The Caucus: The Early Word: New Day

Government employees who report possible malfeasance are almost certain to be targeted by the second Trump administration. Mark Zaid is a lawyer likely to represent some of them; over the past two decades, he has provided legal counsel to a long list of federal employees and intelligence officers, including whistleblowers. His most high-profile whistleblower case, however, was that of the intelligence officer who reported to an inspector general that then-President Donald Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to find political dirt on his presidential rival.

During his campaign, incoming president Donald Trump did everything possible to muddy his record on abortion and reproductive healthcare. He flip-flopped on whether he supported outlawing abortion and declined to answer questions on birth control and medication abortion. He bragged about appointing the three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v.

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As firefighters are battling multiple huge blazes tearing through Los Angeles, California’s prisons have deployed more than 1,000 incarcerated people to battle on the frontlines. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that, as of Wednesday morning, 1,116 incarcerated people were embedded with the state’s other firefighters to help slow the spread of the infernos that have killed at least 25 people and devastated neighborhoods across LA county. More than 20 incarcerated crews have been deployed over the last week, dressed in orange uniforms and working in perilous conditions.

At a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, acknowledged climate change is “real” and that greenhouse gasses are making the planet hotter—but stopped short of saying the agency must regulate them. About 90 minutes into the hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Sen.

Joe Biden's farewell speech gaslighted otherwise.

Oliver Darcy: “Early Wednesday evening, shortly before I published news of CNN’s looming lineup changes, Jim Acosta received a peculiar telephone call from CNN chief Mark Thompson. Thompson, I’m told, delivered the veteran journalist a sudden and strange proposal: Move your show to midnight and anchor it until 2am ET…” “Of course, it’s impossible to ignore the obvious: Sidelining Acosta would also work to curry favor with Donald Trump, who very much despises the CNN anchor.” Said one media executive: “They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump.