“The assistant commissioner of a division of the General Services Administration told staff early this week that layoffs across the federal government are ‘likely’ after the deferred resignation offer expires Thursday — the sharpest move yet toward forcibly removing many of the 2.3 million civilian federal employees,” the Washington Post reports.

Asha Rangappa: “An agency that is defined by loyalty to a person, rather than principles can neither be guided nor reined in by rules. It is built around, and driven by, contempt for them.”

“The current Justice Department’s willingness to decimate almost half of its agent workforce without due process protections owed to those employees and despite the danger to Americans that will result from the vacuum left by agents no longer investigating and monitoring critical threats, is already signaling a step in this direction.”

The Guardian: “After Trump instructed his advisers that he wanted the prosecutors gone, the White House presidential personnel office, led by longtime Trump ally Sergio Gor, issued a memo that directed the justice department to proceed and gave the move a degree of legal cover.”

“The memo was then sent to the acting attorney general’s office, which issued the actual termination notices to those still at the department. The precise number is unclear because the department did not release names, but the trial team consisted of at least 18 lawyers.”

“Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of U.S. President Donald Trump, broke Italian and European Union environmental protection laws when he hunted ducks near Venice in December,” USA Today reports.

Charlie Warzel: “Elon Musk is not the president, but it does appear that he—a foreign-born, unelected billionaire who was not confirmed by Congress—is exercising profound influence over the federal government of the United States, seizing control of information, payments systems, and personnel management.”

“It is nothing short of an administrative coup.”