Is Tryptophan MAHA?

Today’s notice: The “unlawful orders” kerfuffle expands. Whatever happened to DOGE? The state of a federal vaccines website. And: The Second Annual NOTUS Thanksgiving Hot Takes is here. We’re off for the rest of the week and thankful for each of you everyday.

THE LATEST

The FBI escalates: The video starring Democrats with national security experience urging service members to reject illegal orders has become a bigger story with each passing day — thanks mostly to an outrage consensus on the right and an official Pentagon investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly’s remarks.

Now, the FBI is involved, according to a joint statement from Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan.

Democrats dismissed the request for interviews as attempted “intimidation” and “harassment.” Kelly’s office confirmed he received an FBI interview request, too, NOTUS’ Amelia Benavides-Colón and Jose Pagliery report.

The FBI declined to comment. The White House directed requests for comment there.

Former high-ranking FBI officials told NOTUS that the timing of the investigation indicates that the agency likely skipped steps that would typically be taken in an investigation like this.

“It seems unlikely they had sufficient time to meticulously, dispassionately and objectively pursue a preliminary investigation before going to interview the targets,” one of these formers told Jose. “I don’t know what articulable facts they could possibly have to open an investigation. Telling people to not follow illegal orders does not indicate criminal activity.”

Open tabs: Trump spares turkeys — but not his political opponents (AP); MTG is staying out of the election to replace her (Politico); Bowser will not run for fourth term (WaPo); Thanksgiving air travel plans cut by US government shutdown (Reuters)

From the White House

“Tremendous progress” is how both Donald Trump and Karoline Leavitt described the state of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. U.S. officials are holding the details close, after the initial 28-point plan leaked.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will head back to Kyiv later this week, per Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff. And Trump says special envoy Steve Witkoff will speak directly to Vladimir Putin (yes, that’s after Bloomberg reported that Witkoff walked a Russian senior foreign policy adviser through how to charm Trump).

Final discussions would be with Trump, who’s at Mar-a-Lago through Sunday afternoon. Does that change if talks go well? The White House declined to comment.

From K Street

New tax filings showed top CEOs displaying some skepticism toward MAGA in the run up to Trump’s second term, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports.

Business Roundtable directed money toward Third Way, the American Action Forum — a center-right think tank that’s been critical of Trump’s tariffs and immigration policy — and the ModSquad Foundation, a Democratic group that backs moderate candidates.

Now that Trump’s in office… “Business Roundtable partners with groups across the political spectrum and works closely with the Trump Administration and members of Congress to advance pro-growth policies,” a spokesperson told Taylor in a statement.

NOTUS INVESTIGATION

Why is this website broken? Vaccines.gov used to help Americans find where to get shots and remind them that those shots “can help you stay healthy.” NOTUS’ Margaret Manto discovered that the site has been in tumult since the summer. Most features are no longer functional. Vaccine information has been wiped.

Tracking the site’s changes exposes yet another quiet effort to reduce vaccine education and access. “Decisions are being made by CDC leadership/HHS leadership,” a former CDC official told Margaret.

What HHS says: “As publicly stated on the website banner, the functionality of this website may be impacted while it is being updated,” a CDC spokesperson emailed Margaret.

“[I] shudder to think what that will mean,” the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Demetre Daskalakis, said.

THE BIG ONE

Does that DOGE still hunt? Elon Musk was on the defensive yesterday, responding to reports that the Trump administration unceremoniously disbanded the “cost-cutting” unit he effectively led for months.

The Office of Personnel Management’s director, Scott Kupor, told Reuters earlier this month that DOGE “doesn’t exist” and was no longer a “centralized entity,” which he confirmed in an X post on Sunday.

Musk’s response? “Reuters lies relentlessly,” he posted. @DOGE itself said the article was “fake news” and promised more cost cutting TBA. DOGE’s website hasn’t been updated with new “savings” since Oct. 3.

Republicans are still citing the DOGE ethos, perhaps not realizing it might be passé. Using the past tense, Sen. Joni Ernst posted Monday that “DOGE did great work.” Rep. Eric Burlison dragged the White House’s reported ACA subsidies proposal, telling MS NOW that it “is definitely not the DOGE thing to do.”

Another sign the times have changed? House Oversight’s DOGE subcommittee is chaired by the now-resigning Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Oversight Chair James Comer’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the subcommittee’s future.

NEW ON NOTUS

How good a job is ‘recovery czar’? If Democrats have their way, Republican Senate candidate and Trump-anointed FEMA point person for North Carolina Michael Whatley will be dreading the title the president bestowed upon him.

“It’s all going to come down to whether they got the job done or not in [western North Carolina]. And if they did, then it’ll probably be OK. But if they didn’t, it’ll be pretty bad,” Carter Wrenn, a longtime Republican strategist from the state, told NOTUS’ Christa Dutton.

D.C. after Trump’s takeover: Crime did decrease in the District during the federal takeover, but data analytics expert Jeff Asher told NOTUS’ Violet Jira it’s difficult to attribute that drop in crime to the federal surge. Violent crime is still happening in the city. So, what’s been the result?

“It has felt more focused on immigration, which is kind of tearing families apart and just instilling more fear,” Ebony Payne, an ANC commissioner, told Violet.

More: Trump’s Plan to Cut Homelessness Programs Is Getting Pushback From Republicans, by Raymond Fernández

Sherrod Brown Launches Early Attack in Ohio’s Pivotal Senate Race, by Tyler Spence

A Mail-In Ballot Case in Front of the Supreme Court Is Making Democrats Nervous, by Torrence Banks

NOT US

• Drug Arrests and Gun Seizures Fell as Homeland Security Pursued Immigration, by Hamed Aleaziz, Nicholas Nehamas, Michael H. Keller and Alexandra Berzon for The New York Times
• Inside Atlanta’s First Government-Funded Supermarket, by Will Parker for The Wall Street Journal
• New X Games: Legitimate Groyper or Bangladeshi Bot? By Will Sommer for The Bulwark

BE SOCIAL

Thanksgiving Hot Takes, brought to you by the NOTUS newsroom. The newsletter team does not endorse any of these takes. We are in fact ashamed that some of our colleagues hold them.

“Truly would love for someone to prove to me that pumpkin pie is good. It’s like dessert baby food.” — Anna Kramer, reporter.

• “I’m gonna be really angry Thursday if I go to dig into some delicious pumpkin pie but all I can think about is how it’s pureed veggies.” Alex Roarty, reporter and defender of freedom, responding to Anna.

“Thanksgiving should be earlier in the year. It’s still a fall holiday but it’s too close to Christmas.” — Christa Dutton, reporter and AJI fellow.

“Mac and cheese is the main dish. It’s more important than the turkey.” — Violet Jira, reporter and AJI fellow.

“Sweet potatoes with rum. Life-changing.” — Dave Levinthal, senior editor and… pirate?

“The Thanksgiving meal should be served at 9 p.m.” — Tim Grieve, editor in chief and maniac.

Bonus truly bad take: “Talking politics on Thanksgiving is good, actually.” — Samuel Larreal, a reporter and AJI fellow whose invite we just threw out.

Thank you for reading! If you like this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.org.

The newsletter was produced by Tara Golshan and Andrew Burton. Photo by Evan Vucci/AP.