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The Headlines
The New Way Trump Allies Are Offering Access to the President, and the Flood of U.S. Ammo to Mexican Cartels
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Plus, Super Bowl and Olympics highlights.
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Choose to show up with the bold styling of the Mazda CX30. I wake up from the New York Times. It's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, February 9th. Here's what we're covering.
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In my campaign for president, I pledged to give America the most spectacular birthday party the world has ever seen for America's 250th anniversary.
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A new investigation from the Times has found that as part of President Trump's plans to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary, his allies are offering access to the president and other perks in exchange for donations of at least a million dollars to a new organization.
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To help carry out these exciting plans, we have created a new public private partnership. It's called Freedom250. Working with states, companies, and organizations across.
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The group, Freedom250 is planning flashy events and monuments that are very Trump. That includes a massive new marble arch overlooking D.C. an IndyCar race through the streets of the Capitol, and an Ultimate Fighting Championship match on the White House lawn on Trump's birthday. While there was already a commission called America 250, established by Congress a decade ago to plan anniversary celebrations, the newly formed Freedom250 has a more opaque corporate structure. And like Trump's White house ballroom project, Freedom250 has emerged as another way for people and companies to curry favor with the president. Donors who give 2.5 million or more, for example, are being offered speaking roles at an event in D.C. on July 4, according to a fundraising pitch that my colleagues got a hold of. It's the latest example of how Trump has gone all in on fundraising, even though most presidents usually dial that back in their second terms. In the past year, he and his allies have raised roughly $2 billion for his favored political causes and passion projects. The Times has found that many of those donors have either benefited from or are involved in an industry that's benefited from the administration's actions or statements. In response to questions, representatives for the White House and Freedom250 downplayed concerns about selling access with a spokeswoman for the group saying, quote, the president is incredibly grateful to his donors, but unlike the politicians of the past, he can't be bought by anyone. Notably, back in 1976, the country's last big birthday celebration also faced questions about who was footing the bill. President Nixon was accused of stacking the planning commission with political allies, and the events had so many corporate donors that people began to call it the bui Centennial. Now, three more quick updates on the administration. A federal judge has ordered the White House to unfreeze billions of dollars in federal funding for a major infrastructure project in New York, a rail tunnel under the Hudson River. The administration had frozen the money during the government shutdown last year when it was targeting Democratic districts to turn up the pressure on lawmakers. Since then, the Times has learned that top Trump administration officials told New York Senator Chuck Schumer that that they would release the funds, but only if he agreed to name Penn Station and Washington Dulles Airport after President Trump. Schumer, who has no direct oversight over either of those facilities, rebuffed the request. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Also, a number of Republicans are calling on you to apologize for that post. Is that something you're going to do?
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No, I didn't. A mistake. I mean, you give. I look at a lot of thousands of things and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine.
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On Friday, after widespread backlash, including from some within his own party, President Trump deleted a racist social media post he'd made, which showed Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The White House originally defended the post, then blamed it on an unnamed staffer before Trump finally took it down in a rare moment of retreat under political pressure. Though he did not apologize sharing it in the first place, it was the latest example of Trump promoting offensive imagery and slurs. Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, called it, quote, the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House and in Congress. The standoff over President Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement is going to come to a head this week. If I had to say now, they.
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Would probably expect that there is going to be a shutdown.
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Democrats have insisted they won't fund the Department of Homeland Security without strict new guardrails on the behavior of ICE agents and without a compromise, funding for DHS will run out on Friday.
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The left has gone completely overboard and.
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They'Re threatening the safety and security of.
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Our agents so that they cannot do their job.
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Republicans, however, have so far rejected Democrats demands, like having agents unmask if they can't reach a deal. Several parts of dhs, including the tsa, fema, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service, will run out of funding. Many of those agencies would continue operating, but employees would have to go without pay. Some Democrats have suggested funding those agencies separately while they continue to negotiate limits on ice. Across Mexico, police and even the country's military are finding themselves outgunned by cartels. The cartels have acquired heavy firepower that in some cases includes 50 caliber ammunition. Those rounds are huge, as long as your hand. They were developed to attack tanks and aircraft. Cartel gunmen have used them to assassinate government officials, massacre civilians, and even down helicopters. Now a new report from the Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shows that some of that ammunition is not only coming from the US but was made for the US Military. My colleagues obtained files from multiple incidents where Mexican authorities said the casings were marked with the imprint of Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, which is just outside Kansas City, Missouri. It's owned by the US Government and run by private contractors. It's the top supplier of rifle rounds to the Pentagon. But the plant is also allowed to make commercial sales to retailers. An army spokesperson said that saves taxpayers millions a year because it lowers the government's costs for ammunition. In terms of how ammo gets to cartels, a typical scenario goes like this. Retailers sell rounds to a civilian who then gives them to a smuggler. Pretty much any US citizen or legal resident over 18 can buy any type and any amount of rifle ammunition, even the armor piercing variety. Data shows the Lake City plant in particular is a major source of the.50 caliber rounds being used in cartel battles in Mexico. The U.S. army did not respond in detail to questions about that. Neither did the current contractor operating the plant. When the Times talked with the former mayor of one town where cartels used.50 caliber rounds in a brutal gun battle, he said he wasn't surprised to learn where they'd come from. He said, quote, the drug traffickers can get their hands on anything and they get the best weapons from the United States.
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And finally, and that will do it. Seattle reigns above the mall.
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This was the weekend to sit on your couch and watch other people be really athletic. The Seahawks trumped the Patriots to take the super bowl with Bad Bunny putting on a joyful riot of a halftime show that was basically a love letter to Puerto Rico. And in Italy, the Olympics provided moments of absolute heartbreak and triumph. Lindsey Vaughn, the comeback of all comebacks. Lindsey Vonn, even being on skis at all was a huge moment. At 41, she was trying to become the oldest Alpine Olympic medalist ever. And she was trying to do it with a ruptured ACL. But about 13 seconds into her race, I can tell you.
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Oh no, Vaughn's gone. Vaughn has crashed out.
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She crashed and had to be airlifted off the mountain. The crowd rose to its feet to applaud the five time Olympian in what could be the last race of her career. Von's teammate Breezy Johnson won the event, earning the US first gold medal at the 2026 Games. The US also won gold last night in team figure skating, thanks in part to 20 year old Ilia Malinin, aka the Quad God. He is the only skater in history who has landed the quad axel in competition. None of the skaters that he's up against at this Olympics have even attempted to do that. To understand just how complicated this move is, the Times had him perform the quad axel in front of a high speed camera and then slowed it down so you can see it turn by painstaking turn. @nytimes.com along with lots of other Olympics coverage, those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.