GOP Sen. James Lankford defends Zelenskyy as Trump officials question his leadership

NBC News

GOP Sen. James Lankford defends Zelenskyy as Trump officials question his leadership

Megan Lebowitz – March 2, 2025

Sen. Lankford: ‘I don’t agree’ with calls for Zelenskyy to resign

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Sunday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “rightfully concerned” about Russia reneging on agreements, as some Trump administration officials took to the airwaves to criticize the leader of the longtime U.S. ally.

“I understand Zelenskyy is rightfully concerned that Putin has violated every single agreement he’s ever signed and that he can’t be trusted,” Lankford said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

His comments come after an explosive exchange in the Oval Office between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy, in which the U.S. leaders berated the Ukrainian president for his approach to diplomacy and argued that he didn’t sufficiently thank the U.S. for its support, despite Zelenskyy having thanked the U.S. numerous times. Current and former Russian officials praised Trump after the confrontation.

Zelenskyy pointed out during the Oval Office exchange that Russia has previously broken ceasefires, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “killed our people and he didn’t exchange prisoners.”

Asked Sunday about Putin’s not keeping previous agreements, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos that “moving forward is the question, not the past,” before adding that the United States wanted to engage Russia in negotiations.

Lankford was asked on “Meet the Press” whether he was concerned that the United States was turning its back on Ukraine, a longtime ally. Lankford said “no.”

“No, we’re not turning our back on Ukraine, nor should we,” he said. “Putin is a murderous KGB thug that murders his political enemies and is a dictator.”

The Trump administration has ushered in a new chapter of foreign relations. The president has falsely called Zelenskyy a dictator and cast blame on Ukraine for the start of the war, which began when Russia invaded its democratic neighbor in 2022. In February, the administration sided with Russia in a vote on a United Nations resolution that called for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.

U.S. officials have discussed whether to pause military aid to Ukraine after the Oval Office confrontation, according to two administration officials.

Lankford also defended Trump during the interview, saying the president “is trying to get both sides to the table.” He added that both countries needed to work toward a resolution to the war.

“We need to get these two folks at the table, get to some kind of resolution, to something that may look like North and South Korea for a long time and have a line where people are looking at each other but not an active war,” he said.

Trump administration officials criticize Zelenskyy

Trump said Friday that Zelenskyy has “got to say I want to make peace,” and several of the president’s allies have suggested Zelenskyy should resign, marking a rare public push by top U.S. officials for the end of a long-standing U.S. ally’s leadership.

Trump administration officials fanned out across Sunday news shows to criticize Zelenskyy and cast doubt on his ability to participate in a U.S.-led peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Criticism of Putin, a U.S. adversary, took a back seat.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a video recorded Wednesday that the Trump administration is “rapidly changing … all foreign policy configurations,” according to a Reuters translation.

“This largely coincides with our vision,” Peskov added in the video, which was published Sunday.

In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Rubio accused Zelenskyy of disrupting a push for parties to come to a negotiating table. He went on, arguing that Zelenskyy “found every opportunity to try to Ukraine-splain on every issue” and criticizing his comments with Vance.

National security adviser Mike Waltz said Sunday on CNN that “we need a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians and end this war.”

“If it becomes apparent that President Zelenskyy’s either personal motivations or political motivations are divergent from ending the fighting in his country, then I think we have a real issue on our hands,” Waltz said. He added that ending the war would take concessions on both sides, including on territory and security guarantees.

Separately, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Fox News that Zelenskyy’s requests of the United States, including requests for security guarantees, were “ridiculous.”

“Zelenskyy needed to hear it directly from the funding mouth of the United States of America: We’re not going to give you money unless you’re here for peace,” Lutnick said.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Fox News that “Trump recognizes the urgent need to end this war,” adding that “Zelenskyy has different aims in mind.”

“He has said that he wants to end this war, but he will only accept an end, apparently, that leads to what he views as Ukraine’s victory,” Gabbard added. “Even if it comes at an incredibly high cost of potentially World War III or even a nuclear war.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had initially suggested that Zelenskyy step aside, saying after the Oval Office meeting that the Ukrainian president “either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.”

Lankford rejected GOP suggestions for Zelenskyy to resign, saying Sunday that he thinks “that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator to bring an issue to peace.”

A handful of Republicans in Congress have objected to the United States’ foreign policy realignment, though most have remained mum or echoed the Trump administration’s perspective.

Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, said he was “deeply troubled” by the United States’ United Nations vote, and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said after the vote that the “Trump Administration royally screwed up today on Ukraine.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, slammed the administration’s perspective on Saturday, saying she was “sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”

Waltz on Sunday cast doubt as to whether the administration could negotiate an end to the war.

“I don’t know that we can get both sides to the table at this point,” he said on CNN.

Trump had previously said he could end the war in Ukraine in one day, or even before taking office.

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Maddow Blog | Rachel Maddow: Republicans silent after Trump reportedly slashes funds for Alzheimer’s center

MSNBC

Maddow Blog | Rachel Maddow: Republicans silent after Trump reportedly slashes funds for Alzheimer’s center

Rachel Maddow – February 21, 2025

Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK); Rachel Maddow

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways

This is an adapted excerpt from the Feb. 20 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”

For 26 years, the state of Missouri was represented in Congress by Republican Roy Blunt. He began as Rep. Blunt, serving in House Republican leadership for years, before becoming a senator.

Blunt, among everything else he did during his time in office, was a persistent advocate for funding Alzheimer’s research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When Blunt announced in 2021 that he was retiring from office, the NIH decided to dedicate their very important Alzheimer’s research center to him. They called it the Roy Blunt Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Research.

At the dedication ceremony, in 2022, Blunt talked about the importance of NIH funding and Alzheimer’s research funding specifically. A bunch of other Republicans from Congress showed up as well and stressed how important it was to fund that specific program. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma told the crowd, “To be able to do what we’ve done, a fivefold increase in Alzheimer’s and dementia research is a very special thing.”

“This is our most expensive disease,” he continued. “And you can look at the trendline of what it costs to pay for Alzheimer’s and you’ll pretty quickly make the point that it’s cheaper to try and cure it, or at least manage it and delay it, than it is to deal with it. And that has really guided the investments here more than anything else.”

Cole made the point that funding this specific Alzheimer’s center is not just a good thing to do, it also saves the government money in the long run. But, you can probably guess where this is headed.

This week, The New Republic reported that the Trump administration has now slashed funding to that Republican-beloved Alzheimer’s center. Approximately one-tenth of the center’s workers have now been let go, including its incoming director, “a highly regarded scientist credited with important innovations in the field,” people familiar with the situation told The New Republic.

On Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said senior scientists and the center’s acting director were fired by the Trump administration.

Cole’s office did not respond to a request for comment about these reported cuts, but Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University, explained to The New Republic the devastating impact closing the center would have on Alzheimer’s research. “[The center] has developed infrastructure and a brain trust that’s really unmatched in the world, in terms of its advances in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” he said. “Weakening [it] will set Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s research back substantially.”

If you’re looking for a poster child for something this administration is doing that has no apparent support from anyone — and that can be expected to have not just public opposition and expert opposition but specifically Republican opposition — I think you’ve got your winner.

This is not the time for presidential deference, the Huns are at the gates of our Constitutional Democracy: Ex-Presidents Under Fire for Silence on Trump: ‘The Time Is Now’

Daily Beast

Ex-Presidents Under Fire for Silence on Trump: ‘The Time Is Now’

Liam Archacki – February 20, 2025

Former U.S. Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence, Karen Pence, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former U.S. President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, former U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Some Democratic are dismayed that the living former U.S. presidents have largely fallen silent amid the whirlwind first month of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Despite each offering some degree of criticism against Trump in the past, the four other presidents—Bill ClintonGeorge W. BushBarack Obama, and Joe Biden—have kept quiet during the Trump White House’s assault on political norms.

“No one knows more about the importance of our presidents respecting separation of powers and showing restraint than former presidents,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne told The Hill. “Given Trump’s ongoing power grab, those voices and perspectives of our ex-presidents would be critical to the public discourse at this moment.”

His stance was echoed by unnamed former senior Obama aide.

“I don’t know what they’re waiting for,” the insider told The Hill. “The time isn’t when Trump ignores court rulings. The time is now.”

Donald Trump arrives to welcome Marc Fogel back to the United States after being released from Russian custody, at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. / Al Drago / Getty Images
Donald Trump arrives to welcome Marc Fogel back to the United States after being released from Russian custody, at the White House on February 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. / Al Drago / Getty Images

Since entering office on Jan. 20, Trump has given his critics plenty of fodder. He has installed loyalists in key administration positions, flouted the Constitution by issuing brazen executive orders, and fired thousands of federal employees (with Elon Musk’s help).

On Wednesday, Trump went as far as to refer to himself as a “king.”

All three of the Democratic presidents had been unsparing in their previous criticism of Trump.

In his farewell address, Biden warned that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms.”

He emphasized the importance of staying “engaged” in the Democratic process.

Meanwhile, Obama and his wife Michelle Obama were two of Kamala Harris’ highest-profile surrogates during the 2024 campaign.

A month after Trump’s election, Obama gave a speech about the “increasing willingness on the part of politicians and their followers to violate democratic norms, to do anything they can to get their way.”

Obama did dip his toes into Trump criticism earlier this month, posting on X a New York Times op-ed slamming Trump and Musk’s push to end the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“USAID has been fighting disease, feeding children, and promoting goodwill around the world for six decades,” he wrote. “As this article makes clear, dismantling this agency would be a profound foreign policy mistake – one that Congress should resist.”

Otherwise, it’s been crickets.

Although Bush has seemed to cast indirect criticism at Trump and MAGA Republicanism, he has long refrained from explicit rebukes of his party member.

“It’s out of respect to the office,” a former Bush aide told The Hill. “It’s just not his style.”

In the past, presidents in general have steered clear of openly criticizing their successors—seemingly as sign of deference.

To that point, Democratic strategist Lynda Tran told The Hill that “in the age of Trump, it’s more important than ever that we respect and adhere to long-standing traditions,” like past presidents avoiding public debates with the sitting commander in chief.

She urged “faith in the other branches of government.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush and former President Barack Obama attend the inauguration of Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term. / Pool / Getty Images
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush and former President Barack Obama attend the inauguration of Donald Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term. / Pool / Getty ImagesMore

Meanwhile, Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist who doesn’t support Trump, said that there would be no upside to criticism from the presidents.

“They can’t, and they know it,” she said. “If they lend their voices to the conversation, they’ll just be taken down by Trump. If they speak out, it’ll be for the history books, not to affect the Trump presidency now.”

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Wake Up MAGA Voters, You’re About to Get Crapped On: Trump’s Commerce Secretary Confirms Plan to Gut Medicare—and More

The New Republic

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Confirms Plan to Gut Medicare—and More

Malcolm Ferguson – February 20, 2025

Howard Lutnick, Trump’s billionaire buddy turned commerce secretary, has confirmed that the administration was simply lying to MAGA supporters about not touching Social Security and Medicare.

“Back in October … I flew down to Texas, got Elon Musk to [set up DOGE], and here was our agreement: that Elon was gonna cut a trillion dollars of waste fraud and abuse,” Lutnick told Jesse Waters of Fox News Wednesday night. “We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one’s ever looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong. So he’s gonna cut a trillion and we’re gonna get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America and we’re gonna raise a trillion dollars of revenue.”

Just last week, President Trump promised that “Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid—none of that stuff is going to be touched.”

Fast forward a week, and he endorsed House Republicans’ budget plan, which is expected to make an $880 billion cut to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

Trump’s New Cabinet Pick Reveals Plan to ‘Abolish’ the IRS

Daily Beast

Trump’s New Cabinet Pick Reveals Plan to ‘Abolish’ the IRS

Janna Brancolini – February 20, 20

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order, alongside US Secretary of Commerce nominee Howard Lutnick (R), in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2025.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and create an “external” revenue service that will somehow force the rest of the world to fund the U.S. government, according to his newly confirmed commerce secretary.

“His goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” Howard Lutnick told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday night.

Instead of the IRS, Trump plans to create an “external revenue service” that will “get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America” and raise $1 trillion of revenue, he said, promising that Elon Musk’s cost-cutting task force DOGE would also find $1 trillion in waste and fraud to eliminate.

In January, Trump vowed to create an “External Revenue Service” to oversee tariffs, though he stopped short of saying he would eliminate the IRS. The rebranding reflects Trump’s oft-repeated and inaccurate claim that tariffs are paid by foreign countries.

In fact, they’re a tax paid by American companies, with the costs passed on to consumers. They’re also collected by Customs and Border Protection, not the IRS, according to Axios. Trump has nevertheless said that “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”

In February, he announced a 25 percent tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, and 10 percent on all products from China, before agreeing to temporarily pause the tariffs against Mexico and Canada. If the proposed tariffs are implemented, they’re projected to cost about $272 billion per year, triggering massive inflation, economists told CNN and Axios.

Trump’s “external” service would also handle duties—a tax based on the type of product, as opposed to the country of origin, that is also paid by American companies—and “all revenue that comes from foreign sources,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month.

It’s not entirely clear what that foreign revenue would consist of, though Trump has made vague threats to make foreign companies pay to enter the U.S. market.

“The foreign producer has contributed nothing to the growth or development of this country, so if you want to share with the citizens of the United States our home market, then you must pay for the privilege of doing it,” he said during a January speech at the Congressional Institute. “In other words, you have to pay for the privilege of coming to our country, of taking our jobs, taking our product, destroying our countries. [SIC]”

During the same speech, he also floated the idea of abolishing income tax, which would seem to be consistent with dismantling the IRS. The agency also collects employment tax, Social Security tax, inheritance and estates taxes, and other revenues.

Already the IRS is poised to lay off thousands of workers, according to Axios.

On Wednesday, Lutnick vowed to tax foreign cruise ships, supertankers and alcohol producers, none of which pay taxes in the U.S., he said.

“This is going to end under Donald Trump, and those taxes are going to be paid. Net American tax rates are going to come down,” he said.

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Trump Secretary Reveals Next Giveaway to the Rich: Abolishing the IRS

The New Republic

Trump Secretary Reveals Next Giveaway to the Rich: Abolishing the IRS

Hafiz Rashid – February 20, 2025

Donald Trump’s new commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, says the president wants to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service.

“His goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay,” Lutnick said to Jesse Watters on Fox News Wednesday, adding that the president’s planned “External Revenue Service” will fund the government with tariffs from the rest of the world.

Trump has already started cutting the government agency, with plans to lay off about 7,000 IRS workers beginning Thursday, despite tax season being in full swing. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has also demanded access to the private data of every single taxpayer, business, and nonprofit, and Musk claimed earlier this month that he killed a popular government program that allowed Americans a free and easy way to file their taxes.

In December, in negotiations to avert a government shutdown, Republicans already set the stage for Trump’s plan, cutting $20 billion in funding for the IRS, hurting its ability to conduct audits and adding $140 billion to the national debt, the Biden administration said at the time. Trump’s choice to run the agency, former Representative Billy Long, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, but he repeatedly sought to abolish the IRS while serving in the House.

While killing the IRS might once have been a half-baked scheme for Republicans, that no longer seems to be the case. Trump has already destroyed one government agency, barring legal challenges. But will he actually be able to get rid of the IRS, which is responsible for bringing in the money that runs the federal government? It remains to be seen if he can overcome all of the legal issues with his goal, as well as Congress.

The United States Constitution No Longer has 3 Branches of Government or Actual Checks and Balances to a MAGANAZI Monarch: DOGE and Musk: The 5 biggest controversies so far

The Hill

DOGE and Musk: The 5 biggest controversies so far

Niall Stanage – February 18, 2025

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has caused uproar almost from the moment of its inception.

DOGE is not an official government department, despite its name. Only Congress can create new departments. But DOGE is an effort by President Trump and Musk to radically reform — and reduce — the size of government.

At one time, Musk had suggested it was possible to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. More recently he has indicated that half of that figure would be more realistic.

But even accomplishing $1 trillion in cuts would require massive cuts to government services and to its payroll.

The idea is welcomed by fiscal hawks, MAGA supporters and Musk’s own legion of fans.

But critics say DOGE is going to hurt millions of Americans by axing programs that they need, or the personnel that support them.

They also express concern about conflicts of interest, given that Musk’s companies have billions of dollars in federal contracts.

Here are the five biggest controversies so far.

Access to Treasury Department — and taxes?

Perhaps no single DOGE-related furor has captured the public imagination so much as his team’s access at the Treasury Department.

The issue is whether Musk and his acolytes have access to individual taxpayer data, which is subject to strict disclosure rules. At its most basic, the question is, “Can Elon Musk see your tax returns?”

The row has grown more intense in recent days after several news organizations reported that DOGE personnel had sought access to a specific system — the Integrated Data Retrieval System, or IDRS — which is home to some of the most sensitive information.

The Washington Post referred to IDRS as a system that “includes detailed financial information about every taxpayer, business and nonprofit in the country.”

The Post also noted that the system “enables tax agency employees to access IRS records — including personal identification numbers — and bank information.”

This is only the latest development in the saga of DOGE and the Treasury Department.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas extended an earlier restraining order curtailing DOGE’s access to the Treasury Department’s payment systems.

Musk had previously targeted another judge who ruled against his quasi-department in the matter, calling for U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer’s impeachment.

Hollowing out USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a shell of its former self after DOGE got to work.

The agency’s management of roughly $40 billion was a particular target of Musk, who contended that far too much of the money went astray, either through fraud or because of misplaced priorities.

Musk has said that USAID is “beyond repair,” “a ball of worms” and an agency that he had spent one weekend “feeding … into the wood chipper.”

Musk also contended in early February that he had gotten Trump’s agreement to “shut it down.”

An official shutdown would be a matter for Congress to decide. But the Trump administration has done everything short of that to neuter the agency. Until recently, USAID had about 14,000 employees. It is now projected to have fewer than 300.

USAID’s defenders argue that the moves to hollow out the agency are both callous and shortsighted.

Samantha Power, who led the agency under former President Biden, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that the de facto collapsing of USAID is set to be “one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in U.S. history.”

Power also contended that Musk and his allies had “imperiled millions of lives, thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars of investment in American small businesses and farms while severely undermining our national security and global influence — all while authoritarians and extremists celebrate their luck.”

The administration’s actions on USAID are the subject of several legal challenges.

Federal firings and the buyout offer

The Trump administration’s offer to buy out federal employees officially emanates not from DOGE but from the Office of Personnel Management.

But it has Musk’s fingerprints all over it — even in the way the subject line of the email that made the offer, “Fork in the Road,” echoed a similar email he sent to employees of the social platform X soon after taking over the company.

In the government case, federal workers were offered payment of their salaries and retention of their benefits until the end of September if they swiftly committed to resigning.

The administration has said about 75,000 employees took the offer before it closed on Feb. 12 — roughly 4 percent of the federal workforce.

Labor unions had sought to stop the program in the courts, but in the end they only briefly froze it.

Opponents argue that it’s not even guaranteed the workers will get their money, as Congress has not appropriated funding for that long or for the purpose of a buyout.

The buyout email had warned of forced cutbacks to come, telling government workers in a related document that “the federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes.”

So it has proven.

Reuters reported that the administration began firing thousands of workers last Thursday. The news agency reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs had laid off more than 1,000 employees who were in their probationary period and that the U.S. Forest Service was on the cusp of firing 3,000.

There has been little official word on how many workers have been fired in total, but the latest figures available, from roughly one year ago, indicated that around 220,000 federal workers were at less than 12 months on the job at that point.

Probationary workers appear to be the first group targeted for layoffs.

Putting a stop to the CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) grew out of the ashes of the 2008 financial crisis, intending to put financial institutions under greater scrutiny and to guard the interests of their customers.

But it was swiftly put under DOGE’s scrutiny instead, with Musk at one point posting on social media “CFPB RIP.”

In short order, DOGE helped to halt the bureau’s work.

The official move came from Russell Vought, a Trump loyalist who now presides over the Office of Management and Budget.

Vought instructed CFPB employees earlier this month to simply stop performing “any work tasks.”

The bureau has an unusual funding arrangement — its money comes from the Federal Reserve, not from a specific congressional appropriation — but Vought said that the next tranche of funding would simply not be drawn down.

Putting a stop to the CFPB’s work could have a payoff for Musk’s businesses, as critics were quick to note.

X has recently advanced plans for its own mobile payments service, apparently to be called an “X Money Account.” According to NPR, this service “would be directly regulated by the [CFPB] under expanded oversight powers it had finalized late last year.”

In other words, Musk’s team was in effect rendering impotent an agency that had the power to regulate elements of his business.

Delving into the vaults at Fort Knox?

As if he hadn’t made enough headlines with many of the moves listed above, Musk suggested on Monday that he would be putting Fort Knox under the microscope.

The Kentucky facility is synonymous with the vast amount of gold reserves stored there.

“Looking for the gold at Fort Knox,” Musk wrote on X on Monday.

Keying off a post from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) about allegedly being denied access to Fort Knox, Musk added, “Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox? Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there.”

Fort Knox famously does not allow visitors.

It was unclear exactly what Musk meant by his social media postings — whether he would demand some kind of auditing of the gold held in Kentucky or whether he was merely indulging his penchant for stirring controversy and publicity.

The lies don’t fall far from the trump tree of misinformation: Elon Musk not in charge of DOGE and has no decision-making authority, says White House

Independent

Elon Musk not in charge of DOGE and has no decision-making authority, says White House

Maroosha Muzaffar – February 18, 2025

Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration is that of a senior adviser to the president, and not as an employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the White House has said.

The White House said in a court filing Mr Musk has no decision-making authority and can only advise the president and relay directives. It also emphasized that Mr Musk is not an employee of the US DOGE Service or its temporary organization, nor is he the DOGE Service Administrator.

“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” it said, according to Reuters.

In December last year, Mr Trump said: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency.” Since then, and following Mr Ramaswamy’s departure from DOGE, Mr Trump has consistently referred to Mr Musk as its leader.

However, according to Joshua Fischer, Director of the Office of Administration at the White House, Mr Musk is neither the administrator nor an employee of DOGE. Instead, Mr Musk holds the title of “non-career special government employee” and serves as a senior adviser to the president.

The filing likened Mr Musk’s role to that of Anita Dunn, a long-time political adviser who also served as a senior adviser to former president Joe Biden.

“In his role as senior advisor to the president, Mr Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors. Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions,” the affidavit said.

DOGE, tasked with cutting wasteful spending, was introduced under Mr Trump’s second term, with Mr Musk overseeing the effort.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on 11 February 2025 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on 11 February 2025 in Washington, DC (Getty Images)More

The court filing follows concerns raised by Judge Tanya Chutkan, who held a hearing on Tuesday in a case challenging the extent of Mr Musk’s authority. She expressed worries about the “unpredictable and scattershot” methods used by DOGE.

“DOGE appears to be moving in no sort of predictable and orderly fashion,” Ms Chutkan said. “This is essentially a private citizen directing an organisation that’s not a federal agency to have access to the entire workings of the federal government, fire, hire, slash, contract, terminate programs, all without apparently any congressional oversight.”

The court filing did not clarify who oversees DOGE, aside from ruling out Mr Musk. The lack of clarity regarding DOGE’s leadership extends beyond the public, with the Trump administration’s lawyers also uncertain about its organization.

Trump’s Mass Layoffs Leave Federal Workers Baffled, Angry

TIME

Trump’s Mass Layoffs Leave Federal Workers Baffled, Angry

Nik Popli – February 18, 2025

Protesters demonstrate in support of federal workers outside of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on February 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. Organizers held the protest to speak on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts. Credit – Anna Moneymaker–Getty Images

A mid-level probationary worker with the U.S. Department of Agriculture read the letter in disbelief. It was from the USDA’s human resources department explaining he no longer had a job. The letter said the decision had been made “based on your performance.” But it didn’t make sense to him.

“There’s no way to tie me to a specific performance issue because I’m six weeks on the job,” says the employee, who works out of Phoenix and, like others interviewed for this report, spoke with TIME on the condition of anonymity. He says no one had mentioned any issues with his work before receiving the letter.

The USDA employee was among thousands of federal workers across the country hit with layoffs that began on Thursday with little prior notice, targeting probationary workers—those who have been employed by the federal government for less than one or two years and are easier to fire. The Trump Administration has ordered most agencies to let go of nearly all probationary employees who haven’t yet gained civil service protection.

The layoffs have shaken both federal employees and the unions that represent them, prompting widespread condemnation and setting the stage for future legal battles. Many in the federal workforce see the aggressive nature of the cuts as proof that the Trump Administration isn’t just trying to cut costs, but dismantle the federal workforce and reduce its capacity to serve the public.

“I feel like right now the administration is kind of demonizing federal workers,” says a senior IRS agent from New York who was hired in July and “fully expects” to receive a termination notice in the coming days.

The firings are part of a broader push spearheaded by the Trump Administration and the newly-established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative run by billionaire Elon Musk to streamline government operations. Musk has gone so far as to suggest that entire agencies should be “deleted,” likening them to “weeds” in need of eradication. Legal experts and union representatives argue many of DOGE’s actions are not legal.

The letter for the USDA employee, viewed by TIME, cited guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, claiming that probationary employees have “the burden to demonstrate why it is in the public interest for the Government to finalize an appointment to the civil service for this particular individual.” Soon after Trump’s inauguration, the leadership at OPM was replaced with Musk allies.

Elsewhere, thousands of workers were laid off in group calls or via pre-recorded messages, with their government access revoked immediately. Others were told they would be formally fired by emails. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides crucial services and benefits to military veterans, laid off more than 1,000 employees on Thursday alone, with VA Secretary Doug Collins claiming that the move would save the department $98 million per year. The vast majority of probationary employees, including those in the VA’s health care system, were exempted from the layoffs.

The abrupt and seemingly callous manner of conducting layoffs has left many workers stunned. One HR manager at the Veterans Health Administration, who has worked for the department for more than two decades, said that he had never witnessed anything like this in all his years of service. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” he says. At a staff meeting on Friday, he says leadership told them they were finding out about the terminations at the same time as the rest of the agency’s staff, and that the decisions were being made by a small group in the Office of Personnel Management backed by DOGE. “We’re paralyzed because we don’t know what’s happening tomorrow,” he adds.

The HR manager noted that he voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections and “will never make that mistake again.”

“If the GOP wants to win someone like me back, they would need to start making changes right now,” he says. “I have not voted for a Democrat in two decades. I will vote Democrat in the midterms and the next presidential race for sure.” Other federal employees who mentioned voting for Trump in the past say they are reconsidering their support for the Republican administration.

The layoffs come soon after a federal judge in Massachusetts allowed the Trump Administration to proceed with an offer for federal employees to leave their jobs with the promise of continuing to be paid through September. That offer expired on Wednesday, Trump officials said. The White House said that 77,000 workers, or around 3% of the civilian workforce, agreed to the buyout.

Jourdain Solis, a 27-year-old fuel compliance officer at the Internal Revenue Service in Fresno, Calif., accepted the buyout earlier this month, feeling it offered more security than staying in a job that didn’t seem like a priority under the new Administration. “I couldn’t guarantee that my program would stick around,” he said. “Taking this offer would have been much better than being laid off and only qualifying for unemployment.”

Solis also acknowledges feeling undervalued by the government with the ongoing rhetoric about job cuts and waste. “Our value as public servants gets questioned all the time,” he says. “So I just really didn’t want to work for a country that doesn’t respect public servants as much as they should.”

But many federal workers declined to take the resignation offer, in part because they were worried about its validity. The buyouts are technically not funded, as Congress hasn’t appropriated funding beyond March 14. “There are too many questions and concerns,” one worker at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told TIME. “It’s a joke,” says the probationary IRS agent. “There’s all kinds of issues with the funding. Nobody trusted it.” Solis admits he still has some questions about the legality of it all but says he’s prepared to take legal action if the government doesn’t follow through with the offer.

The ramifications of the staff reductions go far beyond the individual workers, potentially shifting the government’s relationship with the rest of its workforce. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents many of those dismissed, has vowed to challenge the firings in court, calling them a violation of workers’ rights. “These firings are not about poor performance,” said Everett Kelley, the union’s president. “There is no evidence these employees were anything but dedicated public servants. They are about power. They are about gutting the federal government, silencing workers, and forcing agencies into submission to a radical agenda that prioritizes cronyism over competence.”

As the cuts continue, agencies are bracing for more uncertainty, and federal workers remain on edge. “I can feel it in my interactions with people,” said the former USDA employee. “People are nervous because they don’t know what’s going on with their jobs. And even the senior leadership at most of the agencies doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Some of these workers say they had hoped the changes under the new administration would be gradual. The speed and abrupt nature of it all has left many feeling blindsided.

Federal workers typically have the option to appeal layoffs or suspensions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, a process that involves an initial review by administrative judges before a final decision is made by the board itself. However, many workers fear that these legal avenues may not be enough to protect their rights in the face of an administration determined to impose sweeping changes.

For many, the recent firings are a stark reminder of how quickly the administration is willing to reshape the government, even if it might undermine its effectiveness. Asked about DOGE’s operations, the VA employee said: “They obviously are out of their depth and are struggling desperately to make whatever it is that they are trying to do work,” he adds. “I don’t think they will succeed.”

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Fact: More Than 30% of Government Workers Are Veterans Who Served Their Country Honorably: Thousands protest Elon Musk’s DOGE in NYC on Presidents’ Day

Tech Crunch

Thousands protest Elon Musk’s DOGE in NYC on Presidents’ Day

Rebecca Bellan – February 17, 2025

More than 10,000 protesters gathered in New York City on Presidents’ Day to speak out against the current Trump administration and the actions in particular of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

It was one of several protests that took place Monday in major cities across the country and came during the same long weekend that smaller protests sprouted up at Tesla dealerships across the country.

Protesters who spoke to TechCrunch from Washington Square Park, raised concerns about DOGE’s access to sensitive data of millions of Americans and the group’s dismantling of federal agencies. They said that they view Musk’s work with DOGE as a veiled attempt at a financial power grab, and expressed frustration that Musk, an unelected official, has gained unprecedented levels of power over the federal government.

“I think it’s extremely dangerous that [Musk] has access to our personal data,” Dmitri, 53, an architect who asked that his last name not be used, told TechCrunch. “He’s kind of a futurist fanboy who’s basically living in a sci-fi fantasy and trying to implement that, and has the resources to do mass amounts of damage. He’s tinkering with something that he doesn’t have the ability to actually understand.”

<span class="wp-element-caption__text">Protesters hold up signs at an NYC protest on President's Day, February 17, 2025.</span><span class="wp-block-image__credits"><strong>Image Credits:</strong>Rebecca Bellan</span>
Protesters hold up signs at an NYC protest on President’s Day, February 17, 2025.Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan

A 55-year-old retired teacher who identified himself only as Tom and who held a sign that read: “No one voted for Musk,” told TechCrunch, “As much as I dislike the fact that a significant number of Americans voted for Trump, it is absolutely the case that no one voted for Musk.”

Tom noted that he didn’t believe the average MAGA supporter voted for Musk and worried that DOGE’s cuts would hurt Americans on a state, local, and individual level.

“The consolidation of power under billionaires is a frightening thing,” he said.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to create DOGE, giving Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla, X, and other companies, the reins to root out government fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Since then, DOGE has fired nearly 10,000 federal workers who handled everything from managing federal lands to caring for military veterans. Another 75,000 workers have accepted the Trump administration’s buyout proposal, which in late January offered federal workers eight months pay and benefits to leave their posts if they resigned in early February. DOGE has also cut 104 government contracts related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs and dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Trump also granted Musk’s DOGE team access to the Treasury department’s digital payments system, which controls trillions of dollars in payments to Americans, from Social Security benefits to tax refunds, despite questions about their security clearances, their cybersecurity practices, and the legality of Musk’s activities.

Supporters of Trump and Musk applaud their on-paper efforts to root out corruption, inefficiency, and red tape. Opponents object to the way DOGE is going about its stated goals, and warn that the team’s actions will lead to more corruption and national security risks.

A wave of legal challenges has followed that allege a lack of transparency and data privacy violations.

The protesters in New York started at Union Square and marched to Washington Square Park, congregating under the iconic memorial arch dedicated to George Washington, the nation’s first president. They chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go,” and held signs that touted a range of causes, but Musk and DOGE were a common theme throughout.

<span class="wp-element-caption__text">Protesters gathered under the arch at Washington Square Park. </span><span class="wp-block-image__credits"><strong>Image Credits:</strong>Rebecca Bellan</span>
Protesters gathered under the arch at Washington Square Park. Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan

The New York Police Department estimated the number of attendees to be more than 10,000.

Victoria, who identified herself as a 37-year-old teacher, held a sign that read: “Stop the coup,” echoing comments made to The Guardian on Monday by Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, who told told the outlet, “In the U.S., we appeal rulings we disagree with – we don’t ignore court orders or threaten judges with impeachment just because we don’t like the decision. This is a coup, plain and simple.”

 “This is not about us disagreeing with Republican policies,” said Victoria, bundled up against the cold winds whipping through the city, where though sunny, temperatures hovered around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. “It’s the fact that Trump has handed over the power of the purse to Elon Musk, who is unelected.”

As people played music and shouted chants, their homemade signs raised over their heads, a 39-year-old small business owner who identified himself as Corwin said of Musk, “he’s so conflicted and it’s so clear that his antiregulatory attitudes benefit him personally and financially.”

Musk has targeted several agencies for reduction or dismantling that regulates industries in which his companies operateEarlier this month, Musk said he wants to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which would regulate X’s planned expansion to financial services, posting on his social network X “CFBP RIP,” punctuated with a tombstone emoji.  He has stated an intention to go after the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency he’s clashed with before and one that regulates SpaceX. He has also called for ending a rule that requires automakers to report crashes when autonomous driving technology is engaged.

Musk’s actions at the federal level have affected Tesla’s brand image. During the automaker’s 2024 fourth-quarter earnings, analyst Thomas Monteiro of Investing.com noted that the hype around Tesla is trending downward due to, among other things, “severe brand devaluation.”