Week 15 — The Return

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

Another frenzied week, a continuation of Trump’s efforts to flood the zone using Project 2025 as his roadmap to destruction. There were three major themes to Week 15: an error-ridden ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’ of tens of thousands of federal workers, a remarkable shift in U.S. foreign policy, and a Watergate-like crisis at Trump’s Department of Justice over his effort to dismiss criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

In addition to the overwhelming importance of these themes, this week’s list is full of examples of our media reporting instances of a lawless and unbridled Trump, who is rapidly consolidating power. In one of his audacious statements this week, Trump posted “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” suggesting even if he unambiguously breaks the law, it would not matter if he says his motive is to save the country. His post came after a string of resignations, many of whom were conservative prosecutors, over his brazen quid pro quo with Adams. He was letting us know that he can do whatever he wants now, including using his position to enrich himself, his family and the broligrachs, without any consequences.

Republicans remain silent and impotent. Even after Trump betrayed our alliances in Europe over Ukraine, and cozied up to Putin — an extraordinary and inconceivable shift away from U.S. foreign policy for the past 80 years—not a single elected Republican uttered a word. Truly shocking and shameful! Elected Democrats have also yet to find a way to show impactful opposition to Trump. Trump now finds the only check on his power is an overwhelmed court system, which has slowed his roll in a number of ways, but he remains undeterred in testing them further. This week he attempted to bring a case to the Supreme Court over the firing of a government lawyer who led a watchdog agency, the outcome of which could have major implications for the scope of executive power.

A brief housekeeping note: as we get further into this second regime, as I continue documenting the broken norms, I am able to start piecing together patterns, and discerning what I believe Trump is up to behind the headlines. These observations are best communicated in greater detail in notes that I will publish separately. You can subscribe to my notes, along with the lists and podcasts on Substack (here). My first two notes explore What is Trump up to with Ukraine? and Trump’s new Gilded Age.

In closing, any of the themes this week, on their own, would be front page, top of the hour for weeks on end in normal times. Trump is transforming the country at a dizzying pace, and it is more important than ever to take the time to stay informed and involved. My hope is this project will give you a means to read and digest a weekly summary, see what you missed, and take on the gravity of it all at once. Then use that outrage, anger, disappointment, fright, embarrassment — every, and all emotions — to galvanize yourself to get in gear and push back, in whatever ways you can. I noted a shift a few weeks ago of the awakening Democrats, getting back into gear: taking to the streets, hanging signs over roadways, boycotting, and other mobilization actions. This trends continues, and it is of the upmost importance that we all be the guardians of our young country’s experiment with democracy, because that experiment has gone awry and is failing.

1. NYT reported that in Trump’s first month in office, he has carried out an unprecedented campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies, many who worked in his first regime.
2. His retribution has gone beyond high profile individuals to lower ranks of the government and media. Some conservative groups have made target lists public of federal workers. Unlike past presidents, Trump has not been curbed in any way by the Legislative branch.
3. On Wednesday, Elon Musk attacked Reuters after an article saying “DOGE cuts based more on political ideology than real cost savings so far.” Musk falsely claimed Reuters was getting paid millions in a contract for “social deception.”
4. Trump amplified Musk, tweeting, “Radical Left Reuters was paid $9,000,000 by the Department of Defense to study “large scale social deception.”” The truth was the contract was signed during the first regime, and was for help defending against cyberattacks.
5. On Wednesday, the executive editor of the Associated Press called on the White House to stop blocking its reporters from press events, accusing the regime of violating the First Amendment.
6. On Saturday, Reuters backed the AP, saying in a statement that it stands with other outlets in “objecting to coverage restrictions,” adding, “journalists should be free to report the news reliably, independently, and without harassment or harm.”
7. On Sunday, Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post backed out of an advertisement saying “Fire Elon Musk.” Advocacy group Common Cause had paid $115,000 to have the ad run on the front and back page of the Tuesday paper, as well as a full-page ad inside the newspaper.
8. WAPO reported on Musk using mobs on X to target people who criticize DOGE. Musk ridiculed Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, who worked for a nonpartisan watchdog group and had criticized DOGE in testimony on Capitol Hill, over being blind. Musk’s followers joined in.
9. On Wednesday, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced a new slate of board members, who then voted Trump in as Chair of the Center, and Richard Grenell as the Center’s interim president.
10. On Thursday, Issa Rae and Low Cut Connie cancelled scheduled performances at the center. Renée Fleming stepped down as an artistic adviser. Ben Folds resigned as adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra. Shonda Rhimes resigned as treasurer of the board.
11. On Tuesday, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston was temporarily closed. A sign posted blamed Trump’s executive order: “Due to an Executive Order concerning a ‘reduction in force.’” JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg said DOGE had fired staff members.
12. On Thursday, the two Republican senators from Alaska introduced a bill in the Senate which would designate North America’s tallest peak in their state as Denali, rolling back Trump’s executive order.
13. On Wednesday, NBC News reported that some Senate Republicans are speaking out publicly against funding cuts and tariffs that impact their states. Thirteen of the top 20 states that take more from the federal government than they pay in taxes are red states that voted for Trump.
14. On Thursday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sued the Trump regime over the funding freeze, saying it had “jeopardized at least $5.5 billion” of funds appropriated by Congress for his state.
15. On Thursday, NYT reported that the Trump regime is quickly gutting regulatory agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whose work and regulations protected ordinary Americans as part of the regime’s effort to downsize government.
16. WAPO reported the regime’s EEOC moved to dismiss more than half a dozen workplace discrimination cases filed on behalf of transgender employees, citing Trump’s executive order recognizing only two genders. The agency also stopped investigating new complaints.
17. On Thursday, NYT reported according to Education Department internal documents, DOGE is considering replacing contract workers who interact with millions of students and parents annually with an artificial intelligence chat bot.
18. On Thursday, Musk posted on X that the U.S. government needs to “delete entire agencies,” adding, “If you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it’s easy for the weed to grow back.”
19. WAPO’s fact checker found that Trump’s claim that DOGE found “tens of billions” in savings was false. The amount so far is closer to $2 billion, and that came from ending diversity or climate change programs.
20. On Friday, 404 Media reported that Musk’s DOGE website was hacked within days of its launch, with messages like “this is a joke of a .gov site” and “THESE ‘EXPERTS’ LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN -roro.”
21. On Friday, a federal judge declined to block DOGE from having access to records systems containing personal information at the Health and Human Services Department, Labor Department, and the CFPB, saying the AFL-CIO did not meet its burden.
22. On Wednesday, Musk’s X agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump in 2021, before Musk owned the platform, over his being deplatformed, and paid Trump $10 million. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook also made a payment to Trump of $25 million in recent weeks.
23. On Wednesday, NYT reported that the State Department procurement forecast for 2025 includes a lucrative contract for Musk’s Tesla for the purchase of $400 million of armored cybertrucks.
24. On Thursday, following reporting by the Times, the State Department suspended plans to buy armored cybertrucks from Tesla. The agency denied the purchase would have been to benefit Musk.
25. On Thursday, NBC News reported Musk’s DOGE received approval from the Labor Department to use a remote-access and file-transfer software to transfer vast amounts of data out of the agency’s systems.
26. On Thursday, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in D.C. to meet with Trump, Musk was also granted a meeting. Reporters asked Trump if Musk was meeting as a CEO or as a representative of the U.S. government. Trump said, “I don’t know. They met, and I assume he wants to do business in India.”
27. On Thursday 14 attorneys general of Democratic states filed a lawsuit, saying Trump violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution by creating DOGE without congressional approval, and granted Musk “sweeping powers” without a Senate confirmation.
28. Politico reported on two lawsuits filed against Musk himself, accusing him of amassing too much government power without the accountability required of a high-level executive branch official, and seeking to halt DOGE.
29. On Wednesday, Trump’s DOJ sued New York officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and AG Letitia James for their failure to enforce federal immigration laws, and said the DOJ would claw back millions in federal funding earmarked for migrants.
30. On Thursday, the Trump regime deported more than 100 migrants, from several Asian nations where is it difficult to return migrants, to Panama. The first flight comes after Sec. of State Marco Rubio’s trip to Panama, and pressure from Trump on how the country handles the Panama Canal.
31. On Friday, the regime’s Office of Refugee Resettlement toughened a security requirement for sponsors of migrant children, similar to a move during the first Trump regime, which will make it more difficult for minors who cross the border to be released from federal custody.
32. On Friday, the Trump regime fired 18 immigration judges, despite Trump’s pledge to hire more judges amid a backlog of 3.7 million cases. The regime did not give a reason why the judges were fired.
33. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem blamed FBI agents for leaking information on an immigration raid on the West Coast, calling the bureau “so corrupt,” and adding, we will “stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents.”
34. The FBI issued a harsh statement, calling her comments “deeply irresponsible.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said there would be an investigation into the leak Noem cited.
35. On Saturday, WAPO reported ICE is struggling to boost the number of immigrant arrests, despite an infusion of resources. ICE arrests declined from 800 per day in late January, to fewer than 600 for the first 13 days of February. Trump’s goal was 1,200 to 1,500 per day.
36. On Wednesday, the Trump regime had its first court victory, as a judge ruled the plaintiff did not have standing, so the regime could proceed with its buyout offer for federal employees. The regime closed the program to new entrants after 75,000, or 3% of workforce, signed up.
37. On Thursday, the Trump regime escalated its effort to slash federal workers, targeting 200,000 employees as part of a purge across agencies who are on probation, meaning they had worked at the agency for less than two years and enjoy less job protections.
38. Shortly after, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it has dismissed more than 1,000 employees. Several other agencies, including the CFPB also laid off employees.
39. NBC News reported that Trump’s executive orders have caused “chaos” at the VA, including return to in person work which will exacerbate a staffing shortage and impact every day care veterans need, cancer and other research being conducted, and Trump’s anti-LGBTQ orders.
40. The AP reported the Department of HHS was preparing to cut roughly 5,200 probationary employees, including 1,300 employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
41. NBC News reported among CDC employees fired were two dozen ‘disease detectors,’ a group responsible for supporting outbreak response efforts. Termination emails cited poor performance, although the fired employees had “excellent” performance reviews.
42. NYT reported the Internal Revenue Service would laying off thousands of probationary employees, a drop that could interfere with the agency’s role of processing millions of American’s tax returns in the coming months.
43. The Environmental Protection Agency terminated 388 probationary employees. The Energy Department laid off roughly 1,000 probationary employees, including 300 at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the U.S. nuclear weapons fleet.
44. Shortly after, Bloomberg reported that the Trump regime’s Energy Department recalled 300 to 400 nuclear weapon experts. The reversal was announced in an all-staff meeting.
45. NBC News reported the Trump regime could not figure out how to get in touch with the fired nuclear weapon experts to un-fire them. An email was sent to NNSA saying the termination letters were being rescinded, “but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.”
46. The Energy Department also laid off hundreds of federal employees from the Bonneville Power Administration and the Western Area Power Administration, which oversee much of the Western grid.
47. The U.S. Forest Service terminated 3,400 employees. The U.S. Digital Service, which Musk took over and renamed U.S. DOGE Service, laid off employees who received a notice saying that “U.S.D.S. no longer has a need for your services.”
48. NBC News reported federal workers in the Transportation Department were fired in a letter citing poor performance, however most were rated as being “exceptional” performers by their supervisors.
49. The AP reported on Saturday evening, probationary employees of the Food and Drug Administration received layoff notices. A former FDA official under George W. Bush said cutting recent hires could backfire: “You want people with new ideas” and “the latest thinking.”
50. On Friday, lawyers representing the Trump regime’s CFPB agreed in court to hold off on mass firings for reasons unrelated to their work performance or conduct, while a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the agency works its way through court.
51. On Saturday, when asked by reporters about the impact of his cuts to aid and layoffs of federal workers, Trump and his regime were unmoved. Trump said, “I campaigned on this,” adding, “I said government is corrupt, and it is. It’s very corrupt,” and “It’s also foolish.”
52. WAPO reported that Trump fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, weeks after a fatal collision, on the Friday before a busy holiday weekend.
53. The layoffs included radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, and one air traffic controller. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement on Monday that it was “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety.”
54. On Monday, a Delta Air Lines jet flying from Minneapolis flipped over while attempting to land at Toronto, marking the fourth major aviation mishap in North America since Trump took office.
55. NYT reported that Trump’s cuts have gutted the next generation of scientists and public health leaders at the CDC, NIH, FDA, and other agencies that the department oversees.
56. Eight officials who led health agencies under President Joseph Biden issued a statement denouncing the cuts, and their impacts on initiatives like combating the opioid epidemic and bringing primary care to rural communities.
57. WAPO reported that in what some federal workers dubbed the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the Trump regime also targeted experienced federal workers who had recently transferred between agencies, as well as military veterans and people with disabilities who were on probation.
58. This latest wave of error-plagued firings resulted in an administrative complaint filed on behalf of workers at nine agencies, and was certain to result in many additional lawsuits, including for firing employees en masse with the same vague claim of poor performance.
59. Errors included cutting and pasting from a form without including the name of the agency where employees worked, emails going out without supervisors’ knowledge, and for poor performance listed as reason when performance reviews were excellent.
60. Musk declared himself triumphant in a 2 a.m. tweet on Monday morning, picture of himself in a gladiator outfit and declared he was destroying “the woke mind virus,” at the same time workers whose families depended on their income were fired without explanation.
61. On Monday, Jim Jones, the director of the FDA’s food division, resigned over the Trump regime’s “indiscriminate” layoffs, and citing Trump’s “disdain for the very people” who “pursue the department’s agenda of improving the health of Americans.”
62. On Monday, CNBC reported unemployment spiked in Washington D.C. since Trump took office. Nearly 4,000 workers have filed for unemployment insurance so far.
63. On Tuesday, NBC News reported Trump’s Department of Agriculture said it accidentally fired “several” agency employees who are working on the federal government’s response to bird flu outbreak, and is trying to rehire them.
64. On Tuesday, NBC News reported the Trump regime is preparing to fire an additional hundreds of high-level DHS employees who might stand in the way of Trump’s agenda, using a “centralized plan.”
65. On Tuesday, the Trump regime fired 10 percent of the employees at the National Science Foundation, an independent agency that supports cutting-edge research. NSF has played a role in inventions like the internet, smartphones, MRI scanning, and LASIK eye surgery.
66. On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had instructed the DOJ to fire all remaining Biden-era U.S. attorneys, falsely claiming that the department had been “politicized like never before.”
67. On Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks, was confirmed. Trump insulted former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell the only Republican who voted against Kennedy, saying, “I have no idea if he had polio,” and “he shouldn’t have been leader.”
68. On Thursday, NYT reported Trump’s foreign aid funding freeze has decimated women’s health. About 2.5 million women and girls have been denied contraceptive care so far. Women are also being turned away at clinics that provided cancer and HIV treatment.
69. The United Nations said six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years from cutting a program put in place by President George W. Bush called President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which Secretary of State Rubio roundly supported as a senator.
70. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the Trump regime to unfreeze foreign aid, saying the freeze was based on dubious logic, and likely causing irreparable harm to aid groups.
71. On Friday, Reuters reported that a world-renowned U.S. program for international disaster and crisis assistance, The Disaster Assistance Response Teams, can no longer deploy following the USAID shutdown.
72. NYT reported Trump’s cuts have also left faith-based humanitarian groups that provide lifesaving American assistance around the world with huge funding deficits, leading to staff layoffs and shuttering of some programs.
73. Vance defended Trump’s agenda, saying without evidence that U.S. Catholic bishops that work with immigrants might be prioritizing their bottom lines rather than humanitarian aid, and said on Fox News that American should “love your fellow citizens in your own country.”
74. Pope Francis corrected some of Vance’s remarks in an open letter to U.S. Catholic bishops, saying, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.”
75. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, said the U.S. would not accept NATO membership for Ukraine and that the country returning to its internationally recognized borders is “unrealistic.”
76. Hegseth drew the ire of several Republican Senators, saying they were “puzzled” and “disturbed” by his comments, with Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker calling it a “rookie mistake.” Hegseth reined in his comments Thursday saying, “everything is on the table.”
77. Hegseth’s speech also left NATO in disarray, as he said the U.S. is no longer “primarily focused on the security of Europe,” claiming the U.S. “faces consequential threats to our homeland” and “we are focusing on security of our own borders.”
78. Hegseth also brought Jack Posobiec, a far-right figure who traffics in conspiracy theories, on his overseas trip, raising concerns about politicizing the military, and concerns about Hegseth’s judgment.
79. NYT reported on his flight to Germany, Hegseth signed a memo renaming an army base in North Carolina after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general, skirting a 2021 law that bans naming bases in honor of Confederate soldiers.
80. In his first three weeks, Hegseth has also removed portraits of his predecessors, banned Black History Month celebrations, and restricted learning materials in military schools that do not match his views.
81. On Thursday, Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had been a pariah from the West for nearly a decade after annexing Crimea in 2014, and said he plans to meet with him on Ukraine.
82. Notably, Trump spoke to Putin, the aggressor in invading, before speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a democratic U.S. ally. The move stunned allies, and drew criticism from Senate Republicans.
83. NYT reported the day after Trump’s call with Putin, a senior American diplomat clandestinely visited Belarus to meet with President Aleksandr Lukashenko, a strongman autocrat, and the head of his KGB security apparatus, for the first State Department meeting in five years.
84. On Friday, at his first speech as vice president at the Munich Security Conference, JD Vance scolded European allies for not sufficiently upholding democratic values. He urged Europeans to end their opposition to anti-immigration parties, and support far-right parties.
85. Later, Vance met with Alice Weidel, head of the AfD party. Mainstream German parties have refused to work with AfD, which says modern-day Germany should spend less time blaming itself for its Nazi past. Vance did not meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
86. Scholz rebuked Vance in his speech, saying Germany “would not accept” suggestions from outsiders about how to run its democracy, and castigating him for associating with a party that trivializes Nazis. Scholz drew standing ovations, in contrast to Vance.
87. On Saturday, WAPO reported Ukrainian President Zelensky rejected a request from the Trump regime to turn over 50% of the country’s mineral resources. One Ukrainian official likened it to Europeans carving up African colonies in the 18th century.
88. Zelensky told reporters that the regime’s proposal did not include a security guarantee, which Ukraine would want in order to counter. Europeans officials were shocked at the Trump regime’s audacity, and that Ukraine seemed prepared to enter negotiations.
89. On Saturday, Russian media reported Rubio called Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov to discuss “removing unilateral barriers,” and said the two would stay in touch, “including for the preparation of a Russian-American summit.”
90. Later Saturday, NYT reported three U.S. officials, Rubio, Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, and Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy, will meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the Ukraine war. Zelensky and European officials were not invited.
91. On Sunday, NYT reported Trump and his team’s actions and remarks left European countries, part of an alliance defending Ukraine with the U.S. for three years, in chaos and confusion. They called for an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday.
92. After a meeting with Hegseth, Europeans expect the U.S. to pull tens of thousands of troops out of Europe. Trump’s actions so far showed he was focused on Asia, Latin America, and the Arctic, in an effort to procure mineral rights.
93. Europeans expressed concern of being pawns in a negotiation they are not party to, and helping Putin’s ambition to end NATO. Officials likened Trump’s actions to a former era in Europe of regional empires and the rule of the strong with little concern for other countries.
94. On Monday, European leaders convened in Paris, reconciling themselves to a new world order in which the U.S. has begun to act more like an adversary.
95. Britain, France, Germany, and other countries are considering sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force, as well as affirming the need for major increases in their military spending.
96. On Tuesday, Rubio and other U.S. officials met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, agreeing to reverse U.S. policy and normalize relations by re-establishing embassy staffing, and working on a path to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor European allies were invited.
97. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Russia could use the pause in fighting to remobilize and launch fresh attacks, saying, “Russia is threatening all of Europe now,” and that Putin would seek to dominate, if not outright occupy, more countries.
98. NYT reported at the meeting, Putin aimed to appeal to Trump that there was money to be made in Russia, as the country’s top investment manager claimed “total losses” of America not doing business there was $324 billion.
99. On Thursday, Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon resigned over an order from the acting number 2 official at DOJ, Emil Bove, to drop a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Sassoon, a conservative, was named by Trump to head the office on an interim basis.
100. Shortly after, Justice officials transferred the case to the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, where the two leaders of that group, Kevin Driscoll and John Keller resigned, and shortly after, three attorneys in that group resigned rather than file to dismiss the case.
101. In a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Sassoon said Bove’s order would grant Adams leniency solely because he is in a position of power to help Trump’s immigration crackdown. She was ordered to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” so Trump would have leverage over Adams going forward.
102. Sassoon accuses Bove and Adams of engaging in a quid pro quo to drop the case, calling it a “breathtaking and dangerous precedent.” She adds that Bove committed misconduct by using the case to coerce Adams to help Trump.
103. Sassoon also said that prosecutors in her office had sought to add a obstruction conspiracy charge for destroying evidence and instructing others to lie to the FBI, but that superseding charge was not approved.
104. Later Thursday, after meeting with Trump’s ‘border czar’ Tom Homan, Adams said he would issue an executive order allowing ICE to go inside Rikers Island jail complex, something not allowed under the city’s sanctuary policies.
105. On Friday morning, Adams appeared alongside Homan on “Fox & Friends,” touting their partnership. Adams said his executive order would help with “getting dangerous people off our streets.”
106. Homan was forthright about the expectation from the regime that Adams would cooperate with mass deportations, saying, “If he doesn’t come through, I’ll be back in New York City…I’ll be in his office, up his butt, saying, ‘Where the hell is the agreement we came to?’”
107. Shortly after, Hagan Scotten, a conservative Republican who led the investigation into Adams since 2021, became the seventh DOJ official to resign. In his resignation letter, Scotten said Trump is facing the largest mass resignation of DOJ lawyers since Watergate.
108. Hagan’s resignation letter included: “any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens much less elected officials,” and you will find a “fool” or “coward” to file your motion, but it will not be me.
109. On Friday, about two dozen attorneys in the DOJ’s public integrity section were brought into a conference room, where Bove said on a video call that he needed a signature on the request to dismiss charges, or they would all be fired.
110. NYT reported the lawyers wrestled with the possibility of losing their bar licenses if they signed, given major ethical objections have already been made around dropping the case. Veteran Ed Sullivan agreed to be a signatory to save the entire group from being fired.
111. Bove, who represented Trump in his hush money case in Manhattan, which he lost, threatened to investigate Sassoon, Hagan and other prosecutors who defied his order.
112. Trump demurred when asked by reporters, saying he was not involved in having it dismissed, and lying that “I know nothing” about the case. Trump has spoken about the case in detail in the past, and said he was considering pardoning Adams, as Adams repeatedly requested.
113. On Friday, seven former Manhattan U.S. Attorneys, including several who served under Republicans, issued a statement praising Sassoon, and criticized the Trump regime DOJ’s intention to investigate her and other career prosecutors who served alongside her.
114. Later Friday, three federal prosecutors in Washington D.C., including Bove and Sullivan, formally asked a judge to drop the charges against Adams. Bove did not cite the strength of the case, but said the case was interfering with Adams’ ability to do his job and with the mayoral election later this year.
115. Later Friday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the DOJ inspector general, calling for an investigation of Bondi’s handling of the Adams case, and accusing her of weaponizing the department to advance Trump’s agenda.
116. On Thursday, WSJ reported that the Trumps have used the election victory to enrich themselves. Between Melania’s documentary and various transactions, the Trumps have pocketed nearly $80 million so far.
117. Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer in the first regime, said Trump is bolder about profiting for himself this time, especially since people are overtly seeking his favor. Cobb said, “Everything he does is either to be vengeful or to accumulate wealth, power and adulation.”
118. NYT reported that Trump is pushing his personal business interests while in meetings to discuss U.S. government interests, breaking norms recognized for decades, as Republicans in Congress look the other way.
119. Trump comes into the second regime with an expanded portfolio of business interests, many of which are meant to be regulated by the government. Trump feels emboldened in the second regime to reward friends and punish perceived enemies.
120. WSJ reported that Trump is making overly broad use of emergency powers in his executive orders. Critics from both parties said he is inflating claims of emergency conditions to create legal justification for enacting parts of his agenda.
121. On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social, and then on X, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” suggesting that even if he unambiguously breaks the law, it would not matter if he says his motive is to save the country.
122. Trump pinned the statement to the top of his Truth Social feed. Later, the White House posted his message on X. There are a handful of other examples of presidents claiming power to override laws, but those were limited to national security
123. On Sunday, in its first test of presidential power, the Trump regime filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court to allow him to fire Hampton Dellinger, a government lawyer who led a watchdog agency, asking the court to vacate a federal judge’s order reinstating him.
124. On Monday, four deputy mayors to Adams resigned over his trading cooperating with Trump’s mass deportation agenda in exchange for dismissing his indictment. Later Monday, Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the New York City Council, called on him to resign.
125. Later Monday, three former U.S. attorneys from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut filed a brief with Manhattan U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, asking him to conduct an extensive inquiry whether the DOJ’s dismissal was in the public interest or a pretext to get the Mayor’s cooperation.
126. On Tuesday, Judge Ho ordered Mayor Adams, his attorneys, and the DOJ prosecutors to appear in court on Wednesday, and explain the DOJ’s request to dismiss criminal charges against Adams.
127. On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order that targeted transgender people under the age of 19, denying them gender transition care.
128. On Thursday, the U.S. Park Service removed references to ‘transgender’ on the Stonewall National Monument web pages. Also the “T” in LGBTQ+ was removed, and later so was “Q+,” and the word “queer.”
129. On Thursday, a fourth federal judge in Massachusetts blocked Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, joining judges in Maryland, Washington, and New Hampshire.
130. On Friday, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights announced in a letter that all race-conscious student programming, resources, and financial aid were illegal, and must be terminated within 14 days.
131. The letter also closed a gap left by Chief Justice John Roberts, that colleges could consider racial identity as described in their personal essays, saying schools could “not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues for admission.
132. WSJ reported that Jan. 6 insurrectionists who were pardoned by Trump are targeting FBI agents and prosecutors of their cases, as well as jail workers, by posting their names on social media, and encouraging other insurrectionists to do the same.
133. Insurrectionists are also arguing that they should have other charges dismissed, even if they took place after Jan. 6. One defendant, who sought to dismiss a charge of conspiracy to murder FBI agents, had a “kill list” of targets.
134. FBI agents have expressed fear of retaliation, for themselves and their families, after the Trump regime sought a list of those involved. The regime agreed to temporarily not make names public while a judge considered a longer-term ban.
135. On Sunday, ABC News reported that the intelligence community criticized Musk’s DOGE for posting data on its website about the National Reconnaissance Office, an agency that oversees U.S. intelligence satellites.
136. On Monday, the Trump regime said it was preparing to give DOGE access to IRS systems to root out so-called fraud, granting access to millions of Americans’ tax returns, Social Security numbers, addresses, banking details, and employment information.
137. DOGE agent Gavin Kliger, a young software engineer, will be assigned to the agency as a senior adviser to the acting commissioner, and is expected to have broad access to its systems.
138. Later Monday, Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, who spent several decades at the agency, resigned after a clash with Musk’s DOGE over its attempt to access sensitive government records.
139. Trump appointed Leland Dudek as acting commissioner of the SSA while his permanent pick goes through Senate confirmation. Trump skipped over dozens of other senior executives who sat above Dudek in the agency’s leadership hierarchy to pick Dudek, who is a loyalist.
140. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan heard arguments from 14 Democratic attorneys general, opening her courtroom despite it being a holiday, seeking to block Musk and DOGE from accessing government systems at seven agencies.
141. The attorneys general also asked the judge to block him from firing federal employees or putting them on leave. The agencies included Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Energy, Transportation, Commerce, and the Office of Personnel Management.
142. On Tuesday, Chutkan declined to block Musk’s DOGE from access to the agencies or firings, saying the attorneys general did not provide specific examples of how Musk’s efforts caused imminent or irreparable harm to the states or their residents.
143. Chutkan however left the door open for the AGs to return to court, noting the Plaintiffs made a legitimate claims of “unchecked authority of an unelected individual and an entity that was not created by Congress and over which it has no oversight.”
144. On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Cathy Harris, a member of a seven member panel, the Merit Systems Protection Board, that reviews disciplinary actions against federal employees, from getting fired, saying Trump had exceeded his authority in firing her.
145. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that a federal judge temporarily halted the Trump regime’s firing of 11 CIA and other intelligence officers, who had been told to resign or be fired due to their temporary assignments with the agency’s DEI and accessibility programs.
146. On Tuesday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the regime’s Bureau of Prisons from housing trans women inmates with male, stopping enforcement of Trump’s executive order.
147. On Monday, President’s Day, thousands of protestors took to the streets outside the U.S. Capitol and across the country to protest Trump’s power grab. Many adorned symbols of patriotism, while chanting, “No king, no crown, we will not back down,” and some called him a “tyrant.”
148. On Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to take Google to court for inaccurately renaming ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ noting, “the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump’s decree.”
149. On Tuesday, AP reported that Republicans are considering billions in dollars of cuts to the nation’s Medicaid system, threatening healthcare coverage to 80 million U.S. adults and children. Cuts are needed in order to fund Trump’s tax cuts which benefit corporations and the wealthy.
150. On Tuesday, 463 writers, poets, and other artists called on the National Endowment for the Arts to reverse restrictions on grants to institutions with programming that promotes diversity or gender ideology, saying “abandoning our values is wrong, and it won’t protect us.”
151. On Tuesday, Denise Cheung, a top D.C. federal crime prosecutor, resigned, after refusing to comply with a Trump regime demand to freeze the $20 billion from a Biden administration environmental grant initiative, and launch a criminal investigation.
152. In her letter, she said U.S. Attorney Edward Martin Jr. demanded she open an unfounded criminal investigation on the Monday of President Day’s weekend, sought by Bove, falsely claiming there was “probable cause to believe” there were potential violations of law in the program.
153. On Tuesday, at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump sided with Putin, falsely claiming that Ukraine was to blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by not agreeing to surrender territory, tell Ukrainian leaders, “You should have never started it,” and “You should have made a deal.”
154. Trump’s alignment with Moscow marked a remarkable 180 degree shift in U.S. foreign policy, and runs counter to every U.S. president in the past 80 years. It also marks the end of the isolation of Putin for his Ukrainian invasion.
155. Trump also falsely claimed that Zelensky’s approval was at 4% (it is 50%) and called for a new election in Ukraine, a Russian talking point. He falsely claimed the U.S. had contributed three times the amount of aid as Europe — the U.S. contributed $119 billion and Europe $138 billion.
156. Trump was asked about conflicts of interest with Musk’s DOGE having a SpaceX team at the FAA, and other agency conflicts. Trump obfuscated and lied again, saying, anything having to do with space “we won’t let Elon partake in that.”
157. Asked about his barring the AP from the press pool, Trump said “we’re going to keep them out until such time that they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” adding they have been wrong about their “treatment of Trump.”
158. Trump also signed an executive order giving his political appointees far reaching control of independent agencies. Under the order, independent agencies must submit major regulation to Trump loyalist Russell Vought at the White House OMB.
159. The order also requires the agencies to hire a White House liaison to coordinate with Trump’s team, and says Trump’s and his attorney general’s legal interpretation are binding.
160. The White House also claimed that Musk is not in charge of DOGE, but is a senior adviser to Trump. The declaration came as the regime is fighting several lawsuits.
161. However later that evening, in an interview of Trump and Musk on Fox News, which was taped a week earlier, Trump did refer to Musk as the head of DOGE, and promised DOGE would cut “hundreds of billions” in waste and so-called fraud.
162. Shortly after, NYT reported that DOGE had published a list of government contracts it has canceled, which totaled $16 billion. The largest contract was listed for $8 billion, but the actual amount of the contract was $8 million.
163. The Times also reported that while Musk had promised, “All of our actions are maximally transparent,” court cases have demonstrated that the vast amount of information remains shrouded in secrecy, and DOGE agents sweep in and out of federal agencies.
164. On Wednesday, WSJ reported Trump has told associates that he raised an extraordinary $500 million since the election, far more than any other president, much of which came from healthcare executives and other corporate executives at Mar-a-Lago dinners hosted by Trump.
165. The money was split between Trump’s inaugural committee (roughly $200 million) and various other accounts, including a large political-action committee. Trump has said he will use it as a rainy-day fund.
166. On Wednesday, Zelenksy pushed back on Trump’s false claim about his unpopularity, calling it disinformation “coming from Russia,” and calling for “more truth.”
167. Trump responded with a post on Truth Social, calling Zelensky “a Dictator without Elections,” who “better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.”
168. On Wednesday, a Gallup poll showed Americans’ approval of Congress soared to 29%, the highest rating in four years, powered by a 42 point jump in approval among Republican voters to 53%.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — FEBRUARY 14: Fox anchors Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade interview New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Tom Homan Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “Fox & Friends” at Fox News Channel Studios on February 14, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)