Today is February 18th, and here is your morning news rundown. To all those who joined us last night during the paid-subscriber only live and Q&A, thank you! It was such a fun time, and I am excited to host the next one tomorrow evening at 8 PM EST. If you want to join or watch the next one, click the button below and become a paid subscriber today. Your subscription helps me do this work full-time, and while mainstream media is beholden to its large advertisers and billionaire owners, I am only beholden to you.
With that, here is all the news you may have missed overnight:
Elon Musk doesn’t even go here (well maybe not). All jokes aside, in a new filing, the Department of Justice is now claiming that Elon Musk has no relation to the Department of Government Efficiency and is merely an employee of the White House, not of DOGE. Musk’s title is that of “Senior Advisor” to the President. As a result, the Justice Department argues that a pending lawsuit seeking to limit Musk’s unfettered power should be dismissed.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul may take the extraordinary step, as soon as today, to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams. As Governor, Hochul has the power to essentially fire Adams if she determines that he is unable to continue his duties as Mayor. Hochul is expected to meet with advisors and New York leaders as soon as today.
Meanwhile, Judge Ho has ordered that Mayor Adams and the Department of Justice appear in court tomorrow afternoon at 2 PM to address the pending motion concerning dismissing the indictment against Adams. It will likely be a difficult hearing for all parties involved.
A D.C. federal judge has allowed the Department of Government Efficiency to have temporary access to Department of Education data finding that there is no privacy violation risks at this time.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Saudi Arabia today to discuss reestablishing communications and relations between the United States and Russia along with the framework for a possible peace deal in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky was not invited to the meeting and has stated that Ukraine will not accept a deal that it did not help negotiate.
Meanwhile, President Zelensky spent the morning meeting with Turkish President Erdogan in Turkey.
According to Fox News, one of the conditions for a peace deal may require Ukraine to hold new elections, although the report has yet to be verified, and Ukraine will likely never agree to this.
Border apprehensions along the southern border have fallen to the lowest levels since May 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
The United States is currently operating spy missions using drones in Mexico’s airspace, according to CNN reporting.
The acting head of the Social Security Administration resigned in protest following a request from DOGE to get access to highly sensitive American data at the Social Security Administration.
Thank you again for all of your support. Comment below and let me know what you think about this report!
— Aaron
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