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4:45 PM ET, February 13, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Danielle Sassoon and Other Officials Resign After Order to Drop Eric Adams Case  —  The interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and two officials with the federal public integrity unit all quit after the Justice Department ordered the charges against Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped.
RELATED:
NBC News:
Top federal prosecutor in N.Y. resigns after being told to drop Adams charges  —  Danielle R. Sassoon, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced her resignation in a statement that does not refer to the DOJ directive.  —  Danielle R. Sassoon …
Matthew Gault / Gizmodo:
The $400 Million Armored Tesla Story Is a Fake Scandal In a Sea of Real Graft and Horror  —  The State Department does a lot of business with a lot of different companies and has bought Tesla's before.  But freaking out and editing a spreadsheet when it's pointed out is weird.
Discussion: Futurism
RELATED:
Oliver Willis / Daily Kos:
State Department buries massive payout to Tesla after public outcry  —  The Trump administration is trying to hide plans to hand off $400 million in taxpayer funds to Tesla, the electric car company owned by the world's richest man—Trump supporter Elon Musk.
Bobby Allyn / NPR:
Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million ‘armored Tesla’ contract  —  The Trump administration was expected to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, according to a State Department document detailing procurement for fiscal year 2025.
Jack Ewing / New York Times:
State Dept. Plans $400 Million Purchase of Armored Tesla Cybertrucks
Jack Ewing / New York Times:
State Department Revises Plan to Buy Armored Teslas
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Hegseth's Ukraine bombshell and Trump's Putin call leave NATO reeling … - NATO membership for Ukraine — a central source of tension with Russia promised by the alliance in 2008 — is not a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” Hegseth said.  — U.S. troops will not be deployed …
RELATED:
Politico:
Europe braces for a future without the US as a reliable ally  —  European defense leaders are preparing for a tense gathering with the Trump team.  —  MUNICH — European allies are bracing this week for the answer to a question they've been dreading to ask: Can they really count on the United States?
Ellen Mitchell / The Hill:
Hegseth responds to blowback from Ukraine, NATO remarks
Politico:
Europe lacks a master plan for Donald Trump's new world disorder
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
RFK Jr. confirmed as Trump's health secretary, over Democrats' loud objections  —  Despite millions of dollars spent by groups opposed to his nomination, the Senate voted to install Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
RELATED:
Nicholas Florko / The Atlantic:
RFK Jr. Won. Now What?
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
McConnell on RFK Jr.: ‘I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures’
Nathaniel Weixel / The Hill:
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as Health secretary; McConnell lone GOP dissenter
Natasha Korecki / NBC News:
Senate votes to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary
New York Times:
Yes  —  If confirmed, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will oversee agencies that administer Medicare and Medicaid …
Discussion: Daily Kos and IJR
Oren Cass / New York Times:
The Fringe Cause That Could Derail the Republican Agenda  —  We're not even a month into Donald Trump's new term and already, a cadre of Republican activists appears poised to fritter away his popularity and derail his administration's agenda with a maximalist demand for a budget-busting tax cut.
RELATED:
Politico:
House GOP leaders placate fiscal hawks to launch their party-line plan
Discussion: E&E News
RELATED:
Paul Krugman:
Elon Musk Is Faking It  —  Did you hear the one about how USAID spent $50 million — or was it $100 million? — providing condoms to Hamas?  This claim played a big role in the public relations campaign to rationalize the sudden, illegal dismantling of an agency that provides humanitarian aid …
Politico:
Walz considering Minnesota Senate run  —  Democratic Sen. Tina Smith announced earlier Thursday she would not seek reelection.  —  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is considering a run for Senate next year, according to a person close to the governor who was granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
RELATED:
Steve Karnowski / Associated Press:
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota won't seek reelection, dealing blow to Democrats' hopes to take Senate
Yashar Ali / The Reset:
Exclusive: Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman, allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a bar, witnesses say.  —  Matt Schlapp, the Chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts the CPAC convention, allegedly engaged in lewd conduct and allegedly sexually assaulted a man at a restaurant …
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump signs off on proposed reciprocal tariffs  —  President Trump on Thursday signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs that he maintains will crack down on unfair and discriminatory tariffs from both adversaries and allies.  —  The reciprocal tariffs will be customized …
RELATED:
CNN:
Trump orders up a plan for more tariffs, even as inflation heats up
Ashley Harrell / SFGATE:
‘Honestly terrifying’: Yosemite National Park is in chaos  —  California's beloved national park is on the brink of disaster  —  Yosemite National Park is in trouble.  Hamstrung by President Donald Trump's hiring freeze, hundreds of rescinded job offers and the threat of coming layoffs …
Luis Martinez / ABC News:
Aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman collides with ship in Mediterranean Sea  —  There are no reported injuries, nor is there flooding aboard the carrier.  —  The US warship USS Harry S. Truman is pictured anchored in The Solent, Oct. 8, 2018, near Portsmouth, England.
Washington Post:
Federal judge blocks Trump order on health care for transgender youth  —  The lawsuit filed by families and LGBTQ advocates challenges an order that aims to end federal support for gender transition care for people under 19.  —  A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed …
Discussion: ABC7, Forbes, Baltimore Sun and PinkNews
Washington Post:
Justice, FBI ousters remove longtime experts from daily threats meeting  —  Trump administration shake-ups at the Justice Department and FBI have eroded continuity on national security matters, people familiar with the situation said.  —  Every morning at 9:45, top FBI and Justice Department officials meet …
Discussion: CBS News
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
How to stop Trump's power grab  —  At this point, there is little doubt that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are engaged in a fundamentally unlawful effort to rewrite the American constitutional order.  Their efforts to redirect federal spending are attempts to seize Congress's power of the purse …
Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Pa.'s Sean Parnell as the face of Trump's Pentagon is another assault on women  —  There was a moment just over three years ago when it was clear not only that Sean Parnell — a highly decorated Army veteran and an acolyte of Donald Trump — would have to end his 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate campaign …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
Some Follow Up Questions For Elon Musk, After He Admits He Gets Stuff Wrong Sometimes  —  Here's a story about being wrong.  Not just regular wrong — we're all wrong sometimes! — but spectacularly, publicly, “I'm going to double down again and again and again on this obviously false thing even after being corrected” wrong.
Discussion: CNN
Washington Post:
DOGE rips through Education Department, cutting contracts, staff and grants  —  Contracts that are key to interpreting data about the American education system were cut as DOGE seeks to trim spending.  Some contracts will be rebid.  —  The notices popped into email boxes …
Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
White House terminates top federal prosecutors amid DOJ, FBI purge  —  Numerous U.S. attorneys announced their departures during a period of extreme upheaval at the Justice Department, an institution long criticized by Trump.  —  WASHINGTON — The White House terminated multiple U.S. attorneys …
David Gilbert / Wired:
DOGE's Website Is Just One Big Twitter Ad  —  The source code for the new Department for Government Efficiency's “official US government website” points to X as its primary source of authority while sharing links to the site sends users to x.com.  —  At a press conference in the Oval Office this week …
Vox:
Trump's new passport rules are trapping transgender Americans in bureaucratic limbo  —  When Mary Fox went to apply for a passport, she brought copies of her birth certificate, certificate of legal name, driver's license, and a check, because the State Department website said passport fees had to be paid by check or cash.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Zach Schonfeld / The Hill:
Judge blocks Trump's gender-affirming care executive orders nationwide
Julia Shapero / The Hill:
State says $400 million armored EV contract on hold
Dave Jamieson / HuffPost:
House Democrats Call On Trump To Reinstate Fired Labor Official
Irina Ivanova / Fortune:
Some federal workers are ‘getting wealthy at taxpayer expense,’ says Elon Musk, whose companies have received at least $20 billion from the government
Discussion: Reuters
Alexander B. Howard / CIVIC TEXTS:
The Truman Commission showed Americans why Congress must not ignore the world's wealthiest “dollar a year man” at DOGE
Veronica Riccobene / The Lever:
Trump's Purge vs. Roberts' Memo
Gregg Gonsalves / New York Times:
I Shudder to Imagine Kennedy Running Our Health Agencies.
Discussion: Raw Story and Associated Press
 Earlier Items: 
Hailey Fuchs / Politico:
Senate panel votes ‘yes’ on Trump's pick to lead the FBI
S.V. Date / HuffPost:
Musk Claims To Know The Net Worths Of Federal Employees - But How?
Axios:
Trump nominations loom over Senate's cherished Munich trip
Discussion: Punchbowl News
Jonathan Lambert / NPR:
Sen. Ted Cruz's list of ‘woke’ science includes self-driving cars and solar eclipses
Discussion: The 74
Axios:
Behind the Curtain: Masculine maximalism
Discussion: The Bulwark and Mediaite
Sadanand Dhume / Wall Street Journal:
If Indians and Pakistanis Can Relocate, Why Can't Gazans?
 

 
From Techmeme:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Netflix agrees to acquire WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock deal, including debt, to close after WBD splits in two in Q3 2026

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU fines X €120M for breaching online content rules, the first fine under the DSA, citing issues like its deceptive blue checkmarks, after a two-year probe

Echo Wang / Reuters:
Meta acquires Limitless, which makes a pendant-style AI wearable that records and transcribes real-world conversations; Limitless has raised more than $33M

 
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