Politico: “Pentagon officials are proposing the department prioritize protecting the homeland and Western Hemisphere, a striking reversal from the military’s yearslong mandate to focus on the threat from China.”
“A draft of the newest National Defense Strategy, which landed on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desk last week, places domestic and regional missions above countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow.”
Joe Passantino: “On Capitol Hill this week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. found himself under fire. The notorious anti-vaccine activist turned Health and Human Services secretary was grilled in a tense Senate Finance Committee hearing, where lawmakers from both parties accused him of peddling falsehoods about vaccines and undermining public health. At one point he exaggerated the number of childhood immunizations, downplayed Covid’s death toll, and suggested health officials were deliberately misleading the public.”
“That spectacle offered a snapshot of how far once-fringe claims have traveled. For years, Kennedy was considered a crank on the margins, hawking anti-vaccine conspiracy theories in wellness circles and on the talk-radio fringe. Now he is running the country’s health department. His views aren’t just tolerated, they are being injected directly into the bloodstream of government policy. And it didn’t get there by accident. Right-wing media has been the vehicle.”
New York Times: “One major reason is an emerging divide within the administration between aides eager to deliver President Trump a political victory by announcing a deal and those who contend the current framework is too favorable to Harvard. Some Trump advisers argue that one way to strengthen the agreement would be to subject Harvard to an independent monitor who would ensure compliance. Harvard has consistently opposed that idea.”
“Talks have also slowed in recent weeks with Cornell University and Northwestern University.”
After a slew of high-profile successes in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Trump administration found key parts of its agenda blocked in federal court this week, with judges criticizing its actions as “unlawful” and “unconstitutional,” NBC News reports.
The Pentagon is deploying 10 F-35 stealth fighter jets to Puerto Rico for “counter-narcotics tasking in the Caribbean,” Fox News reports.
Jennifer Griffin: “Why would you need F35 stealth fighter jets for a counternarcotics mission? The F35s being sent to Puerto Rico are usually used for large bombing missions like the targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities- a 5th generation supersonic fighter jet known for its lethality. It looks to me like the US military is going to war. 8 US Navy destroyers in the Caribbean near Venezuela is a first.”
New York Times: “In what could be read as a citizens’ revolt, ordinary people serving on grand juries have repeatedly refused in recent days to indict their fellow residents who became entangled in either the president’s immigration crackdown or his more recent show of force. It has happened in at least seven cases — including three times for the same defendant.”
“Given the secretive nature of grand juries, it is all but impossible to know precisely why this has been happening, but the persistent rejections suggest that grand jurors may have had enough of prosecutors seeking harsh charges in a highly politicized environment.”
Washington Post: “The United States began the year having grown at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the final three months of 2024. Hiring was robust: employers added 323,000 jobs in December.”
“Fast forward to today and the news is less cheery. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, meaning the labor market has basically stalled since the president kicked off his historic ‘Liberation Day’ tariff offensive in April. Some on Wall Street are mulling the likelihood of a recession…”
“Administration officials dismiss that possibility out of hand. But, outside of recessionary periods, the U.S. has not seen hiring this weak relative to the size of the economy in more than 60 years.”
“If French Prime Minister François Bayrou loses his job in a confidence vote Monday, it will be due in no small part to his willingness to fiddle with a cornerstone of Gallic life: public holidays,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The freedom that French workers have to take extended breaks from the office has become as core to the national identity as pungent cheese and fine wine.”
“So when Bayrou proposed that France shave two holidays from the calendar—Easter Monday and May 8, which marks Nazi Germany’s surrender to Allies—his opponents branded the idea as bordering on treason.”
“Jerome Adams, who served as US surgeon general during President Donald Trump’s first administration, is calling for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be fired as controversy continues to swirl over his handling of vaccine approvals,” CNN reports.
“President Donald Trump’s administration said Friday that it is exploring whether the federal government can take control of the 9/11 memorial and museum in New York City,” Politico reports.
“The site in lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed by hijacked jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001, features two memorial pools ringed by waterfalls and parapets with the names of the dead, and an underground museum. Since opening to the public in 2014, the memorial plaza and museum have been run by a public charity, now chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a frequent Trump critic.”
President Trump endorsed Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) for retiring Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) seat, The Hill reports.
“High-ranking Biden administration officials repeatedly questioned and criticized how the president’s team decided on controversial pardons and allowed the frequent use of an autopen to sign measures late in his term,” according to internal emails obtained by Axios.
“The messages are the latest signs of the chaos surrounding the 82-year-old former president during the final weeks of his administration, in two areas that are now being investigated by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.”
Rep. Cory Mills’ (R-FL) ex-girlfriend spent more than an hour in court Friday describing how she was “scared” the central Florida Republican wanted to harm her and tarnish her reputation by potentially releasing videos of the two of them having sex, Politico reports.
“Nebraska and Kansas might be next in the gerrymandering line,” Axios reports.
“Three Republicans currently represent Nebraska in the House. But Democrats are favored to pick up one seat in 2026, with the retirement of Rep. Don Bacon from the Omaha-based district. Republicans want to thwart those plans.”
“In neighboring Kansas, a Trump +16 state that has a Democratic governor, there are early conversations about how to gerrymander away the one Democratic House seat.”
President Trump said he’s supportive of vaccines on Friday, breaking with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Axios reports.
Said Trump: “I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don’t have to be vaccinated.”
He added: “They’re just, pure and simple — they work. They’re not controversial at all. And I think those vaccines should be used.”
“Close relatives of the federal official who has accused a Federal Reserve governor of improperly claiming primary residence on two properties have declared the same status on two homes in two different states, public records show,” Reuters reports.
“Mark and Julie Pulte, the father and stepmother of Bill Pulte, President Donald Trump’s appointee as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, since 2020 have claimed so-called ‘homestead exemptions’ for residences in wealthy neighborhoods in both Michigan and Florida, according to the records. The exemption is meant to give a discount to homeowners on taxes for properties they use as their primary residence.”
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sister and nephew called on the secretary to resign Friday after he questioned the safety of vaccination while testifying before a congressional committee,” Axios reports.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.