FDA cancels meeting to select flu strains for next season's shots  —  The canceled meeting comes just days after a CDC vaccine advisory committee meeting was abruptly postponed.  —  A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting scheduled for March to select the strains …

Justice Department tells judges it can't comply with court-ordered deadline to release frozen aid funding  —  In court filings, the DOJ contends it will take “weeks” to free the funding that a federal judge ordered to be released almost two weeks ago.  —  The Trump administration …

Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post's opinion section.  That's a death knell  —  'I couldn't be more sad and disgusted,' says former top editor Martin Baron  —  Owners and publishers of news organizations often exert their will on opinion sections.  It would be naive to think otherwise.

Top Social Security deputies leave amid rumored staff cuts  —  Most of the Social Security Administration's regional commissioners have decided to retire at the end of this week, following mysterious meetings with agency leaders about plans to slash its workforce.

Implementing the President's “Department of Government Efficiency” Cost Efficiency Initiative  —  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.  This order commences a transformation …

RFK Jr. Has Horrific Response to Measles Death  —  An unvaccinated child in west Texas died of measles on Wednesday, marking the first time that someone has died from the viral illness in the U.S. in a decade.  —  So far, 18 people have been hospitalized for the disease around Lubbock …

In Trump's Washington, a Moscow-Like Chill Takes Hold  —  A new administration's efforts to pressure the news media, punish political opponents and tame the nation's tycoons evoke the early days of President Vladimir V. Putin's reign in Russia.  —  She asked too many questions that the president didn't like.

Musk claims DOGE ‘restored’ Ebola prevention effort.  Officials disagree.  —  USAID's initiatives to fight Ebola and other diseases have been gutted, current and former agency officials said  —  Elon Musk on Wednesday acknowledged that the U.S. DOGE Service “accidentally canceled” …

VA pauses billions in cuts lauded by Musk as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care  —  The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans' health services …

Senate Republicans say House budget won't fly with them  —  Tuesday's big win for Speaker Mike Johnson might not last long.  —  House Republicans spent weeks in painstaking negotiations before delivering a budget blueprint for “one big, beautiful bill.”  Now Senate Republicans are preparing to tear it apart.

Mulvaney says Trump, Musk ‘itching for a fight’ with courts on federal worker cuts  —  NewsNation contributor and former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said President Trump and Elon Musk are itching for a fight with the courts over their cuts to the federal workforce.

WHCA head: Public ‘can no longer trust’ pool reports under White House control  —  The head of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) says the public can no longer trust pool reports now that the reporters included in the small group will be controlled by President Trump's team.

Democrats Need to Clean House  —  The problem with the party goes way beyond the $10 words.  —  At the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics last week, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was nearly apoplectic about the diversity spectacles at the recent Democratic National …

Chief Justice John Roberts pauses order for Trump admin to pay $2 billion in foreign aid by midnight  —  Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday paused a court-imposed midnight deadline that would have required the Trump administration to spend $2 billion in frozen foreign aid …

Dozens of DOGE ‘receipts’ saved no money and killed contracts meant to boost efficiency  —  Many of the receipts published by Elon Musk's DOGE aren't receipts at all — they're negotiated deals with vetted vendors who might do future government work.  —  Take a quick look at the Department …

DOGE Staffers at HUD Are From an AI Real Estate Firm and a Mobile Home Operator  —  Elon Musk's men at HUD come from the real estate sector.  They have access to vast stores of personal and financial data—and control over who can access which HUD systems.  —  On February 10 …

Musk's Empire Is Reaping $2 Million Per Day From Trump  —  This is a web version of The Lever's daily email newsletter.  —  Today's Lever story (click here to read): It's Nevada vs. Delaware in a new battle to court corporate supervillains with get-out-of-jail-free cards.

Trump asks Apple to end diversity policies after shareholders vote in favor  —  U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Apple AAPL.O to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, a day after the iPhone maker's shareholders voted overwhelmingly to keep them in the face of growing pushback from conservative groups.

Economists are starting to worry about a serious Trump recession  —  Tariffs on America's neighbours and assault on federal government will hit US economy  —  Donald Trump's assault on the US federal government and the world's interlinked manufacturing system have together reached an economic tipping point.

Live Updates: Trump Administration Cuts Nearly 10,000 Foreign Aid Programs  —  Where Things Stand  — Steep cuts to foreign aid: Lawyers for the Trump administration said that the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department were losing nearly 10,000 contracts and grants …

DOJ has abruptly broadened its view of Trump's Jan. 6 pardons.  A judge wants answers.  —  A Trump-appointed judge grilled a Justice Department prosecutor on the department's change in position.  —  Three weeks ago, the Justice Department was emphatic: Donald Trump may have pardoned Kentuckian Dan Wilson …