Washington Post - In recent decades, presidential Cabinet nominees — especially attorneys general and FBI directors — have been asked more or less the same question: Would you carry out an illegal order from the president? And they’ve virtually all answered the same way: No, I wouldn’t. And if forced to choose, I would resign.

Basically all of them answered this way. That is, until now.

President Donald Trump’s nominees in recent days and weeks have for some reason punted on this question. They’ve often suggested it’s a hypothetical that’s not worth answering.

They’ve done so even as it’s become a pretty standard question in these confirmation hearings — and one that has often been broached by Republicans, no less. And they’ve done so even as Trump’s words and actions reinforce that it’s hardly a ridiculous notion.

Financial Times - A surge in gold shipments to the US has led to a shortage of bullion in London, as traders amass an $82bn stockpile in New York over fears of Trump administration tariffs. The wait to withdraw bullion stored in the Bank of England’s vaults has risen from a few days to between four and eight weeks . . . The shipments are also the result of higher prices on the futures exchange in New York than in the cash market in London. The unusual arbitrage opportunity has incentivised traders to send the metal across the Atlantic.

Can Donald Trump Be Impeached Again? What to Know

New Republic - In the Trump administration’s pettiest move yet, multiple federal agencies are ordering federal employees to remove any pronouns from their email signatures by end of day Friday, according to ABC News... Workers at the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy received similar messages on Thursday, amid the chaos of the D.C. plane crash. “In my decade-plus years at CDC I’ve never been told what I can and can’t put in my email signature,” an anonymous employee told ABC.

Elon Musk and His Allies Storm Into Washington and Race to Reshape It

Trump administration purges websites across federal health agencies

CNN- Not only were at least 30 federal attorneys who worked on January 6 cases fired, but all six of the FBI's most senior executives and multiple heads of field offices have been escorted out.

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

The Review is edited by Sam Smith, who covered Washington under nine presidents, has edited the Progressive Review and its predecessors since 1964, wrote four books, been published in five anthologies, helped to start five organizations (including the DC Humanities Council and the DC Statehood Party), was a plaintiff in three successful class action suits, served as a Coast Guard officer, and played in jazz bands for four decades.

A truly independent journalist with his feet firmly grounded in the reality of neighborhoods and everyday people. -- Patrick Mazza, Progressive Populist

A truly original voice in American journalism: humorous and plain spoken and filled with common sense -- Jay Walljasper, Utne Reader

Inimitable -- Mother Jones Magazine

Sam's a cynical cat -- Marion Barry

Sam's one of the few independent voices left. The press today is either extreme or special interest or else just establishment, an extension of the corporate spirit -- Sen. Eugene McCarthy,

One of a small group of whites with whom many blacks would trust their political lives - Chuck Stone, Washingtonian.

A reputation for wit, intelligence and anger. -- Claude Lewis, Chicago Tribune

Smith is an island of reason and information in a sea of narcissistic blather. -- City Paper, Washington

Whatever the debate, the Review's sharp critiques encourage us to look out our window, notice and act upon what we see, and also to look further -- to the rest of the country and globe -- to see how the organized big world interacts with our more spontaneous small worlds. - Utne Reader