Raw Story

The White House's official social media account on the X platform posted an image of President Donald Trump wearing a crown and referred to him as "king."

The Wednesday social media post came after Trump shared a message on Truth Social, in which he also called himself king.

"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED," Trump wrote. "LONG LIVE THE KING!"

Trump's message referred to his administration's decision to pull approval for congestion pricing on New York City transportation on Wednesday.

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The White House's post on X included a fake Time magazine cover that showed Trump wearing a crown. "LONG LIVE THE KING," the phony magazine cover read.

To defeat the Trump administration's dismantling of the civil service, wrote Mary Harris for Slate, there's a break-glass solution that is difficult and legally risky — but could turn up the heat on the president: a massive strike by federal workers, suspending the public sector.

"Like a lot of people, I see the president’s self-coup and think: Is now the time folks hit the streets?" wrote Harris, whose husband was a recent casualty of Trump's move to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Democrats will have little leverage when it comes time to negotiate to avoid a government shutdown. But, she wrote, "some have suggested Dems refuse to work with the GOP at all, sending whatever’s left of the government workforce home."

"But given their relatively toothless actions so far, I think Democratic leadership will need their spines stiffened to play hardball. That’s where a strike comes in. Which, in essence, would be the government sending itself home," she added.

There's precedent for this, she wrote. In Wisconsin in 2011, then-Gov. Scott Walker advanced Act 10 to eviscerate the state's public-sector unions.

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"American government workers got so pissed off at the people running things that they called out of work and protested for weeks," she wrote. "They rolled out SpongeBob SquarePants sleeping bags on marble floors that were usually filled with the clacking of legislators’ shoes. They brought in drums and vuvuzelas so they could make themselves loud. They chartered buses to bring in nurses and teachers; corrections officers and cops showed up too. In the end, their ranks swelled to 100,000, maybe more."

Democrats, despite being a minority in the gerrymandered legislature, were empowered by these protests to flee the state, shutting down regular business.

Walker ultimately found a way to force through Act 10, but he was forced to fight for his life in a bruising recall election, and the anti-union legislation is currently facing an existential challenge in state court. Meanwhile, such strikes have had success in other countries, Harris noted: "after South Korea’s president declared martial law, unions pressed for consequences. When an initial effort to impeach the president failed, a strike effort gained steam."

Now, he's facing possible removal in an impeachment trial.

"General strikes" of this kind aren't legal, wrote Harris. They require massive fundraising to support the thousands of workers not getting paid; even then, the workers face punishment for illegal work stoppages. And they are often undermined by outside agitators, and government officials who push misinformation to portray the workers as violent or destructive.

But when they hold the line, she wrote, they can produce results — and it might be the last power workers have right now to save their jobs and their democracy.

"I am floating this general strike idea for a simple reason: Workers are running out of options. Unions are, too. Because if they represent a population of government employees who can be summarily dismissed for political reasons, then who, exactly, are they protecting anymore?" Harris concluded. "The First Amendment still exists. I think it’s time to use it."

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols chastised President Donald Trump's administration, saying that what has happened at USAID has created a "mess."

Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney wrote Wednesday that it became clear in court that the administration had no idea what is happening with USAID employees who were abandoned abroad after it conducted mass firings.

On Feb. 10, Trump's appointee to manage USAID, Peter Marocco, said in a sworn statement that those overseas would be given a "choice" and an "option" to remain in their posts with existing benefits despite being put on administrative leave, Cheney wrote.

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Then, just four days later, he changed his mind, saying an employee “who is directed to depart post and fails to do so” would no longer be “officially stationed overseas." He further told the staffers that they could lose access to the benefits given to foreign service workers.

“This is a mess!” Nichols announced in the hearing.

The Marocco statement contradicted the "crystal clear" understanding from the last hearing, he argued.

"Nichols’ consternation comes as he considers whether to further extend his legal block on the Trump administration’s plans to abruptly dismantle USAID — the agency responsible for administering billions of dollars in foreign assistance — and 'repatriate' thousands of workers living abroad within 30 days," wrote Cheney. "He ordered the Justice Department to submit a new declaration by noon Thursday clarifying its position on overseas employees."

In the case of the pregnant wife of a foreign service worker, the stress of not knowing what was happening sent the wife to the hospital, an affidavit said.

"Because of these medical complications, she was told she needed to immediately evacuate because of a high risk of hemorrhage, which would be life-threatening to both my wife and our baby," the man said in the affidavit. "The embassy medical unit concurred with our local physicians's direction that she needed to urgently depart and they requested an urgent medical evacuation approval through State Foreign Programs/State Med Washington."

They were denied twice, "with a message from State Med stating that 'there is no USAID funding for medevacs.'"

"I later learned that there was a verbal directive from State Department Washington leadership to Regional Medical Officers and the Medical Evacuations Team to cease all USAID medical evacuations, hospitalization support, and guarantees of payment for urgent medical service," the affidavit read.

Nichols temporarily suspended the firings — a hold has been in place for the past several weeks but was set to expire Friday.

A Trump Justice Department attorney promised the judge that the department would "do better going forward" and would reinstate emergency flights for USAID employees.

Read the full report here.

The Trump-era Department of Justice has been rocked by yet another resignation, leading to a cascade of reactions Tuesday.

According to Reuters' Sarah N. Lynch, Denise Cheung — the top senior prosecutor in DOJ's Washington office — told her colleague Ed Martin, in her resignation letter, that she is leaving DOJ because of a request from Trump Administration officials she considers improper. The Trump allies, Lynch reports, asked Cheung "to launch a criminal probe" and "ordered her to investigate a government contract awarded during Joe Biden's administration and pursue a freeze of the recipient's assets."

In her resignation letter, Cheung wrote, "I have been proud to serve at the U.S. Department of Justice and this office for over 24 years. During my tenure, which has spanned over many different administrations, I have always been guided by the oath I took.... to support and defend the Constitution."

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Cheung's resignation is inspiring a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig tweeted, "Yet another resignation in protest after DOJ leadership orders veteran fed prosecutor this weekend to freeze enviro grants made by Biden administration. @TheJusticeDept can freeze funds when there is evidence the assets are linked to a crime. Veteran Denise Cheung felt such a step was improper/unethical now and resigned, sources tell the Post."

CBS News' Scott MacFarlane posted, "The wave of resignations among longtime Justice Dept attorneys continues Denise Cheung is leaving her post as a top criminal prosecutor in Washington DC, amid tumult in the agency."

Former federal prosecutor Daniel R. Alonso wrote, "Having served as a criminal chief in a Republican administration that did not abuse its authority with respect to our office (EDNY), I can say D.C. Criminal chief Denise Cheung was exactly right to resign. You DO NOT open investigations without predication."

In a separate tweet, Alonso commented, "It's a conundrum to be sure, but lawyers have ethical obligations. It's true different lawyers interpret them differently, but how can we ask her to stay when her conscience dictates otherwise? A more pressing issue is that the Senate should reject Martin's nomination - he belongs nowhere near federal prosecutorial decision-making."

The Hill's Niall Stanage wrote, "Developing story — NYT reports this happened because the person in question would not carry out a 'directive' from the Trump team."

CNN's Jim Sciutto tweeted, "The sudden departure of Justice Department veteran Denise Cheung comes a day after President Donald Trump announced his nominee to lead the prosecutor's office, Ed Martin, who has supported unwinding all January 6 criminal cases that the office brought."

X user Millard Fillmore remarked, "She is resigning because they ordered her to break the law via a trumped investigation."

Missouri state Rep. Phil Amato (R) has introduced a bill that would require the state to maintain a database to track pregnant women who are at "risk" of having an abortion.

The Missouri House Democratic Caucus warned about Amato's HB 807 on social media this week.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" the group asked on Facebook. "Tomorrow in the Missouri House of Representatives, the Committee on Children and Families will discuss a bill that's being branded as a reform to the adoption system. In reality, HB 807 would require the state to TRACK PREGNANT WOMEN in a database."

"We have to imagine even conservative Missourians would be horrified by this idea. The elected Republicans in Jefferson City need to hear from us loud and often that this is an extreme government overreach and a creepy, draconian measure aimed at scaring our fellow citizens," the post added.

According to the bill's text, the "Save MO Babies Act" would establish a registry within the Department of Social Services the Division of Maternal and Child Resources under the guise of promoting adoptions.

"The Division is required to make and maintain a central registry of each expecting mother who is at risk for seeking an abortion and a central registry of each prospective adoptive parent who has successfully completed certain screenings, background checks, home studies, and other investigations to ensure the fit of the prospective parent to adopt a child," the bill said.

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"The Division can share records, information, and findings with federal, state, or local child welfare agency personnel and law enforcement agencies, including those outside of this state, in the performance of the Division's duties," the document warned.

According to Missouri's bill tracking system, a public hearing for the measure was held Tuesday morning.

White House aide Stephen Miller launched into a barrage of shouting aimed at CNN's Brianna Keilar Tuesday as she grilled him on cuts being made by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and the sensitive information the billionaire's team might be accessing.

An animated Miller proclaimed, "You may assert there is no waste in the Pentagon. You may assert there is no waste in Treasury. You may assert there's no wasted in HHS."

Keilar tried to interrupt, "Stephen. Stephen, I don't think anyone — "

"Then why are you not celebrating these cuts?" Miller exploded, raising his voice to shouting level. "If you agree there is waste, if you agree there is abuse, if you agree there is corruption, why are you not celebrating the cuts, the reforms that are being instituted. Every day that no action is taken, the entire salaries of American workers that are taxed disappear forever!"

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"Stephen, let's calm down," Keilar admonished. "We're not having a debate —"

"Well, you're clearly trying to debate me, and I will be as excited as I want to be about the fact that we are saving Americans billions of dollars, that we are ending the theft and waste and grift and corruption, that we are stopping American taxpayer dollars from subsidizing a rogue federal bureaucracy that has been relentlessly weaponized against the American people."

Keilar and Miller continued to argue over one another until Keilar finally said, "Stephen, I'm just asking — I wanted to get your position on some things. We're not taking a position here, we wanted to get some answers."

Miller shot back, "It doesn't sound to me like you are indifferent or unbiased on these questions, but thank you."

His response left Keilar visibly shocked. She responded by saying goodbye.

Watch the clip below via CNN.