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7:55 PM ET, February 27, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Liz Goodwin / Washington Post:
Behind the scenes, GOP senators challenge legality of Trump's aid cuts  —  Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who lauded the USAID cuts, quietly joined Democrats in expressing alarm.  —  Just now  —  A handful of Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm …
Discussion: Wired, Reuters and Daily Kos
RELATED:
Leigh Ann Caldwell / Puck:
Trump's Screaming Call & G.O.P. Moderate Misery  —  The House has cleared a budget hurdle... barely.  But the chamber's Republican lawmakers may yet be thwarted by their own internal dynamics—not to mention the Senate.  —  Representative Victoria Spartz, among the more chaotic …
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
Trump and GOP leaders discuss using tariffs to pay for agenda
Luke Broadwater / New York Times:
Trump's Third-Term Talk Faces Pushback From a Democratic Congressman
Discussion: American Prospect and The Hill
Robert Tait / The Guardian:
Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says
Discussion: The Hill
RELATED:
Zack Budryk / The Hill:
NOAA begins firing hundreds of staffers  —  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began the process of firing hundreds of probationary workers Thursday, the latest mass job cuts within federal agencies, three sources with knowledge of internal operations told The Hill.
Eric Katz / GovExec.com:   OPM tells court it never ordered mass firings, contradicting prior claims
Janie Har / Associated Press:
US judge in San Francisco will hear request by unions to halt mass firings of probationary workers
Discussion: Associated Press
Associated Press:
Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog were dead for some time, warrant shows  —  Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in different rooms of their Santa Fe home, and they had apparently been dead for some time, according to investigators.
RELATED:
Robert Berkvist / New York Times:
Gene Hackman, Hollywood's Consummate Everyman, Dies at 95  —  The winner of two Oscars, he was hailed for his nuanced performances in films like “The French Connection,” “Unforgiven” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.”  —  Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star …
Chris Isidore / CNN:
Elon Musk says upgrade of FAA's air traffic control system is failing and SpaceX needs to take over Verizon's contract  —  New York CNN —  Elon Musk said Thursday that Verizon's efforts to provide a critically needed upgrade to the FAA's air traffic control system is failing.
RELATED:
Washington Post:
FAA targeting Verizon contract in favor of Musk's Starlink, sources say
Hafiz Rashid / New Republic:
RFK Jr. Takes a Sledgehammer to Two Major Vaccine Developments  —  Multiple vaccine projects have been paused by the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  —  Kennedy paused a multimillion-dollar project to create a new Covid-19 vaccine in pill form on Tuesday …
RELATED:
New York Times:
Who Is in DOGE?  Tracking Its Staffers and Allies in the Federal Government  —  The New York Times identified 45 people within the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a group formed by Elon Musk that in a short few weeks has radically upended federal agencies.  Few members have formal Washington experience.
RELATED:
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling / New Republic:
MAGA Loses It as DOGE Staffer Identities Revealed  —  The New York Times identified several dozen employees working for the Department of Government Efficiency, but conservatives were surprisingly unhappy about the transparency.  —  “The so-called New York Times outs 45 people working for DOGE …
Emily Davies / Washington Post:
She hoped Trump's victory would change her life, but not like this  —  Ryleigh Cooper is normally more focused on motherhood than politics.  Then came DOGE.  —  BALDWIN, Mich. — Ryleigh Cooper exhaled as she slid onto the couch after nine hours of work for the U.S. Forest Service …
Politico:
Judge orders Trump administration officials to give sworn testimony on DOGE  —  The Justice Department fought the effort to put staffers involved in the controversial cost-slashing effort under oath.  —  A federal judge has ordered Trump administration officials involved in Elon Musk's …
Rebecca Crosby / Popular Information:
BREAKING: SEC halts fraud prosecution of Chinese national who sent Trump millions  —  In December, Popular Information reported that Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a new venture backed by President Donald Trump and his family.
Discussion: Bloomberg and CoinDesk
Steven Nelson / New York Post:
Here's what on the Jeffrey Epstein list that the Trump DOJ is set to release later today  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to release notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's personal address book Thursday, The Post has learned.  —  A source who has reviewed the files …
Wall Street Journal:
Inside Kash Patel's Whirlwind Start at the FBI  —  The new FBI director ordered officials to undertake a $100 million restructuring with no clear way to fund it—and took on a second job  —  WASHINGTON—FBI officials from regional field offices gathered on a video call this week to hear …
RELATED:
Politico:
23 Dem AGs think they've cracked the code to fighting Trump  —  Democratic state attorneys general have been planning their lawsuits for a year.  —  The resistance meets daily on Microsoft Teams.  —  The country's 23 Democratic state attorneys general log on at 4pm ET …
Discussion: The Daily Wire, Raw Story and E&E News
RELATED:
Marie J. French / Politico:
Dems are icing out Tesla lobbyists over Elon Musk's Trump ties
Discussion: Raw Story
Frank Andrews / CBS News:
Andrew Tate and brother Tristan, who face human trafficking charges in Romania, arrive in the U.S.  —  London — Self-proclaimed misogynist social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan arrived in the U.S. Thursday despite facing rape and human trafficking charges that are still pending in Romania.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Andrew Tate, who faces rape and trafficking charges in Romania, has left for the US
Tim Dickinson / Rolling Stone:
Trump Education Department Opens Snitch Line Against Diversity  —  The snitch portal was launched in association with the extremist group Moms for Liberty … Tiffany Justice, of Moms for Liberty, touted the launch of the portal, highlighting it as an opportunity for parents to push back against …
Discussion: New York Post and The Hill
RELATED:
Dan Lamothe / Washington Post:
Former defense chiefs denounce Trump's ‘reckless’ Pentagon firings  —  The five former leaders urged Congress to hold the president accountable for what they called his unjustified removal of the Joint Chiefs chairman and other top military officers.  —  Five former defense secretaries …
Discussion: Political Wire
RELATED:
Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:
Former defense chiefs call for congressional hearings on Trump's firing of senior military leaders
Alex Isenstadt / Axios:
How the Bezos-Trump alliance began … - It wasn't until late October — three months later — that Bezos spiked the Post editorial page's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and his outreach to Trump came into focus. … - The move was praised by Trump allies such as Elon Musk …
Jay Willis / Balls and Strikes:
Elon Musk's Attacks On Judges Are Getting More Racist and More Dangerous  —  In recent weeks, federal judges across the country have blocked several of President Donald Trump's more ambitious attempts to treat following the law as optional.  Elon Musk, who is leading the administration's efforts …
Marco Margaritoff / HuffPost:
CNN Fact-Checker Floored By Trump Cabinet Meeting: ‘There Was Just So Much’  —  Daniel Dale picked apart the president's statements during the first meeting of his new administration's department heads.  —  President Donald Trump's first Cabinet meeting Wednesday of his new administration …
Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Raw Story and USA Today
Marcia Brown / Politico:
Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees  —  USDA supervisors are being asked to justify rehires and some employees still haven't gotten their laptops back.  —  The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu …
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
Trump's biggest power grab just reached the Supreme Court  —  On Wednesday night, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily halted a lower court order, which would have required the Trump administration to make approximately $2 billion in foreign aid payments that it had stopped as part …
Katherine J. Wu / The Atlantic:
Inside the Collapse at the NIH  —  Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency's own lawyers to restart grant funding now.  —  For decades, the National Institutes of Health has had one core function: support health research in the United States.
Discussion: NPR and Slate
Scott Neuman / NPR:
Pentagon directs removal of trans service members from military  —  The Pentagon has directed that service members and recruits with gender dysphoria be separated from the U.S. military in accordance with an executive order issued a month ago by President Trump.
Connor Stringer / Telegraph:
White House official threatens to redraw Canadian border  —  Peter Navarro is pushing negotiators to discuss reworking country's boundaries, The Telegraph can reveal  —  A top White House official has threatened to redraw the Canadian border amid Donald Trump's ambition to turn the country in America's “51st state”.
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
How many Trump voters regret their votes?  —  Anecdotes aside, polls show little sign of significant Trump-voter backlash.  But some warning signs of discontent loom.  —  If you're on social media these days, you might have noticed a growing volume of posts about Trump supporters who, to paraphrase, effed around and found out.
Don Moynihan / Can We Still Govern?:
The Era of Purges  —  Here is what happened.  An intelligence employee at the National Security Agency leaked chats of fellow officers to a political activist.  The chats included inappropriate messages, mostly around medical issues, plus mockery of political commenters.
Discussion: Erin In The Morning and Townhall
 
 
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 More Items: 
Washington Post:
Harsh findings on Trump's aid freeze kept secret by USAID watchdog
Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
Breaking: Social Security Admin warns employees of “massive reorganizations”
Annie Nova / CNBC:
Trump administration removes student loan repayment applications from Education Dept. website
Discussion: Washington Post and The Guardian
Remy Tumin / New York Times:
Rose Girone, Oldest Holocaust Survivor, Dies at 113
Discussion: Reuters, Newsday and WAGA-TV
 Earlier Items: 
Bloomberg:
HHS Lays Off Lawyers Executing the Medicare Drug Price Cuts
Daniel Wu / Washington Post:
Neo-Nazis targeted a majority-Black town. Locals launched an armed watch.
Discussion: Raw Story and The Root
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy

 
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