Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Really? “The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries.”
* Impressive turnouts for a weekday afternoon in early February: “A movement to protest the early actions of President Donald Trump’s administration took off Wednesday, as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a federal courthouse in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin and Indiana. Protesters waved signs decrying Trump; billionaire Elon Musk, the leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency; and Project 2025, a hard-right playbook for American government and society.”
* The latest on McConnell: “Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is ‘fine,’ his office said Wednesday after he was seen using a wheelchair following a fall at the Capitol. … The spokesman added that McConnell is using a wheelchair ‘purely as a precautionary measure.’”
* No-brainer: “A federal judge in Maryland blocked Donald Trump’s attempt to curb birthright citizenship, finding at this preliminary stage in the litigation that the president’s order is likely unconstitutional. Trump’s move was already blocked by a restraining order from a federal judge in Washington state, with the issue being one of many generated by the new administration that are seemingly destined for a Supreme Court resolution.”
* The rapid demise of USAID? “The U.S. Agency for International Development announced Tuesday night that almost all direct hires around the world will be placed on administrative leave this week. The move was announced on the organization’s website after days of attacks by the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump himself.”
* All eyes on Medicare: “Representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where they have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems, according to people familiar with the matter.”
* A case we’ve been keeping an eye on: “A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Wednesday blocked a settlement between families who have sued Alex Jones over his false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, saying their attempt to divide the bankrupt conspiracy theorist’s assets exceeded his court’s authority.”
* On Capitol Hill: “Senate Democrats are privately eyeing delays on all Trump nominees as retaliation for his restructuring of USAID, Axios has learned.”
* If at first you don’t succeed, fail and fail again: “Trump, while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he is reinstating ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran, reprising a policy from his first term in office. The president signed an order that an aide said is aimed at sanctioning Iranian programs on terrorism.”
* Seems sensible: “Greenland’s parliament passed a bill Tuesday that bans political parties from receiving contributions ‘from foreign or anonymous contributors’ after President Donald Trump expressed his wish that the United States take over the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to Denmark.”
See you tomorrow.
