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Little-noticed order that gives US president powers far beyond mere oversight denounced as ‘breathtaking’

Unusually for him, Donald Trump made no great fuss as he signed one drily worded executive order last Tuesday.

Public attention was distracted that day – by the headline-grabbing drama of Elon Musk bludgeoning his way through the federal bureaucracy, by immigrants deported to Guantánamo Bay, and by the torrent of other directives Trump has issued since his inauguration last month.

But Trump’s 69th executive order of his second presidency, under the deceptive title of “Ensuring accountability for all agencies”, has been denounced as a “bald power grab” that advances a political doctrine intended to make a dictator of the president.

The order, wedged between the signing of a directive to end Covid vaccine mandates in schools and another expanding access to in vitro fertilisation, also contains a single paragraph that permits the president to decide the law and who should obey it.

The paragraph has alarmed even some constitutional conservatives who otherwise agree with many of Trump’s actions. Other critics characterise it as another step toward an American brand of despotism.

Frank Bowman, a law professor and former federal prosecutor who authored High Crimes and Misdemeanors: A History of Impeachment for the Age of Trump, described the executive order as “breathtaking”.

“The essence of it is that Donald Trump is trying, quite consciously, to make himself an elected dictator,” he said.
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday
Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon talks to former National Security Adviser John Bolton about the foreign policy implications of Friday's shocking press conference between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.
Samantha Granville
BBC News

Gene Hackman was a normal person in Santa Fe. And he really loved that.

Residents in the New Mexico city say they were excited to welcome such a massive celebrity to the community when he and his wife Betsy Arakawa arrived more than 20 years ago, but they treated him like anyone else.

"He wasn't famous here" was the phrase I heard when asking residents about why the movie star chose to call New Mexico's capital home. They describe a down-to-earth, chatty man who supported local businesses and enjoyed its flourishing arts scene.

Everyone here has a story to tell about Hackman, who was found dead alongside his wife and their dog at their home in the quiet desert city earlier this week.
Chris Arnold

Two weeks ago, Eileen Kramer and her husband James each received termination letters in their email inboxes.

"They were saying we were underperforming, which isn't true," Eileen said.

The couple, who live and work in the sprawling 4-million-acre Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, may soon have to vacate the house they're living in because it is owned by the Park Service.

"It's more than just losing our job," James said. "We're losing our life."

"We've given so much to this place and we've created a life here," explained Eileen, "and that's being taken away dishonestly."

The couple has worked in Lake Clark for about 10 years. She's in logistics, he's a biological science technician. They were both recently promoted. Those promotions put them into probationary status in their new positions.

The Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of federal workers with "probationary" status, which usually means newer workers, and makes them easier to let go. But those workers still have some rights and protections, and many say the administration has used false pretenses to fire them.
By GENE JOHNSON

SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth will remain blocked on a long-term basis under a federal judge’s ruling in Seattle late Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King previously granted a two-week restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration — Colorado has since joined the case.

King’s temporary order expired Friday, and she held arguments that day before issuing a preliminary injunction blocking most of Trump’s plan pending a final decision on the merits of the case. She rejected a portion of the states’ challenge regarding the order’s protections against female genital mutilation, on grounds that “no credible threat of prosecution exists” in such cases.
Story by Paul Farrell and Reuters

Just hours after Donald Trump shocked the world by chastising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the president took to his TruthSocial page to promise to pardon baseball great Pete Rose.

Rose, who died last year at 83, was banned from baseball for life. He admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, though never against his own team. "Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete pardon of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on his team winning," Trump posted on Truth Social.

"He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history."

Trump did not say what the pardon would cover, as Rose was not convicted of a crime. The commander-in-chief made a similar plea during his first term in February 2020 and again in 2024.
Story by Ashley Oliver, Washington Examiner

Department of Justice attorneys have broadened President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 defendants to include certain crimes that did not occur at the U.S. Capitol, raising questions from at least one judge about the clemency’s shifting scope.

Judge Dabney Friedrich this week asked the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., which is currently being run on an interim basis by Trump-ally Ed Martin, to explain why it had a change of heart for one such defendant.

The defendant, Dan Wilson, was supposed to report back to prison on Saturday for illegal possession of multiple pistols and rifles, which police found in 2022 while executing a search warrant at Wilson's home as part of a Jan. 6 investigation.

Wilson had been freed from prison because of Trump's pardon, but DOJ attorney Jennifer Blackwell alerted the court on Feb. 6 that Wilson's release was mistaken because the pardon "did not extend" to the firearms convictions.

Less than three weeks later, the DOJ reversed course. Blackwell said in court papers that the DOJ had "received further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon" and that it should, in fact, apply to Wilson's firearms convictions.

Wilson admitted in a plea agreement that his possession of the firearms was illegal because he had been convicted in the 1990s of multiple felonies, including burglary, and because one of the guns was not registered to him.
Story by Billal Rahman

President Donald Trump's close confidant and billionaire backer Elon Musk has supported a call for the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN).

In a post on Saturday night, Musk endorsed a suggestion from user @GuntherEagleman, who wrote: "It's time to leave NATO and the UN."

Why It Matters
Musk's influential relationship with Trump is well-documented, and his endorsement adds weight to growing skepticism within the administration toward international alliances. The U.S. has been critical of NATO, with Trump frequently questioning its value and pushing allies to increase defense spending.

Musk, leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is focused on cutting federal spending and has already dismantled multiple federal agencies.

What To Know
Although Trump has not directly stated plans to exit NATO, he has consistently urged European nations to increase their defense spending, warning that the United States should not shoulder the alliance's financial burden alone.

Days after his inauguration, Trump said he was not sure the U.S. should be spending anything on NATO, telling reporters the U.S. was protecting NATO members, but they were "not protecting us."
Story by Brenton Blanchet

Donald Trump has declared English as the official language of the United States.

On Saturday, March 1, the president signed his latest executive order, naming English as the national language. It marks a first in the nearly 250-year history of the U.S. — a country where residents speak more than 350 languages.

The executive order begins: "From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language. Our Nation's historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English. It is therefore long past time that English is declared as the official language of the United States."

"A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language," the order continues.

Trump goes on to note that a policy of encouraging new Americans to learn and adopt the national language will "make the United States a shared home."

The order also states: "To promote unity, cultivate a shared American culture for all citizens, ensure consistency in government operations, and create a pathway to civic engagement, it is in America's best interest for the Federal Government to designate one — and only one — official language."
Trump administration officials say the path to a peace deal to end the war depends on Zelenskyy’s next moves.
By Carol E. Lee, Kristen Welker and Courtney Kube

WASHINGTON — After Friday’s public clash between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. officials say the path to a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine is deeply uncertain — and wholly dependent the Ukrainian leader’s next steps.

Since the blowup, Trump administration officials have also discussed whether to pause U.S. military aid to Ukraine, according to two administration officials, though it’s unclear whether or when the president would take such a step.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment.

Zelenskyy was at the White House on Friday to sign a deal with Trump that would cut in the U.S. on money from mining rare earths and other critical minerals in Ukraine after the war with Russia ends. Trump has said the economic deal with the U.S. would serve as a security guarantee for Ukraine against a future Russian invasion like the one that started the war in February 2022. But the deal was never signed and remains in limbo.

Trump’s aides asked Zelenskyy to leave the White House after an Oval Office meeting featuring nearly an hour of remarks and questions from reporters devolved into a spat, which left the president angry and publicly questioning whether the Ukrainian leader wants to negotiate an end to the war.
By David Shepardson and Nate Raymond

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Saturday declared President Donald Trump's firing of the head of a federal watchdog agency illegal in an early test of the scope of presidential power likely to be decided at the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington had previously ruled Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, could remain in his post pending a ruling.

Jackson said in her ruling Saturday, opens new tab that upholding Trump's ability to fire Dellinger would give him "a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will."
The Justice Department filed a notice late on Saturday saying they were appealing Berman's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Dellinger, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden and approved by the Senate to a five-year term last year, said in an email to Reuters he is "grateful to see the court confirm the importance and legality of the job protections Congress afforded my position."
Story by Jack Izzo & Amelia Clarke

In February 2025, Alnur Mussayev, a former Soviet and Kazakh security official, claimed in a Facebook post that U.S. President Donald Trump was recruited in 1987 by the KGB, the intelligence agency of the Soviet Union, and assigned the code name "Krasnov."

Mussayev's post didn't state whether he personally recruited Trump or simply knew about the recruitment, nor did it state whether Trump actively participated in espionage or was just a potential asset.
Trump did visit Moscow in 1987, but there is no clear evidence suggesting he was actively recruited by the KGB during that trip or at any other time.

Mussayev's allegations that Trump was recruited by the KGB at that time don't line up with Mussayev's documented career path. Several biographies of him on Russian-language websites suggest that at the time Trump was supposedly recruited, Mussayev was working in the Soviet Union's Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the KGB.

Trump's pro-Russia stance (compared with other U.S. presidents) has fed into past allegations that he is a Russian asset — for instance, the 2021 book "American Kompromat" featured an interview with a former KGB spy who also claimed the agency recruited Trump as an asset. Again, however, there is no clear evidence supporting this claim.

In late February 2025, a rumor circulated online that Russian intelligence recruited U.S. President Donald Trump as an "asset" in the late 1980s and gave him the code name "Krasnov," following allegations from a former Soviet and Kazakh security official, Alnur Mussayev.
Story by Ben Chapman

Vladimir Putin’s “game plan” is clear to see after President Trump’s extraordinary confrontation with Volodymyr Zelensky, according to defence expert Robert Fox.

Speaking on GB News, Fox gave his verdict on the Oval Office clash that sent shockwaves across the world.

Figures like Nigel Farage have warned the clash only served to benefit Putin, and eyes are now on Moscow to see how the Russian President reacts.

“What Putin wants is a ceasefire from which Russia, on Victory Day, in the Red Square, is say that ‘we won’”, Fox said on GB News.

“That’s what Putin really wants. Putin wants to show that it was worth it. He wants to ensure this part of Europe remains part of the Russian sphere.

“That is what is going on. Russians are working for a big deal on minerals and we’ve heard about minerals in Ukraine, but they’re trying to do joint production with American companies in Russia and the Arctic.
The tech billionaire argued Friday on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast that one of America's most enduring social safety nets is an insidious ploy.
By  Marco Margaritoff

Elon Musk is calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” prompting suspicion that the world’s richest man is merely hoping to privatize a social safety net that has existed since the 1930s — and has kept millions of elderly, poor and disabled Americans from destitution.

The billionaire argued Friday on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that the United States government is “one big pyramid scheme” before blasting Social Security as “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

When asked to clarify, Musk said, “Well, people pay into Social Security and the money goes out of Social Security immediately, but the obligation for Social Security is your entire retirement career. If you look at the future obligations of Social Security, it far exceeds the tax revenue.”

Musk, who oversees Trump’s cost-cutting initiative for federal spending, the Department of Government Efficiency, added that “people are living way longer than expected” and thus the government’s obligation to pay the debt “will be much worse in the future.”

He is far from the first conservative to characterize Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” which refers to a type of fraud in which existing customers get payouts that come from the investments of new customers.
Story by Maurício Alencar

Secretary of State Marco Rubio threw a tantrum in an interview with ABC News after This Week presenter George Stephanopoulos claimed the Trump administration had “taken steps to placate Putin.”

Rubio was fuming as he dodged questions from Stephanopoulos and made an eyebrow-raising comparison between the war in Ukraine to conflicts in the Middle East.

Throughout the segment, which lasted over ten minutes, Rubio insisted Trump’s central mission was to open peace negotiations with President Vladimir Putin.

“The president is basically saying, there’s this horrible war. It’s been going on for three years. It is a bloody stalemate, a meat grinder-type war, and he wants it to end. How does it end? It’s very simple. The only way it ends is if Vladimir Putin comes to a negotiating table.”

“Right now, President Trump is the only person on earth who has any chance whatsoever of bringing him to a table to see what it is he would be willing to end the war,” he added.

But just moments later, Rubio admitted that the Trump administration had no idea what Putin’s demands were for a peace agreement to be made, despite several talks between American and Russian officials over the last month.

This includes at least one conversation held on the phone between Trump and Putin as well as a long and intimate meeting between the Russian leader and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow in February.
Why does Trump keep doing things that helps Russia and hurts us?


NBC confirms Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down on all offensive cyber operations and information operations against Russia. MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart unpacks this breaking news with his panel.
Story by Jack Hobbs

President Donald Trump has seemingly fueled the rumors that the entire shocking takedown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with vice-president JD Vance was nothing more than a setup.

The rumors, which immediately started swirling after the disastrous meeting on Friday, were seemingly confirmed after Trump posted an analysis by a martial arts instructor who called the entire thing a "setup."

Trump shared the analysis, which was written by the head of an Arizona karate dojo, who claimed that, instead of the chaotic meeting accidentally going off the rails, the entire thing was meant to go the way that it did. The author of the post commented that it was a "brilliant strategy" and that Trump was a "master chess player."

"So what you witnessed tonight was a setup," Michael McCune in his lengthy post on his Facebook group page. "Trump and JD Vance knew that the only way to achieve peace was to strategically align, at least on the surface, with Russia. Why? Because Russia would never sign a peace treaty if Ukraine were admitted into NATO."
Opinion by Thomas G. Moukawsher

What do you do when you—the richest man in the world—have around $400 billion to play with and you're being hassled with health, safety, and ethics regulations? You buy the guy who runs the regulatory system of course—then you dismantle every part of it that ever annoyed you.

Elon Musk has done just that by buying himself President Donald Trump. You can imagine Musk channeling his inner Doctor Evil while he made nearly $300 million of payments for Trump's political benefit and then $10 million in bogus lawsuit settlement money for Trump's personal benefit.

Now we can watch Musk laughing while he takes his chainsaw to the government as a whole—which conveniently includes those responsible for regulating his companies and overseeing the over $20 billion of contracts the country has had with his entities.

Watch the bouncing coin drop on one Musk investigation after another—like the ball in some old-fashioned cartoon sing-a-long.

The coin—the ball— began bouncing on Musk's problems nearly his first day as a "special government employee." Remember that weekend Musk spent feeding USAID into the woodchipper? Why start with USAID? One undeniable effect of it was to shut down an agency that was mounting an investigation into its relationship with Musk's Starlink. One down.
Does that mean Musk is part of the Parasite Class he and his companies have benefited from federal programs? Does that mean farmers and business that benefit from federal programs are part of the Parasite Class? What about people who need federal aid when their homes are destroyed are part of the Parasite Class?

Story by Taija PerryCook

Claim:
Tech mogul Elon Musk reposted a meme on X that called those who benefit from U.S. federal programs the "Parasite Class."

Rating:
True (About this rating?)

A screenshot of an alleged X post that tech billionaire Elon Musk reposted with the caption: "Watching Trump slash federal programs knowing it doesn't affect you because you're not a member of the Parasite Class" circulated the internet widely in February 2025.

It elicited cries of hypocrisy, as people claimed he also receives forms of government assistance.
Story by George Bunn

Elon Musk has sparked criticism from Republicans after agreeing with calls for the United States to withdraw from Nato and the United Nations.

The billionaire, who serves as a senior White House adviser in Donald Trump's administration, made the statement on his social media platform X.

Musk's brief comment came in response to a post by conservative commentator Gunther Eagleman, who wrote: "It's time to leave Nato and the UN."

The tech mogul simply replied: "I agree."

Eagleman, who has 1.3 million followers on X, regularly publishes views on US politics and is a supporter of President Donald Trump. Republican Senator Mike Lee has also suggested the USA should consider withdrawing from Nato.

On his X page, Lee described the alliance as a "Cold War relic" which is "a great deal for Europe" but "not beneficial for America".
Story by Lee Moran

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), once a close ally of Donald Trump, suggested Sunday that the president must now recognize how his stance on Russia and its President Vladimir Putin is perceived.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos — following Trump’s Oval Office berating of Ukrainian Preident Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday — Christie said: “What we need to understand is, and what I think the president should try to do now, is to understand that part of the problem here is that he looks and sounds like an ally of Putin.”

Rachel Maddow considers the number of ways that Donald Trump has been working to appease Russian President Vladimir Putin without extracting any concessions from Russia to ensure the security of Ukraine. Courtney Kube, NBC News Pentagon correspondent, joins to discuss Trump's cut off of aid to Ukraine and whether there is any upside for America in this deal arranged by the "America first" president.
Story by Paul Blumenthal, Arthur Delaney, Lilli Petersen

During a viciously partisan and seemingly never-ending speech littered with attacks on Democrats as the enemy of the country and lies about government spending, President Donald Trump accidentally screwed himself in court.

In touting the work of billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump thanked Musk and declared that the agency is “headed by Elon Musk.” That is going to be a major problem for Trump, Musk and DOGE as Musk’s position and many of the actions taken by DOGE are challenged in numerous lawsuits as illegal due to Musk exercising power that he should not legally have.

DOGE faces numerous legal challenges where this statement will now play a major role. One lawsuit directly challenges Musk’s position as illegal under the Appointments Act for exercising powers that can only be exercised by a Senate confirmed appointee. Others challenge DOGE’s access to payment systems for being illegally authorized due to Musk’s improper appointment.

The Trump administration has sought to obfuscate Musk’s position in government by, first, refusing to state in court who heads DOGE and, then, naming Amy Gleason as its administrator. But now Trump’s declaration to the whole nation that DOGE is “headed up by Elon Musk” undermines Gleason’s alleged appointment and the arguments Trump’s Justice Department is making in court.

Plaintiffs in one case challenging DOGE’s actions and Musk’s appointment filed a notice of new evidence highlighting Trump’s comment after his speech concluded.
Opinion by Matthew Chapman

President Donald Trump's tariff war is going to "whack" communities that cast the strongest votes for him, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote in a new warning analysis published on Tuesday.

Trump had previously planned to let the tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect last month, but authorized a 30-day extension after heavy pressure caused him to "blink," in the board's previous words. This time, he seems determined to go through with it, although even now he appears to be considering some sort of compromise.

"Tariffs are taxes, and Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs are estimated to be about an annual $150 billion tax increase," wrote the board. "Taxes are antigrowth. That’s the message investors are sending this week since Mr. Trump let his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect. The President also raised his 10% tariff on China by another 10%. Canada and China retaliated, while Mexico is holding off until Sunday." As far as some immediate impacts, the board wrote, "Brace for higher prices on berries, bell peppers, and, gulp, beer" — with one of the most popular beers in the country, Mexican-brewed Modelo Especial, taking a clear hit.
By Tucker Reals, Ahmad Mukhtar, Anna Coren, Haley Ott

President Trump's imposition of blanket 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico drew swift vows of retaliation from the United States' immediate neighbors on Tuesday. China, which was hit with a second 10% tariff on U.S. exports since Mr. Trump took office, bringing the total levy to 20%, immediately announced its own reciprocal measures — deliberately targeting America's agricultural sector.

A Canadian official confirmed to CBS News that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly intened to speak on Wednesday.

Below is a look at the measures being imposed or planned by Canada, China and Mexico, and the rhetoric coming from officials in those countries as Mr. Trump ramps up his trade war against one of America's biggest adversaries, and its two closest neighbors.

Canada announces reciprocal tariffs; Trudeau calls Trump's move "a very dumb thing to do"

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced immediate retaliation to the new U.S. tariffs in a statement late Monday evening. He said Canada would impose a $30 billion counter-tariff on goods imported from the U.S. immediately, escalating to $155 billion worth of American products within the next 21 days. Trudeau has said previously that Canada would target American beer, wine, bourbon and home appliances, along with Florida orange juice, with its measures.

"Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered," Trudeau said, adding that he was already discussing with Canada's provincial leaders various non-tariff measures that could be imposed if the Trump administration doesn't lift its tariffs.
Musk is a big part of the Parasite Class he criticizes, he and his companies have benefited from federal programs.


Elon Musk's business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding, a new report alleges. Meanwhile, Musk is profiting off of government contracts while pushing layoffs.
By JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and ROB GILLIES

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump launched a trade war Tuesday against America’s three biggest trading partners, drawing immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China and sending financial markets into a tailspin as the U.S. faced the threat of rekindled inflation and paralyzing uncertainty for business.

Just after midnight, Trump imposed 25% taxes, or tariffs, on Mexican and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to 10% on Canadian energy. Trump also doubled the tariff he slapped last month on Chinese products to 20%.

Beijing retaliated with tariffs of up to 15% on a wide array of U.S. farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
Story by Lee Moran

Critics slammed Donald Trump’s latest admission of the negative impact his tariffs will have on the American economy and U.S. citizens, with Rep. Jerry Gomez (D-Calif.) describing it on social media as the president’s own “’let them eat cake’ moment.”

Trump, during his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, said the tariffs are “about making America rich again and making America great again.”

“It’s happening and it will happen rather quickly,” he boasted.

But Trump then confessed: “There will be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”

Watch here:
The Commerce Department is about to give billions to Elon Musk as part of internet program: report
Story by Naomi LaChance

Changes to a program expanding internet access could “drastically increase” opportunities for Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The Commerce Department is looking to change a Biden era program that intends to make the internet more widely available across the country as soon as this week, meaning his satellite internet system, Starlink, will stand to profit.

Reporter Patience Haggin writes, “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told staff he plans to make the grant program ‘technology-neutral,’ the people said. That change will free up states to award more funds to satellite-internet providers like Starlink, rather than mainly to companies that lay fiber-optic cables, to connect the millions of U.S. households that lack high-speed internet service.”

Starlink is part of SpaceX, Musk’s space technology company. The $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program placed rules around the usage of satellites — they could only be used where it wasn’t a good idea to lay fiber cables, because they thought cables were more reliable and durable. Republicans say the program moves too slowly.
FAA employees threatened with termination if they 'impede' SpaceX takeover: report
Story by Brad Reed

Bloomberg is reporting that members of the Federal Aviation Administration have been threatened with termination if they act to "impede" a takeover by SpaceX, the private space exploration firm owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

According to Bloomberg's sources, SpaceX engineer Ted Malaska last month came to the FAA's headquarters in Washington D.C. and gave employees what he described as a directive from Musk himself to "immediately start work on a program to deploy thousands of the company’s Starlink satellite terminals to support the national airspace system."

Furthermore they were given 18 months to complete this task and were told that they would be reported directly to Musk should they impede progress on it.

Musk is not an elected official nor a Senate-confirmed cabinet official, and it's not clear what authority he has to fire federal employees.

Behind Elon Musk's rise to becoming the world's wealthiest entrepreneur lies an untold story of government support.
Story by Joey Garrison and Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration Wednesday abruptly removed an inventory of 443 federal properties highlighted by some of the federal government's most iconic buildings that had been listed for potential sale the previous day.

The online list was initially attached to a news release Tuesday outlining plans for "decisive action to dispose of non-core assets" and singling out federal buildings that had become "functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by our federal workforce"

But on Wednesday, the General Services Administration's "non-core property list" was blank, with a new headline that read, "coming soon."

"We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties, for disposal," the updated page reads.

When asked why the list was taken down, Stephanie Joseph, acting associate administrator for the GSA's Office of Strategic Communication, said in a statement that the agency is reviewing the list. She said it will consider "compelling offers (in accordance with applicable laws and regulations) and do what's best for the needs of the federal government and taxpayer."
Story by Rey Harris

Washington DC - President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has reportedly been fudging the numbers on how much they claim to be saving with their massive cuts.

According to The New York Times, the agency updated the Savings page on their website late Sunday night, erasing or altering more than 1,000 contracts that they previously claimed were canceled while adding about another 1,000 worth much smaller savings.

The deleted listings accounted for 40% of accounts, including five of the seven largest savings, added to the site's "Wall of Receipts" last week.
Why does Trump keep doing things that help Putin and Russia? Is Trump a Russian asset?


US authorities have stopped intelligence sharing with Ukraine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed on Wednesday.

Following Washington suspending military aid to Kiev in the context of the Russian invasion of February 2022; the US administration has decided to plunge Ukraine into darkness. This is the end of intelligence sharing with Kiev, which could seriously hamper the ability of the Ukrainian military to attack Russian forces.
Why does Trump keep doing things that help Putin and Russia? Is Trump a Russian asset?

Story by Dominic Culverwell

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly ready to lift sanctions on Russia imposed after the start of the full-scale invasion, in a reversal of U.S. policy toward Moscow during its war against Ukraine.

The White House is preparing a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief for several entities and Russian citizens as part of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported on March 3. The move is a stark shift from a sanctions policy by former President Joe Biden’s administration that included the “mother of all sanctions,”

Europe and the G7 nations want to keep sanctions to throttle Russia’s economy and continue to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin. They may have no other option than to follow Washington to maintain unity among Ukraine’s allies and avoid being a pariah in the global economy.

“The big revenue raising opportunities for Russia are still linked to business connected with Europe, and Europe can stand fast on that. But very quickly Europe would find itself marginalized,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a think tank.

Although the effectiveness of sanctions has been debated, they have clearly gotten under the skin of Putin, who has repeatedly called for their end. Sanctions, particularly on the oil and gas industry, have been a headache for Moscow, forcing it to resort to a shadow fleet to sell discounted fuel while incurring higher export costs.

Elon Musk says DOGE is rooting out fraud, but the Washington Post reports the agency has yet to identify much fraud. Washington Post columnist Philip Bump joins Katy Tur to explain more.
Story by Samuel O'Brient

Often considered the serial entrepreneur of his generation, Elon Musk is no stranger to juggling many responsibilities.

After years of running Tesla  (TSLA) , SpaceX and xAI, among other companies, he recently took on a new position at the helm of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a role that seems to be occupying most of his time these days.

However, despite his vast portfolio of companies that span different industries, Musk recently tried to expand it even further, offering to acquire one of the most popular names in tech, shocking many people.

This quest has a new development, suggesting that even Musk’s vast resources and significant reach may not be enough to move the needle in his favor, a phenomenon that he likely isn’t used to.

Musk’s latest acquisition target is moving further out of his reach
In February 2025, Musk made an announcement that likely shocked many people, even those who follow his moves closely. Accompanied by other group members, he submitted an offer to acquire OpenAI, the artificial intelligence (AI) research organization responsible for creating ChatGPT.
By law, only Congress can fully close federal agencies. But the department is already facing another 'very significant' workforce reduction, according to an email to staff sent last week.
Zachary Schermele, Joey Garrison USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A preliminary executive order prepared for President Donald Trump seeks to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law," according to a draft reviewed by USA TODAY.

The order would direct Linda McMahon, the newly installed education secretary, to dismantle the agency she oversees. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on X that Trump won't sign an order Thursday, as some media outlets have reported, but she did not rule out action coming later.

A White House official told USA TODAY Trump is still examining his next steps toward a potential executive action and addressing the future of the Department of Education.
Story by Tom Boggioni

Late Wednesday night Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account and attempted to quell speculation about a comment he made to Chief Justice John Roberts following his speech to the nation on Tuesday night.

Multiple outlets reported on the exchange which was picked up on a hot mic, where the president told the jurist "Thank you again. Thank you again. Won’t forget it,” as he patted Roberts on the arm.

That has led to speculation that Trump was giving a late thanks to Roberts for penning the conservative-majority decision that granted Trump wide-ranging immunity for most all crimes past and future.
Story by Jai Hamid

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) is running government money straight into his business empire. No official paper trail confirms it, but the numbers tell their own story. Billions of dollars in government contracts are shifting toward SpaceX, Starlink, and Tesla, while Elon sits at the center of it all—both as a White House adviser and the man behind the companies cashing in.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already locked in a deal with Starlink to upgrade the agency’s IT networks. Meanwhile, Starlink is also poised to grab a $2 billion contract for the nation’s air traffic communications system, a deal currently held by Verizon.

That’s not all—Tesla has been linked to a $400 million contract for armored electric vehicles, a number that’s far beyond the previous administration’s $483,000 budget for similar projects.

D.O.G.E scrubs billions in claims from its records
Elon’s D.O.G.E claims it’s saving taxpayers money, but the numbers on its “wall of receipts” keep changing. In just one week, the department erased $4 billion worth of savings it previously claimed, wiping or altering over 1,000 contracts from its public records. These weren’t small numbers—five of the seven biggest savings listed just vanished overnight.

Since February 19, the total amount D.O.G.E has claimed in government contract cuts has gone from $16 billion to less than $9 billion, according to an investigation from the NY Times. The DOGE.gov website is the only place where these cuts are publicly accounted for, yet it’s been littered with errors, duplicate claims, and numbers that don’t add up.
As press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the quiet part out loud about Trump’s tariffs, a reporter who covers Trumpworld explains why his vile bullying of our allies should be taken a lot more seriously.
The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent

In his speech to Congress, President Trump kept lying about his tariffs, falsely claiming that Canada is letting huge amounts of fentanyl into our country and suggesting the trade wars will only get worse. Then press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters directly that if Canada wants to avoid tariffs in the future, it should become the fifty-first U.S. state.
Story by S.V. Date

WASHINGTON ― The White House’s favored new reporter, the one who scolded Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit, was the primary voice at a “news” outlet that has taken $192,000 from President Donald Trump’s political committees, nearly half of which came while he was program director there.

Brian Glenn now works for a pro-Trump streaming platform called Real America’s Voice, but from September 2020 to May 2024, he was the most visible face at Right Side Broadcasting Network. Over those years, the outlet took $92,000 in “broadcast” fees, first from Trump’s Save America committee and then from Trump’s campaign, according to a HuffPost review of Federal Election Commission filings.

Glenn acknowledged the payments in a brief interview, describing them as “production” costs, and then pointed to the row of television cameras set up in the back of the White House briefing room.

“Who pays for them?” he asked, suggesting that the major networks like NBC, CNN and Fox also accept money from the entities they cover.

In fact, taking such payments would be considered a serious ethical breach among reputable news outlets. The television networks covering this and previous White Houses, as well as print and radio outlets, all pay their own expenses when covering political events, as does HuffPost.
Story by Liliana Oleniak

Some US allies are considering reducing the amount of intelligence they share with Washington in response to the Donald Trump administration's conciliatory approach to Russia. They fear the transfer of data to Moscow, NBC News reports.

According to the sources, the allies are considering this step because of concerns about protecting foreign agents whose identities could be inadvertently revealed.

Every intelligence agency treats its obligations to foreign agents as sacrosanct, promising to ensure the agents' safety and conceal their identities. Anything that jeopardizes that commitment undermines trust, former officials say, and could lead some spy services to refrain from sharing information with Washington.

The sources said that allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and members of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence alliance, are exploring the possibility of revising current intelligence-sharing protocols to reflect the Trump administration's warming relations with Russia.

“Those discussions are already happening,” said a source with direct knowledge of the discussions. However, according to the sources, no decisions or actions have been taken.

According to the sources, the review is part of a broader examination of the range of relations with Washington among many US allies, including diplomacy, trade and military cooperation, as well as intelligence issues.
Story by Chris Hayes

During Karoline Leavitt’s first official on-camera briefing as White House press secretary, she alleged that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza.”

It was supposed to be the first big “gotcha” from DOGE. But, as we know now, it was a lie. As Jeremy Konyndyk, the former director of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Foreign Disaster Assistance Office, told me recently, the U.S. government gets condoms for about 5 cents apiece. That means $50 million would buy a billion condoms, or roughly 467 for every Gaza resident. And according to a federal 2024 report, USAID didn’t provide or fund any condoms in the entire Middle East in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.

When asked about the false figure, Musk told reporters from the Oval Office “some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected ... nobody’s gonna bat a thousand” and admitted his agency would make mistakes “but we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”

On Tuesday, Reuters released an analysis of what DOGE says are its results. Reuters audited the claims of so-called savings and waste on DOGE’s website and found that in “its latest update this week, DOGE either modified or removed more than 1,000 entries on its list, nearly half of the spending arrangements it had listed the week before.”
Story by Chris Hayes

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump told a lot of lies during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday. There were small lies, there were big lies and then there was the “big lie.”

Trump used perhaps the largest stage in the country to carry out a coordinated campaign of blatant falsehoods to systematically burn down and destroy an American institution. Trump has used this playbook before. In 2020, he undermined the legitimacy of America’s free and fair elections. On Tuesday, he used it to undermine the legitimacy of America’s most important safety net for its citizens: Social Security.

There is a pattern to what Trump is doing and what he has goaded other Republicans into saying. It’s a deliberate attempt to alter reality, and it’s a pattern he established throughout the 2020 campaign and its aftermath, all the way up to Jan. 6 and beyond. Despite the fact his legal team was laughed out of court dozens of times, Trump was obsessed with convincing his fan base that the voting system in the U.S, which is the gold standard for free elections around the world, was shot through with fraud.

This wasn’t a new obsession. In 2016, even before votes were counted, Trump alleged that the election was “rigged” against him. He ultimately won the election and, of course, didn’t challenge that outcome. But once he lost in 2020, Trump went back to his old playbook, particularly the myth of dead people voting for Democrats. It had been a fringe right-wing talking point for years, but Trump elevated the lie to new prominence.
Story by Lucy Strathmore

Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Wednesday thanked the Iowa House Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee for passing the state’s Medicaid Work Requirements bill.

According to Iowa HHS, there are “over 100,000 able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients in Iowa [who] are not working.” Reynolds is pushing for a federal waiver to require able-bodied adults on Medicaid to work in order to received benefits, “with common sense exemptions.” (Medicaid provides health insurance for children and for disabled, elderly, and low-income individuals.)

As seen below, Reynolds wrote to her constituents on X: “If you can work, you should. It's time to refocus Iowa's Medicaid program on its core population-aged, disabled, and children.” Note: Reynolds omitted “low-income individuals” from the core population of recipients of Medicaid.
Donald Trump is giving us whiplash with his Russia stance.

Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Russia Friday—before getting right back to blaming Ukraine for the continued fighting there.

Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that he was “strongly considering” placing additional sanctions on Russia, referring to reports that the fighting was still ongoing in Ukraine—which he recently cut off from U.S. military aid and intelligence after clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week.

“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED,” Trump wrote. “To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”

Trump’s feeble first attempt at intimidating Russian President Vladimir Putin into ending the war comes just days after the White House reportedly started making a list of sanctions on Russia that they could lift as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing negotiations to end the invasion of Ukraine. This included lifting sanctions on individuals such as Russian oligarchs, who Trump has insisted are “very nice people.”

Despite his supposedly tougher message to Russia on social media, Trump continued his capitulation to Putin during a press conference, downplaying Russia’s continued aggression toward Ukraine while finding a way to blame Ukraine for the fighting.
That is some BS if it was in a majority- white community they would not be dropping the lawsuit.

Story by MATTHEW DALY and MICHAEL PHILLIS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday celebrated its decision to drop a federal lawsuit against a Louisiana petrochemical plant accused of worsening cancer risks for residents in a majority-Black community, saying the dismissal showed that officials are “delivering on President (Donald) Trump’s promise to dismantle radical DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs and restore integrity to federal enforcement efforts.”

The dismissal Wednesday of the two-year-old case underscored the Trump administration's commitment to “eliminate ideological overreach and restore impartial enforcement of federal laws,'' Justice said in a statement.

At the same time, the Environmental Protection Agency withdrew its formal referral of the case to the Justice Department. The agency said the action aligns with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s pledge to end the use of “environmental justice” as an enforcement tool that Zeldin was too often used to advance liberal ideological priorities.
Story by Malathi Nayak

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk is set to be questioned under oath about his 2022 acquisition of Twitter Inc. in an investor lawsuit alleging that his on-again off-again move to purchase the social media platform was a ruse to lower its stock price.

After attorneys for the world’s richest person initially balked at making him appear in person for a deposition, Musk has agreed to meet with lawyers for the investors on April 3 in Washington, DC, according to a court filing submitted Friday by lawyers on both sides.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/too-little-too-late-how-mcconnell-brought-america-to-this-perilous-moment/ar-AA1ADdya?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=9bc4ed9e491947c494acbb0660d17c09&ei=60
'Too little, too late': How McConnell brought America to 'this perilous moment'
Story by Alex Henderson

No one in the GOP has done more to push the U.S. Supreme Court to the far right than Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who recently announced that he won't be seeking an eighth term in 2026. After blocking former President Barack Obama's High Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016, the then-Senate majority leader aggressively pushed all three of President Donald Trump's SCOTUS picks: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.

In 2022, Justices Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett were part of the 5-4 majority ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade after 49 years in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Center. Yet Trump deeply resents McConnell, and vice versa — even though McConnell gave Trump a lukewarm endorsement in the 2024 election.

In a biting opinion column published by The Hill on March 10, journalist Juan Williams argues that McConnell, now 83, has done a lot to bring the United States to the "perilous moment" it faces during Trump's second term — despite all the bad blood between him and Trump.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) questioned witnesses about Elon Musk and DOGE cuts, as well as attacks on Social Security. Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
DOGE is a fraud

Story by Travis Gettys

One of the inspectors general fired by Donald Trump is questioning whether the president is serious about saving money for taxpayers.

Mark Greenblatt was inspector general of the Interior Department from August 2019 until January 2025, when the incoming president fired him and 17 others tasked with auditing and investigating government agencies. He published a piece for NBC News highlighting the $93 billion their work potentially saved Americans for the fiscal year 2023.

"That’s why President Donald Trump’s decision to fire 18 inspectors general in the first week of his term is so puzzling," Greenblatt wrote. "According to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, IG oversight has collectively resulted in potential savings of about $93.1 billion in FY 2023. With the OIG community’s aggregate FY 2023 budget of approximately $3.5 billion, these potential savings represent an approximate $26 return on every dollar invested in inspectors general."
DOGE is a fraud


The Department of Government Efficiency, the federal cost-cutting initiative championed by Elon Musk, published on Monday a list of government contracts it has canceled, and the New York Times finds the DOGE list 'vastly overstated the actual intended value' of one contract for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Story by Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump’s Oval Office attack on Ukraine’s president last month appeared to mark a very public realignment of America’s sympathies - away from Europe and towards Russia in a manner that few could have imagined during the Cold War years.

The Republican Party, now dominated by Trump’s “America First” MAGA movement, once considered the former Soviet Union “the evil empire” under Ronald Reagan and relished its collapse.

Today, the GOP stands accused of parroting Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric and some even refuse to admit the plain fact that Moscow began the war by invading its neighbor.

The White House itself has even been branded “an arm of the Kremlin” by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a dramatic about-turn just weeks into the luxury real estate mogul’s second presidency.

“Every single day, you hear from the national security adviser, from the president of the United States, from his entire national security team, Kremlin talking points,” Murphy told CNN’s State of the Union in the wake of the Zelensky episode.

Perhaps even more damning was the assessment of Putin’s own spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who said with a grin on state television: “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision.”

With hindsight, the break with Zelensky – which was swiftly followed by the White House cutting off all American aid to Ukraine and demanding a public apology in exchange for peace negotiations on Trump’s terms – was a culmination, not a sudden new development.

This president has consistently celebrated authoritarians like Putin, Xi Jinping of China, Viktor Orban of Hungary and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as “tough” and “smart”, recognising their shared taste for power and similarly transactional approach to international relations. But it is the Russian leader who has cast the longest shadow over Trump’s political project.
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