memeorandum: The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is a big risk for House Republicans. Many of them hope otherwise. (Dan Balz/Washington Post)

8:45 AM ET, May 25, 2025

Top Items:

Judges Weigh Taking Control of Their Own Security Amid Threats — U.S. marshals, sworn to protect federal judges, ultimately answer to President Trump, who has ramped up criticism of the judiciary

Discussion: USA Today

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Profits Like No Other President, as Outrage Is Muted … President Trump at a business round-table meeting in Abu Dhabi this month.Doug Mills/The New York Times — When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures.

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Trump Is Immensely Vulnerable

Discussion: Raw Story

Jessica Priest / The Texas Tribune:

Political appointees would have more control over Texas universities' courses and hiring under bill OK'd by House — Senate Bill 37 would give more power to university regents, who are appointed by the governor, to vet and veto new curricula and administrators.

Ed White / The Detroit News:

U.S. Justice Department pardon lawyer pledges ‘hard look’ at plot to kidnap Michigan governor … “On the pardon front, we can't leave these guys behind,” Ed Martin Jr. said this week on “The Breanna Morello Show.” — “In my opinion these are victims just like January 6,” Martin said …

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is a big risk for House Republicans. Many of them hope otherwise. — As the 2026 midterms loom, voters are restless and eager to penalize those in power. Every election starting with 2006, with the exception of 2012, has been a change election.

Discussion: Bloomberg and NewsMax.com

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy / USA Today:

With $37 million and a jet, Trump's presidential library takes off, Eric Trump as pilot — A new nonprofit, Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc., has been established to raise funds for a future presidential library for Donald Trump. — The foundation …

Discussion: New York Times and The Post Millennial

Erica L. Green / New York Times:

Trump Administration Highlights: President Stresses New Era in Speech to West Point Graduates — Where Things Stand — West Point: Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday, President Trump told graduating cadets they were part of a new “golden age” in the country.

Lauren Floyd / Axios:
Trump at West Point graduation lauds “Golden Age” as anti-DEI and pro-defense

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press, Fox News, Twitchy, American Thinker, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, The Daily Caller, The Independent, The Hill, Reuters, New York Post, ABC News, Breitbart and Grabien

The Times:

JD Vance's Irish ancestry claim hits a genealogical dead end — DUP-commissioned report fails to find a link between Donald Trump's vice-president — a self-declared Scots-Irish — and Ireland — JD Vance takes pride in declaring himself to be a “Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart” …

Jeanna Smialek / New York Times:

Europe's Been Negotiating by the Book, but Trump's Tearing It Up — The Trump administration sees tariff talks as a chance to pressure a rival into concessions. E.U. officials have acted as though they were dealing with an ally. — The European Union has been following tried-and-true rules …

Discussion: Washington Post, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Breitbart, Fortune, Grabien and Politico

James Waterhouse / BBC:

Russia launches largest drone attack yet on Ukraine — Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine, with the highest number of drones and missiles launched in a single night yet. — At least 12 people, including three children, were killed and dozens injured, Ukrainian officials said.

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, Washington Post, New York Times and Bloomberg

Wall Street Journal:

The Week That Derailed Joe Biden's Post-Presidency — A fight against cancer and a struggle to amass an inheritance for his family are setting up a somber final chapter — When Joe Biden left office in January, he sought to follow the template set by his predecessors for a post-presidency …

Discussion: Rolling Stone

NBC News:
Former President Joe Biden makes first public appearance since cancer diagnosis

Discussion: Washington Examiner

The Guardian:

US citizen detained by immigration officials who dismissed his Real ID as fake — Leonardo Garcia Venegas was filming arrests of his co-workers in Alabama when officers arrested him — Authorities wrestled a US-born citizen to the ground, cuffed him and dismissed his so-called Real ID as …

Discussion: Rolling Stone and al.com

Arwa Mahdawi / The Guardian:

A Fox host's ‘rules for being a man’: no leg-crossing, no public soup drinking — Jesse Watters' list is so bizarre, it has me agreeing with Ted Cruz - and Watters' show helps shape US politics — The Fox News-approved guide to being a man — Tim Burchett, a Republican representative …

Stephan Kueffner / Bloomberg:

Salvador-Style Emergency Powers On Track for Noboa's Ecuador — Fresh off his unexpectedly strong election win, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa, sworn in Saturday, is seeking to cement his authority with a crime bill that would give his government emergency powers of the kind used in El Salvador.

Discussion: CBS News and Reuters

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:

Joe Biden winning the 2020 nomination was probably suboptimal, but it was not an elite conspiracy — As part of his endless promotional tour, Jake Tapper repeats the very commonly repeated fiction that Joe Biden was imposed on an unwilling party by a backdoor elite conspiracy:

Michael C. Bender / New York Times:

Trump Seeks Extensive Student Data in Pressure Campaign to Control Harvard — Harvard and the federal government are locked in a battle that boils down to turning over records on international students. But Harvard says it is also about the First Amendment.