Interviews with 23 senior White House officials and outside advisers depict a West Wing where President Trump — without aides to reel him in — is "calling his own shots," report the Washington Post's Phil Rucker and Robert Costa.
The big picture: This past week, as Trump went about his days, "nowhere to be seen was John Kelly, the beleaguered White House chief of staff and overall disciplinarian — nor were the handful of advisers regarded as moderating forces eager to restrain the president from acting impulsively, who have resigned or been fired."
Between January 27 and February 4 last year, 1, 903 travelers were stopped for a second inspection by Customs and Border Patrol following President Trump's executive order banning travelers from 7 Muslim-majority nations, according to newly released data from CBP. 1,457 of them were U.S. residents and at least 134 turned around and left the country, Buzzfeed reported.
Why it matters: This is the first time that these numbers have been released. The Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in the travel ban case in April, after allowing Trump's third version of the travel ban to be implemented while the case was ongoing.
A majority of young people feel President Donald Trump is unfit for office, according to an AP-NORC/MTV poll. Trump has a 33% approval rating among Americans between ages 15 and 34 and a majority of them feel he "is a racist," "generally dishonest" and "mentally unfit" to be president.
Why it matters: Traditionally, younger people have lower voter turnout in midterm elections; In 2014, only 20 percent of 18-29 year olds cast ballots. But young people's dissatisfaction could motivate them to vote against the GOP this fall.
Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA, has been paying $50 per night for a bedroom in an apartment near Capitol Hill, according to a Bloomberg report. This follows criticism over Pruitt’s first class flights as administrator, as well as several other cabinet members’ spending habits.
The cause for concern: The owner of the apartment is a health care lobbyist, Vicki Hart. Her husband, J. Steven Hart, has clients who are in industries that are regulated by the EPA, although it isn't clear if Hart had direct contact with the EPA regarding his client. Pruitt has been paying in lump sums sporadically, without a typical month to month payment, per Bloomberg. An ethics counsel at the EPA, Justine Fugh, said it isn’t an ethics concern because he is paying rent.
Over the past 5 days, a growing caravan of hundreds of Central Americans, almost 80% from crime-ridden Honduras, have been making their way through Mexico unprohibited to the U.S., Buzzfeed News reports.
Why it matters: The caravan was organized by a group called Pueblos Sin Fronteras as a way to help migrants safely reach the U.S., avoiding dangerous cartels and immigration law enforcement. Most hope to skirt U.S. immigration enforcement when they arrive or be granted asylum. The caravan has grown substantially with more than 1,000 men, women and children and Mexican immigration authorities have given up on trying to stop them.
