The slow unraveling of legacy media continues.

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New York Times: “To an extent not previously reported, Ms. Wilkins is escorted in her travels by Special Weapons and Tactics team members drawn from F.B.I. field offices around the country. SWAT teams are chiefly trained to arrest violent criminals, free hostages and thwart terrorists.”

“But Mr. Patel’s demand that rotating SWAT teams provide his girlfriend with security for singing appearances, personal engagements and errands is unprecedented in the FBI.”

“Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s pick for surgeon general, does not yet have the votes for confirmation following a testy Senate health committee hearing on her nomination Wednesday,” Politico reports.

“The Trump administration has begun using a patchwork of trade laws to recreate the sweeping tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down as illegal last week,” the New York Times reports.

“But the approach will require a more cumbersome set of tariffs, ones that Mr. Trump will not be able to issue quickly or on a whim. The tariffs may be levied by country, trade issue or product and will probably take months to go into effect. The question now is how closely the old structure will be reproduced — or whether the new tariffs could end up creating an entirely different set of winners and losers.”

Wall Street Journal: Trump considers new national security tariffs after Supreme Court ruling.

“The European Parliament on Monday halted the ratification process of a sweeping trade deal with the United States, the latest fallout from the Supreme Court striking down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs,” NBC News reports.

Wall Street Journal: “When the Justice Department released its last trove of millions of files about Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump found himself in the same place he had spent a year trying to avoid — dealing with the fallout, again.”

“The files showed his own commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, had visited with Epstein long after Lutnick said they had cut ties.”

“Lutnick had to publicly explain his past statements, provoking a direct conversation with Trump, according to administration officials familiar with the matter. Trump questioned why he previously denied connections to Epstein when he knew he had visited Epstein’s island, the officials said.”

“The latest episode started during a conference call just before Christmas, when aides broke the news to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that another million documents attorneys believed were likely duplicates in fact weren’t.”

“Blanche sighed in exasperation, eventually alerting senior White House aides, who shared his anger and received updates for days, according to administration officials. In the ensuing weeks, the agency ordered hundreds of additional prosecutors to review the files, working through weekends to redact sensitive information and at times plying them with pizza to keep going at night.”

“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker sent a letter—and invoice—to the White House on Friday demanding $8.6 billion be refunded to his state’s 5.1 million households, roughly $1,700 each,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“’Your tariff taxes wreaked havoc on farmers, enraged our allies, and sent grocery prices through the roof,’ wrote Pritzker, a possible 2028 presidential candidate and frequent Trump critic. ‘This letter and the attached invoice stand as an official notice that compensation is owed to the people of Illinois, and if you do not comply we will pursue further action.’”

NBC News: “Longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon, the host of the “War Room” podcast and an influential voice in the MAGA movement, replied with a four-character text message when asked what would come next on the tariff front.”

“#War.”

The Athletic: “Hunter Hess says last two weeks ‘probably hardest’ of his life after President Trump remarks. 

Trump labeled Hess “a real loser”, adding  that it would be “’very hard to root for someone like (Hess)’ after the Olympian said in a news conference that representing the United States in these Milan Cortina Games ‘brings up mixed emotions’ and was ‘a little hard.’”

“’It was probably the hardest two weeks of my life,’ Hess said Friday in Livigno, where he aced both of his qualifying runs in the freeski halfpipe to easily advance to the evening’s final. ‘I’ve never been subject to that type of criticism before.’”

USA Today: “Eileen Gu responds to criticism from JD Vance, others in United States. In an interview with Fox News, Vance said, referring to Gu, he hoped someone who grew up in the U.S. would ‘want to compete with the United States.’”

“Gu didn’t take offense to Vance’s words, she said, and as for Vance wanting her to compete for the U.S., she replied playfully, ‘I’m flattered. Thanks, JD! That’s sweet.’”

Hi – Many of you have noticed a break in the political posts. Thank you for all of the comments.

This is Taegan’s Trial Balloon co-host Chris Riback: Taegan had an unexpected minor surgery and, unfortunately, it likely will keep him off the computer for a few days.

Very sorry for the gap in the posting… we all depend on Taegan’s posts to get us through our days!

Thank you so much for being PW readers… you know Taegan looks forward to getting back to the news soonest.

 

“Whether you liked Ms. Harris or not, this last election was a choice, a very simple one. You had the choice between the Constitution and the criminal. And this country chose the criminal. You put a criminal at the top of America. A convicted felon.”

— Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I), on a podcast.

President Trump suggested that Cuba should cut a deal with the United States after last weekend’s military actions in Venezuela, NewsNation reports.

Said Trump, on Truth Social: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

It was great to be Julie Mason’s first guest of the year on her fantastic radio show.

You can listen here.