Politics

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a memo freezing its election security efforts to review all work and positions “related to election security and countering mis- and- disinformation” at the state and local level since 2017, reports Wired. The review is reportedly set to conclude on March 6th.

A federal judge in the District of Columbia has granted a temporary restraining order that enjoins the Trump administration from laying off or terminating without cause any more employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as from deleting agency data or transferring agency funds “other than to satisfy the ordinary operating obligations of the CFPB.”

It is not normal for the government to get sued so hard over something that it has to appear in federal court three times in three different lawsuits in a single day. In the Southern District of New York, which is currently also dealing with an entirely different Trump-related mess, Judge Jeannette Vargas has extended a temporary restraining order barring DOGE from accessing Treasury Department systems.

President Donald Trump’s administration is upset that the Associate Press won’t use the name Gulf of America. AP reporters have been blocked from covering some administration events this week.

Mass layoffs that happened Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are being paused, ABC News reports. The layoffs were part of Donald Trump’s gutting of key federal workforces — including the people maintaining the country’s nuclear stockpile.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali is the third judge to press pause on Donald Trump’s sweeping freezes of government funding and the second to interrupt attempts to dismantle USAID, report Politico and the Associated Press.

That’s just one line in this Wall Street Journal article detailing money flowing to the presidential family via crypto or other means. Another section highlights Melania Trump’s documentary pitch to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez during their December visit preceding Amazon’s $40 million deal that reportedly nearly tripled the next-closest offer.

“I attended a meeting on January 31, 2025, with Mr. Bove, Adams’s counsel, and members of my office. Adams’s attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed,” Danielle Sassoon writes.

Keep your eyes on the money. That’s where the power is. Henry Farrell, an expert on economic weaponization, is concerned about the Trump Administration clawing back EPA money. To him, it suggests a very troubling precedent.

Earlier this week, the White House tried to pressure the Associated Press into referring to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in its coverage; the AP said the move “plainly violates the First Amendment,” noting that Donald Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally rename the body of water.

Alexander Vinnik co-founded BTC-e, a now-shuttered Bitcoin exchange that criminals used to launder funds from ransomware attacks, drug trafficking, and other crimes. Vinnik was arrested in 2017 and pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2024.

Ars Technica reports that the agency has removed a 2022 dataset of car crash fatalities that had some unique statistics:

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Associated Press Executive Editor Julie Pace says in a statement. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

The Federal Trade Commission has finalized an order imposing the fine, which DoNotPay agreed to last year. In addition, the company is forbidden from deceptively advertising, without proof, that its “so-called robot lawyer” is as good as a human lawyer.

On top of apparently flouting judicial demands involving the Treasury and USAID, the Trump administration is allegedly still freezing scientific grant funding in spite of a court order: