“A White House spokeswoman denied on Monday that the president’s border czar, Tom Homan, accepted a bag with $50,000 in cash as part of an undercover FBI investigation last September, contradicting news reports about the case,” the New York Times reports.

“FBI agents working under cover made an audio recording of the September 2024 meeting in which Mr. Homan accepted the money in a bag from the fast-food chain Cava.”

President Donald Trump plans to meet this week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the looming government-funding crisis, Punchbowl News reports.

Forbes: “President Trump just had the most lucrative year of his life. But percentage-wise, members of his immediate family, including sons Eric, Don Jr. and Barron, did even better.”

“Crypto is the big driver, but additional funds have come from advising right-wing companies in America and partnering with cash-rich firms overseas, especially in the Middle East. Family members who never had significant fortunes of their own—Eric, Don Jr., Barron and Melania—have accumulated tens, then hundreds of millions of dollars. All told, the family (including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner) is now worth an estimated $10 billion, having nearly doubled its net worth since last year’s election.”

New York Magazine: “The Democrats’ latest maneuver has been to demand Donald Trump directly negotiate with them since his congressional vassals won’t go to the bathroom without a permission slip from the White House.”

“Oddly enough, Trump opened the door to a meeting while seeming to dismiss the idea of making any concessions to Democrats.”

Said Trump: “They want all this stuff, they haven’t changed, they haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken, just about. I’d love to meet with them if they want to meet.”

Nate Silver: “Democrats are in what chess players call zugzwang, where there aren’t necessarily any winning moves.”

“At some point, it defies your oath to serve a president who rejects the rule of law and bends the Department to his abuses.”

— Conservative Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith, in his newsletter.

Andrew Sullivan: “The president openly demands his attorney general file charges against named political enemies despite no solid evidence they have committed any crimes.”

“One of his senior officials, Tom Homan, is on an FBI tape receiving $50,000 in cash in bribes, and he remains in office with the full backing of the president. Megyn Kelly says of this bribe: ‘WE DO NOT CARE.'”

“This is a criminal enterprise, not an administration.”

For members: Punishing Foes, Protecting Friends

“Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has broken ranks with the Trump administration on free speech, urging Americans to protect it at all cost in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination,” the Daily Beast reports.

“Days after Republican Senator Ted Cruz and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro spoke out against the administration’s role in pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air last week, Gabbard became the latest MAGA figure to champion the importance of free speech at a time when dissent is increasingly being silenced.”