Automakers urge USDOT to quickly restart federal EV charging program

 A group representing automakers and electric vehicle charging companies on Friday urged the U.S. Transportation Department to quickly restart a $5 billion government EV infrastructure program.

On Thursday, the Trump administration said it was suspending the electric vehicle charging program and rescinding approval of state EV charging plans pending a new review.

The Electric Drive Transportation Association, whose members include General Motors, Toyota, BorgWarner, EVGo, Stellantis, Walmart and others, said it urged the Trump administration "to quickly resume the critical work of the program and minimize uncertainty for states and their businesses, who have invested in infrastructure to serve local and national goals for advanced transportation."

On President Donald Trump's first day in office, he took aim at electric vehicles, saying he was halting distribution of unspent government funds for vehicle charging stations from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund.

Trump also revoked a 2021 executive order signed by his predecessor Joe Biden that sought to ensure half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 were electric. Trump also called for ending a waiver for states to adopt zero-emission vehicle rules by 2035 and said his administration would consider ending EV tax credits.

Biden's 50% target, which was not legally binding, had won the support of U.S. and foreign automakers.

Trump has said he could take other actions on EVs, including seeking to repeal the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader tax-reform legislation.

Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy directed U.S. regulators to rescind landmark fuel economy standards issued under Biden that aimed to drastically reduce fuel use for cars and trucks as well as highway climate rules.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in June it would hike Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements to about 50.4 miles per gallon (4.67 liters per 100 km) by 2031 from 39.1 mpg currently for light-duty vehicles.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/automakers-urge-usdot-quickly-restart-184717301.html

Musk team moves into US consumer finance watchdog as Trump defends billionaire

 Members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) moved into the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday, according to two people familiar with the move, as the Tesla CEO's team extended its influence across the U.S. government.

On Friday Musk posted "CFPB RIP" on X, his social media platform.

Republican President Donald Trump has tasked Musk, the world's richest person, to oversee a drastic downsizing and reshaping of the federal government. Several early targets for Musk's cost-cutting effort, such as the CFPB, have long incurred the ire of conservatives in America.

In November, Musk called for elimination of the CFPB, which polices and regulates consumer financial products, in a post on his social media platform X, saying it was duplicating the efforts of other agencies.

Three Musk aides are now listed in the CFPB directory as "senior advisors", according to the two sources. They include Gavin Kliger, a Berkeley-educated computer scientist who has boosted white supremacists and misogynists online. Reuters could not determine what Kliger and his colleagues were doing at the CFPB and Kliger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk has also said he was working to shut down USAID, America's main development and humanitarian aid agency. On Friday, workers removed USAID's signage from its headquarters in downtown Washington.

A U.S. judge on Friday said he will enter a "very limited" order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from taking some steps to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, adding that 2,200 employees from the agency would not immediately be placed on administrative leave.

The ruling came after the largest U.S. government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers sued the Trump administration in an effort to reverse the dismantling of the agency. The administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAID employees out of more than 10,000, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

On Friday, Ed Martin, Trump's top federal prosecutor in Washington, announced he had launched an investigation into government employees who Musk has accused of stealing property and making threats.

"After your referral, as is my practice, I will begin an inquiry," Martin wrote in a letter made public on X to Musk and Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise The Boring Company, who has been working with Musk at DOGE.

Musk and his DOGE team of mostly young men are part of a broader overhaul by Trump to remake the federal government and purge it of thousands of workers, including those Trump perceives as enemies or opposed to his conservative "America First" agenda.

Trump, who says the government is bloated and corrupt, said on Friday he was "very proud" of the work of Musk's "very capable" team.

He said Musk was acting on his directives and that no agency was off limits. "I'll tell him to go here, go there. He does it." Trump said, adding that the aggressive effort was necessary to "find the corruption."

Musk aides have entered multiple agencies, often without notice, and sought access to sensitive government computer systems since Trump took office on January 20. The visits have sparked a wave of panic among federal workers, who are also considering a buyout offer from the Trump administration that was issued to 2 million of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce.

A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily paused the proposed buyout plan for federal workers until at least Monday, giving an initial win to labor unions that sued to stop it.

Even as the program was stayed, more than 65,000 federal employees have already accepted the buyout offer, a White House source said.

Opposition Democrats and federal employee unions have decried the power Trump has bestowed on South African-born Musk, who is unelected and appears largely unaccountable except to Trump himself. Musk is classified as a "special government employee" and is not drawing a government salary.

An Energy Department source told Reuters that three members of DOGE are also now installed inside that department.

Trump's new Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, told CNBC there are three DOGE staff inside the department but they do not have security clearances and do not have access to nuclear weapons secrets.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/money/companies/musk-team-moves-into-us-consumer-finance-watchdog-as-trump-defends-billionaire/ar-AA1yCK4F

Musk speaks at JPMorgan event attended by CEO Dimon, source says

 Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke at a JPMorgan Chase conference on Thursday which was attended by the bank's chief Jamie Dimon, according to source familiar with the situation.

The conference in Miami was attended by 200 of JPMorgan's largest clients across asset and wealth management, convened by Mary Erdoes, the CEO of the business, as well as commercial and investment bank clients, according to the source, who declined to be identified discussing a private client event.

Musk took the stage with his mother, Maye Musk, for a

conversation moderated by David Rubenstein, co-founder of private equity firm the Carlyle Group.

The conversation covered a wide range of topics, including the scope of work of the Department of Government Efficiency spearheaded by Musk.

JPMorgan declined to comment while Musk and Carlyle did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Dimon and Musk, once adversaries in a prolonged legal battle, have settled their differences, the prominent Wall Street banker said in an interview last month.

The biggest U.S. lender had sued Tesla in 2021, kicking off a drawn-out dispute that was at least in part tied to Musk's infamous 2018 tweet where he said he had "funding secured" to take the EV giant private, only to abandon that plan a few weeks later.

Tesla countersued the bank in 2023, but both the companies dropped their claims against each other in November last year.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/companies/musk-speaks-at-jpmorgan-event-attended-by-ceo-dimon-source-says/ar-AA1yCAWu

Trump delayed tariffs on low-cost packages from China

 President Trump signed an executive order this week that temporarily prevents low-cost packages from China from being slapped with his new tariffs.

The move delays the suspension of the de minimis provision, which is a part of tariff policy that allow for items worth $800 or less to avoid import fees. Trump said in his Feb. 1 order that imposed 10 percent tariffs on China that “duty-free de minimis treatment … shall not be available.”

The order he signed Wednesday amended the original order regarding China to allow for de minimis treatment to be available until the Commerce Department can put in place systems to “expediently process and collect tariff revenue” on the lost-cost items.

The de minimis provision reportedly has been used as a loophole to get fentanyl and other chemicals shipped and the focus of Trump’s tariffs on China has been to address the synthetic opioid supply chain. Trump’s order this week isn’t expected to be a long-term shift, a source familiar told The Hill, but is a temporary solution to deal with parcels from the China.

Trump earlier this month imposed the 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, following through on a long-standing pledge to target the country as well as Canada and Mexico. He delayed the 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for a month after speaking with both nation’s leaders.

The U.S. Postal Service had that it would pause accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong “until further notice” following the tariffs. It then said in a Wednesday notice it will resume accepting those packages and that it was working “closely” with Customs and Border Protection to “implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.” 

Beijing, meanwhile, hit the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs across the board, imposing a 15 percent tariff on liquefied natural gas and coal and a 10 percent tariff on crude oil, pickup trucks, agricultural machinery and large-displacement cars. 

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5133661-trump-delayed-tariffs-on-low-cost-packages-from-china/

Casino mogul Wynn asks US Supreme Court to revisit Times v. Sullivan defamation rule

 Casino mogul Steve Wynn has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal that, if granted, could give the justices a chance to revisit libel protections for journalists enshrined in a landmark 1964 ruling that has been questioned by two conservative justices and President Donald Trump.

The court established a stringent limit on defamation claims by public figures more than 60 years ago in its New York Times v. Sullivan decision involving the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections for freedom of speech and the press.

Wynn, the former CEO of Wynn Resorts and former finance chair of the Republican National Committee, is appealing a decision by Nevada's top court to dismiss his defamation suit against the Associated Press and one of its journalists. The court found Wynn failed to show a disputed 2018 news report containing allegations of sexual assault had been published with "actual malice."

The Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan and subsequent decisions set a standard that in order to win a libel suit, a public figure must demonstrate the offending statement was made with "actual malice," meaning with knowledge it was false or with reckless disregard as to whether it was false.

That standard has since been adopted in a number of state laws across the country, including in Nevada.

Wynn's petition for appeal, which was made public by the court on February 4, asks the justices to assess "whether this court should overturn Sullivan’s actual-malice standard," as well as a related prior court decision.

At least four justices must vote to grant review for the court to hear an appeal. No date has been set for the justices to review or vote on whether to take up Wynn's case.

Wynn's defamation lawsuit accused the defendants of publishing an article falsely alleging he committed sexual assault in the 1970s. Those claims first appeared in two separate citizens' complaints that an Associated Press reporter obtained from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, including one complaint that Wynn argued was implausible on its face and that a Nevada court in a separate proceeding found to have included "clearly fanciful or delusional" allegations.

Wynn has denied the sexual assault allegations.

The Supreme Court in recent years has turned away other opportunities to revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, including a 2021 denial that drew dissents from conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

Citing a rapidly changing media environment increasingly rife with disinformation, Thomas and Gorsuch said in separate opinions the court should take a fresh look at its precedents that make it harder for public figures to sue for defamation.

Since launching his first Republican presidential campaign in 2015, Trump has often attacked and even sued media outlets whose coverage he dislikes, and has repeatedly criticized U.S. defamation laws.

A federal judge in 2023 threw out Trump's $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which the former president claimed the network's description of his election fraud as the "big lie" associated him with Adolf Hitler. Trump's lawyers, in a 2022 filing in that case, had invited the judge to reconsider the legal standard set in New York Times v. Sullivan.

"The court should reconsider whether Sullivan’s standard truly protects the democratic values embodied by the First Amendment, or, instead, facilitates the pollution of the 'stream of information about public officials and public affairs' with false information," Trump's lawyers wrote.

https://www.aol.com/news/casino-mogul-wynn-asks-us-232619767.html

Trump ends Biden's access to classified information

 U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was revoking former President Joe Biden's security clearances and stopping his daily intelligence briefings as there was no need for his predecessor to receive classified information.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump referenced a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur that described Biden last year as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Biden said at the time that his memory was fine. Reuters on Friday reached out to a representative for Biden for comment.

Former presidents traditionally receive some intelligence briefings even after they have left office.

In his post on Friday, Trump also said Biden used his time in office to instruct the intelligence community to stop Trump from accessing details on national security.

In 2021, shortly after taking office, Biden told CBS he did not believe Trump should have access to intelligence briefings because of his "erratic behavior" and concern he might share information.

"What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?" Biden said at the time.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2025-02-07/trump-ends-bidens-access-to-classified-information

More Government Workers Accept Trump Admin Buyout Offer, Official Says

 The number of workers who have decided to accept the buyout offer from the Trump administration has risen by about 25,000, according to a White House official, with some 65,000 government employees now having signed up for the offer.

That was up from more than 20,000 on Feb. 4 and more than 40,000 on Thursday morning.

As Zachary Stieber reports for The Epoch Times, the buyout offer is a deferred resignation that pays workers until Sept. 30.

One worker, based in the Pacific Northwest, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that she took the offer on Thursday. She hopes to use the opportunity to move overseas but said that even if the money never comes, she still wants out. She says she is unwilling to comply with the new administration’s policies, including the elimination of diversity initiatives, and worries that the situation will only get worse for people who stay.

After entering office in January, President Donald Trump ordered federal employees back to the office and directed officials to impose stricter performance standards.

The Trump administration says that those and other changes mean that the majority of federal agencies will likely see a reduction in employees.

“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce. At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions,” a message from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management told government workers.

“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program.”

Workers could start resigning on Jan. 28. The original deadline was Feb. 6, but a judge ordered the government to push it back until Feb. 10.

One worker, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the judge’s decision bolstered suspicions that the deferred resignation program was legally questionable.

The new deadline is Monday, Feb. 10, at 11:59 p.m. ET, the government told workers in a letter after the order was handed down.

“Should you wish to pursue Deferred Resignation please reply to this email from your government email with the word ’resign,'” the email reads.

A hearing will take place that day in a case brought by unions that could result in the deadline being delayed further.

Unions said in court filings that they don’t know whether the government can honor the buyout offer since congressional appropriations don’t currently run until the fall. They said the offer is illegal because it’s arbitrary and capricious in part due to “run[ning] counter to long-standing rules and requirements for federal employees.”

Government lawyers said in response that the offer is legal because it is, rather than being a final agency action, “a matter of pure internal governmental administration and, in all events, imposes no legal right or obligation on anyone, let alone Plaintiffs.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/more-government-workers-accept-trump-admin-buyout-offer-official-says