Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Jeffrey Epstein's Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump. — The leather-bound book was compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell. The president says the letter ‘is a fake thing.’ — It was Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion.
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David Wildstein / New Jersey Globe:
Habba tells staff she loves her job, hopes to stay as she awaits judicial meeting (Updated) — U.S. Attorney Alina Habba told her staff on Thursday that her tenure as a federal prosecutor could come to an end on Tuesday when she hits the 120-day limit for appointments made by the U.S. Attorney General …
Discussion:
New Republic, Raw Story and NewsMax.com
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Trump's approval hits new low as Epstein pressure mounts — This is one of those classic weeks in a Trump presidency where too many stories are moving too fast for an individual writer to keep up. There are new tariffs, expansion of deportation operations, a will-he-or-won't-he dance …
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Newsweek
Rolling Stone:
Team Trump Was on ‘F-cking Warpath’ to Kill Story About Salacious Letter to Epstein — The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump wrote a birthday note to his “pal” about how they have “certain things in common” — Donald Trump wrote a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s …
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
America Is a Good Place and Worth Fighting For
Discussion:
New Jersey Online
Michael Gold / New York Times:
House Republicans Dangle Possible Vote on Epstein Files, After Voter Backlash
Discussion:
Associated Press, NBC News, New York Sun, Daily Caller News Foundation and The Hill
Andrew Egger / The Bulwark:
An Enigma Wrapped in a Wonderful Secret
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CNN, Mediaite, NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
Cameron Adams / The Daily Beast:
Trump's Sketchy Epstein Lie Instantly Exposed
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The Independent, Raw Story, Mediaite, Daily Mail, New Republic and New Jersey Online
Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
Trump Tells Bondi to Seek Release of Epstein Grand Jury Testimony
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Financial Times, Fox News, Washington Post, The Hill, Alternet.org, Salon, New York Magazine, Not the Bee, Al Jazeera, Washington Times and Mediaite
Charlie Sykes / To the Contrary:
Trump's Love Letter to Jeffrey Epstein
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Wall Street Journal
NBC News:
Trump's cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid clear Congress
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Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Trump and Epstein had a relationship, but there's no evidence of Trump wrongdoing
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, NBC News, The Guardian, Axios, One America News Network and The Post Millennial
Stephen Fowler / NPR:
Trump repeats threat to sue ‘Wall Street Journal’ after its report on his Epstein ties
Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing / Politico:
Trump rails against ‘NOTHING’ Epstein case after WSJ report
Discussion:
The Guardian, The Hill, MSNBC, Daily Mail, IJR, NewsMax.com, Raw Story and Townhall
New York Times:
Where Congress's Cuts Threaten Access to PBS and NPR — President Trump's proposal to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasters threatens scores of radio and TV stations across the United States that air PBS and NPR programs.
Discussion:
UPI and Salt Lake Tribune, more at Mediagazer »
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Miriam Waldvogel / The Hill:
How will PBS/NPR cuts impact your local stations? — Congressional Republicans stripped more than $1 billion in funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) this week, a move that could force local radio and television stations to consolidate, cut services or shutter altogether, particularly in rural areas.
Discussion:
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Tom Jones / Poynter:
Defunding NPR and PBS passed the Senate — and it's a direct hit to rural America
Discussion:
Rolling Stone, NewsMax.com, Fox News, The Nevada Independent, The Wrap, CBS News and Truthout
Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
Trump's NPR and PBS Funding Cuts Were Decades in the Making
Discussion:
Mississippi Free Press, LAist, The Wrap, The Guardian, Variety, Axios, Blaze Media and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Mediagazer »
Selena Simmons-Duffin / NPR:
ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year, research shows — Health insurance premiums are going way up next year for people who buy their insurance on Healthcare.gov or the state-based marketplaces, according to an analysis out Friday.
Discussion:
Peterson-KFF Health … and Scripps News
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Berkeley Lovelace Jr / NBC News:
Cost of Obamacare expected to soar as subsidies expire and insurers hike premiums — People who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act could see increases of more than 75% each month, one expert said. — People who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act …
Anna Wilde Mathews / Wall Street Journal:
Obamacare Insurers Seek Double-Digit Premium Hikes Next Year
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
CBS to Cancel ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Citing ‘Financial Decision’ — TV's ongoing problems with late night have come for Stephen Colbert, with CBS announcing Thursday that it plans to end his “Late Show” after the next TV season, citing a “financial decision.”
Discussion:
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Elizabeth Crisp / The Hill:
Trump: ‘I absolutely love’ that Colbert ‘got fired’ — President Trump said Friday morning that he was thrilled by the news that CBS is canceling the decade-running “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” — “I absolutely love that Colbert' got fired,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Alan Sepinwall / Rolling Stone:
Politics, Not Performance, Killed ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’
Discussion:
NPR, New Republic, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Mediaite, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap, more at Mediagazer »
Inae Oh / Mother Jones:
Colbert's Cancellation Is a Dark Warning
Discussion:
The Hill, Fox News, The Wrap, The Daily Caller, Forbes, The Guardian, That Park Place, The National Pulse, Newsweek, Variety, Business Insider, IJR, Lefsetz Letter and Raw Story
Reuters:
El Salvador to send detained Venezuelans to Caracas in exchange for Americans held in Venezuela, sources say — El Salvador's government will send detained Venezuelans to Caracas in exchange for Americans held in Venezuela, two U.S. government officials told Reuters on Friday.
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Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Why Dems didn't try to thwart Trump's funding clawback — House Democrats passed up what appeared to be a golden opportunity to block a bill codifying $9 billion in DOGE cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid. In leadership's telling, victory was never a real possibility.
Discussion:
Off Message, NewsMax.com and Punchbowl News
Marc Caputo / Axios:
Scoop: Trump's new Alcatraz could cost $2 billion … - A “supermax” prison complex that would cost more than $2 billion. … - A scaled-back prison that would cost $1 billion and not occupy the entire island. — Putting the project out to bid for private prison contractors to build and operate.
Eric Katz / GovExec.com:
Trump creates ‘Schedule G’ to add more political appointees to agencies top ranks — The new, non-career employees will serve in policy-making roles and add “horsepower” to carrying out the administration's agenda, White House says. — President Trump created another new category …
Discussion:
The White House, Federal News Network, E&E News and Washington Times
Génesis Miranda Miramontes / NBC Los Angeles:
3 deputies killed after explosion reported at East LA sheriff's training facility — At least three deputies were killed after an explosion was reported early Friday at an LA County Sheriff's Department training facility in East Los Angeles. — The explosion is believed to have occurred …
Associated Press:
For Sale: Trump is leveraging power of his office to reap profits for family businesses — If one theme has emerged in President Donald Trump's second term, it's this: He's leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history.
Andreas Kluth / Bloomberg:
The State Department Upheaval Makes China Great Again — Never before has a country forfeited so much soft power with so little justification amid such intense competition with a rival. — She had not seen the axe coming for her specifically, one Foreign Service Officer told me.
David R. Lurie / Public Notice:
The emerging coup — 🗣️ Paid subscribers make Public Notice possible. If you appreciate our fiercely independent coverage of American politics, please sign up and support us. 👇 — Six months into the second Trump administration, two things are becoming clear …
Brooke Shafer / The Hill:
ICE will soon have nation's Medicaid data: What to know — Agreement will allow ICE officials access to 79M patients' data — Information includes addresses, racial information and more — Opponents concerned over data privacy, civil rights issues
Associated Press:
Trump appointees pushed more marble in Fed building renovation White House now attacks — President Donald Trump has looked to the marble finishes and hefty price tag of the Federal Reserve headquarters to claim grounds to fire Chair Jerome Powell, with whom he has tussled for years over interest rates.
Ellie Wolfe / The Baltimore Banner:
Conservative legal group with Trump ties sets its sights on Hopkins medical school — A conservative legal group founded by a member of the Trump administration has filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice against the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, alleging racial discrimination.
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