Good evening. It’s Friday, March 7.

1. China Found Guilty

2. Trump Pressured to Make Puerto Rico Independent to Save America $617 Billion

3. DOGE Wins Court Battle to Access Treasury Systems

4. NYT: Rubio, Musk Clash at Trump Cabinet Meeting

5. UPDATE: Gene Hackman, Wife Died of ‘Natural Causes’

6. DHS Ends TSA Collective Bargaining… 'More Full-Time Union Workers' Than Airport Screeners

7. Trump Won’t Pardon Derek Chauvin

8. Milei’s New Media Rules: ‘Mute Button’ for Reporters

1. China Found Guilty

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey won a $24 billion judgment against China for the country’s part in exacerbating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a landmark victory for Missouri and the United States in the fight to hold China accountable for unleashing COVID-19 on the world,” Bailey said in a statement.

“China refused to show up to court, but that doesn’t mean they get away with causing untold suffering and economic devastation. We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland.”

2. Trump Pressured to Make Puerto Rico Independent to Save America $617 Billion

Donald Trump is being lobbied to make Puerto Rico an independent nation and save American taxpayers $617.8 billion, DailyMail.com has reported.

At least two congressional offices are in possession of a seven-page draft ‘executive order’ on how the U.S. can help the island territory transition to independence.

One individual familiar with the document’s origins said at least two members of Congress have a copy of the draft, which DailyMail.com has obtained and reviewed.

3. DOGE Wins Court Battle to Access Treasury Systems

A federal judge on Friday helped the Department of Government Efficiency in its efforts to access the Treasury Department‘s systems, which contain the personal data of millions of Americans.

The judge declined to block the employees further after issuing an initial pause to their access, which limited it to two employees with read-only privileges. Another court order is currently blocking DOGE‘s access to the systems entirely.

The lawsuit was filed by advocacy and union groups that are concerned DOGE would expose their sensitive information. The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, said those concerns are “understandable and no doubt widely shared” but that the plaintiffs haven’t shared anything to indicate any immediate risk of lasting damage from information being revealed.

4. NYT: Rubio, Musk Clash at Trump Cabinet Meeting

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with tech billionaire and close Trump adviser Elon Musk during a contentious Cabinet meeting hosted by President Trump.

Musk, the world’s richest person who helms six major companies, tore into Rubio, scolding the former senator for not firing much of the workforce at the State Department and that he is only “good on TV,” but barely for anything else, The New York Times reported Friday, citing interviews with five people with knowledge of the events.

Rubio, privately, has been “furious” with Musk for some time, particularly after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set its sights on shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development, the agency that administers billions of dollars of security, humanitarian and development assistance in more than 100 countries, the Times reported.

5. UPDATE: Gene Hackman, Wife Died of ‘Natural Causes’

Gene Hackman lived with his wife’s body for a week before dying of heart failure in their sprawling mansion.

Haunting new details about the couple’s cause of death and tragic last days were announced by a New Mexico medical examiner on Friday.

Arakawa, 65, was believed to have died first on February 11.

6. DHS Ends TSA Collective Bargaining 

'More Full-Time Union Workers' Than Airport Screeners

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending collective bargaining for Transportation Security Officers with the TSA, Fox News reports, citing a release obtained by Fox Business.

According to the report, The TSA has more people doing “full-time union work” vs. performing actual screening functions at 86% of US airports.

Put another way, 374 out of 432 federalized airports have fewer than 200 TSA Officers to perform screening functions, while the rest are paid by the government but work “full-time on union matters” and do not retain certification to perform screening.

7. Trump Won’t Pardon Derek Chauvin

President Trump shot down speculation Friday that he might pardon former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin after conservative media personality Ben Shapiro publicly urged the commander-in-chief to do so.

“No, I haven’t even heard about it, no. I haven’t heard of that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

George Floyd died after Chauvin, now 48, knelt on his neck for nine minutes while arresting him for using a fake $20 bill at a store.

8. Milei’s New Media Rules: ‘Mute Button’ for Reporters

Argentina’s presidency said it is considering asking voters to decide which journalists should cover President Javier Milei’s events and is also mulling a “mute” button to silence overly persistent reporters.

Asked on Wednesday about reports that the presidency was considering a “mute” button in the press room, Milei’s spokesman Manuel Adorni initially denied it, then said, half-jokingly, that it “wouldn’t be bad.”

“When you go a bit too far I would press the button, especially when you don’t want to hand over the mic,” he said.