News of the Day, April 17, 2025

Here’s a literal dump of today’s news. I don’t have time or energy to write more commentary, but these are some of the articles I read and noted today.

Good ruling from D.C. Federal District Judge Loren L. AliKhan! On April 16, Judge AliKhan blocked Trump from punishing the Susman Godfrey law firm, calling Trump’s action “a shocking abuse of power.”

Judge AliKahn also said: “Law firms across the country are entering into agreements with the government out of fear that they will be targeted next and that coercion is plain and simple. And while I wish other firms were not capitulating as readily, I admire firms like Susman for standing up and challenging it when it does threaten the very existence of their business.” [More in New York Times]

USAID cuts are killing people—literally.

[New York Times] “At least five children and three adults with cholera died as they went in search of treatment in South Sudan after aid cuts by the Trump administration shuttered local health clinics during the country’s worst cholera outbreak in decades, the international charity Save the Children reported …

“The victims, all from the country’s east, died on a grueling three-hour walk in scorching heat as they tried to reach the nearest remaining health facility, the agency said in a statement.

“The American aid cuts, put into effect by the Trump administration in January, forced 7 of 27 health facilities supported by Save the Children across Akobo County to close and 20 others to partly cease operations, the charity said in a statement. Some clinics are now run only by volunteers, and they no longer have the means to transport sick patients to hospitals.” 

If you remember Nixon’s enemies list, brace yourself—the Trump version is even worse. 

[New York Magazine] “Donald Trump’s presidential payback tour rages on, and now it’s personal. It’s one thing to target multibillion-dollar law firms, universities, and media outlets for organizational retribution; those efforts, aimed at stifling and punishing any criticism or dissent, are reprehensible in their own right. But now Trump is going after individual private citizens, using the might of the executive branch to potentially throw his detractors in prison. …

“[Attorney General Pam Bondi] has already shown her true colors, and they’re whatever shade Trump pleases. For example, despite the distinct possibility of criminality by top administration officials around the Signal scandal, the AG refused even to investigate. Instead, she decreed — after zero inquiry, with zero evidence — that information about military attack plans was somehow not classified, and that nobody had acted recklessly. Case closed; no inquiry needed. …

“Even if the DoJ investigates but concludes it cannot bring a criminal charge, the threat to Krebs and Taylor is real. Any criminal inquiry takes an enormous toll on its subject; subpoenas fly, friends and colleagues get pulled into the grand jury, phones get seized and searched, legal costs mount, professional reputations suffer, personal ties fray. Ask anyone who has been investigated by the Justice Department but not indicted. They’ll tell you it’s a nightmare.” 

If you have been reading the same warnings that I have seen about the Insurrection Act and April 20, here’s a slightly reassuring note from constitutional law scholar Steve Vladek.

“To make a long story short, any invocation of the Insurrection Act under our current circumstances would be a dangerous move from the Trump administration, but contra some hot takes on the internet, it would not be tantamount to a declaration of martial law.”

See also Emergency Power and the Militia Acts. 

HHS workers warn that the agency’s cybersecurity is heading for collapse. 

[Wired] “Much of the IT and cybersecurity infrastructure underpinning the US health system is in danger of a possible collapse following a purge of IT staff and leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), four current and former agency workers tell WIRED. This could put vast troves of public health data, including the sensitive health records of hundreds of millions of Americans, clinical trial data, and more, at risk of exposure.

“As a result of a reduction in force, or RIF, in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), the sources say, staff who oversee and renew contracts for critical enterprise services are no longer there. The same staff oversaw hundreds of contractors, some of whom play a crucial role in keeping systems and data safe from cyberattacks. …

“’There is no transition, and those in charge are AWOL,’ one person currently working at HHS tells WIRED, echoing the sense of “chaos” found in an in-depth investigation into HHS by Stat. ‘I’m doing nothing productive. I’m answering emails stating we cannot help, we cannot process, we have no guidance, we cannot operate. This ship has no captain whatsoever, and I’m playing in the band while the Titanic sinks.’”

Time to call Congress and tell them to keep funding for PBS NewsHour and National Public Radio reporting alive. 

[MPR] “The Trump administration has drafted a memo to Congress outlining its intent to end nearly all federal funding for public media, which includes NPR and PBS, according to a White House official who spoke to NPR.

“The memo, which the administration plans to send to Congress when it reconvenes from recess on April 28, will open a 45-day window in whichthe House and Senate can either approve the rescission or allow the money to be restored. …

“Both PBS and NPR provide locally grounded content and reach more than 99 percent of the population, at no cost to viewers and listeners. In many states and communities, the stations serve as a key component of emergency and disaster response systems.

“Congress allocated $535 million for the CPB for the current fiscal year — an amount affirmed in a recent stop-gap bill passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate. The CPB’s budgets are approved by Congress on a two-year cycle in large part to insulate it from political pressures; Congress has appropriated funds through Sept 30, 2027.” 

And in corruption watch: Trump and Musk. 

Trump’s personal corruption becomes more evident with every move. Just before he discontinued “reciprocal” tariffs, he told people on social media “now’s a good time to buy.” Some in Congress—including Marjorie Taylor Greene—did just that, realizing a big profit as stocks jumped after his next-day announcement. Now there’s another blatant profiteering move:

[Popular Info] “Trump can boost or depress the price of virtually any stock through the creation or elimination of tariffs. On Tuesday, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), best known as the parent company of the social media platform Truth Social, announced it was launching a series of actively managed investment accounts. TMTG is marketing these ‘Truth Social-branded Separately Managed Accounts’ as a way to invest in companies that benefit from Trump’s political agenda. Trump remains the majority shareholder of TMTG. …

“Trump will profit from these accounts in two ways. First, TMTG will invest a portion of its cash reserves in accounts. Secondly, as the majority shareholder in TMTG, Trump will benefit from the fees generated by these accounts. The performance of the underlying assets held in these accounts will determine both TMTG’s return on its cash reserves and interest from outside investors.

“But Trump, as President, will also be able to significantly influence the performance of these assets through tariffs and other policies. It is a jaw-dropping conflict of interest for actively managed investment accounts to be marketed under the president’s name through a company that is majority-owned by the president.” 

[Musk Watch] “A recent ProPublica report found that SpaceX, Elon Musk’s privately owned rocket company, discreetly allows Chinese investors to purchase its shares through offshore investment schemes. The investments are made through special-purpose vehicles used to conceal investors’ identities. The arrangement also makes it difficult to know how much investment SpaceX has received from Chinese investors.

“The SPACE Act, first introduced by Rubio in 2021, would require foreign investors to notify regulators if they acquire a stake worth more than 2% in a U.S. aerospace company. …

“SpaceX has received billions in federal contracts to launch U.S. spy satellites and the Pentagon’s celestial communications network, making the involvement of Chinese nationals in the company a national security concern.

“In December, Iqbaljit Kahlon, a top SpaceX investor who has arranged for Chinese investors to buy into the company, testified that SpaceX deems investments from China ‘acceptable’ if they are channeled through offshore vehicles.” 

DOGE destruction continues.

[Washington Post] “The changes to the process — which will allow DOGE to review and approve proposed grant opportunities across the federal government — threaten to further delay or even halt billions of dollars that agencies usually make in federal awards, the people said. The moves come amid the Trump administration’s broader push to cut federal spending and crack down on grants that DOGE and other officials say conflict with White House priorities.

DOGE employees have made changes to grants.gov, a federal website that has traditionally served as a clearinghouse for more than $500 billion in annual awards and is used by thousands of outside organizations, the people said. …

“But a DOGE engineer recently deleted many federal officials’ permissions to post grant opportunities, without informing them that their permissions had been removed, the people said. Now the responsibility of posting these grant opportunities is poised to rest with DOGE — and if its employees delay those postings or stop them altogether, “it could effectively shut down federal-grant making,” said one federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal operations.” 

Think RFK, Jr. was the worst thing to happen to HHS? Maybe not. 

[Washington Post] “President Donald Trump’s pick for a top health post has called for transgender youths to undergo “corrective care”instead of transitioning and has repeated conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Washington Post review of his podcast and radio appearances.

“Brian Christine, a 61-year-old Alabama urologist, would succeed former U.S. assistant secretary for health Rachel Levine, who made history during the Biden administration when she became the highest-ranking openly transgender federal government official.”

The politicization of the IRS accelerates. Three IRS commissioners have resigned since Trump was inaugurated. The most recent acting commissioner, a Trump appointee, resigned because of the “deal” allowing tax data to be shared with immigration authorities, a clear violation of laws protecting the privacy of tax records. 

Now a mid-level bureaucrat who supported Trump’s vendetta over Hunter Biden’s tax returns has been appointed acting commissioner of IRS. He is expected to serve until a Trump nominee is confirmed by the Senate. The Trump nominee, Billy Long, has ethical problems of his own. 

[Washington Post] “Gary Shapley was elevated in March to become the deputy chief of IRS criminal investigations and a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He was previously a mid-level career investigator. …

“Shapley’s swift elevation alarmed some current and former IRS officials, who told The Washington Post they were concerned that his roles within criminal investigations — and atop the agency — could consolidate the Trump administration’s power over both criminal and civil tax investigations, as well as audits, for the first time since Richard M. Nixon’s presidency. …

“[Shapley] has supervised up to about 75 people in his past roles and was most recently a supervisory special agent in the international tax and financial crime group. …

“He is expected to serve as commissioner until Trump’s nominee to run the agency, Billy Long, is confirmed by the Senate. Long, a former GOP congressman from Missouri and auctioneer, has faced criticism since leaving elected office for promoting a pandemic-era tax credit that’s been plagued by fraud claims.” 

DOGE claims they uncovered lots of fraud in the unemployment insurance system. They didn’t. Many of the cases they claim to have “discovered” were already found under the Biden administration, which prosecuted and got more than 2,000 convictions, recovering more than a billion dollars. In other cases, the DOGE goons ignored employees in the system and yelled fraud when there was no fraud.

[The Guardian] “A 2023 Department of Labor memo found that while one state appeared to be paying benefits to scores of claimants 100 years or older, the state clarified that this was not, in fact, happening. ‘Rather, this was the result of how the state ensured victims of fraud were not unfairly prevented from accessing benefits,’ the memo said.

“’This is a risk the department has already known about,’ Stettner explained. ‘It’s already been written about. The department has put in additional cross-checks through our department integrity data analysis to flag these claims.

“’The Department of Labor has done a whole fraud-risk analysis recommended by the Government Accountability Office.’”

Top Trump administration officials probably deleted Signal chats from their phones, despite a judge’s order to keep them. Such communications are official government records, and the law requires them to be preserved. 

[New York Times] “All of the messages from a leaked group chat have been deleted from the phone of John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, the agency said in a court filing. …

“On March 27, Judge James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington ordered several Trump administration officials who participated in the chat to preserve records of the communications. The judge then ordered the government to provide declarations about their efforts to preserve federal records.

“American Oversight said Mr. Blankenship’s declaration indicated that message settings were changed on March 26 and March 28, the days before and after the judge’s order. The C.I.A. reviewed screenshots of Mr. Ratcliffe’s phone on March 31, after the message settings appear to have been changed.” 

MN Republicans in the 7^th Congressional District (Michelle Fischbach) just elected a new loon to chair the district Republican party. He is a flat earther who also believes in “satanic chemtrails” and other farther-than-far-right conspiracy theories. 

[Minnesota Reformer] “Bussman’s elevation to a leadership position is part of a statewide pattern that alarms longtime Republican activists: The party is allowing itself to be taken over by the fringe, lowering the odds of victory in future statewide elections.

“’It’s bad for Republicans who want to win,’ said Michael Brodkorb, former deputy chair of the Minnesota GOP who has vehemently opposed the party’s embrace of Donald Trump and figures like him, going so far as to publicly endorse Kamala Harris last year. ‘This is what happens when party leadership opens the gates of the insane asylum, and people come in off the streets and the inmates run it.’”

In one more loss for the Trump administration, a federal judge ordered that the Environmental Protection Agency must pay out grants already made. 

[Washington Post] “U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of Washington, D.C., issued a preliminary injunction late Tuesday that prohibits the EPA from ‘unlawfully suspending or terminating’ the grant awards. She also ordered Citibank, which was tasked with disbursing the funds, to release the money to the grant recipients.

“The decision deals yet another setback to the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze climate spending across the government. Another federal judge ruled Tuesday that agencies must release billions in additional climate funding that had been paused since Inauguration Day.” 

Edward Martin, the Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, was a shill for Russian propaganda, appearing on Russian state television more than 150 times from 2016-2024. Trump has nominated Martin for the permanent post of U.S. attorney, as well as naming him on an interim basis. He did not disclose those appearances on a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire, and also omitted many other items. In all, he omitted an estimated 350 events, interviews and media appearances.

The Senate has not yet acted on that nomination. Kudos to Adam Schiff for putting a hold on the nomination. 

[Washington Post] “Analysis of television archives suggests he went on RT and Sputnik more often than on any major cable network during that span.

“Martin’s frequent appearances, reviewed by The Washington Post, drew rebukes from some national security analysts, who accused him of amplifying anti-American propaganda on Russian outlets that the State Department last year said had moved beyond disinformation to engage in covert influence activities aimed at undermining democracies worldwide for President Vladimir Putin’s regime. …

“Martin disclosed 16 media interviews to the committee from 2016 to 2024, none involving RT or Sputnik, in a questionnaire he signed March 28. …

“By comparison, only about three of roughly 80 such nominees from 2021 through 2024 left out published writings and public statements in supplemental committee disclosures, and none missed more than four items …

“Since 2017 and 2018, the Justice Department has required RT and Sputnik to register as foreign agents, reflecting Russian government control over their operations.” 

Resistance to Trump is growing. That’s evident in town halls and in Republican cancellation of town halls out of fear of voters. Courts reject one asinine and illegal Trump move after another. A recent poll shows a majority of voters disapprove of his cruel and illegal war on immigrants. North Carolina is unhappy with his refusal to extend FEMA help for the still-struggling hurricane victims. The list goes on and on.

[Heather Cox Richardson] “The more visible Abrego Garcia’s case becomes, coupled as it is with the idea that it is a precursor to sending U.S. citizens to CECOT, the less likely it is to be popular. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) got an earful from his constituents on the topic. ‘Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?’ one man asked, to applause and calls of ‘Yeah!’ from around the room. When Grassley said no, because that wasn’t a power of Congress, the man replied: ‘The Supreme Court said to bring him back!’ and others chimed in, ‘They’re defying the Constitution.’ ‘Trump don’t care,’ the first man said. ‘If I get an order to pay a ticket for $1,200 and I just say no, does that stand up? Because he’s got an order from the Supreme Court, and he just said no! He just said ‘Screw it!’’ ‘It’s wrong,’ someone in the crowd said. The first man concluded: ‘I’m pissed.’”