-level official. — Per the official, Rubio has been the acting archivist since shortly …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner
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Jason Koebler / 404 Media:
National Archives Workers Unsure If Marco Rubio Has Secretly Been Their Boss for Weeks
National Archives Workers Unsure If Marco Rubio Has Secretly Been Their Boss for Weeks
Discussion:
Fox News and The Bulwark, more at Mediagazer »
Wired:
DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Sexy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers — Experts question whether Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has gone by “Big Balls” online, would pass the background check typically required for access to sensitive US government systems.
Discussion:
Mediaite
Akayla Gardner / Bloomberg:
Trump Will Seek to End Carried Interest, Expand SALT in Tax Bill — White House unveils additions to tax priorities as talks begin — Trump seeks to end tax breaks for billionaire sports owners — President Donald Trump outlined his tax priorities in a meeting with Republican lawmakers …
Discussion:
CNBC, Washington Examiner, RedState and The Daily Wire
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Robert Jimison / New York Times:
Senate Democrats Hold the Floor in Overnight Protest of Trump Nominee
Discussion:
Politico, Roll Call, Bangor Daily News, Resolute Square, Truthout, Raw Story, The Guardian, The Hill, The Daily Wire, Democracy Now and CNN
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
“Disgusted” Democratic Voters Are Blowing Up Congress's Phones
“Disgusted” Democratic Voters Are Blowing Up Congress's Phones
Discussion:
Mother Jones, WGN-TV, NBC News and Axios
Daniel Wu / Washington Post:
Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses — U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo, including American farms dealing in rice, wheat and soybeans purchased as food aid.
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money, Foreign Policy, Raw Story and Blaze Media
Sigal Samuel / Vox:
JD Vance accidentally directed us to a crucial moral question — Theology isn't usually part of the job description for America's vice president, but that's not stopping JD Vance from giving it a try just a couple of weeks into his new position. — In a Fox News segment on immigration …
Discussion:
Associated Press and Anglican Ink © 2025
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Wall Street Journal:
White House Preparing Order to Cut Thousands of Federal Health Workers — The executive order could come as soon as next week, if the Trump administration goes ahead with plans — The White House is working on an executive order to fire thousands of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services workers …
Discussion:
Baltimore Sun
Stephanie Nolen / New York Times:
Dozens of Clinical Trials Have Been Frozen in Response to Trump's USAID Order — The stop-work order on U.S.A.I.D.-funded research has left thousands of people with experimental drugs and devices in their bodies, with no access to monitoring or care. — Asanda Zondi received a startling phone call …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns & Money and The Diplomat
The Guardian:
DoJ sues Chicago claiming city impedes Trump's immigration policies — Justice department also sues state of Illinois, seeking a court order sweeping aside sanctuary laws — The US Department of Justice (DoJ) sued the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago on Thursday …
Discussion:
GovExec.com, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Scripps News, Chicago Tribune, CBS News, San Diego Union-Tribune, Axios and NPR
RELATED:
New York Post:
Trump administration sues Chicago, state of Illinois over sanctuary laws — and vows more lawsuits to come
Trump administration sues Chicago, state of Illinois over sanctuary laws — and vows more lawsuits to come
Discussion:
Washington Post, HotAir, USA Today, NOTUS, ABC7, Associated Press, Politico, freebeacon.com, WBEZ, The Post Millennial, Fox News, Blaze Media, New York Times, Breitbart, KRDO, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Wire
Dara Kerr / The Guardian:
US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations — Thousands of press releases about decade-old enforcement actions topped search results, all updated with a timestamp from after Trump's inauguration — News of mass immigration arrests has swept across the US over the past couple of weeks.
Andrew Goudsward / Reuters:
Trump administration disbands task force targeting Russian oligarchs — The U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
Discussion:
Associated Press
Niraj Chokshi / New York Times:
Airline Pilots in the DC Plane Crash Acted as Expected, Experts Say — The pilots of the American Airlines regional jet in the Washington airport collision acted as expected, aviation safety experts and other pilots said. — Just after 8:43 p.m. on Jan. 29, an air traffic controller …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and DNyuz
Alec MacGillis / ProPublica:
Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish? — ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published. — On Jan. 10, the U.S. Department of Justice released a 123-page report …
Discussion:
Washington Post and NJTODAY.NET
Noam Scheiber / New York Times:
Trump's Attacks on DEI Get Approval From Some in the Left Wing — Many Democrats and activists are rallying to defend diversity programs, but others say they distract from deeper efforts to address inequality. — A few days after President Trump issued an order urging the private sector to end …
Discussion:
HotAir
Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
‘Trump Brazenly Defies Laws’ is not an A17 story — Donald Trump has repeatedly and flagrantly broken the law since reassuming the presidency. But the national media - whose mission is ostensibly to hold the powerful accountable - is treating it like the new normal.
Discussion:
New York Times
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
A.G. Pam Bondi says Trump sets DOJ policy, all DOJ lawyers are “his lawyers” — Shortly after being sworn into office on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi went from the Oval Office to the Justice Department to do President Donald Trump's bidding. — Immediately issuing a series of orders …
Discussion:
abc7NY, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post, Daily Kos, Townhall, The Post Millennial, Twitchy, Hollywood Life, DNyuz and Washington Post
