Julia Jester

How Trump undermined election assistance agency ahead of the midterms The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is supposed to help. Now, some worry about its influence.

The Trump admin's attacks on Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency — a federal agency that is supposed to help states w/ election security — could threaten the midterms, @julesjester.bsky.social writes:

w/ @julesjester.bsky.social for @ms.now

Trump diplomacy 2.0: A billionaire developer and a monarchy scramble longtime U.S. alliances Foreign diplomats say the president’s embrace of Steve Witkoff and the emir of Qatar is frustrating nations that have backed the U.S. for decades.

Trump diplomacy 2.0: Foreign diplomats say the president’s embrace of Steve Witkoff & the emir of Qatar is frustrating nations that have backed the U.S. for decades. w/Vaughn Hillyard @julesjester.bsky.social @ianjsherwood.bsky.social www.ms.now/news/trump-w...

Trump officials have repeatedly insisted the Maduro capture was a *law enforcement* operation, NOT a military one — Pentagon + CIA merely provided assistance to DOJ

So excluding Senate Judiciary leaders from its briefing w/ AG Bondi, Hegseth, Rubio, Caine & Ratcliffe really undercuts that argument.

Senate Judiciary leaders Grassley + Durbin issue a rare bipartisan statement slamming exclusion from briefing w/ Gang of 8, House+Senate Armed Services & Foreign Cmte leadership

“The administration’s refusal to acknowledge our Committee’s indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable”

Here's what Trump and Zelenskyy said when they met at Mar-a-Lago Trump wouldn't commit to a deadline for peace between Russia and Ukraine.

No deadline but the ‘makings of a deal’: President Trump meets Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago @ms.now www.ms.now/news/trump-z...

Trump, Zelenskyy to meet Sunday amid positive signs for peace progress President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy are set to meet in Florida on Sunday to hammer out a peace deal proposal with Russia. The news comes after Russia launched a massive barrage of missil...

President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will meet in Florida Sunday to hammer out a peace deal with Russia. The news comes after Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones at Kyiv. MS NOW Reporter @julesjester.bsky.social reports.

www.ms.now/weekends-wit...

4 key takeaways from the inspector general’s Signalgate report Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth transmitted secret military information in a group chat on his personal phone and declined to cooperate with investigators, according to an inspector general report.

4 key takeaways from the inspector general’s Signalgate report by @julesjester.bsky.social

(TL;DR: Not quite an "exoneration"...)

www.ms.now/news/4-key-t...

Can Mamdani talk his way out of Trump’s defunding threat? Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani faces a challenge at the White House: convince President Donald Trump not to cut federal funding to NYC — without bowing to him or abandoning his own values.

President Trump + Zohran Mamdani will meet at the White House today

Mamdani says he’s “ready for whatever happens” — and there’s quite a bit at stake for NYC’s youngest mayor in more than a century

My latest for @ms.now: www.ms.now/news/trump-m...

DNC rakes in major grassroots haul thanks to Trump at the helm The Democratic National Committee enjoyed a much-needed fundraising boon in October ahead of its election victories.

Exclusive for @msnbc.com: Democrats are showing signs of life not only w/ latest election wins, but also in a groundswell of fundraising

The DNC is touting a $6 million haul of small-dollar grassroots donations in October — 3x MORE than Oct ‘17 of Trump’s first term

www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/e...

In Asia, Trump’s trade war forces allies to choose sides The president’s trade policies have caught smaller nations between the U.S. and China as the world’s two most formidable economic powers vie for dominance.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — With Trump's tariffs taking center stage at ASEAN + APEC in Asia this week, the president used summits of multilateral cooperation + diplomacy as the backdrop for his one-on-one dealmaking on trade.

My latest for @msnbc.com: www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/a...

Humanitarian aid into Gaza by the # s, per a Trump administration official —

ON Oct 16: 950 trucks entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom + Kissufim crossings, incl. 96 UN + NGO trucks w/ food, medicines, tents, WASH supplies + other aid

SINCE Oct 10: 3,571 trucks have entered Gaza (avg of 510 daily)

Some ~professional news~

After 10 years with NBC, I’ll be joining @msnbc.com next month as a reporter covering all things Washington, Trump administration, + politics

HUGE thanks to @sudeepreddy.bsky.social for the opportunity — excited for this new adventure. www.thewrap.com/msnbc-new-hi...

NEW: OPM is officially ending the Musk-led "5 things" weekly email requirement for federal employees

OPM Dir. Scott Kupor: "We communicated w/ agency HR leads that OPM was no longer going to manage the 5 things process nor utilize it internally"

+ adds managers have other tools to stay informed

✅ @julesjester.bsky.social has been verified by @nbcnews.com.

A senior White House official calls Shaheen's letter "pointless."

"SGEs are already required to abide by executive branch ethics rules including the rules relating to misuse of position or other government resources or information," the official told NBC News in a statement.

Scooplet: In a letter first shared w/ @nbcnews.com, Sen. @shaheen.senate.gov urged President Trump to require Elon Musk + other special government employees involved in DOGE to sign a certification that they won't use nonpublic information to their benefit.

MORE: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

NEW: Jeremy Lewin – a DOGE associate & close ally of Elon Musk who was instrumental in dismantling USAID – is now serving as the Acting Director of Foreign Assistance at the State Department, a spox confirms. His appointment comes after Pete Marocco abruptly left the position.

NEW: Pete Marocco, the key figure in dismantling USAID + U.S. foreign assistance, is OUT at the State Dept

Marocco “conducted that historic task” of conducting “an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance,” per a senior admin official in part to @nbcnews.com

Hi bsky 👋🏻 I’m an @nbcnews.com journalist reporting on Elon Musk, #DOGE, government agencies + the federal workforce.

I’m looking for reporting tips, insights, + human impact stories. Reach out on Signal if you have any leads, intel, documents, &/or experiences that may be helpful to our reporting.

Interesting anecdote about AOC's popularity and how even moderate Dems recognize how effective she is

www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

National Transportation Safety Board concludes: if MDTA had conducted the vulnerability assessment recommended by AASHTO in both 1991 + 2009, “MDTA would have known the risk and could have taken action to safeguard the Key Bridge … Had they done that, the collapse could have been prevented” (4/x)

MORE from Chair Homendy of NTSB, which is issuing 4 urgent safety recommendations to bridge owners across 19 states, the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, & U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a result of its investigation into the March 2024 Baltimore bridge collapse (3/4)

NTSB Chair Homendy: Bridge's risk was 30x greater than threshold set by AASHTO

"What's frustrating is not only did MDTA fail to conduct the vulnerability assessment on the Key Bridge, they did not provide - nor were they able to provide - NTSB with the data needed to conduct the assessment" (2/4)

NEW: ~A year after the Baltimore bridge collapse, the NTSB concludes "had the MDTA conducted a vulnerability assessment of the Key Bridge based on recent vessel traffic [it] would have been able to proactively identify strategies to reduce the risk of a collapse and loss of lives" (1/4)

Elon Musk has tweeted about impeaching judges more than a dozen times in the last 24 hours, per @julesjester.bsky.social

Pregnant federal employees who were fired grapple with stress of losing insurance and looking for work NBC News spoke with a half-dozen pregnant women who recently lost their jobs as part of the Trump administration's layoffs across the federal government.

Not just affecting the nation's capital – from DC to TX to NC to OR to the Middle East: Pregnant federal employees who were fired grapple with stress of losing insurance and looking for work

Important reporting by @janetimm.bsky.social + @natashakorecki.bsky.social www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

By the # s — since President Trump took office, at least 90 lawsuits have been filed against his administration

21 re: immigration 
19 re: DOGE
18 re: impacts on govt employees
13 re: funding freezes
11 re: gender/equal rights
2 re: USAID
6 others (ex. DEI, CFPB)

h/t @garygrumbach.bsky.social

House Oversight Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-VA): “Can you imagine if we privatized the postal service, how expensive a letter would be?”

He called #USPS the “one constant” during COVID: “The whole country understood how valuable you are.” + stressed its importance for rural communities

The National Association of Letter Carriers is rallying in DC against the dismantling + privatization of the U.S. Postal Service

NALC President Brian Renfroe calls the potential “illegal” takeover of the USPS “a direct attack” on 640K postal workers + every American who relies on its deliveries