WTF Just Happened Today

Thursday, February 25, 2021

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1/ A Department of Homeland Security report casts doubt on the need for Trump’s travel ban. The report concludes that citizenship is an “unreliable” threat indicator and that people from the banned countries have rarely been implicated in U.S.-based terrorism. (Washington Post)

• Trump rejects the Homeland Security intelligence report that contradicts the White House’s assertion that immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries pose a particular risk of being terrorists and should be blocked from entering the U.S. (Wall Street Journal)

2/ A California Congressman calls for a special prosecutor to lead an investigation into the alleged ties between Trump and Putin. Rep. Darrell Issa said on HBO’s “Real Time” that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should not handle the problem because he was both on the Trump campaign and was appointed by Trump as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. (San Diego Tribune)

• Top Republican says special prosecutor should investigate Russian meddling in Trump’s election. Issa became one of the few Republican representatives to state publicly the need for an independent investigation into Russia’s reported election meddling. This comes as Democrats have increasingly pushed for an investigation into President Trump’s associates’ ties to Russia. (Washington Post)

3/ Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser breaks with the administration on his views of Islam. McMaster told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a key ideological view of Trump’s senior advisers, and signaling a potentially more moderate approach to the Islamic world. (New York Times)

• National security adviser: Term “radical Islamic terrorism” isn’t helpful for US goals.. McMaster said jihadist terrorists aren’t true to their religion and spoke in starkly different terms about Russia, saying the talk about Moscow being a friend of Washington is over. (CNN)

4/ Recently confirmed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a private email for state business. The revelation is in direct conflict with the former Oklahoma Attorney General’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Pruitt told lawmakers he had never used private email for state business in his confirmation process. (Fox 25 - KOKH)

• Scott Pruitt vows to slash climate and water pollution regulations at CPAC. Head of the EPA told the conservative audience they would be “justified” in believing the environmental regulator should be completely disbanded. (The Guardian)

5/ Trump turns the power of the White House against the news media, escalating his attacks on journalists as “the enemy of the people” and berating members of his own F.B.I. as “leakers” who ...

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