Trump Corruption

JONATHAN SWAN: “Mr. President, given your concerns about corruption, you said if there were any conflicts of interests with Elon Musk, you wouldn’t let him anywhere near it. DOGE and SpaceX employees are now working directly at the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department, agencies that have billions of dollars of contracts with Musk’s companies or regulate them. How …

CNN reports: A federal judge declined on Tuesday to temporarily block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal data systems at a slew of executive branch agencies. The decision by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is an early blow to efforts by a group of Democratic state attorneys general to hamstring Musk and DOGE as they undertake …

404 Media reports: A worker at the General Services Administration told colleagues in a Slack message Tuesday that they have resigned in protest after Elon Musk ally Thomas Shedd requested “admin/root access to all components of the Notify.gov system,” which is a government system used to send mass text messages to the public that contains information the worker said is …

CNN reports: The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers, a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates. CNN was first notified of the firings at the Office of Personnel …

The Washington Post reports: The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with a Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative. Veteran prosecutor Denise Cheung did not spell out her reasons for her sudden resignation in an emailed announcement to …

ABC News reports: A U.S. foreign service officer deployed overseas blamed President Donald Trump administration’s “cruel and harmful shutdown” of USAID for threatening the lives of his pregnant wife and unborn child, according to court documents filed Monday night. Identified in an affidavit only as Terry Doe, the foreign service officer explained in vivid detail how the emotional strain, financial …

NBC News reports: Michelle King, the top official at the Social Security Administration, left her position this weekend after she refused a request from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive government records at the agency. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields confirmed in a statement that King was no longer the head of the agency. One of the …

Axios reports: Top Democrats on the Hill suspect President Trump will ignore one of the many major court rulings that’ll be coming his way, and are gaming out legal and political responses behind the scenes. Democrats are meeting with state attorneys general, top lawyers, litigation firms, constitutional experts and advocacy organizations, multiple top lawmakers told Axios. “Looking into all the implications …

The Hill reports: Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said Monday he asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) efforts to educate people about their rights while facing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is impeding the agency’s operations. Speaking on Fox News, Homan said he finds it disturbing that “any member of Congress wants to educate people …

Yahoo News reports: Demonstrators in New York City filled Manhattan’s Union Square on Monday afternoon, February 17, demanding Congress “uphold the Constitution and end executive overreach,” organizers said. Footage taken by Gili Getz shows the scene in Union Square on Monday afternoon. Demonstrators are seen holding various signs and chanting, “Stop the coup!” Protests had been organized by the 50501 …

The Associated Press reports: Donald Trump is the president, but billionaire Elon Musk is the focus for thousands of Democratic activists launching a protest campaign this week to fight the Trump administration’s push to gut federal health, education and human services agencies. Hundreds of protests are scheduled outside congressional offices and Tesla dealerships, with organizers hoping to send a pointed …

Politico reports: U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday appeared poised to reject an effort to immediately bar Elon Musk and his allies from accessing data or causing firings across a broad swath of the federal government. The judge said an effort by Democrat-led states lacked enough concrete evidence to justify that extraordinary restriction. Chutkan agreed that Musk’s operations through …

Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy wrote yesterday: America deserves safe, state-of-the-art air travel, and President Trump has ordered that I deliver a new, world-class air traffic control system that will be the envy of the world. To do that, I need advice from the brightest minds in America. I’m asking for help from any high-tech American developer or company that is …

From the New York Times editorial board: President Trump’s determination to bend the American justice system to his will, combined with his broad tolerance for political corruption and his abhorrence of checks and balances on his power, slammed hard last week into the commitment to duty, honor and the rule of law shared by a group of federal prosecutors in …

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration wants the Supreme Court to permit the firing of the head of the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers, according to documents obtained Sunday that would mark the first appeal to the justices since President Donald Trump took office. The emergency appeal is the start of what probably will be a steady stream …

Florida Politics reports: Fox Sports commentators at the speedway said winds were gusting more than 30 mph as what was believed to be a record crowd of more than 100,000 at the track were cheering on the beginning of the race. Those winds were gusting ahead of an approaching cold front. Some rain sprinkles caused the caution flag to be …

CBS News reports: President Trump is planning to attend Sunday’s Daytona 500 for the second time as president. He was at the race in 2020 while running for a second term. Mr. Trump was given the honor of being grand marshal of NASCAR’s biggest and most prestigious event of the year and delivered the command for drivers to start their …

The Hill reports: Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan on Sunday pushed back on the idea that prosecutors were ordered to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) by the DOJ in exchange for access to Rikers Island. “It sounds like the DOJ dropped the case against Adams, [and in] exchange, he let you into Rikers,” CNN’s Dana …

PolitiFact reports: As he described his intention to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, President Donald Trump derided the U.S. education system, arguing the country performs the worst globally despite spending the most. In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier that aired Feb. 10, Trump said the U.S. performs poorly on the global scale despite spending more than …

The New York Times reports: President Trump on Saturday posted on social media a single sentence that appears to encapsulate his attitude as he tests the nation’s legal and constitutional boundaries in the process of upending the federal government and punishing his perceived enemies. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” Mr. Trump wrote, first on his social …