Associated Press: “News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.”

“Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor and reporters carried chairs, a copying machine, books and old photos to the parking lot from suddenly abandoned workspaces. Shortly after 4, about 40 to 50 journalists left together after handing in badges.”

CNN will host a live town hall with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

The studio audience will include people “who have been directly affected by the shutdown.”

Leave your reactions in the comments.

Status: “In less than 24 hours, the Pentagon is set to carry out an unprecedented expulsion of the press, stripping virtually all news organizations from their badges that grant them access to the building. The move comes after virtually all news organizations declined to agree to a set of new draconian rules that Pete Hegseth forced upon them as conditions for maintaining a press pass.”

Earlier for members: The Pentagon Locks Out the News Media

Rachel Maddow believes that the recent indictments of Letitia James and James Comey are aiming to make Donald Trump’s enemies terrified to oppose him, The Wrap reports.

Said Maddow: “I think that the most obvious answer is probably the real one, which is that they want to make it either illegal or terrifying to oppose him. And so they’re putting heads on pikes and putting those pikes up at the gates to the city to say it’s not possible to criticize, let alone oppose, this president. If you do, look what we’re going to do to you and your family and your career and your livelihood and your reputation.”

She added: “I think that’s all it is. And I think that they don’t have anybody holding them back. And so they’re going to do it as long as they can and as much as they can.”

President Trump tore into Time over a cover the magazine posted on X featuring his face, complaining the image “disappeared” his hair with the use of a poor angle, The Wrap reports.

Said Trump: “Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time. They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one.”

“The Washington Post joined the New York Times, the Atlantic and the Guardian in spurring the Pentagon’s new press restrictions ahead of its Monday deadline,” The Wrap reports.

“The Pentagon’s latest guidelines for reporters assigned to the building, unveiled last week, require reporters to agree not to engage in ‘solicitation’ with military officials or risk their access to the building. It was an escalation of its increasingly tight-strung policies that came a week after it unveiled — and news organizations rebuked — a policy that demanded reporters not publish information not authorized for public release.”

JD Vance sparred with George Stephanopoulos when pressed about an apparent $50,000 bribe to border czar Tom Homan, prompting the ABC News anchor to end the interview, by saying: “You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time this morning.”

“Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather weighed in on David Ellison’s hire of Bari Weiss as editor in chief at CBS News, warning that it portends a culture of fear in the news division as staffers worry about their jobs,” Deadline reports.

Wrote Rather, in his newsletter: “That deal and the hiring of Weiss signals to everyone, especially to the man in the Oval Office, that CBS is no longer independent, but under the tutelage of a conservative billionaire who is putting more than his thumb on the scale.”

“Let’s do the fucking news.”

— Bari Weiss, quoted by Semafor, after introducing herself to CBS News staff as their new editor in chief.

“The Defense Department on Monday loosened and clarified its new restrictions for press access to the Pentagon, after more than two weeks of negotiations with national news organizations,” the New York Times reports.

“Under the rules, journalists requiring credentials to the Pentagon will not need approval from the department before publishing articles with information not officially released. News organizations widely interpreted an earlier draft as requiring that approval, drawing their condemnation.”

“Manosphere podcasters didn’t win Donald Trump the presidency in the 2024 election cycle, but they went a long way to solidifying the president’s support among large swaths of the young men who follow them,” Rolling Stone reports.

“Now — nine months into the implementation of the president’s agenda — the same ultra-popular podcasters and streamers who lent their audiences to the president in 2024 are scrambling to break with his government.”

“Several journalists resigned this week from three newspapers in Alaska after the publications’ corporate owner made significant edits to an article about Charlie Kirk’s death, appearing to yield to pressure from a Republican state lawmaker who had criticized the coverage,” the New York Times reports.

By a more than two-to-one margin, Americans approve (58%) rather than disapprove (25%) of the decision by ABC and its parent company, Disney, to end Jimmy Kimmel’s recent suspension and let him return to TV, according to a new Yahoo/YouGov poll.

Gallup: “Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a ‘great deal’ or ‘fair amount’ of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”

“This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago.”

Jimmy Kimmel was a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show last night and Colbert also visited Kimmel’s show on the same night “a move that has never happened before in late-night,” Deadline reports.

Said Kimmel: “We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon told Variety he’ll keep his show out of politics: “I just keep my head down and make sure the jokes are funny.”