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A wide range of former lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as well as ex-White House officials who served in Donald Trump's first administration, have signed on to a open-letter criticizing him over his retribution campaign.

Coming on the heels of the president ordering his Department of Justice to investigate two former officials, Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, who served under him during his first stint on the Oval Office, the letter alleges he has put the country on the path to "a dangerous escalation in the abuse of presidential power: weaponizing federal agencies to carry out personalized retribution against named individuals."

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Notable among the signatories in the letter that likened the president to a “royal despot,” is Ty Cobb who previously served as Trump's personal lawyer.

According to a report from the NY Times, "Mr. Trump’s executive orders also revoked the security clearances of people and institutions affiliated with Mr. Krebs and Mr. Taylor, and called for investigations into their government tenures. The letter, signed by more than 200 people, criticized those actions as part of a 'profoundly unconstitutional break' with precedent."

In the letter, which can be viewed here, they explained, "the President’s actions not only evoke some of the worst moments in our history; they go even further. For a president to personally and publicly direct the levers of the federal government against publicly named citizens for political reasons sets a new and perilous precedent in our republic."

You can read more from the NY Times here.

The mass firings of government workers by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has business leaders in the Beltway fearing a localized recession could be on the way.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, restaurants, hotels and other businesses are witnessing in real-time sales plunging as workers lose their jobs or dial back spending due to a possible job loss.

As the Journals' Paul Kiernan and Rachel Louise Ensign wrote, "Economists believe government layoffs and looming budget cuts will push the Washington, D.C., metro area into a recession, challenging its reputation for economic resilience."

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In an interview, Julie Coons, president of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, painted a dark picture of the immediate future, explaining, "We see this as potentially catastrophic for the region," before adding, "This is our Detroit moment.”

The Journal report notes, "In Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood, bookings at the Residence Inn are 10% to 15% below target for the coming months, according to general manager Flavia Sampaio, who said local hotels rely heavily on business from government agencies. Across the Potomac River in D.C., Bluebird Sky Yoga co-owner Kristine Erickson has seen a slowdown in people seeking yearlong memberships," adding, "Sales at Cork Wine Bar & Market, a restaurant on a bustling stretch of 14th Street, fell about 15% to 20% in February compared with the same month last year, said co-owner Diane Gross. March sales were helped by a 'tariff sale' of bottles of wine but still ended down around 10%."

The report continued, "Oxford Economics projects gross domestic product in the Washington, D.C., metro area will fall 0.5% over the course of this year. This is the second-worst projected performance for any of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas after New Orleans, where tariffs are a significant risk, said Barbara Denham, lead economist for cities and regions."

You can read more here.

Vice President J.D. Vance was taken to task by the conservative National Review's Andrew McCarthy for his constant running to X to post disingenuous attacks on opponents of the Donald Trump administration's immigration policies.

In a column posted Saturday morning, the legal analyst claimed the VP, a Yale Law School graduate, knows fully well the administration is denying immigrants their right to due process, and that Vance is making his claims more as a performance for MAGA devotees.

Labeling Donald Trump's second-in-command as "infuriating," he added the VP is "too smart not to know that the nonsense he spouts is nonsense. Well-framed nonsense, to be sure."

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He then added, "Vice President Vance issued one of his claptrap-laden diatribes on social media Wednesday, slamming 'the media and the far left' who are 'weeping over the lack of due process' in the Trump administration’s illegal deportations of people it alleges — probably correctly in most instances — are members of criminal gangs."

Using that as a springboard, he noted that Trump's goal is to "illustrate that he has amassed uncheckable power," and for Vance that's "the point of the vice president’s post: Due process is for whiners, and if you’re 'weeping' over its sudden death, you’re the problem."

"Adopting the habit of Trump officials of making up their own facts as well as their own law, Vance argues that all the administration is doing is returning an illegal alien to his home country," he accused. "This is so mendacious it’s hard to decide where to begin — even accepting for argument’s sake Vance’s blithe claim that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 member, which, again, Trump officials chant as a mantra but no one has actually proved."

"He says we who want the law enforced don’t have a plan for deporting 20 million people — and that’s true, for there is no such four-year plan; there’s just 'do the best you can to materially reduce the illegal population, get on a trajectory for bigger reductions over time, and then manage illegal immigration like we manage other ordinary crime.'" he wrote before pointing out, "But to flip it around, Vice President Vance does not tell us what his plan is for rapidly deporting 20 million people. That’s because such a plan cannot include faithfully executing the law. And he knows it."

You can read more here.

The suspected gunman in a deadly Florida State University mass shooting was kicked out of a political debate club for pushing white supremacist views.

Phoenix Ikner, 20, allegedly used one of his stepmother's guns to kill two people and wound five others in a shooting near the student union on campus in Tallahassee, and court records show he had a tumultuous childhood while a former classmate told NBC News that he expressed right-wing extremist views in a "political round table" club.

"He does have an interesting history," said CNN chief law enforcement analyst John Miller. "We know from court records that CNN unearthed yesterday that he was the subject of a domestic kidnaping incident when he was a child. His biological mother took him out of the country. There was a court fight to get custody back to him. He was brought back to the United States and his adoptive or stepmom, the deputy sheriff, has had him since, and as the sheriff pointed out, he's kind of been enveloped in the law enforcement, extended family."

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"We know he's a political science major," Miller added. "We know he was quoted in the student newspaper talking about a demonstration that the reporter was covering, where she just stopped him and said, what do you think of all this? It was a anti-Donald Trump demonstration. He said, you know, 'these people are a little late, the election happened already, he's being inaugurated on the 20th,' and interestingly, he said, you know, 'short of you know, revolution, we're not going to change that,' and he said, 'no one thinks that's a good idea,' so the statement doesn't really open a definitive door."

A former classmate at both Tallahassee State College and Florida State said Ikner was part of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA chapter at the community college, while voter records show he is a registered Republican, and he described how Ikner's views got him kicked out of a club he led.

"Basically our only rule was no Nazis — colloquially speaking — and he espoused so much white supremacist rhetoric, and far-right rhetoric, as well, to the point where we had to exercise that rule," said Reid Seybold, who was president of that club at Tallahassee State College.

Ikner was also quoted in an FSU student newspaper article on protests against Donald Trump on campus.

“These people are usually pretty entertaining, usually not for good reasons,” said Ikner, who was identified as a political science major. “I think it’s a little too late, he’s already going to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 and there’s not really much you can do unless you outright revolt, and I don’t think anyone wants that.”

Ikner was carrying a handgun that had been the service weapon of Leon County sheriff's deputy Jessica Ikner, his stepmother, and he had previously been a member of the sheriff’s Youth Advisory Council, which is designed to “provide an open line of communication between the youth of Leon County and local law enforcement."

Court documents from 2015 show that Ikner was treated for multiple mental and physical health issues as a child and was the subject of a years-long custody battle.

His biological mother, identified as Anne-Mari Eriksen, a U.S.-Norwegian dual national, was charged with taking a minor from the state contrary to a court order after taking him at age 10 from Florida to Norway.

"Instead of staying in South Florida, the defendant allegedly fled the country with him in violation of their custody agreement," the court filing says.

An Instagram account believed to have belonged to Ikner displayed a Bible quote, "Jeremiah 51:20 -‘You are my war club, my weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I destroy kingdoms,'" that serves as the motto for the white nationalist group The Order.

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Conservative political writer Myra Adams spotlighted the Trump administration's top women officials in an article published in The Hill Friday, referring to them as "mean MAGA girls" for mirroring what she called former President Donald Trump's "bullying leadership style."

The list included Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and rightwing influencer Laura Loomer.

"After nearly 100 days, Trump’s loyal Mean Girls are just warming up their 'don’t mess with us,' in-your-face bravado, so effective and pleasing to their man," Adams, who served on the creative team of two Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008, wrote in her article.

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"These fine-looking ladies are always camera-ready for their frequent Fox News and social media appearances."

She said that these officials are "bullying into submission two of the three co-equal branches of government, resulting in the most powerful executive branch since President Franklin D. Roosevelt."

The author said Bondi turned the Department of Justice into Trump's "weapon of mass retribution."

"Bondi is rebranding DOJ as the president’s law firm, fighting for his all-encompassing MAGA agenda. Even Trump’s former private criminal defense attorneys are Bondi’s top deputies!," she added.

Adams said Bondi "mirrors Trump’s 'fight fight fight' persona, denigrating judges and persecuting thepresident’s 'enemies.'

ALSO READ: 'What is she taking about?' Ex-RNC chair rips press sec’s defense of Trump’s

"That long-growing list includes former officials, the media, and institutions, organizations and businesses that don’t toe the line," Adams noted.

Regarding Leavitt, who is the youngest White House press secretary at 27, Adams said she displays a "prideful Mean Girl confidence well beyond her years."

"Leavitt disseminates whatever the White House 'Department of Propaganda' has prepared, likely from the all-powerful Stephen Miller," she added.

Adams noted that Leavitt heavily favors Trump-friendly new media.

ALSO READ: 'Neofascist revolutionary project': How MAGA is ramping up its propaganda 'machine

"These foot soldiers in designer heels might be called the 'MAGA Mean Girls,'" Adams wrote.

NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian and legal analyst Danny Cevallos think that an appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals backfired against President Donald Trump.

Speaking to MSNBC on Friday, Dilanian addressed the case involving Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man brought to the U.S. as a teenager 15 years ago. García was detained by the government and shipped to an El Salvador prison despite a judge saying that he could not be sent to El Salvador. The Justice Department's lawyers called the deportation a "clerical error," and admitted in court that he was wrongfully deported to the prison.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the government must "facilitate" the return of García, but the word "facilitate" has become part of the argument between the Justice Department, the judge and lawyers for García's family.

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Dilanian cited conservative Appeals Court Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, who took the lead on the Thursday ruling: "He went on to sort of use this case as an argument against Trump administration's approach to judges in general, and to calls for impeachment of judges whose rulings they don't like, and to raise the specter that this is really undermining the rule of law."

Cevallos explained the procedural steps, noting that the Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which then sent the case back to the district court. However, the DOJ sought another appeal of the lower court's decisions.

"And the Trump administration is saying to the circuit court of appeals, hey, help us out. We don't like this district court directive to provide this information. And I've got to tell you, in reading this seven-page opinion, it's as if the appeals court is saying, you're coming to us for help? We don't like anything you're doing. You came to the wrong place."

Cevallos explained that this could ultimately harm the Trump administration.

"As Ken can tell you, within that decision, they also added some other interpretation of words like 'facilitate,'" Cevallos said, recalling the words from the Supreme Court's ruling. "Remember, the government has to facilitate García's return. And almost gratuitously, the Fourth Circuit said, hey, here's what we think facilitate means. Not for nothing, as they say in New Jersey, this is what we think that word means, and what we think you should be doing. I don't think they really needed to do that. They could have just said, hey, a request for emergency help from us: denied. Go back down there to the district court and let this play out."

The appeals court took a different route, he noted.

"But instead they went on for about seven pages, describing all the reasons why they think the administration — they meaning the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals — why the court believes that the Trump administration is not doing this right. And I think this emergency appeal may come back to haunt them because it further fleshes out these words like 'facilitate,' 'return,' that I can see the district court using in its own final decision."

Cevallos went on to explain that they must follow a court order until the court decides otherwise.

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