Top Items:
Cate Brown / The Guardian:
NSA detected phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump — Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff — Last spring, the National Security Agency (NSA) detected evidence …
Discussion:
The Parnas Perspective, PoliticusUSA and SpyTalk
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Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:
Whistle-Blower Report Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, moved to lock down an intelligence intercept that referred to someone close to President Trump, the report said. — Members of Congress were briefed this week …
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
This Is Just Who Trump Is — What motivates President Trump? — Not what motivates Trumpism, whatever that is. Not what motivates his MAGA supporters. Not what motivates the infrequent and marginal voters who delivered him his victories in 2016 and 2024. — No. What specifically motivates Donald J. Trump?
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Associated Press:
Congressional Black Caucus chair says Trump's post on the Obamas shows a ‘bigoted and racist regime’ — Ever since a racist video was posted on President Donald Trump's social media account, the White House has offered shifting responses. First it dismissed “fake outrage,” then it deleted the post and blamed a staff member.
Discussion:
The Guardian, America, America, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, BBC, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, TheGrio, The Warning with Steve Schmidt, Townhall, Talking Points Memo, MS NOW, CNN, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Hill, Raw Story, The Boston Globe, ABC News, Plain Dealer, Slate, Washington Times, New Republic, Gizmodo, NPR, Axios, Straight Arrow News, The Moderate Voice, HuffPost, Deseret News, Democrats, GV Wire, NBC News, New Jersey Online, Scripps News, CBS News, MPR News and The Philadelphia Inquirer
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Trump's Obama Derangement Syndrome
Trump's Obama Derangement Syndrome
Discussion:
The Hill, Raw Story, Fortune, Mississippi Free Press and CNN
Ernesto Londoño / New York Times:
Prosecutors Began Investigating Renee Good's Killing. Washington Told Them to Stop. — Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Ms. Good's vehicle, but Trump administration leaders said to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have departed, leaving the Minnesota U.S. attorney's office in turmoil.
Discussion:
Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, Raw Story, NewsMax.com, The Independent and Newsweek
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Miami Herald:
Who were the other men in the Epstein files? This is the FBI's own list — After the Justice Department shut the door on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files in July 2025, FBI agents worked on drafts of a 21-page presentation of all the evidence the FBI had gathered in the case, including a summary of allegations against 11 men.
Discussion:
Raw Story, Agence France-Presse, The Wrap, The Hill and MS NOW
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Julie K. Brown / The Epstein Files:
Here is the FBI's Epstein List — We still don't know what did they do to investigate these allegations — Contrary to what the FBI and DOJ have said over the past year, it turns out there really is an FBI list of other people suspected of possible wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein.
Discussion:
Raw Story, New York Post and NewsMax.com
Amelia Gentleman / The Guardian:
Sex and snacks, but no seat at the table: the role of women in Epstein's sordid men's club
Sex and snacks, but no seat at the table: the role of women in Epstein's sordid men's club
Discussion:
Plain Dealer
Joe Charpentier / The Portland Press Herald:
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false. — Communities: — 9 min readFont size +
Jon Passantino / Status:
Conflict of Disinterest … Last month, just ahead of the devastating layoffs at The Washington Post, a group of wealthy D.C. locals approached Post publisher and chief executive Will Lewis with a proposal: Would the Jeff Bezos-owned paper consider spinning off its local and sports sections and selling to them?
Discussion:
Awful Announcing, Mediaite, The Present Age, The Wrap and BizPac Review, more at Mediagazer »
NPR:
State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office — The State Department is removing all posts on its public accounts on the social media platform X made before President Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025. — The posts will be internally archived …
Discussion:
Newsweek and NewsMax.com
Rylee Kirk / New York Times:
Ohio Man Is Charged With Threatening to Kill JD Vance — During the investigation, the man was found to have child sex abuse materials on his phone, federal prosecutors said. — An Ohio man was charged with threatening to shoot and kill Vice President JD Vance, federal prosecutors said on Friday.
Discussion:
Fox News
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Daniel Lippman / Politico:
The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe's political class. In the US, they're getting a pass. … But as Europe's political class moves to clean up its mess and address its shame concerning ties with the convicted sex offender, it's inadvertently highlighting something else — the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.
Discussion:
Politico
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Jill Lawless / Associated Press:
Epstein revelations have toppled top figures in Europe while US fallout is more muted
Epstein revelations have toppled top figures in Europe while US fallout is more muted
Discussion:
Al Jazeera and Reuters
Associated Press:
Immigrant whose skull was broken in eight places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked — Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles …
Discussion:
Scripps News
Mike Hixenbaugh / NBC News:
Toddler hospitalized with respiratory failure was returned to ICE detention and denied prescribed medication, lawsuit says — The 18-month-old was sent back to a South Texas facility after days in intensive care with severe respiratory distress, according to a federal lawsuit.
Steve Vladeck / One First:
208. The Fifth Circuit Jumps the Immigration Detention Shark — I've written before about the deeply contested (and contestable) reinterpretation of federal immigration law that the Trump administration adopted last summer, under which any non-citizen who was never lawfully admitted …
Discussion:
Washington Times, Washington Examiner and Raw Story
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Devan Cole / CNN:
Appeals court greenlights Trump admin policy of detaining undocumented immigrants without opportunity to seek release
Appeals court greenlights Trump admin policy of detaining undocumented immigrants without opportunity to seek release
Discussion:
Politico, CBS News, New York Sun, Raw Story, Newsweek, Breitbart, RedState, Washington Times, The Daily Caller, NewsMax.com, Truthout, The Post Millennial, Reuters, The Gateway Pundit and MS NOW
Geraldine McKelvie / The Guardian:
Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters — Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism — The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters …
Samya Kullab / Associated Press:
US gave Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach agreement to end war, Zelenskyy says — The U.S. has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal to end the nearly four‑year war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure …
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New York Times:
Top ICE Lawyer in Minnesota Departs as Immigration Lawsuits Overwhelm Courts — Jim Stolley, the chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota, has left as government prosecutors grapple with a crush of cases. — The top lawyer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement …
Jacob Knutson / Democracy Docket:
New version of GOP suppression bill would impose nationwide proof of citizenship, photo ID requirements — House Republicans Friday unveiled an amended version of their voter suppression bill that, if it became law, would gravely undermine the right to vote in the U.S. ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Discussion:
NewsMax.com and CBS News
emptywheel:
Marco Rubio Will Let 2.5 Million Children Die so Sarah Rogers Can Fund Far Right Extremists in Europe — The last ten days or so provide a slew of examples of what I'm tentatively calling, “the big shift” — very obvious examples where we can show Trump taking funds away from something …
Discussion:
Refugees International
Aaron Rupar / Public Notice:
Anne Applebaum on Trump's betrayal of Europe — “They're bewildered we've allowed this to happen.” — ∙ Paid — Public Notice is supported by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🧠 Subscribe to PN 🧠 — Last month's Davos World Economic Forum …
Nate Raymond / Reuters:
Trump administration won't let student deported to Honduras return — President Donald Trump's administration on Friday called a judge's proposal that the government issue a student visa to a college student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order “unfeasible” …
Discussion:
ABC News, The Boston Globe and Associated Press
Delano Massey / Axios:
As America turns 250, the fight over Black history intensifies — America's 250th anniversary is colliding with a renewed battle over Black history, just as the White House moves to both smooth over and narrow how race and equity are discussed nationwide with rollbacks of diversity initiatives.
Andrew Trunsky / New York Times:
Pelosi to Endorse Jack Schlossberg, Again Backing a Kennedy for Congress — The former speaker, a prodigious fund-raiser and shrewd campaign strategist, seldom intervenes in primaries but has made an exception for a Kennedy before. — Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to endorse Jack Schlossberg …
Discussion:
The Independent
NBC News:
What X's $1 million creator contest revealed about Musk's platform — X said it would give $1 million to a user who had previously shared racist posts, including one supporting Hitler. — Listen to this article with a free account — When Elon Musk's social media platform X launched …
Spencer Kimball / CNBC:
Trump administration equity stakes pose risks to U.S. companies and markets … The Trump administration's portfolio of equity stakes in U.S. companies has reached a scale that is unprecedented outside economic crisis or wartime. — The administration has taken stakes or has agreements …
Philip Bump / How To Read This Chart:
Let's consider some disasters. — It has been quite a week in quite a month in quite a year in quite a decade, has it not? A lot of things have gone sideways, often driven into ditches by distracted drivers. Happily for us, some interesting data visualizations have emerged as a result.
Dina Doll / Legal AF's Substack:
Ghislaine Maxwell's Bombshell Filing Raises Questions About Epstein's Hidden Network … Buried in a footnote of Ghislaine Maxwell's court filing, she makes the bombshell claim that there twenty-five accomplices of Jeffrey Epstein entered into secret settlements and that there are four unnamed employee co-conspirators of Epstein.
Alexander Willis / Raw Story:
Republicans instructed not to bring up Epstein files in upcoming Pam Bondi hearing: report — Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 11, but according to journalist Aaron Parnas, Republicans on the committee have been instructed …
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Axios
