Federal workers under pressure as Trump agenda ramps up
All employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., received unsigned emails Friday night offering them a “voluntary separation incentive payment.” The move comes after President Donald Trump clarified in a Cabinet meeting last week that agency heads — not Elon Musk — are in charge of staffing decisions.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security started performing polygraph tests on employees in an attempt to learn who might be leaking information, according to four sources familiar with the matter. Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan have blamed lower-than-expected ICE arrest numbers on recent leaks revealing the cities where it planned to conduct operations.
Meanwhile, some federal workers — many of whom are veterans — spoke to NBC News about the serious mental health crises they’ve been grappling with amid the firings and buyout efforts.
“It’s not about the layoffs. It’s about a dehumanization of who we are and what we do,” said one Department of Defense employee who carries guilt over his vote for Trump.
As Musk faces blowback, Teslas bear the brunt
As Elon Musk attempts to delve further into the corridors of American power, the tech mogul’s electric-car maker Tesla has come under fire — literally.
There have been at least 10 acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships or charging stations in recent weeks, according to police and local reports, underscoring the backlash Musk has faced since taking on an unprecedented role in the federal government.
The attacks at Tesla dealerships also coincide with a decline in sales for the electric-car maker.
Recent data shows increasing sales growth of electric-battery vehicles in Europe, but new Tesla vehicle registrations in Europe are down 45% year over year for January, and are down in China as well.
From a run-down British seaside resort, Russian spies launched espionage plots
The Haydee Guesthouse, with its worn-out carpets and grandmotherly Victorian façade, makes for an unlikely base for Russian-backed high-stakes espionage.
But for years, the guesthouse in Great Yarmouth, a run-down resort town on Britain’s east coast, played host to a freelance spy ring orchestrating cross-continental honeytraps, kidnappings and murder plots targeting high-profile dissidents and sensitive military sites.
The details unfolded in British courts last week after three Bulgarians — members of a Russian ring operating from their base in the United Kingdom — were found guilty of conspiracy to spy.
Gabriela Gaberova, 30, a beautician tapped to carry out honeytraps; Katrin Ivanova, 33, a lab assistant who was also found guilty of “possessing identity documents with improper intention”; and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, a painter-decorator and Gaberova’s former partner, made up the ragtag group of amateur operatives who managed to carry out espionage operations for the Kremlin on what prosecutors described as “an industrial scale.”
‘Meet the Press’
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disputed the possibility of a recession as banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs say it’s becoming more likely.
Lutnick told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that President Donald Trump plans to “unleash America out to the world” and “grow our economy in a way we’ve never grown before.”
“If Donald Trump is bringing growth to America, I would never bet on recession, no chance,” the commerce secretary added.
Lutnick also promised grocery prices would start coming down in early April but warned there would be price increases on foreign goods because of the administration’s anticipated reciprocal tariffs.
Politics in brief
Shutdown deadline: Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a short-term funding bill to avert a shutdown at the end of this week, but it’s unclear whether it has the votes to pass either chamber.
Holdout on Ukraine: Trump has privately made clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv won’t be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing, according to two officials.
Trump pushback: With Congress on the sidelines, the most serious and forceful pushback Trump has faced has come from foreign leaders and American judges.
MAGA vs. billionaires: Old-guard Trump-world populists are starting to take swings at the plutocrats — namely billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk.
Who is Amy Gleason?: Mystery continues to surround the low-profile data analyst who was named acting administrator for the Department of Government Efficiency.
The household item turning runners into world record holders
Asked about the factors that helped him break the world record for the indoor 5,000 meters, Grant Fisher acknowledged one so surprisingly simple that it’s probably in your kitchen.
He is among the many professional runners in recent years to embrace baking soda — known within the sport by its scientific name, sodium bicarbonate, or simply “bicarb” — as a legal means of running faster times than ever.
The use of a bicarbonate “system” sold by Maurten, a Swedish company, has become so widespread that at track and field’s world championships in 2023, two-thirds of all medalists from 800 to 10,000 meters were using it. At the Olympics last summer, more than two-thirds of all running medalists were using it — “and in some cases, all the finalists were using it,” the company told NBC News.
In case you missed it
- The Secret Service shot an armed man near the White House shortly after midnight Sunday, the agency said.
- After brush fires erupted in New York on Saturday, officials said a large one on Long Island was 22% contained as of Sunday afternoon.
- At least eight people were injured after a customer rammed into a CarMax store in California, and police are saying it’s being investigated as an intentional act.
- Pope Francis has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” after more than three weeks in the hospital, the Vatican said.
- A 14-year-old suspect was taken into custody on murder charges following a shootout with New Jersey police officers that left one dead and a second hospitalized, according to authorities.
- For a month, seven people held Sam Nordquist captive in a small hotel room, torturing him to death, authorities say. How did it go on in secret?
- The leader of Germany’s AfD party is part of a growing group of powerful women leading Europe’s ascendant far-right parties.
