Things Musk (and Trump) Did... Day 64 | Blog#42
Signalgate: Waltzing to the tune of Elon's tech support...
Yesterday’s post
Please support me by subscribing for $5 a month.
I publish this daily news post, updated all throughout the day (and night), every day. I publish it free to all because it is more important to me to keep us all informed
Democratic News Corner
Note from Rima: Forbes is NOT a socialist publication.
Yesterday’s news worth repeating
Trump signs sweeping executive order targeting election rules
Election law experts were quick to question whether the order is legal.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order seeking to change how elections are administered across the country, especially rules related to citizenship and mail-in voting.
The order immediately sparked concern among voting rights experts, who said the president may not even legally have the authority to do some of the things he directed in the order. If allowed to go into effect, it could disrupt how Americans vote and have their ballots counted in ways that may disenfranchise many legitimate voters for every potential illegitimate voter it stops.
Trump’s order asserts that federal law requires all states to reject ballots not received by Election Day, directing the Justice Department to “take all necessary action to enforce” the requirement. The move seemed directly targeted at mail-in heavy states from California to Alaska.
Across the country, states have wide latitude to administer elections differently — but none allow votes to be counted if they are cast after Election Day. Some accept absentee ballots after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day, while many others require ballots to be in the possession of election officials by the time polls close. For example, in Florida a ballot must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, while in California, a ballot must be postmarked on Election Day but can arrive up to seven days later.
Continue reading at Politico
Europe fumes at Trump team’s insults in leaked Signal chat
British forces already took part in strikes against Houthis, so don’t call us “freeloaders,” former defense secretary says.
A U.K. diplomat said they had watched aghast as the spectacular leak emerged on Monday night, describing it as "wild." The diplomat noted that it underlined the impression that Vance was the driver of U.S. hostility towards Europe. This, the person said, forced others including Trump into a tougher position because he "doesn't want to look weaker than Vance."
In public, U.K. ministers and officials tried to minimize the damage from the revelations, insisting the alliance with the U.S. was strong and communications remained secure.
But Britain’s former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said some in the Trump administration clearly need re-educating about their allies. It was wrong of them to say European militaries had done nothing to address the problem of Iran-backed Houthis targeting commercial shipping, he said.
The leaked messages even included a conversation about how to make Europe “remunerate” the U.S. for the cost of the military action. In fact, the planned air strikes detailed in the private Signal app group were supported by British refueling aircraft, according to reports.
“I agree Europe must do more on security,” Shapps posted on X. “But [Prime Minister] Sir Keir [Starmer] should remind USA the UK led from the front. I authorised 4 RAF strikes on the Houthis & the Royal Navy defended Red Sea shipping. Our forces risked their lives to protect trade. Some in DC need reminding.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Waltz takes ‘full responsibility’ – and calls Atlantic editor ‘scum’
In an interview with Fox News, the national security advisor denied knowing how the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg joined the thread.
National security adviser Mike Waltz said Tuesday that he is taking “full responsibility” for the inclusion of a journalist in a group chat discussing war plans.
But first, he trashed The Atlantic editor who was included in the chat, denied any knowledge of how it happened and promised that Elon Musk would investigate along with other Trump administrators.
Waltz’s remarks on Fox News came as he labors under heavy criticism for including The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the chat, and as President Donald Trump defended his security adviser.
“I built the group. My job is to make sure everything’s coordinated,” Waltz said on Fox News with Laura Ingraham.
Waltz denied knowing Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, saying that he “wouldn’t know him if I bumped into him or saw him in a police lineup.” He then spent a greater chunk of the interview listing off his criticisms of The Atlantic’s coverage, accusing the publication – without evidence – of lying about Gold Star military families and the Russia “hoax.”
Continue reading at Politico
Today’s news
Democratic News Corner
Sanders slams Trump for trying to deport Columbia student: ‘You can’t exile political dissidents’
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed the Trump administration’s attempt to deport a Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
“You can’t exile political dissidents. Not in the United States,” Sanders wrote in a Tuesday post on X.
His comments came hours after a federal judge ruled that Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old lawful permanent resident, cannot be removed until the court had a chance to consider her arguments against the effort more carefully.
U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, an appointee of former President Clinton, issued the order on Tuesday.
“Trump is trying to deport a Columbia Univ. student who has been a permanent resident in the U.S. since she was 7,” Sanders wrote of Chung.
Continue reading at The Hill
Sherrod Brown keeps Democrats on their toes in Ohio
All eyes are on former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in Ohio to see whether he decides to attempt a comeback with one of the two major statewide races in the Buckeye State next year.
Following his loss to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R) in November, Brown did not rule out running for Senate again with a special election set for next year to fill the remainder of Vice President Vance’s term. He also expressed openness to considering a gubernatorial bid but has suggested his time holding political office may be over.
The only Democrat elected to statewide office in Ohio in the past decade, Brown would start out either race with some clear advantages and add to Democratic hopes to make both competitive contests.
“Name recognition is a well-known commodity in Ohio. People know exactly who and what he is,” said Ohio Democratic strategist Jeff Rusnak. “He has the ability to raise funds quickly and put a campaign together almost instantly.”
Brown has been an institution for Ohio politics for decades, with a career going back half a century.
Continue reading at The Hill
What the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mega-rallies are really about
The two progressives are bringing energy to a party that has been exhausted and furious in the second Trump era.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are striking a chord.
The socialist firebrands have been criss-crossing the country, attracting some of the largest crowds of their careers. Their rallies are bigger than any other events currently being held by Democrats, and party figures of all stripes are taking notice.
To progressives, it’s nothing short of a revival. And many Democrats, including those with ties to the party establishment, are just breathing a sigh of relief that they might finally have found a rallying cry in the face of the GOP’s all-out control of the federal government.
“I’m so proud and so excited by every Democrat at every single level who is getting out there,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who has criticized Sanders in the past. “This is not left versus right. This is about flight versus fight.”
Sanders’ advisers said that two-thirds of people who registered to attend his recent events have never come out to see him or donated to him before. Progressives view it as a new opening to pull the party in a more populist direction.
But it is worrying some moderate Democrats who fear Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez could tug the party to the left at a time when it is rudderless and turn off swing voters in the process.
Continue reading at Politico
Schumer and Dems confront Trump over Signal scandal
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday led Democrats in demanding a federal investigation into the alleged use of a private messaging app by Trump officials to discuss highly sensitive defense information.
Why it matters: Democrats are scorching the GOP for the scandal, arguing it reveals dangerous mismanagement at the highest levels of the Trump administration.
"We write to you with extreme alarm about the astonishingly poor judgment shown by your Cabinet and national security advisors," Schumer and six senior Senate Democrats said in a letter to President Trump.
The Senate Democratic leader also demanded Trump release the transcript of the Signal group chat reportedly used by the administration officials to discuss plans for airstrikes in Yemen.
Continue reading at Axios
Kelly, Gallego call on Hegseth to resign over war plans Signal chat
Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) called on Wednesday for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign after The Atlantic revealed texts he sent on the Signal group chat used to lay out plans for attacks against the Houthis in Yemen.
In the texts, Hegseth laid out specifications on the attack, including when fighter jets would take off, drone strikes would drop over the region and when the attack would be complete.
“The Signal incident is what happens when you have the most unqualified Secretary of Defense we’ve ever seen,” Kelly said on X. “We’re lucky it didn’t cost any servicemembers their lives, but for the safety of our military and our country, Secretary Hegseth needs to resign.”
Gallego pointed specifically to the information shared over an unsecure app, which if it had been intercepted could have been used to alert the Houthis and other adversaries.
“This could have gotten our men and women killed! Strike times, when planes are taking off, what weapons are being used all shared in unsafe manner,” Gallego wrote. “@SecDef needs to resign. The incompetence and cover up is embarrassing.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Republican moves to censure Rep. Jasmine Crockett over ‘Hot Wheels’ remark
The Texas Democrat drew widespread condemnation over her comment about wheelchair-using Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
A Texas Republican is proposing to censure Rep. Jasmine Crockett after she appeared to make light of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s use of a wheelchair.
The Dallas-area Democrat has drawn backlash after referring to Abbott, who was paralyzed after a tree fell on him over 40 years ago, as “Governor Hot Wheels” during a Human Rights Campaign gala on Saturday.
That prompted Rep. Randy Weber to file a censure resolution Wednesday targeting Crockett: “The story of our great Governor of Texas is one of unwavering resilience and perseverance. Meanwhile, the actions of Jasmine Crockett — stooping to vile levels of discrimination and despicable political attacks — are nothing short of reprehensible,” he said in a statement.
It’s not clear when or if the measure will come to the House floor. Weber said in a brief interview he did not have immediate plans to call it up as a privileged measure, which would kick off an expedited timeline to force its consideration.
Continue reading at Politico
POLITICO Nightly
Chuck Schumer’s emergency media tour
‘A 90’S DEMOCRAT’ — One of the most enduring and hackneyed lines in American politics is the most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a television camera.
Long before Schumer had risen to become the top Democrat in the Senate, let alone even been elected to the Senate, the New Yorker was known for his zeal in pursuing earned media. His Sunday news conferences became landmarks and occasionally punchlines as he created content for reporters often focusing on local concerns that would be easily digestible for the 11 o’clock news with simple solutions that the government could take to address them.
Who can forget his public crusade against Four Loko, the highly caffeinated malt liquor drink which was all the rage in the early Obama era?
Schumer has continued to be a ubiquitous presence on television lately, only with a different end game. He’s undertaken a wide ranging media tour in the weeks since he enraged his party’s grassroots by voting for a continuing resolution that would keep the government open, and its success or failure could determine his fate as Democratic Senate leader.
In an effort to deal with the intense blowback to his vote — and the calls for him to step down from his post — the New York Democrat has been making his case across television networks, appearing on cable news, Sunday shows and even The View to defend his decision and argue that keeping the government open was the lesser of two evils.
As one former Schumer aide, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly, said, “it reminded me of those old days where the idea was, just get him on everywhere you possibly can, because he had, he has this sort of conviction that if he can just explain what he’s thinking or what he’s doing, people will be persuaded.” The aide cited a parallel to the PR strategy that Democrat Pete Buttigieg used during his long-shot presidential campaign where a constant array of media appearances elevated him from obscure Indiana mayor to the winner of the Iowa caucuses.
For Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of Indivisible, the grassroots progressive group which has called on Schumer to step down after supporting the continuing resolution, the Senate Democratic leader had fundamentally misunderstood the moment.
Levin argued that Schumer “doesn’t understand how the 21st century media ecosystem works, he’s fighting like a 1990s Democrat.”
Continue reading the Politico Nightly newsletter
Scoop: Chris Pappas is running for Senate in New Hampshire
Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) is telling his colleagues that he'll announce his campaign for New Hampshire's open Senate seat early next month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: Pappas wants to put down a marker he'll run to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), regardless of who jumps into the race.
Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H), a former Biden official and now a first-term lawmaker, is also considering a run, Axios has reported.
Republicans are hopeful that former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu will ultimately decide to mount a Senate bid, but he hasn't given a strong indication that he's dying to jump into the race.
Continue reading at Axios
Schumer targets GOP moderates on Medicaid, Social Security
Behind closed doors Wednesday, Senate Dems hatched an attack plan to pummel the GOP on budget reconciliation.
Why it matters: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is under no illusions that Dems can unilaterally stop the Senate GOP, which can lose three votes and still pass the bill.
But he plans to isolate GOP moderates ahead of the vote on Social Security, Medicaid and veterans' care — then make them pay in the upcoming midterms.
Some Republicans are already wary of aspects of the GOP budget reconciliation plan, which includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, offset by $2 trillion in spending cuts.
"Most people would say they can't be that clueless — but maybe they are," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told Axios on Wednesday.
The big picture: "This is taking away health care from poor people to take that money ... and put it into the pockets of the wealthiest Americans," Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told Axios on Wednesday.
Continue reading at Axios
National Security
Trump was upset at Waltz for having a reporter’s cell — not just for potentially exposing national security secrets
The fight over Waltz’s survival shows the administration is obsessed with reporters more than NatSac protocols.
President Donald Trump was upset when he found out that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz accidentally included a journalist in a group chat discussing plans for a military strike. But it wasn’t just because Waltz had potentially exposed national security secrets.
Trump was mad — and suspicious — that Waltz had Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg’s number saved in his phone in the first place, according to three people familiar with the situation, who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. A fourth person said the president was also particularly perturbed by the embarrassing nature of the episode.
“The president was pissed that Waltz could be so stupid,” the person said. (A “Mike Waltz” invited Goldberg to the chat, according to The Atlantic).
But by Tuesday afternoon, the two men had made a show of smoothing things over and the White House was closing ranks around Waltz. Trump conducted brief interviews with both NBC News and Fox News pledging to stand behind his national security adviser. Two top Trump spokespeople suggested in posts on X that national security hawks were colluding with the media to make the issue bigger than it actually was. And Waltz attended a meeting of Trump’s ambassadors Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s a lot of journalists in this city who have made big names for themselves making up lies … This one in particular I’ve never met, don’t know, never communicated with, and we are looking into and reviewing how the heck he got into this room,” Waltz said during the meeting.
Trump followed up by calling Waltz “a very good man” and suggested he had been unfairly attacked. Yet the president also said he would look into government officials’ use of Signal, the app used in the chat with Goldberg that could have resulted in a security breach as top U.S. officials discussed plans to launch strikes in Yemen.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump's legacy of loose lips hangs over Signal scandal
President Trump's downplaying of the #Signalgate scandal as a mere "glitch" is the latest entry in a long-running — and ever-expanding — legacy of indifference toward America's secrets.
Why it matters: No president has expressed such open disdain for the U.S. intelligence community or the security protocols designed to protect it. But even after facing criminal charges in 2023, Trump has never suffered enduring political consequences.
That's given his allies confidence that The Atlantic bombshell will blow over — and that the White House "can easily handle what would kill any other administration," as one adviser told Axios' Marc Caputo.
Zoom in: Look no further than the prosecution Trump faced — and ultimately survived — for allegedly retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after he left office.
Continue reading at Axios
Vance's anti-Europe obsession runs deep in texting debacle
The text-message debacle over the U.S. attacks on the Houthis is the latest example that Vice President Vance is the Trump team's chief antagonist of Europe — both publicly and behind the scenes.
Why it matters: Vance's private argument against the attacks, included in the texts among top U.S. officials that were revealed by The Atlantic, matched his recent pattern of public hawkishness toward European allies.
"I think we are making a mistake," Vance wrote in the Signal group with Cabinet secretaries and senior White House officials, arguing that the Houthis were more Europe's problem than America's.
In public, Vance's combative remarks on issues such as defense spending and censorship have strained the alliance between Europe and the U.S.
European diplomats, media and members of various parliaments have zeroed in on the vice president for criticism.
Zoom in: It's unusual for a VP to become such a lightning rod on foreign policy — especially so early in a presidency.
But the text discussion among U.S. officials before this week's strikes shows the depth of Vance's belief that America gives too much support to Europe — a continent Vance believes is lethargic and often run by corrupt elites.
"3 percent of US trade runs through the suez," Vance texted in the chat. "40 percent of European trade does."
Continue reading at Axios
U.S. strikes home in on Houthi drone experts in Yemen
The U.S. is pounding Houthi drone experts and infrastructure as well as command-and-control nodes across Yemen at a pace previously unseen.
Why it matters: The rebel group has for months held the Red Sea and its surroundings hostage, despite international firepower levied against it.
Key to its stranglehold are unmanned, explosive-strapped vehicles in the air and on the sea.
What they're saying: "No doubt the Houthis have proven that they can take a punch," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Axios.
"But over time? That remains the big question."
Catch up quick: An initial wave of attacks hit 30-plus targets, including "a terrorist compound where we know several senior Houthi unmanned aerial vehicle experts were located," Air Force Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich told reporters at the Pentagon.
Continue reading at Axios
What to know about Boeing's F-47, expected to fly during Trump's term
The speculation floodgates flung open in the minutes following Boeing's win of the U.S. Air Force Next Generation Air Dominance fighter contract.
Why it matters: The F-47, as it's now known, is highly secretive. President Trump said he couldn't disclose the per-tail cost because it would reveal "some of the technology and some of the size of the plane."
"America's enemies will never see it coming," he added.
But experts and fanboys are obsessing over every shred of evidence. Their findings give the wider public a better understanding of the futuristic fighter designed to collaborate with drones.
Here's what's been gleaned so far:
It's manned.
It will cost less than the F-22, which it supersedes, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. There are plans to buy more F-47s than F-22s, which were cut well short of 750.
Early stages included X-planes from both Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The aircraft first flew in 2019 and 2022, logging hundreds of hours each, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Its involvement dates back to 2014.
The F-47 is expected to fly during the Trump administration — in a little less than four years.
Continue reading at Axios
Atlantic publishes Trump Cabinet group chat messages
The Atlantic has published the Signal group chat messages among national security leaders that were inadvertently shared with Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, noting administration officials said Tuesday they were not classified.
The published chats show the internal discussions Goldberg described in a Monday article, with figures including Vice President Vance discussing the merits of an airstrike on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The published chat offers details about the attack that the initial article did not contain, including the specific timeline of the airstrike and what weapons would be used.
President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials have ripped The Atlantic and Goldberg in an effort to discredit their reporting, and in a statement, The Atlantic said it wanted to make public the texts so that people could see them for themselves.
“The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions,” Goldberg and colleague Shane Harris wrote.
Hegseth has denied sharing classified information in the group chat in comments to reporters, and during an appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Security, Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the information in the Signal group was not classified.
Continue reading at The Hill
The Atlantic releases screenshots of timing, weapons used in Yemen war plans Signal chat
The magazine said that it decided that “there is a clear public interest in disclosing” the information.
Not all the messages were released — the magazine opted not to release the name of a CIA intelligence officer serving as chief of staff to CIA Director John Ratcliffe — but The Atlantic published most of them in image form. The messages show detailed information about the kinds of planes used to strike Houthi militants and the timetable for the attack. They also show unvarnished opinions from top Trump administration officials on the strategic benefits of attacking the Houthis and supporting European trade.
In one message, Hegseth, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and attacked Goldberg for his reporting, outlined that F-18s and drones would launch an attack beginning at 2:10 p.m. and offered specific information about the types of missiles that would be dropped. It outlined the pace of the strike as well. As Goldberg and The Atlantic reporter Shane Harris wrote Wednesday, the specificity of the message could have imperiled the safety of U.S. pilots had it fallen into the wrong hands.
“If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media—the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds,” the two wrote. “The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.”
Continue reading at Politico
‘It is highly classified’: Hegseth leaked sensitive attack details, former officials say
Hegseth and the White House have denied sharing classified information or war plans.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s texts to a Signal group chat about military operations against the Houthis almost certainly contained classified information, according to former Pentagon officials.
The Atlantic on Wednesday released excerpts of a conversation among top national security leaders, to which a journalist had accidentally been invited. Hegseth and the White House have denied sharing classified information or war plans.
“This information was clearly taken from the real time order of battle sequence of an ongoing operation,” said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant Defense secretary under the first Trump administration. “It is highly classified and protected.”
Continue reading at Politico
White House pushes back on WSJ editorial board: Witkoff had ‘secure line of communication’ in Russia
White House officials on Wednesday defended Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s conduct after The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board raised concerns about his inclusion in a group chat to discuss an attack on Houthi rebels while he was in Russia.
Both Witkoff and press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back against an opinion piece from the Journal in which the editorial board called it a “real security scandal” that Witkoff was included in a chat on the Signal app while on a trip to Moscow to meet with Russian officials.
“This is security malpractice,” the Journal wrote. “Russian intelligence services must be listening to Mr. Witkoff’s every eyebrow flutter. This adds to the building perception that Mr. Witkoff, the President’s friend from New York, is out of his depth in dealing with world crises.”
Leavitt said in a post on the social platform X that Witkoff had been provided “a secure line of communication by the U.S. Government, and it was the only phone he had in his possession while in Moscow.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Gabbard says it was ‘mistake’ for reporter to be added to Signal group chat
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called it a “mistake” to have added a journalist to a Signal group chat discussing an imminent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a signal chat with high level national security principles, having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strike,” Gabbard said in an appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.
Gabbard did not directly address the appropriateness of using Signal for such a discussion, even as intelligence agencies have cautioned employees about the app being a target of foreign intelligence services.
“Ideally, these conversations occur in person. However, at times fast moving and coordination of an unclassified nature is necessary where in person, conversation is not an option,” she said.
Continue reading at The Hill
Hegseth's leaked texts: "THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP"
Below are the text messages that Hegseth sent to the group of 18 senior Trump officials on March 15, according to screenshots released by The Atlantic on Wednesday.
TEAM UPDATE:
TIME NOW (1144et): Weather is FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.
1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)
1345: 'Trigger Based' F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME — also, Strike Drones Launch (MQ-9s)
1410: More F-18s LAUNCH (2nd strike package)
1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier 'Trigger Based' targets)
1536 F-18 2nd Strike Starts — also, first sea-based Tomahawks launched.
MORE TO FOLLOW (per timeline)
We are currently clean on OPSEC
Godspeed to our Warriors.
Between the lines: Whether the messages were indeed "classified" is not yet known, but the discussion of specific times and weapons packages is undoubtedly highly sensitive.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump reacts to new Atlantic messages: ‘Really not a big deal’
Trump was asked about the new development during an appearance on “The Vince Show” with Vince Coglianese.
“There weren’t details, and there was nothing in there that compromised. And it had no impact on the attack, which was very successful,” Trump said.
“A thing like that — maybe Goldberg found a way,” Trump continued, referring to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic who was included in the chat by mistake. “Maybe there’s a staffer, maybe there’s a very innocent staffer, but we’ll get — I think we’ll get to the bottom of it very quickly, and it’s really not a big deal.”
Continue reading at The Hill
Judge targeted by Trump is assigned to Signalgate lawsuit
Judge James Boasberg will preside over a case alleging that Trump administration officials violated federal record-keeping laws when they used Signal to discuss military plans.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg — the object of President Donald Trump’s fury for blocking his effort to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals using wartime powers — just got a second crack at the administration’s handling of national security: Signalgate.
Boasberg on Wednesday morning was assigned to preside over a lawsuit alleging that Trump cabinet secretaries and national security aides violated federal record-keeping laws when they used a Signal chat group to discuss a planned military strike in Yemen — and inadvertently included an Atlantic journalist in the group.
The twist of legal fate arrived just as the scandal exploded further with the Atlantic’s release of the full text exchange — in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previewed, with specific references to timing and weapons, an attack on Houthi militants. The exchange, initiated by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
A spokesperson for Boasberg confirmed that the case was assigned to him through the court’s typical random assignment process. There are 20 judges on the federal district court bench in Washington, D.C.
Continue reading at Politico
Ex-Pentagon spokesperson on Hegseth’s plans in chat: ‘Absolutely floored’
Former Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s messages in a Signal group chat about the Houthi attack have left her “absolutely floored.”
“Pete Hegseth put the sequencing of the entire operation & types of aircraft that would be used to conduct these strikes all before the operation took place. He put the lives of our fighter pilots at risk,” Singh said Wednesday in a post on the social platform X.
“Details like this are classified,” she added. “I am absolutely floored.”
In her post, Singh included a screenshot of a message Hegseth sent in a Signal group chat over the weekend, published Wednesday by The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was mistakenly added to the text chain.
Continue reading at The Hill
White House allies livid as attempts to tamp down group chat blowback backfires
Trump and officials in his administration have appeared to downplay the seriousness of the leaked Signal group chat over the past 24 hours.
Trump administration officials and allies are concerned, angry and confused about the response — led by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz — to the leak of a group chat conversation that included plans for an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Over the last 24 hours, President Donald Trump and officials in his administration have appeared to downplay the seriousness of the leaked Signal group chat first revealed by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally included in the discussion and later published his account of the snafu.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force general. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.”
Continue reading at Politico
‘Own it, fire Waltz, move on’: White House allies fume as group chat scandal grows
Trump and officials in his administration have appeared to downplay the seriousness of the leaked Signal group chat over the past 24 hours.
Over the last 24 hours, President Donald Trump and officials in his administration have appeared to downplay the seriousness of the leaked Signal group chat first revealed by The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally included in the discussion and later published his account of the snafu.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former Air Force general. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.”
Waltz, who apparently inadvertently added Goldberg to the chat, is taking the brunt of the blame inside the White House.
White House staff and the president’s allies are exasperated with Waltz’s strategy to double down on his claims that he doesn’t know how Goldberg’s number ended up in his phone, and how the journalist was added to a Signal thread discussing US military operations in Yemen.
“People are mad that Waltz didn’t just admit a mistake and move on,” said a senior administration official who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Waltz’s response has now raised concerns that he’s only digging a deeper hole for the White House.
Continue reading at Politico
‘The White House is in denial': A Republican rejects the latest group-chat deflections
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska spoke shortly after The Atlantic published new details about the inadvertently shared war plans.
A Republican lawmaker is rejecting White House efforts to downplay the inadvertent sharing of military attack plans with a journalist on an unclassified group chat.
“The White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a former Air Force brigadier general and member of the House Armed Services Committee, on Wednesday. “They should just own up to it and preserve credibility.”
Bacon’s criticism is a sign that the explanations and deflections coming from President Donald Trump’s administration could be falling flat as new details emerge about the stunning disclosures to Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg.
Bacon spoke soon after The Atlantic published additional excerpts of the Signal group chat involving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, national security adviser Michael Waltz and other top Trump aides. In those messages, Hegseth shares detailed timing, targeting and weapons information for a military strike on Houthi forces in Yemen roughly a half-hour before they were set to begin.
Hegseth and other members of the Trump administration are denying that any classified information was shared.
Continue reading at Politico
Armed Services chairman: Strike plans in Signal chat should have been classified
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said on Wednesday that he believes the information detailing the attack plan against the Houthis in Yemen should have been classified.
Wicker told reporters that the laid-out plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth via Signal, which included when fighter jets would take off and drone strikes would drop over the region, were sensitive enough to warrant that level of classification.
“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Wicker said at the Capitol.
The stance clashes with that of President Trump, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — all of whom said the information was not classified.
Continue reading at The Hill
CIA director: ‘No assessment’ US at war with Venezuela amid use of Alien Enemies Act
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the agency has “no assessment” that the U.S. is at war with Venezuela, a comment that comes as President Trump has invoked war powers to deport migrants from the country.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asked Ratcliffe if there was any assessment “that we are currently at war or being invaded by the nation of Venezuela.”
“We have no assessment that says that,” Ratcliffe responded.
In igniting the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.
The law allows him to deport any citizen of an “enemy nation,” in this case Venezuelans the Trump administration has accused of being linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Continue reading at The Hill
US soldiers missing in Lithuania: Pentagon
The Army said Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers are missing in Lithuania.
The U.S. Army Europe and Africa said in a press release that the missing soldiers, part of the Army’s 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, are close to the Lithuanian city of Pabradė within a training area. The U.S. Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces and Lithuanian law enforcement are among those looking for the soldiers.
Continue reading at The Hill
Armed Services chair: Strike plans in Signal chat should have been classified
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Wednesday he believes the information detailing the attack plan against the Houthis in Yemen should have been classified.
Wicker told reporters that the plans Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out via a Signal chat, which included when fighter jets would take off and drone strikes would drop over the region, were sensitive enough to warrant that level of classification.
“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Wicker said at the Capitol.
Continue reading at The Hill
Democrat raising Hegseth’s drinking sparks fury from Ratcliffe: ‘An offensive line of questioning’
Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s (D-Calif.) questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s drinking habits sparked fury from intelligence leaders at a House hearing on Wednesday.
The House Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide threats assessment hearing had been scheduled long before The Atlantic reported that top Trump national security officials had used a Signal group chat to discuss forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen — and mistakenly included a reporter in the group.
But the breach was a central topic throughout the hearing.
“A lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits at his confirmation hearing. To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?” Gomez asked.
“I don’t have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe responded.
Continue reading at The Hill
Calls for Hegseth, Waltz ousters grow in Congress over leaked chat
A growing number of Democrats in Congress are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz to be fired or resign over the leak of a Signal chat discussing a strike in Yemen.
Why it matters: The Atlantic — whose editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to the chat — published the entire transcript Wednesday morning.
Hegseth sent the group details about timing and weapons systems in advance of strikes on the Houthi rebel group, Axios' Zach Basu reports.
"THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP," the defense secretary wrote.
Driving the news: Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), citing Hegseth's and Waltz's denials that classified information or "war plans" were discussed in the chat, said in a statement that they both "must resign."
"Had this very specific plan gotten in the wrong hands, Americans would be dead right now," Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), a member of Democratic leadership, said in a post on X. "Waltz and Hegseth must be fired immediately."
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) said on X that Hegseth "needs to resign" and that the "incompetence and cover up is embarrassing."
Continue reading at Axios
Meet the 19 members of the Houthi attacks group chat
The screenshots also showed the 19 various members in the chat titled “Houthi PC small group.”
In his reporting, Goldberg noted that he would not be publishing the name of the CIA official included in the group because that person is an active intelligence officer.
Meet the other 18 members of the Houthi attack group chat:
Jeffrey Goldberg
Goldberg is the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. He was mistakenly added to the group chat by national security adviser Mike Waltz, and published the initial article detailing the use of Signal for the attack.
Mike Waltz
Waltz is the Trump administration’s national security adviser. He is the creator of the Signal group and praised the team after the strikes against the Houthis.
Continue reading at The Hill
Houthi group chat: What top Trump officials claimed vs. what the texts show
Here's how those statements match with what we learned in the subsequent Atlantic story.
"No war plans"
Hegseth: "Nobody was texting war plans."
From the texts: "THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP," Hegseth texted, along with detailed sequencing of the operation.
State of play: Trump administration officials pointed to The Atlantic's use of "attack plans" in its new headline to accuse the magazine of walking back its initial claims about "war plans."
There is a distinction in military parlance: "War plans" are typically more comprehensive, strategic frameworks that account for multiple scenarios, while "attack plans" usually pertain to a specific tactical operation.
Hegseth mocked the "war plans" characterization: "No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods."
Critics say the White House is arguing over semantics, when the fact is plans for a forthcoming military operation were indeed shared on a non-classified system without actually verifying who was receiving them.
Goldberg got "sucked into" the group
Continue reading at Axios
Hegseth: ‘Jeff Goldberg has never seen a war plan’
In a combative post to the social platform X, Hegseth lambasted The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, for publishing the Signal group chat messages, in which the Pentagon chief relayed details about airstrikes in Yemen earlier this month that an initial article on the matter did not contain, including the specific timeline of the airstrikes and what weapons would be used.
The Atlantic said it wanted to make public the texts so that readers could see them for themselves, given that Hegseth and other national security officials have accused Goldberg of lying about the content of the group chat in an attempt to discredit his reporting.
“No names. No targets. No locations. No units. No routes. No sources. No methods. And no classified information,” Hegseth said in his post.
Continue reading at The Hill
Cruz says Signal breach ‘comparable to a butt dial’
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that the access of a Signal group chat including top Trump administration officials discussing a U.S. attack against Houthi rebels in Yemen by an editor for The Atlantic is “comparable to a butt dial.”
“I have no — no good explanation for why Jeffrey Goldberg was added,” Cruz said on a Wednesday episode of his “Verdict” podcast, referring to the editor in chief of The Atlantic.
“He’s the editor in chief of The Atlantic, and it was a screw-up,” the Texas Republican added. “And let’s start with that. It was clearly a screw-up; it was embarrassing. It’s sort of comparable to a butt dial.”
Continue reading at The Hill
White House Press Secretary declines to rule out firings over Signal leak scandal
Karoline Leavitt confirmed President Donald Trump has seen the entirety of the group chat messages released by The Atlantic and refused to call the information classified.
Leavitt was asked by a reporter if she would definitively say that no one would be fired after a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal thread with top U.S. officials discussing military plans.
“What I can say definitively is what I just spoke to the president about, and he continues to have confidence in his national security team,” Leavitt said, evading the question.
Continue reading at Politico
Gabbard says Signal comes ‘pre-installed’ on government devices
The app has been largely banned on government-issued devices in the past.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to House Intelligence Committee members Wednesday that encrypted messaging app Signal comes “pre-installed” on government devices — a potentially major shift in official communications on the heels of a massive Chinese government-linked hack of U.S. telecommunications networks last year.
Gabbard’s comments are likely to raise further concerns from lawmakers about the security of the transmission of sensitive information after The Atlantic reported that top Trump officials used Signal to help plan a recent strike on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Continue reading at Politico
Pro-Trump media figures criticize White House’s handling of Signalgate
“President Trump should roll some heads,” said British broadcaster Piers Morgan.
Several routinely pro-Donald Trump figures pushed back this week on the White House’s handling of the Signal scandal, calling it a “shockingly egregious f*ck-up” and at least one urged the president to fire his national security adviser.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan, conservative commentator Tomi Lahren, controversial MAGA ally Laura Loomer and Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy all separately criticized the Trump administration’s response after the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg revealed that he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with top officials who discussed a military operation against Houthis in Yemen.
“This whole Signal-gate scandal is a shockingly egregious f*ck-up that could have had catastrophic repercussions for US forces in combat on that operation,” Morgan wrote on X. “President Trump should roll some heads.”
Morgan on his talk show “Uncensored” said that after the Signal controversy, he would “seriously dispute” that Waltz is up to the job of national security adviser.
The talk show host has previously defended the president, including after he was found guilty on 34 felony counts in his hush money trial last May, which Morgan bashed as “divisive and obviously politically partisan.”
Continue reading at Politico
German outlet reportedly finds Trump officials’ private contact info online
The German news outlet, Der Spiegel, reportedly found private contact information for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and national security adviser Mike Waltz, who were involved in the Signal group chat security breach.
The news site’s report said each individual’s email address and phone number were readily available on the dark web, according to a Wednesday report.
Hegseth’s mobile number and active email address were sent to Der Spiegel by a commercial provider of personal information for marketing purposes.
Their search of the leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in over 20 publicly accessible leaks and traced back to a WhatsApp account for the Defense Secretary that was recently deleted as reported by the outlet.
Waltz’s contact information was obtained by the same unnamed provider and was linked to his Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal accounts in addition to several passwords for the adviser’s email address in leaked databases Der Spiegel wrote.
Continue reading at The Hill
Health news
Trump administration says it will pull back billions in COVID funding from local health departments
Federal health officials said Tuesday they are pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The statement said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects to recover the money beginning 30 days after termination notices, which began being sent out on Monday.
Officials said the money was largely used for COVID-19 testing, vaccination and global projects as well as community health workers responding to COVID and a program established in 2021 to address COVID health disparities among high-risk and underserved patients, including those in minority populations. The move was first reported by NBC News.
Continue reading at the AP
FDA commissioner's abortion pill minefield
When Marty Makary officially became Food and Drug Administration commissioner Tuesday night, he inherited the explosive matter of mifepristone access — an issue that hung over and complicated his confirmation process.
Why it matters: Abortion remains a politically volatile subject for the GOP in a post-Roe world, but whether and how to reset abortion pill dispensing guidelines now that Republicans are in power may turn out to be the most difficult decision the party's made yet.
The big picture: President Trump hedged on many abortion questions during the campaign, but told Time magazine in December that he'll ensure the FDA doesn't strip access to the pill.
But the Trump health team's commitment to the anti-abortion cause has also been questioned throughout a series of Senate confirmation hearings.
Makary was asked repeatedly about mifepristone and Mehmet Oz, Trump's nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has had his own abortion views questioned by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also was pressed on his previous support for abortion rights, ultimately convincing nervous Republicans that he'd stick to Trump's views once confirmed.
But abortion politics did scuttle one Trump appointee: Makary's own choice for the FDA's top lawyer.
Continue reading at Axios
Conservatives push to cut extra Medicaid payments to hospitals
A think tank with close ties to the Trump administration is making the case for wonky changes to state Medicaid payments that could solve a big problem for Republican lawmakers: They could cut federal spending in the name of simply cracking down on waste and abuse within the program.
The big picture: State-directed Medicaid payments have grown rapidly, and there's been bipartisan support for reining them in.
But slashing or getting rid of the payments would be a big financial hit for providers, and especially hospitals, who vehemently disagree that the payments are wasteful.
Driving the news: Paragon Health Institute released a report Wednesday characterizing state-directed payments as "legalized Medicaid money laundering."
States can tax providers or use other means to increase their state share of Medicaid funding, which allows the state to draw down additional federal Medicaid dollars. States can then use that extra money to increase payments to providers.
"Not only do these programs sidestep the truly needy on Medicaid and favor special interests instead, but all this is financed by growing the federal debt, leading to inflation and higher interest rates," the report says.
Zoom in: State-directed payment arrangements approved as of last August are projected to cost more than $110 billion per year, a nearly 60% increase over cost projections from early 2023.
A small portion of these arrangements are driving most of the increase, according to independent Medicaid advisers to Congress.
Continue reading at Axios
3. Speaking of Medicaid cuts ...
States could lose thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic output under potential Medicaid and food aid cuts, per a new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund and the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
The researchers' estimates assume $880 billion and $230 billion in broad Medicaid and SNAP cuts over 10 years, respectively, spread out evenly over the decade and proportionately among states.
By the numbers: In 2026 alone, such cuts could cost more than 1 million jobs nationally, cause a $113 billion drop in combined state GDPs and result in nearly $9 billion in lost state and local tax revenue, the researchers estimate.
The hit to state GDPs would exceed the estimated $95 billion in federal savings achieved through such cuts, the report finds.
Continue reading at Axios
‘Like a forest fire’: Where large measles outbreaks will occur, according to an epidemiologist
Measles, one of the most contagious viruses in the world, has been confirmed in 17 states and counting as outbreaks multiply around the country.
As of last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at least 378 cases of the virus have been confirmed in 2025 – and that number is expected to keep rising.
“What is interesting about this current outbreak is the speed at which it’s expanding and increasing,” said Dr. William Moss, an epidemiology professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the school’s International Vaccine Access Center.
In a briefing this month, Moss said he expects measles will continue spreading in the U.S. as long as we still have these two conditions in place: a susceptible community and an infected person.
Continue reading at The Hill
Study links Wegovy to increased hair loss risk
Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy
It is also the main component of Ozempic
Semaglutide is known to increase the risk of hair loss
A new study from the University of British Columbia says an ingredient used in popular weight loss drugs could have side effects linked to hair loss.
Semaglutide, the main ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, has been linked to an increased likelihood of hair loss.
Researchers assessed data from 16 million patients from 2006 to 2020 and compared the effects of users taking semaglutide-based drugs to those taking Contrave, a bupropion/naltrexone drug.
“Those considering using semaglutide strictly for weight loss might want to factor in hair loss as a possible limitation of these drugs, and in particular, women who may want to use semaglutide,” the study said.
The authors also noted that more research is required to further analyze the relationship between hair loss and “GLP-1 agonists.”
Continue reading at The Hill
POLITICO Pulse newsletter
RFK Jr.’s team takes shape with confirmations
FDA, NIH LEADERS CONFIRMED — HHS’s top leadership is coming together after the Senate on Tuesday confirmed Drs. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the NIH and Marty Makary to lead the FDA.
Additionally, TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, nominated to head CMS, advanced to the Senate floor after being approved by the Senate Finance Committee.
Why it matters: The three agencies comprise major portions of HHS and will play prominent roles in HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Meet the new NIH director: Bhattacharya, a persistent critic of the NIH, was confirmed in a 53-47 vote, POLITICO’s Erin Schumaker reports.
He takes the helm during a period of upheaval at the NIH and has pledged to push the agency further from the status quo. The Trump administration is dramatically remaking the agency by shifting its research focus, downsizing its workforce and slashing funding for universities and grantees, among other changes. As NIH director, he’ll oversee $48 billion in federal research grants.
Over the long term, critics say, the cuts could cause the U.S. to lose its edge over China as the world’s leader in biomedical research.
Bhattacharya told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee he’d reconsider the administration’s decision to slash the indirect funding the NIH pays to universities and grantees for administrative and overhead expenses — a move since blocked by a federal court — and promised to ensure researchers get the funding they need.
But he also advocated for an NIH audit to track resource allocation and spending.
Continue reading the Politico Pulse newsletter (Healthcare topics)
West Virginia governor signs ban on food dyes
West Virginia will no longer allow the sale of food products that use any of seven listed food dyes or two preservatives effective Jan. 1, 2028.
The new regulations signed into law Monday by Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) will also ban schools from using the additives in meals by this fall.
“West Virginia ranks at the bottom of many public health metrics, which is why there’s no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission,” Morrisey said in a statement after signing the legislation.
“By eliminating harmful chemicals from our food, we’re taking steps toward improving the health of our residents and protecting our children from significant long-term health and learning challenges,” he added.
Continue reading at The Hill
How to Delete Your Data From 23andMe
DNA-testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, which means the future of the company’s vast trove of customer data is unknown. Here’s what that means for your genetic data.
Genetic testing company 23andMe, once a Silicon Valley darling valued at $6 billion, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Sunday as it prepares for a sale of the business. CEO Anne Wojcicki, who cofounded the company in 2006, has also stepped down after months of failed attempts to take the firm private.
As uncertainty about the company’s future reaches its peak, all eyes are on the trove of deeply personal—and potentially valuable—genetic data that 23andMe holds. Privacy advocates have long warned that the risk of entrusting genetic data to any institution is twofold—the organization could fail to protect it, but it could also hand over customer data to a new entity that they may not trust and didn’t choose.
California attorney general Rob Bonta reminded consumers in an alert on Friday that Californians have a legal right to ask that an organization delete their data. 23andMe customers in other states and countries largely do not have the same protections, though there is also a right to deletion for health data in Washington state’s My Health My Data Act and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Regardless of residency, all 23andMe customers should consider downloading anything they want to keep from the service and should then attempt to delete their information.
“This situation really brings home the point that there is still no national health privacy law in the US protecting your rights unless you live in California or Washington,” says Andrea Downing, an independent security researcher and cofounder of the patient-led digital rights nonprofit The Light Collective. “Meanwhile, we continue to evolve our understanding of how genetic information has value, but also has unique vulnerability.”
Continue reading at Wired
FDA approves first new UTI drug in decades
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug for treating urinary tract infections (UTIs), the first such drug approved in decades and the first in a new class of medications.
British pharmaceutical company GSK announced Tuesday that the FDA had approved its oral antibiotic Blujepa for treating uncomplicated urinary tract infections in female adults and pediatric patients 12 and older.
A UTI is considered uncomplicated if it occurs in a female individual who does not have a fever, is not pregnant, does not have a condition that weakens their immune system, does not have a catheter in place and is limited to the lower part of the urinary tract.
According to the drugmaker, Blujepa works through a novel mechanism, inhibiting bacterial DNA replication. A U.S. commercial launch is planned for the second half of 2025. Funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority went to the development of Blujepa.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration revokes state and local health funding
The Department of Health and Human Services is canceling tens of billions of dollars in federal grants that state and local health departments were using to track infectious diseases, health disparities, vaccinations, mental health services, and other health issues.
The stop-work notices began arriving late Monday night or early Tuesday morning and were effective immediately, sending officials scrambling.
“The end of the pandemic provides cause to terminate COVID related grants and cooperative agreements. These grants and cooperative agreements were issued for a limited purpose; to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary as their limited purpose has run out,” one of the notices described to The Hill said.
Much of the funding has already been spent, but the federal government said it expects to recover the money starting 30 days after the termination notices were sent.
Continue reading at The Hill
Economics
Debt limit time crunch could test both parties
House Democrats are sending an early warning shot as the government’s borrowing window inches to a close: winning Democratic support for a debt-ceiling hike will come at a cost for Republicans.
The minority-party Democrats have little power to dictate the debate, but a number of conservative Republicans have long opposed debt limit increases to protest deficit spending. The dynamics could give Democrats leverage in the fight — and they say they intend to use it.
“We’d want to negotiate, because we know they’ve got a lot of Freedom Caucus folks who would never vote for a debt ceiling,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) said.
“Of course we don’t want a default,” he continued. “But if they’re asking for our votes, there’s other things — like the Department of Education — that are relatively important.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, delivered a similar message.
Continue reading at The Hill
Hill GOP closer to including debt limit hike in massive Trump agenda bill
Senate Republicans still don’t know if they have the votes to pull it off.
Congressional GOP leaders are coalescing behind President Donald Trump’s demand that their massive, party-line bill include a debt limit increase. But it’s unclear if Senate Republicans will have the votes to make it happen.
The plans were largely cemented during a White House meeting Tuesday with the two most senior Republicans in both chambers, the top tax writers and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, though Senate Majority LeaderJohn Thune said his conference still needed to make a final decision.
Notably, in order to carry out the strategy, Trump will likely need to force several key Senate GOP hard-liners to get behind it. And in an acknowledgment that the gambit of linking a debt ceiling increase to a filibuster-skirting reconciliation measure might not work, Thune has been careful to leave the door open to striking a deal with Democrats to avoid a default in the coming months on the United States’ borrowing authority.
But many of Thune’s members are clamoring to put the debt ceiling hike in the reconciliation bill to enact broad swaths of Trump’s agenda,warning the administration that Democrats could require major policy concessions in order to secure their support.
Trump made that same argument to a group of Senate Republicans during a separate White House meeting earlier this month.
Continue reading at Politico
The economic vibes are getting worse
The economic vibes have taken a decisive turn for the worse over the last several weeks. The big question now is whether actual activity will follow.
The big picture: This week has brought yet another round of "soft" indicators that show slumping confidence in what lies ahead for the economy, amid a fast-changing policy landscape.
It still is unclear whether it amounts to signal or noise in terms of what actually lies ahead for jobs, incomes, and growth.
Driving the news: The Conference Board's long-running survey of consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month in March, the business research group said Tuesday — reaching below even its level during peak inflation in 2022.
Consumers' near-term outlook for incomes, business, and labor market conditions fell to the lowest in 12 years, and far below the threshold that usually signals a looming recession.
The deterioration was sharpest among older Americans.
Separately, an index that measures small business owners' confidence, published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, fell in the first quarter to about its level of a year ago, erasing a post-election surge.
Of note: Even before the disruptions of the Trump administration's trade wars and government spending cuts, there were signs many households were facing challenging financial times.
In the fourth quarter, the share of credit card debt more than 90 days delinquent was at a 13-year high, per New York Fed data.
Continue reading at Axios
Victoria’s Secret and Tesla face French boycott as anti-Trump feeling surges
Survey shows majority of citizens want to support French companies and punish American tycoons who back the White House.
nce coming to office.
Fifty-seven percent of the French say they are ready to boycott U.S. goods or services in the coming months as positive public perception of America falls to the lowest level in France in the past 40 years, according to a survey by polling firm Ifop for website nyc.fr published Tuesday.
Sixty-two percent of the French say they broadly support the idea of a boycott.
As transatlantic relations keep deteriorating following U.S. President Donald Trump's ascension to office, the French appetite for economic patriotism is only growing.
Supporting French companies and punishing American tycoons who are endorsing Trump are the main reasons for the boycott, the survey shows.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
US likely to reach debt limit X-date in August or September, Congress’ scorekeeper predicts
Top Republicans, rallying around the idea of raising the debt limit in their party-line package, are closely noting the forecast for when the U.S. risks defaulting on its more than $36 trillion national debt.
The United States is likely to breach its debt limit in August or September if Congress doesn’t act, according to aCongressional Budget Office forecast Wednesday.
But Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper also cautioned that this doomsday date could come as early as late May or sometime in June if tax receipts come in well below predictions this spring. This forecast from CBO differs from the debt limit prediction earlier this week from the Bipartisan Policy Center, which pegged the range as mid-July to early October.
Predictions for when the U.S. risks defaulting on its more than $36 trillion in national debt are now pivotal to President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, since he and Republican leaders on Capitol Hillaim raise the debt limit within the “big, beautiful bill” they are trying to pass along party lines this year.
Continue reading at Politico
2. Soft orders for business equipment
It's not just sentiment surveys. There is new evidence that businesses may be acting on worries that the volatile policy environment could crimp future activity.
Driving the news: Durable goods orders increased 0.9% overall in February, the Census Bureau said this morning. But the line of the report that analysts turn to for a sense of business investment activity unexpectedly fell.
New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft — core capital goods — fell 0.3% in February. Analysts had expected the forward-looking indicator of how much equipment businesses are buying to rise 0.2%.
Shipments of core capital goods, meanwhile, rose 0.9%, potentially reflecting businesses looking to get ahead of looming tariffs.
Reality check: This is a volatile data series, and its drop doesn't necessarily mean broader economic deterioration is on the way.
Continue reading at Axios
Federal cuts squeeze already-struggling food banks, school lunch programs
Schools and pantries say they will have to provide less or rely on cheaper, more processed foods.
For the Day Eagle Hope Project, federal money has helped volunteers deliver fresh produce and meat to families in need across the remote Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northern Montana — while putting cash into the hands of farmers, ranchers and meat processors.
The nonprofit generally has less than $300,000 to spend per year. So the $200,000 from a U.S. Department of Agriculture local food buying program drastically raised both the quantity and quality of the food it could distribute.
“They were a major, major contributor to our food,” said Tescha Hawley, who directs the organization, which aims to improve physical, mental and spiritual health.
The USDA recently nixed more than $1 billion from two programs that helped food banks and school meal programs buy local foods, including $660 million for schoolchildren. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently described the programs as “nonessential.”
But the move has left hundreds of school systems and food banks reeling. They already face rising food prices and are struggling to help community members with growing food insecurity.
The federal programs stimulated the purchase of locally grown fruits, vegetables, dairy and meats — benefiting both the smaller farmers who received fair market pay for their products and the organizations granted funds to buy high quality foods.
The noncompetitive grants sent hundreds of millions of dollars to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 84 tribal governments, boosting business for more than 8,000 farmers and providing local food to almost as many food banks. The Trump administration is killing the programs, despite Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign against processed food, which he says is “poisoning” Americans.
Without ongoing funding, Hawley said, she would have to rely on cheaper, less nutritious food.
Continue reading at Stateline (A Pew Research Foundation publication)
CA Fast-Food Sector Sees Major Job Losses, Revised Data Shows
Before a recent revision, federal unemployment data for the year showed no gain or loss in the California fast-food industry.
CALIFORNIA — The health of California's labor market faced a major adjustment last week as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its employment data for 2024, prompting a new round of debate about the impact of the $20-per-hour minimum wage on the fast food industry.
The debate comes as the California Fast Food Council mulls another potential raise for fast food workers in the Golden State. Opponents of the raise hold the new numbers up as proof that raise increases are driving up prices while causing mass job losses.
In October, six months into the wage hike, initial findings showed no job cuts. In the mid-March revision, however, federal data revealed a 3 percent loss in statewide numbers for the limited-service restaurant sector, commonly known as fast food.
The 3 percent loss equates to some 16,000 lost jobs, according to an industry publication.
Continue reading at Patch.com
Senate confirms Dan Bishop to No. 2 spot at Trump’s budget office
The Office of Management and Budget is filling out its ranks and the Trump administration continues to look for ways to cut spending without congressional approval.
The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Dan Bishop to be deputy director of the White House budget office, where he will serve as right-hand to director Russ Vought.
In a 53-45 vote, lawmakers approved the former North Carolina GOP representative’s nomination for the No. 2 position at the Office of Management and Budget. The role is key to the Trump administration’s actions alongside Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to freeze federal funding already approved by Congress.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump trade war would deal ‘major blow’ to UK growth
Britain’s GDP faces a 1 percent hit in the most extreme scenario modeled by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Setting out the U.K.’s latest fiscal statement on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves acknowledged that “the global economy has become more uncertain, bringing insecurity at home, as trading patterns become more unstable and borrowing costs rise.”
As a result of Trump’s tariffs, there is “a growing realization that we could be in for a major blow to trade that wasn't there,” added David Miles, an economist at the U.K.’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) watchdog.
Trump plans to unveil fresh reciprocal tariffs against U.S. trade partners next week. While the U.K. is currently working on a trade agreement to swerve those tariffs, Trump’s global trade measures will still impact Britain’s economy even if it is spared.
“If global trade disputes escalate to include 20 percentage point rises in tariffs between the USA and the rest of the world, this could reduce UK GDP by a peak of 1 per cent,” the OBR forecasts in its latest assessment.
Amping up U.S. tariffs on all goods imports would slash 0.6 off the OBR’s forecast of 1.9 percent GDP growth in 2026.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Major department store to shutter some locations in California, other states
The final day of operation for more than two dozen Kohl’s locations, including several in California, is fast approaching.
The department store announced in January that it would close 27 underperforming stores by April.
“We always take these decisions very seriously,” Tom Kingsbury, then Kohl’s chief executive officer, said at the time. “As we continue to build on our long-term growth strategy, it is important that we also take difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams.”
Continue reading at KTLA.com
Trump's Social Security check change could affect half a million Americans
Nearly half a million Americans will be affected by President Trump's order that will cease Social Security payments by paper check.
Why it matters: The switch risks disrupting the financial lives of some of the most vulnerable Americans, at a time when Social Security is cutting back services to help them.
Driving the news: The federal government must stop issuing paper checks by Sept. 30 in favor of direct deposit, prepaid cards, or "other digital payment options," per an order Trump signed yesterday.
The move is part of a broader White House effort against what it considers government waste, fraud and abuse.
The order includes language allowing for "limited exceptions," including for people without bank accounts.
By the numbers: Nearly 456,000 Americans are still receiving paper Social Security checks as of March, per Social Security Administration data.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump imposes sweeping auto tariffs in latest trade crackdown
President Trump on Wednesday announced 25% tariffs on automakers that do not produce cars in the U.S.
Why it matters: The auto industry has always loomed as one of the biggest potential casualties of the administration's trade policies, and these levies threaten to put new pressure on consumers as prices inevitably rise.
Driving the news: Trump on Wednesday announced the tariff on cars and light trucks from the Oval Office. He said the move would encourage automakers to build plants domestically.
"We'll effectively be charging a 25% tariff, but if you build your car in the United States, there is no tariff," Trump told reporters.
"What that means is a lot of foreign car companies are going to be in great shape because they've already built their plant, but their plants are underutilized, so they'll be able to expand them inexpensively and quickly," he added.
Zoom out: The will-he-or-won't-he trade saga this year particularly weighed on an auto industry already struggling with competition from China and a historic technology transition.
Continue reading at Axios
Social Security postpones and partially rolls back ID changes
The Social Security Administration on Wednesday said it would postpone controversial changes to phone service and partially relax new rules on identity verification.
Why it matters: Advocates and current and former officials have said the changes could break an already strained system and leave the most vulnerable populations without their benefits.
Driving the news: The SSA said the changes will now take effect April 14, rather than the end of this month.
Continue reading at Axios
Bessent opens door to Russian return to major international banking system
“I think this is premature to discuss the terms of a deal before we have a deal,” Bessent said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday did not rule out allowing Russian banks to rejoin the SWIFT international payment messaging system as negotiations continue on an end to the war in Ukraine.
But the White House would need backing from Europe to restart it.
“There would be a long discussion about many things in terms of the proper way to bring Russia back into the international system,” Bessent told Fox News news anchor Martha MacCallum. “But I think this is premature to discuss the terms of a deal before we have a deal.”
The Biden administration helped lead the push to remove some of Russia’s largest banks from SWIFT, an international system that allows financial institutions from all over the world to communicate transaction information, shortly after the country invaded Ukraine in early 2022.
Continue reading at Politico
New Social Security clawback policy starts this week: What to know
A major change in how the Social Security Administration (SSA) handles benefit overpayments is set to kick in Thursday.
Starting March 27, the Social Security Administration will start to withhold 100 percent of a person’s monthly benefit to recoup any outstanding overpayment amount. The current clawback rate, which was set by President Biden, is 10%.
The Office of the Chief Actuary estimates that the policy will translate to roughly $7 billion in savings over the next decade.
“We have the significant responsibility to be good stewards of the trust funds for the American people,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement. “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding, as it was during the Obama administration and first Trump administration, to properly safeguard taxpayer funds.”
While the policy is sold as a measure that’s crucial to make sure American taxpayer dollars are going to the right people, in the correct amount, there is concern over how the change may affect some seniors.
“The ‘clawback’ of payments is especially unfair to seniors who do not have external support to help manage their finances and track their benefits,” Shannon Benton, executive director of the Senior Citizens League, told CBS earlier this month.
The SSA notes that the new withholding rate will not apply to benefits paid before March 27, but anyone overpaid after Thursday will “automatically be placed in full recovery at a rate of 100 percent.” Payments won’t resume until the scheduled benefits match the overpayment amount.
Continue reading at The Hill
Kohl's closing underperforming stores this Saturday. See the list.
Saturday is the final day for two dozen closing Kohl's stores located in 15 states, according to store webpages.
The big picture: The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based retailer operates about 1,150 stores nationwide and the closures account for less than 3% of its locations.
Jill Timm, Kohl's chief financial officer, said during a recent earnings call that the company's portfolio of stores is "incredibly healthy" and "didn't have a lot of stores that were underperforming."
Zoom in: Approximately 15,000 store closures are expected this year, more than double the 7,325 stores that closed in 2024, according to Coresight Research.
Forever 21, JCPenney, Joann, Dollar General, CVS and Walgreens are also shuttering stores this year.
Continue reading at Axios
Senate sends IRS crypto rule repeal to the White House
The Senate voted Wednesday 70-28 on a House resolution to repeal a rule promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service last year, extending the definition of a "broker," for purposes of tax reporting.
Why it matters: The move fits into the larger Republican strategy of acting as the party moving to support the blockchain industry's contribution to the U.S. economy.
Catch up fast: The broker rule update has its origins in former President Biden's Infrastructure bill.
Industry representatives have said that the language is too broad and would include decentralized finance applications that have no capacity to report.
Continue reading at Axios
"Chaos and uncertainty": Canadian leaders blast U.S. auto tariffs
Canadian politicians and industrial leaders blasted President Trump's new auto tariffs on Wednesday and vowed a swift response, including a backstop for Canada's largest companies.
Why it matters: One of America's closest allies three months ago is now preparing for an all-out trade war, with profound implications for both economies.
What they're saying: Outspoken Ontario Premier Doug Ford led the charge against Trump's levies on imported cars, which are going into effect April 2.
"His 25 per cent tariffs on cars and light trucks will do nothing more than increase costs for hard-working American families. U.S. markets are already on the decline as the president causes more chaos and uncertainty. He's putting American jobs at risk," Ford wrote on X.
He vowed to back any retaliatory tariffs put in place by the national government.
Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a Wednesday evening briefing Canadians needed to move past "the shock of the betrayal" and protect their national interests.
"We will defend our workers. Will defend our companies. Will defend our country and will defend it together," Carney said. "This will hurt us, but through this period, by being together, we will emerge stronger."
The big picture: U.S. trade policy has galvanized an unprecedented anti-American sentiment, and spurred an outbreak of Canadian nationalism strong enough to invert the country's political alignment.
Continue reading at Axios
General News
Trump floats possibility of compensation for Jan. 6 rioters
“A lot of the people that are in the government now talk about it,” the president said.
Speaking to Newsmax on Tuesday night, Trump said he had taken “care” of his supporters who attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss and added there is “talk” about compensating them.
“A lot of the people that are in the government now talk about it because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people,” he said, referring to the Jan. 6 defendants, who he described as protesting “peacefully and patriotically.”
Some of the freed Jan. 6 rioters and their advocates, such as Ed Martin, whom Trump appointed to be the top federal prosecutor in Washington, have long called for financial reparations for those who took part in the Capitol attack, many of whom subsequently spent time behind bars.
The president also described himself as a “big fan” of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol police officer as she attempted to climb through a shattered window into the Speaker’s Lobby.
Continue reading at Politico
Threat of war and disease means Europeans need 3 days’ supplies, Commission to warn
“Europe cannot afford to remain reactive,” the European Commission will warn in strategy to be unveiled on Wednesday.
BRUSSELS ― Every citizen should stockpile enough food to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours in case of crisis, the European Commission is to warn, according to a draft of its Preparedness Union Strategy seen by POLITICO.
“In case of extreme disruptions, the initial period is the most critical,” the document says, setting out possible scenarios, from war to cyber attacks and deadly disease to climate-driven floods.
Five years since the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and three since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and with natural disasters and financial shocks an ever-present risk, the plan lands as Europe lurches from one crisis to another. “None of the major crises of the past years were isolated or short-lived,” the document says. “Europe cannot afford to remain reactive.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
The Ukrainian teens who took on Putin's gulag archipelago — and won
When Vlad and his friends realized the Kremlin would not return them home, they staged an open revolt.
As the sky began to darken, Vladyslav Rudenko slid a pair of underwear into his hoodie and pretended to go for a walk. The 16-year-old Ukrainian boy had to hurry. He only had a slim window of time before the lanterns lit up the campgrounds of the reeducation camp, potentially exposing him to the Russian counselors.
He left his dorm alone around 6 p.m. and wound through the campus enclosed by a two-meter-high fence topped with barbed wire. He arrived at an outdoor stage overlooking an open square where the camp’s children were required to gather every morning to sing the Russian national anthem. Vlad climbed up the stairs of the stage, dodging the security camera pointed right at it, and turned right toward a row of flag poles: a rainbow flag for the camp; another for occupied Crimea; and the blue, red and white flag of Russia.
“Why should that be hanging there?” he thought to himself. The Russian flag didn’t represent him, a boy from the Ukrainian city of Kherson. It represented the armed men who took him from his home in balaclavas. What really belonged there, if not the Ukrainian flag, was his underwear.
Vlad did one last scan to ensure no one was around and then grabbed the rope on the flagpole. He untied it and tugged, lowering the Russian flag as fast as he could. Once it reached the ground he unhooked it, fastened his underwear and hoisted it up the 4-meter pole. He felt his eyes popping out, his heart dropping to his stomach — the flagpole was so high — and then, a resistance. Vlad looked up and saw his blue and white checkered boxers hanging in the twilight.
“Yep,” he thought. “That’ll do.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Trump admits Russians could be ‘dragging their feet’ on Ukraine peace deal
“I’ve done it over the years,” U.S. president says of using stalling tactics when negotiating contracts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin could be trying to delay a full truce with Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump conceded Tuesday — before adding that he still believes Moscow ultimately wants an end to its war.
As the U.S. seeks to hash out the terms of a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, Ukraine and its allies have accused the Kremlin of stonewalling negotiations to end its three-year full-scale invasion by presenting a list of delaying conditions and demands.
Ukraine agreed to an initial proposal for a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire earlier this month, but Putin quickly rejected it.
Asked by a reporter from American right-wing cable news broadcaster Newsmax if he believed that the Kremlin was stalling, Trump on Tuesday said he thought “Russia wants to see an end” to its full-scale invasion.
“But it could be that they’re dragging their feet,” he admitted, adding that he had used the same tactic in his own past dealings to play for time.
“I’ve done it over the years,” Trump said. “You know, I don’t want to sign a contract, I want to sort of stay in the game but maybe I don’t want to do it quite, I’m not sure.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Read: Trump officials sued over Signal chat
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Trump administration officials are being sued by a government watchdog group for using Signal to discuss military plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen.
The big picture: American Oversight alleges in its lawsuit that the chat on the unclassified commercial app that mistakenly included The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg violated federal records laws.
Driving the news: The suit that was filed in a D.C. federal court names Hegseth and officials including National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Marco Rubio in his capacities as secretary of state and acting archivist.
American Oversight said in a statement it's seeking to "recover unlawfully deleted messages and prevent further destruction."
"The Federal Records Act requires federal officials to preserve communications related to official government business," the nonprofit said.
Continue reading at Axios
Trump’s executive order on elections is far-reaching. But will it actually stick?
President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking broad changes to how elections are run in the U.S. is vast in scope and holds the potential to reorder the voting landscape across the country, even as it faces almost certain litigation.
He wants to require voters to show proof that they are U.S. citizens before they can register for federal elections, count only mail or absentee ballots received by Election Day, set new rules for voting equipment and prohibit non-U.S. citizens from being able to donate in certain elections.
A basic question underlying the sweeping actions he signed Tuesday: Can he do it, given that the Constitution gives wide leeway to the states to develop their own election procedures? Here are some of the main points of the executive order and questions it raises.
Continue reading at the AP
Politico Playbook
Circling the wagons
Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, still scanning my group chats for any unwanted guests. You can’t be too careful these days.
A YEAR AGO TODAY: The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore after being rammed by a container ship, killing six construction workers carrying out late-night maintenance. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will speak at a commemoration ceremony this morning.
In today’s Playbook …
— Signalgate fallout continues to ripple throughout the Trump administration.
— Dems flip a Pennsylvania state Senate seat Trump carried in November as the party debates its path forward.
— More heated hearings on the Hill today.
DON’T DROP THE MIKE: The White House is circling the wagons around under-fire national security adviser Mike Waltz as the Signalgate scandal enters its third day. President Donald Trump gave a long interview to conservative TV network Newsmax last night in which he insisted the mega-leak to Atlantic boss Jeffrey Goldberg was “no problem,” stating again that no classified information was shared. Waltz himself was wheeled out on Fox News to accept “full responsibility” for the “embarrassing” gaffe — but had no real answers on how it actually happened. Which means questions will continue to swirl today as members of the world’s most famous chat group face the media.
For your radar: Vice President JD Vance (“I just hate bailing Europe out again”) is due to speak at the Marine Corps base at Quantico at 10 a.m. … DNI Tulsi Gabbard (“TG”) and CIA Director John Ratcliffe (messages too sensitive to be published) are before the House Intelligence Committee at 10 a.m. for their second congressional grilling in two days. … And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (“It’s PATHETIC”) is still in Hawaii, where he again reassured reporters last night that “nobody texted any war plans,” adding: “I know exactly what I’m doing.” Which is strangely nonreassuring if you have to say it out loud.
As for Waltz … The NSA sat down for his first post-Signalgate interview last night, a White House-approved softball with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. Except … it didn’t turn out that way. Ingraham kicked things off with a helpfully partisan tee-up, but grew visibly bemused at Waltz’s bewildering lack of clarity. She determinedly pushed him again and again on how the leak actually happened — and the answers were vague, at best.
New phone, who dis? “I just talked to Elon [Musk] on the way here, we’ve got the best technical minds looking at how this happened,” Waltz said. “But I can tell you 100 percent — I don’t know this guy [Goldberg] … I don’t text him. He wasn’t on my phone.” Waltz also flatly denied that one of his staffers had added Goldberg to the chat — hours after Trump suggested this was what happened.
So how did Goldberg get added? “Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows the name, and then you have somebody else’s number there?” Waltz asked. “You’ve got someone else’s number on someone else’s contact — so of course I didn’t see this loser [Goldberg] in the group. It looked like somebody else. Now whether he did it deliberately, or it happened in some other technical means, we’re trying to figure out.”
Ingraham looked unconvinced. “But you’ve never talked to him before,” she said. “So how’s the number on your phone?” Waltz blinked, several times. “Well, if you have somebody else’s contact, then somehow it … gets sucked in. It gets sucked in.” Just watch the clip.
Continue reading at Politico Playbook newsletter
Fired Education staffers say department doomed to fall short of its legal obligations
“I just want to point out that this is illogical, inefficient and chaotic. … Services have already been disrupted, so now they’re going to be disrupted even further. I’m more frustrated and concerned for the needs of students” added Coleman, the chief steward at the Education Department’s employees’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252.
Coleman, with all the AFGE officers, was swept up in the massive reduction in force that came earlier this month at the department.
Less than a week later, Trump turned up the pressure to end the department by signing an executive order telling Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal agency as far as she legally can.
The next day, Trump said student loans would move to the Small Business Administration and programs for students with disabilities will go the Health and Human Services Department “immediately.”
From the start of Trump’s second term, Coleman said work within the Office for Civil Rights was different from past administration, with staffers ordered to stop working on cases completely for a period of time.
Continue reading ar The Hill
GOP lawmakers press for investigations of Trump Cabinet group chat
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Tuesday that his committee will investigate the matter but also called on the Defense Department’s inspector general to launch a probe.
“We’ll certainly be asking the IG to look into it,” Wicker told The Hill of the incident, which has sparked concerns among Republicans and Democrats over the frequency with which senior Trump officials are using Signal to hold sensitive conversations.
Senators say the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), will also investigate the security lapse, according to senators on the panel.
The topic was discussed extensively when five senior officials, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, testified before the Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Continue reading at The Hill
GOP warns of closer-than-expected race in conservative Florida district
The party’s frustrations come amid growing interest in the race for national security adviser Mike Waltz’s seat, thanks to the large amounts of cash raised by Democratic candidate Josh Weil, the involvement of national Democratic strategists and concerns shared by some on the right, such as Steve Bannon, over GOP candidate Randy Fine.
Still, Democrats face an uphill climb in the district, which spans a portion of the state’s east coast. Waltz and Trump both prevailed in the district by 30 points in November.
“Randy Fine is going to win this race, but it’s going to be much closer than many people expected,” said Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based Republican strategist. “The Republicans are also, what, one cold away from being in the minority. It’s really important for both parties to win.”
Even the state’s top Republican has acknowledged the margin could be closer than it usually is in the district.
Continue reading at The Hill
‘A lot closer than people expected’: GOP worries, Dem cash dominate tense Florida special election
President Donald Trump handpicked state Sen. Randy Fine to replace Mike Waltz in the district.
Randy Fine has leaned into President Donald Trump’s endorsement to try to win a congressional special election in Florida. But it’s the Republican state senator’s progressive opponent who has used Trump’s name to amass an eight-figure war chest against him.
The Democratic candidate, math teacher Josh Weil, reported raising more than $10 million for the April 1 race in a deep-red area of the state that went for Trump by more than 30 points. Fine, in contrast, has raised less than $1 million.
“Seems like it’s going to be a lot closer than people expected,” said state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), Fine’s Tallahassee roommate and closest friend at the state Capitol. He predicted Democrats would likely end up spending upwards of $15 million on the race.
Since early voting began Saturday, turnout was surprisingly close between the two parties, though Republicans began to edge up in numbers on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ data. Gruters and other Republicans projected confidence that Fine will win, but the disparity in fundraising has the GOP sending reinforcements during the closing days of the campaign.
Continue reading at Politico
Energy Department considering cutting hydrogen projects in Democratic states
The cuts, if carried through, would politicize the federal funds that Congress and the Biden administration awarded to seven regional applicants as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The cuts, if carried through, would politicize the federal funds that Congress and the Biden administration awarded to seven regional applicants as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The funding cuts are under consideration amid President Donald Trump’s directive to cut government waste and eliminate climate-focused spending enacted during the Biden administration. Previous submissions for spending cuts from DOE offices included potentially eliminating federal funding for all seven of the hydrogen hub projects.
The first tranches of funding for the seven selected hubs in the $7 billion program were delivered to recipients before the Biden administration left office. The sites were envisioned to help speed development of hydrogen as a clean fuel that could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in difficult-to-decarbonize industries, such as fertilizer production, steel making, and electricity generation.
A spreadsheet of the projects prepared by DOE and obtained by POLITICO labeled each hub as “cut” or “keep.” Out of seven projects, only the four planned for primarily Democratic-leaning states are recommended to have their funding pulled back, according to people familiar with the latest iteration of the plan.
On the cut list: the Pacific Northwest hub spanning Oregon, Washington and Montana; the ARCHES hub in California; the Midwest regional hub linking Illinois, Indiana and Michigan; and the Mid-Atlantic hub in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.
On the keep side: the Heartland hub that spans Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota; the Appalachia hub in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and HyVelocity in Texas and Louisiana.
Continue reading at Politico
Renewables surged globally in 2024, new data shows
Renewable energy capacity around the world surged last year — particularly in the U.S. and China, according to a new report.
Why it matters: The data shows that renewables, such as wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power sources are growing at far faster rates than traditional power sources such as coal and natural gas.
Zoom in: The report from the International Renewable Energy Agency shows that 585 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity were added worldwide, accounting for more than 90% of total power expansion last year.
One gigawatt is enough to power around 876,000 households for one year.
While the rate of growth hit a record high of 15.1%, that fell short of the 16.6% annual rate of growth required to meet a global goal to triple installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.
Yes, but: Renewables are still far from meeting the majority of global electricity needs.
Continue reading at Axios
Politico Inside Congress
One major agreement on Trump’s agenda
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
Debt ceiling plan takes shape in reconciliation
Johnson not seeking to impeach judges
NPR and PBS face DOGE spotlight
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated there was at least one point of agreement from their White House meeting Tuesday: Adding a debt ceiling hike to their party-line tax, border and energy bill.
That’s a gamble some Senate Republicans fear could sink the whole package, our colleagues Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim report. And while President Donald Trump told GOP lawmakers that was his preference earlier this month, he’ll now have to convince several skeptical Republicans to get behind the idea.
Johnson called it “everybody’s preferred outcome at this point.” Thune said it was “clearly a preferable outcome,” though he acknowledged he still needs to “determine whether or not the Senate can get on board with that idea.”
Still, plenty of sticking points remain as both chambers hope to work out a deal on a reconciliation bill framework they want to adopt by the week of April 7.
House Republicans are digging in on the spending cuts their budget blueprint would prescribe for the reconciliation process, with Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie defending the $880 billion in cuts his committee has been tasked with finding as “realistic.” But Republican senators have aired doubts on that point, fearful of major reductions to Medicaid benefits. Many of them want to adjust the level of savings the committee would be tasked with finding to spare slashes to the popular safety net program, Jordain reports with Ben Leonard.
“I’m not going to vote for something that would lead to Medicaid cuts,” said Sen. Josh Hawley.
That’s not a position all Senate Republicans share, however. Some conservatives want even deeper spending cuts. Thune is hoping to appease those lawmakers by pointing out all the federal funding reductions already undertaken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Senate Republicans also want to make the expiring 2017 tax cuts permanent — something that wasn’t included in the House GOP blueprint. And Republican senators are making clear they intend to tweak the House-passed budget resolution on that point.
“They said they needed time to do one big, beautiful bill,” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham told reporters, referring to House Republicans. “They had a chance; the product is woefully inadequate.”
Continue reading the Politico Inside Congress newsletter
Trump team’s rush to get Ukraine peace deal risks letting Russia off the hook for war crimes
“Justice is a prerequisite for sustainable peace,” says the head of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning NGO.
KYIV — The United States met with Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia this week as it ramps up pressure for a speedy end to the war, but Ukraine worries that in its rush to get a deal, Donald Trump’s administration will avoid holding Russia to account for war crimes.
“The current U.S. administration chooses concessions, flattery and bargaining instead of pressure on Russia,” a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told POLITICO, speaking on condition of being granted anonymity.
There is growing alarm in Kyiv at how Trump is framing the war and if in his race to end the fighting as soon as this Easter he is tossing aside Ukraine’s interests — from recapturing lost territories to security guarantees to justice for the crimes committed by Russia.
America has shifted from being Ukraine’s ally to taking a neutral stance on the war and even tilting toward Russia while blaming Kyiv for holding up efforts to end the fighting.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Freeloaders? Hegseth has ‘a case’ in slamming Europe, UK defense chief says
John Healey calls U.S. defense secretary’s comments in Signal group chat leak a “challenge” rather than an insult.
Speaking to Times Radio Wednesday, Healey was pressed on the leak of private messages between top figures in Donald Trump’s U.S. government about plans for air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
According to The Atlantic, whose editor-in-chief was accidentally added to a high-level group chat on encrypted messaging app Signal, Trump's Vice President JD Vance said he hated “bailing out Europe again” by launching military action to protect shipping in the Red Sea, mainly to benefit European trade.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied to Vance: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC."
Speaking to Times Radio, Healey called the comments a "challenge" rather than an insult.
"The Americans have got a case," Healey said. "On defense spending, on European security, on our support for Ukraine, European nations can and will do more and the U.K. is leading the way."
Continue reading at Politico Europe
How Trump is finding workarounds to legal hurdles
As the saying goes, if you can’t go under or over — go around.
As judges issue injunctions blocking particular executive orders or policies, the administration has returned to court with a new legal arsenal of laws and authorities to justify their sweeping plans to reshape the federal bureaucracy.
Essentially, they’re learning on the fly — taking lessons from adverse rulings and judges themselves to press on with the president’s agenda.
Take the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), for example. As a federal judge ruled last week that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) likely had no authority to shutter the foreign aid agency from the outside, the administration had a plan B.
The same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally appointed Jeremy Lewin, the USAID DOGE team lead, to become the agency’s chief operating officer. The administration insists this was done before the judge’s order (see Rubio’s signature making it official).
The government argued Lewin is now a “properly named USAID official” and urged the judge to make clear Lewin can take actions at the agency.
Continue reading at The Hill
Tufts PhD student detained by immigration authorities
A foreign-born Ph.D. student from Tufts University was detained by federal authorities Tuesday, the latest international scholar swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The university said in a statement the student, whom it did not name, was arrested outside an apartment building in Somerville, Mass. The school said it had no prior knowledge the arrest would take place, and it happened off campus property.
“From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true. The university has no additional information at this time about the cause or circumstances of the student’s apprehension and is attempting to learn more about the incident,” Tufts said.
The Boston Globe identified the student as Rumeysa Ozturk. A federal judge Tuesday ordered that Ozturk is to stay in the country for now.
The Hill has reached out to Ozturk’s attorney and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration can stop new refugee approvals, appeals court rules
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed to partially lift a judge’s block until it fully resolves the Trump administration’s appeal, but the panel ruled that Department of Homeland Security officials still must permit people into the country that were conditionally accepted into the refugee program before Trump’s suspension.
The three-judge panel is comprised of U.S. Circuit Judge Barry Silverman, an appointee of former President Clinton; U.S. Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, a Trump appointee; and U.S. Circuit Judge Ana de Alba, an appointee of former President Biden.
The trio’s brief ruling pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision upholding Trump’s travel ban during his first White House term, when the high court noted federal immigration law “exudes deference” to the president in imposing entry restrictions.
“The existing briefing schedule remains in effect. The clerk will place this appeal on the next available calendar,” the court’s two-page order reads.
Continue reading at The Hill
Supreme Court upholds rules requiring background checks for ‘ghost guns’
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Biden-era federal regulations on “ghost guns,” mail-order kits that allow people to build untraceable weapons at home – handing gun control groups a rare win at the conservative high court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 7-2 majority that included both liberal and conservative justices in one of the most closely watched Supreme Court cases of the year.
“Perhaps a half hour of work is required before anyone can fire a shot,” Gorsuch wrote. “But even as sold, the kit comes with all necessary components, and its intended function as instrument of combat is obvious. Really, the kit’s name says it all: ‘Buy Build Shoot.’
Individuals who had purchased the weapons and several manufacturers challenged regulations created by the Biden administration in 2022 that require ghost gun makers to include serial numbers on the kits and perform background checks on people who purchase them.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives created the new regulations as police say the untraceable weapons are turning up much more frequently at crime scenes. In 2017, police submitted about 1,600 ghost guns recovered at crime scenes for tracing. Four years later, the number had grown to more than 19,000.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Musk super PAC pours last-minute money into special Florida elections
Elon Musk’s super PAC is pouring last-minute resources into two special House elections in Florida as voters head to the polls next week to replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and White House national security adviser Michael Waltz.
America PAC is spending roughly $10,200 each for GOP candidates Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine in texting services to boost both men, according to a federal campaign report filed on Monday.
Patronis, the chief financial officer in Florida, is running in Florida’s 1st Congressional District to replace Gaetz. He’s running against Democrat Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist.
Fine, a state senator, is running in Florida’s 6th Congressional District to replace Waltz. He’s running against Democrat Josh Weil, public school teacher.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump names Brent Bozell as ambassador to South Africa
President Trump has named L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative media critic and pro-Israel commentator, to be the U.S. ambassador to South Africa.
According to an action introduced in Congress, the Senate received Bozell’s nomination on Monday. He will have to be confirmed by the upper chamber.
The nomination comes at a time when relations are strained between the U.S. and South Africa.
Continue reading at The Hill
82 percent say presidents should obey federal court rulings: Survey
A majority of Americans say presidents should obey court rulings, according to the results of a new survey.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, unveiled Tuesday, found that 82 percent of respondents believe the president should heed to rulings from federal judges. Another 14 percent said the opposite.
The sentiment comes amid growing frustration aimed at the judicial system by the Trump administration as legal challenges brew over President Trump’s executive actions.
In recent weeks, Trump and his key advisers have lashed out at U.S. District Judge James Boasberg over the judge’s block of the administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants allegedly tied to the Tren de Aragua gang. The president later called for Boasberg’s impeachment.
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform earlier this month. “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!”
Continue reading at The Hill
EMILY’s List unveils House targets
EMILY’s List, a political action committee backing abortion rights, on Wednesday unveiled House Republicans it is looking to help unseat in the 2026 midterm elections.
“In 2026, we must take back the majority in the U.S. House to create a federal check on Donald Trump and beat back GOP attacks on our rights and our livelihoods,” Jessica Mackler, the president of the organization, said in a statement.
“Democratic pro-choice women will be at the heart of the fight for the majority by flipping competitive seats across the country. House Republicans beware; we are coming for your seats,” the statement continues
Names on the 46-person list include Republican Reps. Mike Lawler (N.Y.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), Don Bacon (Neb.), Max Miller (Ohio) and Michael Baumgartner (Wash.).
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) also recently put forth a list of 26 at-risk House Democrats it plans to target for in the midterms, including Reps. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.) and Derek Tran (Calif.)
Continue reading at The Hill
The country’s most powerful institutions are bowing to Trump. The Atlantic just backed him into a corner.
The president has used a strongman playbook to bring universities, news organizations and law firms to heel. That didn’t work on The Atlantic.
Over the past two months, President Donald Trump and the people in his orbit have used bullying, misdirection and brute force to bring some of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions to heel.
That playbook didn’t work on The Atlantic.
The magazine, loathed by Trump and his allies, on Wednesday morning published the entire group chat conversation among top administration officials about a military operation in Yemen. In doing so — after press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the magazine “we object to the release” — editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg and national security reporter Shane Harris effectively stood up to an administration that has largely grown used to getting its way — and dared a White House with limited options to make the next move.
“There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared,” the reporters wrote.
It was a remarkable rebuke of Trump, who since Inauguration Day has embarked on a revenge tour, tearing through the federal government, elite universities, news organizations and law firms he sees as enemies. And it left the president, unable to flex his typical levers of power, with limited options — with the most straightforward way out being something he is loath to do: apologize.
Continue reading at Politico
1 big thing: The specter of DOGE
Senators had a lot of questions yesterday for Frank Bisignano, the president's nominee for Social Security commissioner — but hovering over it all was the specter of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Why it matters: Social Security might be one of the few federal agencies targeted by Musk that is viewed as essential on both sides of the aisle, but it is facing a moment of DOGE-driven disruption that advocates and former officials warn could break the system.
"It's hard to overstate the importance of Social Security," said Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the finance committee.
Catch up quick: Bisignano, a Wall Street veteran, is the CEO of financial technology firm Fiserv.
At yesterday's confirmation hearing, he portrayed himself as something of a crisis manager-slash-corporate fixer: "I will make the agency a premier services organization, as I have done multiple times with other institutions throughout my career."
Reality check: While Bisgnano clearly knows how to drive operations in the private sector, advocates point out that Social Security is a different beast.
3. Small business owners' confidence drops
So much for the Trump bump: An index that measures small business owners' confidence fell nearly 7 points in the first quarter, erasing last year's post-election surge.
Why it matters: The index, published today by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a sign of just how much tariff worries are weighing on the business world right now.
By the numbers: Researchers surveyed 755 small business owners and operators who run companies with 500 or fewer people.
The index fell to 62.3 in the first quarter, down from 69.1 last quarter, and the exact same level as this time last year. (A higher score indicates more positive sentiment.)
Between the lines: Overwhelmingly, inflation was owners' top concern.
58% said inflation is their biggest challenge, the highest level since they first asked in 2021 — even as the rate of price growth is well off the highs seen three years ago.
What they're saying: "There was tremendous optimism that the election would sweep in measures and policies that would lower costs," says Tom Sullivan, vice president of small business policy at the Chamber of Commerce.
"Not only do small businesses not believe that's happened, but the uncertainty, specifically around tariffs, has led [them] to believe that inflation isn't going down."
The big picture: Small business owners are hardly alone here — CEOs of major companies also saw a drop in confidence in the first quarter.
Read the Axios Markets newsletter
Noem outlined major restructuring of FEMA in private meeting
The Homeland Security secretary expressed support for eliminating long-term disaster recovery efforts under the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has voiced support for dramatically shrinking the Federal Emergency Management Agency, six people told POLITICO’s E&E News.
Noem told other Trump administration officials in a private meeting Tuesday that she wants to eliminate FEMA’s role in funding long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grant programs that help communities prepare for disasters. Changes would be implemented by Oct. 1.
The moves would narrow the agency’s responsibilities to helping survivors in the immediate aftermath of disasters, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The meeting, which occurred one day after Noem said publicly that “we’re going to eliminate FEMA,” also included FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton and Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to President Donald Trump.
No decision has been made, the people said.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge blocks Iowa law banning books with sex acts from schools
District Judge Stephen Locher placed a temporary block on the ban, saying there were “several dozen unconstitutional applications” of the law regarding books with “undeniable political, artistic, literary, and/or scientific value,” listing examples including “1984,” “Brave New World” and “The Fault in Our Stars.”
This is the second time Locher has blocked the law, also doing so shortly after it was signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in 2023. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, overturned that ruling and made the law enforceable for the 2024-2025 school year.
“The bottom line is that the unconstitutional applications of the book restrictions in Senate File 496 far exceed the constitutional applications of those restrictions under both legal standards the Court believes are applicable,” Locher said this week.
A suit challenging the law was brought by the Iowa State Education Association and multiple best-selling authors, including Jodi Picoult.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to freeze dozens of teacher training grants
President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow it to freeze millions of dollars in grants to states for addressing teacher shortages over allegations that the money was being used on programs that take part in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The case is the latest from the Trump administration’s second-term agenda to reach the Supreme Court’s emergency docket – and the latest to question the power of federal district court judges to temporarily block the administration’s policies.
“This case exemplifies a flood of recent suits that raise the question: ‘Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever)’ millions in taxpayer dollars?” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration’s top appellate attorney, told the Supreme Court.
Continue reading at CNN.com
Greene attacks Ocasio-Cortez: ‘This is a woman that has really no life experience’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) slammed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a “woman that has really no life experience.”
Greene levied the attack on Ocasio-Cortez, who has positioned herself as a leading voice for the Democratic Party as its voters grow more frustrated with the Trump administration, during an appearance on “The Eric Bolling Show” on Tuesday.
“This is a woman, she’s never been married, she has no children, she’s never had a job other than working in a bar, and that was short term for what we understand, she’s never run a business,” Greene said. “This is a woman that has really no life experience and has no life wisdom because she’s never done any of those things.”
“This is why no one will take her serious as a presidential candidate,” she added.
Continue reading at The Hill
Russia and US discuss restarting Nord Stream pipeline, Kremlin says
“It will probably be interesting if the Americans use their influence on Europe and force it not to refuse Russian gas,” says Moscow’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov.
BRUSSELS — Washington and Moscow are in talks to revive the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, as the Kremlin vies to regain a foothold in Europe amid the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which previously carried gas from Russia to Germany via pipelines under the Baltic Sea, were blown up in an apparent act of sabotage in late 2022.
"There is talk about the Nord Streams," Lavrov told the Russian state-controlled Channel One TV station Wednesday. "It will probably be interesting if the Americans use their influence on Europe and force it not to refuse Russian gas."
Before its all-out invasion of Ukraine, Moscow provided 40 percent of the EU's gas imports — allowing it to wield vast influence over the bloc's energy supplies. Though the EU has since slashed that dependence by around two-thirds, the issue remains a sore point for Ukraine, since oil and gas purchases remain a key lifeline for Russia's war machine.
Lavrov's comments come after the Financial Times reported earlier this month that Moscow had enlisted a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin to restart gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream with the backing of American investors.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Denmark breathes sigh of relief (for now) as Trump team scales back Greenland trip
The U.S. delegation changed the itinerary of their Greenland trip, after initial plans were met with fierce backlash.
The U.S. delegation’s toned-down Arctic itinerary has been met with cautious relief from Denmark and Greenland.
The officials’ decision to only visit a U.S. military base instead of the initially planned broader trip — which was loudly decried as aggressive, considering Washington’s designs on the self-ruling Danish territory — is “wise,” Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.
“I think it’s a much wiser decision to visit the military installation than to interfere in what is happening in Greenlandic politics — in a situation where no government has been formed,” Lund Poulsen said Wednesday.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the change “a positive development” and a sign that the Americans “have understood the resistance to the U.S. overtures in Greenland.”
Continue reading at Politico Europe
NATO to Putin: Attack Poland and our response will be ‘devastating’
European allies are increasingly worried about the U.S. commitment to NATO.
WARSAW — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday stressed that the transatlantic military alliance would respond to an attack with “full force.”
“When it comes to the defense of Poland and the general defense of NATO territory, if anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance,” Rutte said at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during a visit to Warsaw.
“Our reaction will be devastating. This must be clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us,” Rutte added, praising Poland for spending 4.7 percent of its gross domestic product on defense, the highest level in the alliance.
"Let's not forget that Russia is and remains the most significant and dark threat to our alliance. Let's not forget that Russia is moving to a wartime economy," Rutte said.
Tusk underlined the importance of NATO to his country's security. "It’s very important for us [to hear] the commitment that NATO will defend Poland in any critical situation,” he said, referring to the alliance’s common defense Article 5.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Support for TikTok ban plunged over past 2 years: Poll
The number of Americans who support banning TikTok has fallen dramatically over the past two years, according to a new poll.
Just 34 percent of surveyed Americans said they support a TikTok ban, down from 50 percent in March 2023, according to new polling from the Pew Research Center released Tuesday. The poll was released just a week before President Trump’s deadline to reach a deal and avert a ban on the popular video-sharing platform.
The portion of U.S. adults who believe the app poses a national security threat has also declined, falling from 59 percent in 2023 to 49 percent in February.
Republicans remain more likely than Democrats to back a TikTok ban, although their support has dropped over the past two years. Some 39 percent of surveyed Republicans said they support a ban, down from 60 percent in 2023.
Democrats’ support for a ban has declined from 43 percent to 30 percent over the same period.
Continue reading at The Hill
Plurality of Americans say NPR, PBS should be federally funded: Survey
A plurality of surveyed Americans say the federal government should continue to fund public broadcasters, according to a new survey.
New polling from Pew found 24 percent of surveyed Americans say the U.S. government should not continue to send taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS, while a larger slice, 43 percent, say federal funding levels to those outlets should stay the same.
The same survey found 32 percent of Democrats say they regularly get news from NPR, compared with 9 percent of Republicans. Thirty-one percent of Democrats regularly get news from PBS, compared with 11 percent of Republicans who said the same.
The survey’s results were published the same day the heads of NPR and PBS, Katherine Maher and Paula Kerger, respectively, were grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill over their outlets’ editorial practices and funding models.
Continue reading at The Hill and Pew Research Center
Voice of America director sues over the outlet’s closure
This is the second suit filed in response to the Trump administration’s executive order gutting the media organization.
Voice of America Director Michael Abramowitz has sued the Trump administration, asking a federal court to determine the administration’s decision to dismantle the government-funded media outlet as unlawful.
The suit, filed in Washington on Wednesday, is one of a handful filed in response to the closure of several media outlets housed under or funded by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
“Closing down Voice of America would be an incalculable self-inflicted wound for America and deprive the U.S. of a priceless asset,” Abramowitz — who like virtually every other VOA employee was placed on administrative leave or terminated — wrote in a letter to VOA employees which he subsequently shared on LinkedIn.
Continue reading at Politico
Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to resume deportations under Alien Enemies Act
Trump has tried to invoke the act to swiftly deport alleged gang members with little due process.
President Donald Trump may not resume summary deportations of people he deems to be part of a Venezuelan gang, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The 2-1 ruling by a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is another blow to Trump’s effort to deploy wartime powers to quickly deport hundreds of people he claims are members of the gang, Tren de Aragua, which he has designated as a terrorist group. It maintains the decision of U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who blocked Trump’s deportation order earlier this month amid questions about its constitutionality.
Trump has tried to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — a rarely used law that grants the president special powers during times of war — to swiftly deport alleged gang members with little due process. Lawyers for some of the people targeted say their clients are not affiliated with the gang at all.
Wednesday’s splintered ruling featured different rationales even from the two judges who agreed to maintain Boasberg’s temporary block on Trump’s deportations: Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, and Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of President Barack Obama.
Judge Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.
The Trump administration may quickly appeal the ruling either to the full bench of the D.C. Circuit or the Supreme Court.
Each of the three judges on the panel wrote lengthy opinions explaining their views on the case.
Continuer reading at Politico
Canada rents billboards across US to push anti-tariff messages
Canada is trying to persuade Americans to speak out against President Trump’s trade war by launching an ad campaign in 12 red-leaning states, pushing anti-tariff messages and reminding them that “nobody will win” with the approach coming from the White House.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said last week that the Canadian government started a campaign, rolling out digital ads and placing billboards along “key highways” in states such as Florida, Nevada, Georgia, New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio and others, warning them that Trump’s tariffs on Canada will end up hurting Americans.
“We’re doing that because we think that we need to send a message to the American people, for them to understand what’s at stake, because this is really going to hurt their livelihoods and have an impact on their wallets,” Joly said during a Friday appearance on CNN.
Continue reading at The Hill
Trump administration to end funding for vaccinating children in poor countries
The Trump administration plans to end U.S. funding for Gavi, a global program that purchases shots to help vaccinate children in developing countries against some of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half of the world’s children. Since its launch in 2000, the program has helped more than 1.1 billion children.
Gavi supports vaccines against 20 infectious diseases, including COVID-19, HPV, Ebola, malaria and rabies.
The termination of the $2.6 billion contract for Gavi was among a nearly 400-page list — recently provided to Congress by a whistleblower — of canceled international aid programs previously funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Continue reading at The Hill
Supreme Court leans toward upholding federal internet subsidy program
The Supreme Court leaned toward upholding a $9 billion subsidy program that funds phone and internet services in rural areas and schools during oral arguments Wednesday.
The dispute gives the justices an opportunity to examine the so-called nondelegation doctrine, which prevents Congress from delegating its legislative authority to the executive branch.
The Supreme Court has not struck down a statute under the doctrine in 90 years, but anti-regulatory groups have hoped the court’s conservative supermajority will revitalize it by agreeing that Congress handed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) too much power in administering the subsidy program, called the Universal Service Fund (USF).
At Wednesday’s arguments, however, a majority of the nine justices appeared sympathetic toward the government’s defense of the setup, including members of both the court’s liberal and conservative wings.
Continue reading at The Hill
4 American soldiers who went missing in Lithuania have died, NATO leader says
A statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died, but that he did not yet know the details.
A U.S. official would say only that the four soldiers were involved in a training accident. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on the status of the soldiers.
Rutte said during a trip to Warsaw that he had received word of the deaths of the four soldiers and that his thoughts were with their families and with the United States.
“This is still early news so we do not know the details. This is really terrible news and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones,” Rutte told reporters in Warsaw.
A statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa public affairs in Wiesbaden, Germany said the soldiers were conducting scheduled tactical training at the time.
Continue reading at Politico
LA Times owner defends remaking paper to Tucker Carlson
“We will not be an echo chamber,” Patrick Soon-Shiong told Carlson in an interview.
Soon-Shiong’s appearance on Carlson’s podcast comes as he tries to attract more conservative readers to his newspaper, which he argues has become too liberal. He has clashed repeatedly with the union representing the paper’s journalists, which has said the billionaire owner is increasingly “voicing his political opinions and, at times, misrepresenting our journalism — a stark change from when he saved the paper in 2018.”
The decision to pull back the endorsement led to the resignation of the paper’s editorials editor, triggered mass turnover on the editorial board and pushed thousands of readers to cancel their subscriptions.
“We lost a lot of viewers,” Soon-Shiong said to Carlson. “Thousands of people unsubscribed. But I don’t think it’s right that we should be this canceling society.”
Continue reading at Politico
GOP leaders plan to punt on major fights in Trump agenda bill
The chambers will have different instructions for the budget blueprint that Senate Republicans aim to advance by Easter recess.
Republican leaders want to delay decisions on some of their biggest fights as they race to show progress toward enacting President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic agenda of tax cuts, border security and energy policies.
With GOP lawmakers desperate to finalize a budget framework for the planned megabill before an upcoming Easter recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are signaling that they will move forward on the fiscal blueprint without first resolving major disputes over the offsets — including potentially huge cuts to Medicaid.
“The White House is making clear we need to unlock the process now and fight about the details later,” said a senior House Republican aide who was granted anonymity to share private conversations.
The way forward will involve the House and Senate approving a budget resolution that defers to each chamber’s respective committees on how much money the panels will need to trim from programs under their purviews. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said there are hopes the chamber could vote on a new blueprint as soon as next week that reflects this emerging strategy.
Continue reading at Politico
Judge signals he may narrow scope of order requiring reinstatement of probationary workers
The judge said he may limit his injunction to apply only in states that have sued over the mass firings.
BALTIMORE — A federal judge indicated Wednesday that he may narrow an earlier ruling that required the Trump administration to rehire nearly 25,000 probationary workers.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar entered a sweeping order two weeks ago reversing the administration’s mass terminations at 18 major federal agencies, including most Cabinet departments. That order applied nationwide, but Bredar said at a court hearing Wednesday that he may replace it with a more limited injunction that applies only in 19 states and the District of Columbia — the jurisdictions that sued over the firings.
That would mean the administration could proceed with many terminations of probationary federal workers located in the 31 states that didn’t sue.
In general, states with Democratic attorneys general have joined the lawsuit while states with Republican attorneys general have not.
“This is a critical issue,” said Bredar, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “Most of the states in this country have not joined this lawsuit. … You can see the spot that I am hung up on.”
Continue reading at Politico
New York lawmakers target Tesla
A Democratic legislator introduced a bill to stop Tesla from selling in-person to consumers in the state.
ALBANY, New York — An upstate New York lawmaker who’s said she’s “disgusted” with Elon Musk is targeting Tesla’s operations.
Assemblymember Pat Fahy, an Albany Democrat who’s championed electric vehicles, introduced a bill Wednesday that would yank permits for Tesla’s five in-person sales locations in New York. Other electric vehicle makers would also be allowed to compete for the permits under the legislation.
“No matter what we do, we’ve got to take this from Elon Musk,” Fahy said. “He’s part of an effort to go backwards.”
Continue reading at Politico
Cuomo, who leads the field for New York City mayor, operated consulting firm after leaving public office
The former governor opened a company called Innovation Strategies, which netted him more than $500,000 in 2024.
NEW YORK: Andrew Cuomo pulled in more than $500,000 last year from a legal consulting firm he established after leaving the governor’s mansion, a new financial disclosure showed. And he remains a multimillionaire.
The revelations in the form — required for all New York City mayoral candidates and released by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board Wednesday — provide the first indication of how Cuomo has been subsisting since resigning from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations he has denied.
Innovation Strategies LLC is headquartered at the mayoral hopeful’s tony Manhattan apartment (formerly occupied by his daughter) and, according to the disclosure form, counts Cuomo as its sole member.
According to state business records, the consulting outfit was formed in April 2022, about eight months after Cuomo left office. Cuomo’s campaign did not disclose a list of his clients.
He has also started to collect his state pension, receiving around $55,000 last year in addition to between $155,000 and $310,000 in interest and dividends.
Continue reading at Politico
Justice Department goes to bat for Trump in hush money case
The Justice Department went to bat for President Trump in his hush money criminal case Wednesday, urging that his prosecution be moved out of New York state court so he can attempt to toss his guilty verdict on presidential immunity grounds.
Trump cannot pardon himself from his 34-count felony conviction on falsifying business records charges, but the development marks the first time his administration has looked to officially back the president in his personal criminal defense.
Trump has embarked on a months-long effort to try to move to federal court his criminal prosecution for illegally concealing a 2016 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, a process known as removal.
In the new filing, the Justice Department asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to file an amicus brief backing Trump’s argument that he should be able to move courts, because prosecutors during the trial brought up official acts protected by the Supreme Court’s landmark immunity ruling.
Continue reading at The Hill
Parliamentarian ruling on tax plan expected soon, Thune says
The “current policy baseline” decision is crucial for the shape of the GOP agenda.
Senate Republicans are on the precipice of getting a make-or-break decision for their tax plan.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough — a nonpartisan appointed official — is expected to make a decision in a matter of days on whether or not Republicans can use what’s known as a “current policy baseline” to account for an extension of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. The accounting tactic would make it look like the extension costs nothing, potentially allowing Republicans to add on more tax cuts or reduce offsetting spending cuts.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans need to know if MacDonough will green-light their strategy before taking the budget resolution to the floor, which Republicans want to do as soon as next week.
“If we’re going to move the budget resolution, we’ll have to have that question answered,” he said in a brief interview.
Continue reading at Politico
Senate Judiciary to hold hearing on judicial reform
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing around nationwide injunctions on April 2, amid a broader Republican push to rein in federal judges who are ruling to block many of President Donald Trump’s unilateral actions.
The committee made the announcement Wednesday it would meet for a hearing to explore “Legislative Solutions to the Bipartisan Problem of Universal Injunctions,” but provided no other details, including witnesses.
Continue reading at Politico
‘A lot of people’s BS meters are going to go off’: GOP deals with Signalgate
While Trump rarely admits mistakes, many of his allies said Wednesday that’s exactly what the White House needed to do.
President Donald Trump bills himself as a straight shooter who tells it like it is.
But as the imbroglio over the administration’s accidental leak of military strike plans to a journalist spilled into its third day, even some allies were calling BS.
The White House on Wednesday maintained its assertion that there was no problem with national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally including a journalist from The Atlantic magazine in a group chat in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details about an impending attack on Houthi fighters in Yemen. But their arguments were quickly unraveling around them.
Some staunch Trump loyalists are frustrated at being spun by an administration they have long heralded for its commonsense, no-holds-barred approach, with some inside and outside of the White House agitating for Waltz to take the fall for his mistake.
While Trump rarely admits mistakes, many of his allies said Wednesday that’s exactly what the White House needed to do and that it was undermining trust by refusing to acknowledge reality.
Continue reading at Politico
Trump’s deal with Putin faces European reality check
Top leaders meeting in Paris want to show the U.S. and Russia can’t carve up the continent by cutting out the EU and Ukraine.
BRUSSELS ― When European leaders meet on Thursday, they do so knowing they must find a way to retain their best bargaining chips over Russia ― even as the Americans may be negotiating them away.
The summit in Paris represents a moment of truth. Leaders will try to agree a collective response to signals coming from Washington that the administration of Donald Trump wants to ease sanctions on Moscow as an incentive to stop fighting Ukraine. While the United States might find that a useful tactic, European governments believe many concessions are not America's to give.
They're fearful the White House is being too quick to give up essential leverage, four European diplomats said. On Wednesday, U.S. and Kremlin officials claimed negotiators in Saudi Arabia ― where they held face-to-face talks ― had opened the door to restrictions being eased on access to the international financial system as well as insurance for oil and gas tankers as part of a trade for a ceasefire in the Black Sea.
Now, the European Union is seeking clarity on what is being offered up at the talks behind its back, particularly given decisions over sanctions on the Belgium-based international payments service SWIFT and on Russia's shadow fleet — ships Moscow uses to circumvent sanctions and maintain oil exports — lay firmly with European capitals.
“We are talking about core, hard sanctions," an EU diplomat said. "If the Russians want them to be lifted, they need to have a confrontation with us, not only with the Americans.”
Governments also realize that there's a tangled web of diplomacy at play where little can be taken at face value and there may be bluff and double-bluff on all sides. Trying to unpick that has also become a European priority.
Continue reading at Politico Europe
Appeals court keeps block on Trump’s sweeping funding freeze
The United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit upheld U.S. District Judge John McConnell’s ruling Wednesday, keeping a block on the Trump administration’s plans to freeze federal loans and grants through an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo.
Chief Judge David Barron, an appointee of former President Obama, and Circuit Judges Lara Montecalvo and Julie Rikelman, both appointees of former President Biden, presided over the case brought on by Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, the District of Columbia and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D).
“Even if we were to set aside the harms to the Plaintiff-States’ residents, the District Court still found a number of harms that the Plaintiff-States themselves would irreparably suffer. These harms included the obligation of new debt; the inability to pay existing debt; impediments to planning, hiring, and operations; and disruptions to research projects by state universities,” Barron wrote, according to court filings.
“And the Defendants do not contend that these harms are not ‘substantial’ or ‘irreparable,’ except by asserting that [the Plaintiff-States] will receive any funds that agencies are legally obligated to disburse.'”
Continue reading at The Hill
GOP fundraiser calls for Witkoff’s firing over Putin, Hamas comments
GOP fundraiser Eric Levine called for President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to be fired over the diplomat’s recent comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing the president’s close friend was “duped” by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during hostage negotiations.
Levine, who previously raised money for Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) short-lived 2024 presidential campaign, wrote in a Wednesday email reviewed by The Hill that Witkoff is an “embarrassment to country and the President he serves.”
“He should do the honorable thing and resign. Failing that, he should be summarily fired,” Levine said in the email to his network.
Levine, who is a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), was speaking in his personal capacity.
Continue reading at The Hill
California reparations plow through hostility
REPARATIONS ROADBLOCKS: Black lawmakers’ quest to make reparations a reality for descendants of slaves in California is facing an increasing amount of pitfalls.
Legislative Black Caucus member Tina McKinnor’s bill providing homebuying assistance for descendants of slaves today advanced from the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee — but not without concerns over the legality of race-based assistance.
“I know that there will be a more robust conversation on the constitutional aspects of this in [the] Judiciary Committee,” said Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the San Jose-area Democrat who chairs the panel that will next hear the legislation.
The Housing committee’s discussion of the bill previews potential challenges for Black Caucus bills that would write into law recommendations from the state’s Reparations Task Force, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2020. Lawmakers are facing at least two major obstacles: President Donald Trump’s efforts to stamp out DEI initiatives and navigating how to help the descendants of slaves without violating the equal protection guarantees in the state and federal constitutions.
“The government cannot treat individuals differently on the basis of race,” said Andrew Quinio, of the libertarian group Pacific Legal Foundation, during the hearing. “When the government disadvantages or even advantages individuals on the basis of race or ethnicity, that is looked upon with extreme suspicion.”
McKinnor said the legislation would not be limited to Black Californians, noting that her grandson who is mixed-race would also be considered a descendant of slaves.
“The issue that they’ll all look like Black people — I think that’s going to be false,” she said.
But the problems don’t end there.
Continue reading at Politico California Playbook
Documents reveal scope of Trump’s foreign aid cuts
The State Department sent the list of impacted grants and contracts to Congress, according to a document seen by POLITICO.
The Trump administration has terminated more than 5,300 grants and contracts managed by the U.S. Agency for International Development worth more than $27 billion, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.
The document, sent to Congress on Monday, also shows that nearly 900 programs worth about $8.3 billion have been retained. The information was current as of March 21, a USAID official told Congress, according to a separate document seen by POLITICO.
USAID retains 869 staffers, who work with the State Department to continue the agency’s “lifesaving and strategic aid programming,” according to that document. USAID had more than 10,000 employees as of Jan. 20, before Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began dismantling the agency.
Some notable cuts include:
$880 million for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which helps developing countries procure vaccines, covering the period from Sept. 30, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2030
$262 million for UNAIDS, the United Nations HIV program, for the period from Sept. 19, 2022, to Sept. 24, 2026
$57 million in tuberculosis research granted to Johns Hopkins University for the period from Aug. 1, 2022, to Sept 31, 2027
Continue reading at Politico
West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government
DOGE assembles a legal army
DOGE LAWYERS UP: Judges across the country have ruled the dismantling of USAID unconstitutional, forced the Trump administration to reinstate 24,000 federal workers, and temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing Social Security databases.
But instead of slowing down in the face of mounting setbacks, DOGE is bulking up its legal firepower, according to court filings and government contact information shared with POLITICO.
There are now at least 10 government lawyers involved in advising DOGE and defending Musk’s sweeping cuts in court, all with varying degrees of seniority and connections to President DONALD TRUMP’s and Musk’s orbits.
The attorneys include former and soon-to-be Supreme Court clerks, Federalist Society members, a former Tesla counsel and veterans of Trump’s first administration. Several have been vocal voices on the right, penning op-eds in The Washington Post and POLITICO.
Now, these lawyers are sitting in the nerve center of the federal government’s HR department, embedded in agencies, pushing layoffs and, in some cases, physically entering buildings to force personnel changes.
Traditionally, federal agencies rely on the Justice Department’s civil division or their own in-house counsel to handle litigation. But for DOGE, established as an office within the Executive Office of the President, its burgeoning legal apparatus has taken on a quasi-autonomous role — one that centralizes authority and rivals the scale of a small federal litigation office.
“They’re a mini civil division for DOGE,” said MIKE DAVIS, an outside Trump legal adviser who has championed the expansion of executive power. “It’s the most litigious part of the federal government right now. You have DOGE on offense, the lawyers on defense.”
At the center of the effort is JAMES BURNHAM, a lawyer who worked in the White House Counsel’s office in Trump’s first term and was on the team that tried to justify the suspension of former CNN reporter JIM ACOSTA’s press credentials. Burnham also spent time in the civil division at the Justice Department, where he was involved in defending Trump’s attempts to divert federal funding appropriated by Congress to build the border wall.
“[Burnham] understands government, understands litigation. He’s been in these legal and political fights in the first Trump administration,” Davis said.
Another central player is NOAH PETERS, a former solicitor at the Federal Labor Relations Authority who is now serving as a senior adviser at the Office of Personnel Management. Peters has authored key memos that laid the groundwork for the mass firing of civil servants and hiring of political appointees, and he is now the face of OPM’s defense in a California lawsuit over probationary employee terminations.
Peters claimed in a court filing that OPM never directly ordered terminations and described the tone of interagency calls as “cordial.” The presiding judge later described his statement as “hearsay within hearsay,” and ordered Peters to sit for a three-hour deposition.
Continue reading Politico’s West Wing Playbook newsletter
Note from Rima: Many other topics are covered here
Congressional Hearing Clips
Economic Analysis
Economist Jared Bernstein
Economist Dean Baker
Townhall Videos and
Protests around the nation
now have their own dedicated post
Video Features
Former Sec. Def. Chuck Hagel
How they see US
France 24 in English - Live
Sky News Live
My Opinion posts
Before you go…
I publish this daily news post, updated all throughout the day (and night), seven days a week. I publish it free to all because it is more important to me to keep us all informed, but it does take me from 04:00 through the evening to curate the news. I also publish 2-4 opinion pieces per week, also free. I am committed to doing this work for the duration of this administration.
Please support me by subscribing for $5 a month.
Thank you.
Musical interlude
Joao Bosco with Ivan Lins and Gonzalo Rubalcaba