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.

Trump administration directs agency heads to fire most probationary staff  —  Terminations should happen within two days, according to four people familiar with internal conversations.  —  The Trump administration has directed agency heads to fire most trial period and probationary staff within two days …

Stars pull out of shows and positions at Kennedy Center after Trump takeover  —  Issa Rae, Ben Folds and Shonda Rhimes among those who chose not to associate with the institution and president  —  Donald Trump's takeover of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington …

Judge orders Trump administration to restore funds for foreign aid programs  —  A U.S. district judge said the administration failed to account for the extraordinary harm caused by the broad-based halt.  —  A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for hundreds …

Plane carrying Secretary of State Rubio to Europe turned around because of a mechanical issue  —  An Air Force plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch, to Germany for the Munich Security Conference was forced to return …

Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.gov Website  —  The doge.gov website that was spun up to track Elon Musk's cuts to the federal government is insecure and pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone, according to two separate people who found the vulnerability and shared it with 404 Media.

Vance Wields Threat of Sanctions, Military Action to Push Putin Into Ukraine Deal  —  In interview with The Wall Street Journal, vice president says Ukraine must have ‘sovereign independence’  —  PARIS—Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. would hit Moscow with sanctions …

Hegseth team invites far-right activist Jack Posobiec on overseas trip  —  The offer triggered alarm among Pentagon officials concerned about the military being dragged into partisan warfare.

Establishing the President's Make America Healthy Again Commission  —  By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:  —  Section 1.  Purpose.  American life expectancy significantly lags behind other developed countries …

Texas Judge Fines New York Doctor and Orders Her to Stop Sending Abortion Pills to Texas  —  It is the first ruling in a case challenging “shield laws” intended to protect doctors in states that support abortion rights who send abortion pills to states with bans.

How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza  —  First lady's documentary deal with Amazon, president's legal settlements and other transactions near $80 million so far; Trump library a major beneficiary  —  | Illustrations by Alexandra Citrin-Safadi/WSJ

GOP got an ‘alarming glimpse at the future’ as it eyes massive cut: report  —  House Republicans have made slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, the federal-state partnership of public health insurance for lower-income people, a core part of their plan to pay for new tax cuts for the rich …

Trump insults McConnell over RFK Jr. vote, casts doubts on polio diagnosis  —  ‘I have no idea if he had polio,’ Trump said when asked about the 82-year-old Kentucky senator's decision to vote against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

House Republicans advance their budget after appeasing hard-liners  —  The House Budget Committee adopted a budget resolution Thursday as GOP leaders work to unlock the power to enact major Republican priorities along party lines.  —  Score one for the backers of “one big, beautiful bill.”

‘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 …

There's a Term for What Trump and Musk Are Doing  —  How regime change happens in America  —  despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is not, so far, primarily interested in efficiency.  DOGE and its boss, Elon Musk, have instead focused their activity on the eradication …

Did Secret Data Doom Biden?  —  Why Politico Is Wrong About the Biden Boom  —  You might remember that in mid-November, there was an idea that Donald Trump won the 2024 election because the economy wasn't very good.  Sure unemployment was low and wages were up.  But egg prices!

Defiance in New York  —  The acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, has submitted her resignation to Attorney General Pam Bondi, an implicit refusal to seek the dismissal of charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, as Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered her to do on Monday.

Louisiana Department of Health ends mass vaccinations, bans seasonal vaccine promotion  —  Louisiana Surgeon General Ralph Abraham sent a directive to state health workers Thursday ending long-standing mass vaccination clinics and banning staff from promoting seasonal vaccines …

HHS splurged more than $22B on grants for migrants — including cash for cars, home loans and startups  —  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses …

Billionaire Airbnb Co-Founder Is Said to Take Role in Musk's Government Initiative  —  Joe Gebbia is a board member at Tesla and is close to Elon Musk, the company's C.E.O.  —  One of Elon Musk's closest friends, a billionaire co-founder of Airbnb, is taking a role in President Trump's administration …

“We've Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.