Trump Corruption

ABC News reports: A federal judge in Rhode Island has formally blocked the Trump Administration’s spending freeze, saying in an order this afternoon that the funding freeze is likely a violation of the Constitution. “During the pendency of the Temporary Restraining Order, Defendants shall not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate Defendants’ compliance with awards and obligations to provide …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration plans to scrutinize scores of F.B.I. agents involved in Trump-related investigations, setting the stage for a possible purge targeting not only the bureau’s leaders but also rank-and-file agents, according to people familiar with the matter. On Friday, interim leaders at the Justice Department instructed the F.B.I. to notify around a half-dozen high-ranking …

Reuters reports: Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials. The systems include a vast database called Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home …

NewsNation reports: The White House on Friday called for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to apologize for remarks pledging to push back against the Trump administration’s agenda. “We are gonna fight it legislatively. We are gonna fight it in the courts. And we’re gonna fight it in the streets,” Jeffries said. A release from the White House communications office …

Axios reports: The White House said it will still roll out 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, alongside 10% tariffs on China, on Feb. 1 — pushing back against a report that suggested tariffs wouldn’t be implemented until March 1. Reuters reported earlier on Friday that the White House would push off tariff implementation until March 1 — …

Business Insider reports: Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the parents of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), are reportedly pursuing a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, according to Bloomberg. SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024 after being convicted of multiple fraud charges. Despite their son’s massive fall from grace, his parents have met with individuals …

Mother Jones reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has admitted to the US Senate that he has reached at least one settlement agreement in which he was accused of misconduct or inappropriate behavior. During Kennedy’s second confirmation hearing Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) raised the issue of personal misconduct. She referred to the allegation that Kennedy had once groped a babysitter. Kennedy …

Politico reports: Around the globe, when rulers consolidate power through a cult of personality, they do not tend to surrender it willingly, even in the face of constitutional limits. And Trump, of course, already has a track record of trying to remain in office beyond his lawful tenure.  If Trump decided he wanted to hold onto power past 2028, there …

Mediaite reports: A whopping 13,000 federal employees reportedly received an abusive email on Thursday after a new broadcast system was quickly exploited. In an email with the subject header, “Resign,” all 13,000 federal employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reportedly received the abusive message, which read, “Aren’t you tired of working for a complete cunt?” “I’m sorry this …

ABC News reports: Workers for the U.S. government received another email Thursday night urging them to resign within one week, by Feb. 6. The memo was similar to the email government employees received on Tuesday. The email, obtained by ABC News, provided information in a Q&A format. It came from an email address reportedly associated with Elon Musk. As with …

“Trump has made clear he has less than zero evidence that the FAA’s hiring of people with disabilities contributed to yesterday’s crash, so this whole conversation is a non-sequitur. But since he has started the conversation, some facts. “The same FAA website language Trump blasted today, about hiring people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities and other significant ‘targeted’ disabilities, was …

The New York Times reports: When Donald J. Trump sued CBS for $10 billion days before the 2024 election, accusing the company of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet. Now Mr. Trump is back in the White House, and …

Axios reports: President Trump ordered a review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions in response to Wednesday night’s deadly air collision near Washington. The order shows Trump is doubling down on his claim, without evidence, that DEI policies were a factor in the crash. His memo explicitly mentions “diversity equity and inclusion,” and reflects how anti-DEI efforts are …

REPORTER: Have you spoken to any of the families of the victims of the plane crash? TRUMP: I don’t want to comment on that. REPORTER: Do you have a plan to go visit the site? TRUMP: What’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming? REPORTER: Or to meet with the responders down there? TRUMP: I don’t have …

First, there’s this little reminder: The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael Whitaker, resigned from his position on January 20 after repeated demands from Elon Musk that he quit, leaving the agency without a Senate-confirmed leader during a major crisis in the wake of the D.C. plane crash. Musk called for Whitaker’s resignation in September after the FAA chief …

CBS News reports: A senator at Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing to be F.B.I. director pressed him to articulate a simple truth: Joseph R. Biden won the 2020 election. Under three minutes of questioning from Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, Mr. Patel conceded only that Mr. Biden was “certified” as the president. “Can you say the words ‘Joe Biden won …

The New York Times reports: Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, informed NPR and PBS this week that he had ordered an investigation into the practice of their member stations airing sponsorships. Mr. Carr told Katherine Maher, NPR’s chief executive, and Paula Kerger, PBS’s chief executive, about the investigation in a letter on Wednesday. Mr. Carr, who …

“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key …

NPR reports: On his first day in office, President Donald Trump granted clemency to every person charged or convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, even those convicted of violently assaulting police officers. But Trump’s pardons and commutations for people he has called “patriots” did not wipe away certain defendants’ extensive criminal records …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted former President Joe Biden and Democratic diversity measures after a midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Washington, D.C., the night before. Trump, speaking at the White House, claimed that DEI “could have been” to blame for the collision, the deadliest U.S. plane …