“A 19-year-old acolyte of Elon Musk known online as ‘Big Balls’ is listed as having taken on a new role at the State Department, raising concerns among some diplomats about his potential access to sensitive information and the growing reach of his tech billionaire boss into America’s diplomatic apparatus,” the Washington Post reports.
Trump to Pardon Rod Blagojevich
“President Donald Trump is expected to pardon former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich,” Axios reports.
“Blagojevich served eight years in prison on charges stemming from his effort to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat after Obama won the 2008 presidential election, until Trump commuted his 14-year sentence in 2020.”
DeWine’s Power Move in the Ohio Governor’s Race
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Schumer Signals Democrats Won’t Pick a Shutdown Fight
“Senate Democrats are detailing how they plan to fight back against President Donald Trump’s administration — but it won’t include sparking a government shutdown,” Politico reports.
Trump Eases Enforcement of Law Banning Overseas Bribes
“President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order rolling back enforcement of a law that makes it illegal for US companies to bribe foreign officials, arguing that the restriction puts American firms at a disadvantage,” Bloomberg reports.
Trump Seeks End to Court Order Over Treasury Systems
The Trump administration is making an urgent push to end a court order barring top officials’ access to the federal government’s massive payment system operated by the Treasury Department, saying the “remarkable intrusion” is unconstitutional and should be “dissolved immediately,” Politico reports.
From the Justice Department: “Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president.”
House Democrats Create ‘Rapid Response’ Team
“House Democrats are ramping up their efforts to respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping overhaul of the federal government by creating a task force that could lead to lawsuits against the administration,” Politico reports.
Judge Says Trump Administration Is Violating His Order
“A federal judge says the Trump administration has been violating his order to resume funding federal grants that the White House attempted to block with a blanket spending freeze last month,” Politico reports.
“U.S. District Judge John McConnell ordered the administration to ‘immediately restore frozen funding’ while his order remains in effect, including to the National Institutes of Health and to fulfill the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act.”
Said McConnell: “The broad categorical and sweeping freeze of federal funds is, as the Court found, likely unconstitutional and has caused and continues to cause irreparable harm to a vast portion of this country.”
22 States Sue to Block Trump Cuts to Research Grants
“Attorneys general representing 22 states sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal judge to temporarily block a major policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially limit payments for research overhead to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients,” Stat reports.
Politico: States sue Trump administration over health research grant cuts.
Hamas Delays Next Hostage Release
“Hamas announced on Monday it is suspending the next release of hostages planned for Saturday until further notice and claimed Israel violated the ceasefire agreement,” Axios reports.
New York Times: “The move threatens to derail both the six-week truce agreed to last month and the prospects for agreement on a lasting end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was consulting with his top advisers on Monday night, and planned to move up a scheduled meeting with his security cabinet to Tuesday morning, a top official said.”
“Both Hamas and Israel have accused each other of violating various aspects of the cease-fire agreement, but they have continued to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners each week.”
Trump Orders Purge of Military Academy Visitor Boards
President Trump said Monday he had ordered the “immediate dismissal” of four military Boards of Visitors, claiming the advisory bodies had been “infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues,” Axios reports.
DHS Wants IRS Officers to Help With Deportation
The Department of Homeland Security has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to deputize some law-enforcement workers, including IRS criminal investigators, to assist in immigration enforcement, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Iran Shows Mock Video of Trump’s Arrest
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards posted a mock video of President Trump’s arrest.
Lawsuit Will Test Trump’s Power to Fire Workers
“A federal ethics enforcer swept up in a spree of firings President Donald Trump carried out Friday night is suing to get his job back,” Politico reports.
“The lawsuit from Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger is the latest case that will test the president’s power to fire officials across the executive branch despite federal laws that seek to protect those officials from politically motivated firings.”
Trump and Musk Put U.S. at Risk of ‘a Form of Default’
“Five former Treasury secretaries warned Monday that recent actions at the Treasury Department by Trump administration officials and Elon Musk’s DOGE team raise ‘substantial cause for concern’ that the United States’ financial commitments are being ‘unlawfully’ undermined,” CNBC reports.
Wrote the former secretaries in the New York Times: “We have during our service in the Treasury Department faced moments of crisis, when the specter of an American default loomed. Any hint of the selective suspension of congressionally authorized payments will be a breach of trust and ultimately, a form of default. And our credibility, once lost, will prove difficult to regain.”
Kevin Hassett, a top economic advisor to President Trump dismissed such concerns as “poppycock.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“What security clearance?”
— New York Attorney General Leticia James, quoted by the New York Times, when told President Trump revoked her security clearances.
Trump Says Palestinians Would Not Return to Gaza
President Trump said that Palestinians displaced from Gaza to neighboring countries under a U.S. proposal to develop the land would not have the right to return, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing. In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
Trump Yanks Security Clearance from Antony Blinken
Donald Trump ordered that the security clearances of Antony Blinken, the now former secretary of state, be revoked just days after doing the same to Joe Biden late on Friday, The Guardian reports.
He said Blinken was “a bad guy.”
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