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9:55 AM ET, February 3, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Lauren Kent / CNN:
USAID workers at Washington HQ told to stay home on Monday in unexpected, early-morning email  —  The main office of the US Agency for International Development in Washington was unexpectedly closed Monday and workers were emailed shortly after midnight that they should not come in …
Discussion: The Federalist and Reuters
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
Musk Says DOGE Halting Treasury Payments to US Contractors  — Musk Calls USAID ‘a criminal organization’ that should ‘die’  — Billionaire expanding his reach across government spending  —  Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down payments …
Margaret Sullivan / American Crisis:
The split personality of Big Journalism in covering this nightmare  —  On Friday, three reporters at the Washington Post broke a huge story.  It might have sounded like some kind of bureaucratic development inside the federal government, but it was much more important than that.
Vittoria Elliott / Wired:
The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover  —  Engineers between 19 and 24, most linked to Musk's companies, are playing a key role as he seizes control of federal infrastructure.  —  Elon Musk's takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing …
Popular Information:
Musk associates given unfettered access to private data of government employees  —  The Musk-connected political hires include two recent high school graduates  —  Several of Elon Musk's associates installed at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have received unprecedented access …
Discussion: The Guardian
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Closes USAID Headquarters  —  Monday closure comes as Elon Musk and DOGE are pushing to get rid of foreign-assistance agency  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. Agency for International Development closed its headquarters to agency personnel on Monday following moves …
Discussion: Axios and Bloomberg
Alexander Vindman / Why It Matters:
Hostile Takeover  —  “Department of Government Efficiency” Hijacks The Federal Government
Discussion: New York Magazine and Mashable
Wall Street Journal:
Musk Moves With Lightning Speed to Exert Control Over the Government
Washington Post:
Trump moves to wrest control of USAID as Musk says, 'We're shutting it down'
Ellen Knickmeyer / Associated Press:
Elon Musk says President Donald Trump has ‘agreed’ USAID should be shut down
David McAfee / Raw Story:
‘This is a five-alarm fire’: Experts pounce on Musk's new ‘grave national security threat’
Discussion: CNN
Brian Mann / NPR:
Trump used fentanyl to justify tariffs, but the crisis was already easing  —  President Trump says illegal street fentanyl is one of the main justifications for sweeping trade tariffs he plans to impose against Canada, China and Mexico on Tuesday.  A statement issued by the White House describes …
RELATED:
Reuters:
Trump says Americans may feel ‘pain’ in trade war with Mexico, Canada, China
Jack Blanchard / Politico:   Playbook: Some unholy (trade) war
Lindsay Wise / Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Move to Put Tariff Hikes Ahead of Tax Cuts Has Spooked Almost Everyone
Discussion: Quartz, New Republic and Grabien
Alan Rappeport / New York Times:
Trump Tariffs Threaten to Upend Global Economic Order
RELATED:
The Hill:   Democrats fume over weak early response to Trump
Burgess Everett / Semafor:   ‘Trump will screw up’: Schumer plots the Democratic comeback
Meredith Shiner / New Republic:
Primary Every Democrat  —  I spent almost a decade covering the United States Senate.  So, believe me when I tell you that I do not want to be a United States senator.  Imagine having a job where your mere existence in the role is a symbol of democratic backsliding, where your leaders torture …
RELATED:
Punchbowl News:   2/3/25 ☀️ AM: … It is said that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
John Zangas / DCMediaGroup:
Federal Workers Block Doors of Admin Building Over Elon Musk Data Breach  —  Nearly 100 Federal employees took part in a protest now into its second day of a takeover by Elon Musk surrogates of the high administration arm of the Federal government.  Photo: DCMediaGroup
Los Angeles Times:
Thousands rally in downtown Los Angeles, shut down 101 Freeway to protest Trump's immigration policies  —  Thousands of demonstrators rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday and shut down a section of the 101 Freeway to protest President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration and his aggressive deportation policies.
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
Follow the Money  —  Hey guys, I'm sending out Monday's Triad on Sunday night for reasons that will be clear when you read it.  So you won't get another Triad in your inbox on Monday—but keep your eyes on the Bulwark homepage, YouTube channel, and podcasts.  The team is doing great work making sense of the chaos monkeys.
John Sakellariadis / Politico:
Gabbard vote expected Tuesday  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to vote on Tulsi Gabbard's nomination as the director of national intelligence during a closed session on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans.  Razor's edge: Following a shaky performance …
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump's meme coin made nearly $100 million in trading fees, as small traders lost money  —  Entities behind President Donald Trump's crypto coin have accumulated close to $100 million in trading fees in less than two weeks, according to estimates from three blockchain analysis firms …
Discussion: DNyuz, more at Techmeme »
Christopher Ingraham / Minnesota Reformer:
Senator's ‘flatly unconstitutional’ proposal would lock in Republican control of chamber for years  —  A Republican senator is proposing an amendment to the state Constitution that would radically alter the structure of the Senate and effectively lock in Republican control of the chamber for the foreseeable future.
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
What's at risk when the federal government also is  —  The sudden stop in federal funding reminded Americans how vital the government is in people's lives.  —  When the seven-day-old Trump administration last week declared that nearly all federal spending would be halted indefinitely …
Joshua Keating / Vox:
Are America's four main adversaries really in cahoots?  —  Hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, China's Xi Jinping made a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which, according to the Chinese foreign ministry's readout, the two leaders pledged to deepen their …
Julia Ainsley / NBC News:
Some migrants arrested in Trump's immigration crackdown have been released back into the U.S.  —  Space constraints and court orders have led ICE to release migrants on monitoring programs after they're arrested.  —  The Trump administration aggressively publicized the arrests …
Bloomberg:
Trump Vows to Punish South Africa Over Expropriation Law  — Ramaphosa enacted new expropriation policy last month  — Rand weakened as much as 2% against dollar after Trump comment  —  President Donald Trump said the US would halt all future funding to South Africa because of its new land-expropriation law.
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 More Items: 
Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
McConnell: Trump pardons a ‘mistake,’ Jan. 6 ‘an insurrection’
Radoslaw Sikorski / New York Times:
I'm the Foreign Minister of Poland. Europe Has Got the Message.
Discussion: Raw Story and DNyuz
Abrahm Lustgarten / New York Times:
The New Evidence Climate Change Will Upend American Homeownership
Lisa Needham / Public Notice:
Trump's mobster media shakedowns
 Earlier Items: 
Tom Boggioni / Raw Story:
Senate urged to recall Kash Patel and put him under oath over FBI purge
Discussion: CBS News
Chris Lunday / Politico:
German election: AfD's Weidel doubles down on Holocaust comments
Ben Smith / Semafor:
MAGA intellectual Darren Beattie will fill key State Department role
Discussion: ABC News, The Forward and Mediaite
Michelle Myers / The Philadelphia Inquirer:
ICE raided his family's North Philly car wash. Here is Jeffrey Lee's account of what happened.
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Killian Faith-Kelly / Press Gazette:
An interview with Jonathan Nunn, founder of Vittles, a newsletter about food that has 84,000 subscribers, on the decision to launch a biannual print magazine

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Every, which runs an online magazine, released an AI-powered word processor, and advises media companies on using AI, raised $2M from Reid Hoffman and others

Matt Stevens / New York Times:
LA mayor Karen Bass issues an executive directive to streamline city processes, lower filming costs, and ease shoots at well-known city-owned locations

 
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