After the latest round of firings, there's an unprecedented "mood of acute anxiety" in President Trump's White House, Axios reports. "Nobody knows what exactly is happening, who's about to be fired, or which staffer will next be frogmarched out the door by security for some shadowy clearance issue." A White House official tells Axios that Trump is running "the most toxic working environment on the planet. There's no leadership, no trust, no direction, and this point there's very little hope."
Rumors are swirling that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster will be replaced by John Bolton, and Chief of Staff John Kelly by ... somebody. "Multiple [people] have told me they are unsure who could be fired or walked out next," says CNN's Kaitlan Collins. Jonathan Swan at Axios adds: "I keep hearing people telling me X person is imminently gone from the White House, but nobody serious really knows anything." The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey has this report:
Amid the uncertainty, The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol passes along some rumors involving EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller:
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"Would you want to go to work every day not knowing whether your future career was going to be destroyed without explanation?" the White House official asks Axios. For some people, the answer is obviously yes.
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Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocratFeature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
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Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
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Government shuts down amid partisan deadlockFeature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
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Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in OregonSpeed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
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Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
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Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
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Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
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Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
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Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
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US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
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YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
