New York Times: “The Constitution tells us what that accountability could look like. The framers gave Congress the authority to exercise oversight, including by investigating government corruption or failure in the executive branch.”

“When the members of the next House and Senate take their seats in January, President Trump will still have his veto pen, which limits the laws they can pass. By contrast, their power to scrutinize his administration’s actions will be broad and independent.”

“Lawmakers can investigate any problems they think they could address through legislation. Their power of inquiry is an ‘essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function,’ the Supreme Court said in 1927, a principle it has since consistently upheld.”

The Bulwark: To rein in Trump, pass a “No Kings Act.”

“Over the past year, President Trump and his allies have offered a series of explanations for why the nation needs a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch: It will mark 250 years of American independence. It will befit Washington’s place among Western capitals. It will honor the nation’s veterans. It will serve the military, the president added last month, as a platform for snipers,” the New York Times reports.

“But as the mega project planned for Memorial Circle heads to a final vote by the National Capital Planning Commission Nov. 5, the Trump administration has circled around one argument crucial to the project’s legal defense: The arch will at long last bring to life, officials say, a proposal that has languished on hallowed land for a century.”

“I think the two administrations made opposite mistakes. The first administration brought in all these people who couldn’t agree, and it was just all this internal fighting. The second administration, I think overcorrected for the mistake of the first term with all these loyalty tests. You got an administration staffed by not very smart, but very loyal people.”

— Peter Thiel, in an interview, on Donald Trump’s presidency.

“In the tiny corner of the legal world that follows such things, the March ruling crashed down like a thunderbolt,” the New York Times reports.

“It was issued by an obscure government agency called the Merit Systems Protection Board, whose purpose is to protect federal workers from unfair firings. But the decision backed President Trump’s assertion that he has broad authority to reshape the executive branch as he wants.”

“The ruling broke with decades of precedent, accepting the White House’s argument that Article II of the Constitution gives Mr. Trump the power to dismiss officials without due process. By that theory, he can essentially erase civil service protections, even for public servants — in this case, immigration judges — whose engagement with the law often puts them at odds with Mr. Trump’s political aims.”

“The number of Senate-confirmed officials who have left their roles in the Trump administration is more than double the amount of departures at this point of President Trump’s first term,” NewsNation reports.

“When major disasters strike, Americans are routinely waiting weeks — or even months — to receive presidential approval for aid. And if they live in a state that didn’t support President Donald Trump, chances are greater that aid will be denied,” the AP reports.

“Since taking office last year, Trump has approved about 65 requests for major disaster declarations and denied more than two dozen others from states, tribes or territories seeking federal financial assistance following hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, floods and fires.”