The Conversation -- June 6, 2025
Erica Orden & Hassan Kanu of Politico: “A federal appeals court panel on Friday reinstated parts of ... Donald Trump’s ban of the Associated Press from several key areas where presidential press events are typically held, including the Oval Office, Air Force One and the president’s home in Mar-A-Lago. The court left in place part of a lower-court order that required Trump to give AP access to events held in larger spaces, like the East Room. The ruling is a setback to the news organization’s efforts to restore its access to the White House press pool, the small group of reporters and photographers who get access to a variety of White House spaces and other areas frequented by the president. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, both Trump appointees, largely granted the government’s request to lift an April ruling from a district judge who blocked the ban. The decision from Rao and Katsas allows most of the ban to go back into effect while litigation over its constitutionality continues.... Judge Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented from the ruling, saying that the Supreme Court has never held that journalists or news organizations can be excluded from a forum based on their viewpoint.”
Adam Liptak & Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Friday let members of the Department of Government Efficiency ... have access to sensitive records of the Social Security Administration. The court’s order was brief and unsigned, which is typical when the justices rule on emergency applications. The Trump administration said it needed the data to root out waste and fraud and to modernize the agency’s operations. Two labor unions and an advocacy group represented by Democracy Forward Foundation sued to block access, saying that much of the information was deeply personal and protected by privacy laws. The court responded that the agency 'may proceed' to give DOGE access to the records necessary to do its work. In a second unsigned order on Friday the court handed DOGE a second victory, ruling that, for now, the organization does not have to turn over internal records to a government watchdog group as part of a public records lawsuit. The court’s three liberal members — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented from both rulings.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Thanks to Akhilleus for the heads-up. Say, Elon, while you're sharing my records with every entity who will pay for them, please release to the public every possibly embarrassing record of your former BFF Donald as well as those of the aged Supremes.
⭐Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: “The wrongly deported Salvadoran man whose removal to a notorious gang prison ignited a standoff between the Trump administration and federal courts has been returned to the United States and charged with human smuggling, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday. The charges against Kilmar Abrego García mean he could face prosecution in the United States and possible deportation to his native El Salvador or another country. The federal indictment came weeks after the Supreme Court ordered Trump officials to facilitate Abrego García’s return from El Salvador, where Justice Department lawyers admitted he’d been erroneously sent. The president, his lawyers and Cabinet members had resisted bringing him back, but officials said Friday he was in U.S. custody and back on American soil.” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ David Kurtz of TPM: "The Trump administration is finally abiding by a court order and returning the wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, ABC News reports, but in a face-saving maneuver it is criminally charging him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants. As part of the Trump administration’s smear campaign to obscure its error in deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in violation of a immigration judge order, the Department of Homeland Security had trumpeted a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee which yielded no charges against him.... The Trump administration – in a case that drew international attention for how it screwed up – is throwing everything at Abrego Garcia. Of course, it can be true that both the Trump administration and Abrego Garcia engaged in lawless behavior. The fact of one doesn’t excuse the other." Kurtz also provides a copy of the indictment. ~~~
~~~ From ABC News live updates: "The decision to pursue the indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia led to the abrupt departure of Ben Schrader, a high-ranking federal prosecutor in Tennessee.... Schrader’s resignation was prompted by concerns that the case was being pursued for political reasons, the sources said." The New York Times' live updates are here.
Jilted Donald Feigns Indifference. Jonathan Karl of ABC News: "In a phone interview Friday morning ... shortly before 7 a.m., hours after his blistering exchange with Elon Musk..., Donald Trump sounded remarkably unconcerned about their feud.... ABC News asked him about reports he had a call scheduled with Musk for later in the day. 'You mean the man who has lost his mind?' he asked, saying he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to him right now. He said Musk wants to talk to him, but he's not ready to talk to Musk.... One adviser who was with Trump on Thursday night said he seemed 'bummed' about the breakup. And that's the way he sounded on Friday morning. Trump is considering either giving away or selling the red Tesla he purchased to support Musk, a senior administration official told ABC News' Rachel Scott Friday morning. The Tesla was parked just on West Executive Avenue on Thursday....
"The first sign Musk was starting to walk things back came thanks to an account with just over 141 followers on X who suggested to 'cool off' and 'take a step back.' The post from the seemingly random user led Musk to reverse his threat to decommission the spacecraft used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, a threat Musk had made just hours earlier. 'Good advice,' Musk responded to the user. 'Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.'"
Not surprisingly, Jimmy Kimmel here and Stephen Colbert here found something to laugh about yesterday.
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Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “The alliance between ... Donald Trump and Elon Musk spectacularly imploded Thursday as the world’s most prominent bromance collapsed into mutual public trolling.... The breakup also highlighted the political and financial risks each man could now face from a prolonged quarrel: Musk, who spent at least $288 million in 2024 to help elect Trump and other Republicans, accused the president of 'such ingratitude' and publicly mused about starting a third party. Trump responded by threatening Musk’s government contracts. The stock price of Tesla, the electric vehicle company Musk owns, fell sharply, down 14 percent at the market close. The public unraveling began in the Oval Office where Trump spoke to reporters at the start of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 'Elon and I had a great relationship,' he said. 'I don’t know if we will anymore.'... Musk volleyed back, declaring it was 'time to drop the really big bomb' that Trump 'is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day DJT!'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Michelle Price of the AP: “'He hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that will be next,' Trump said Thursday in the Oval Officneur even shared a post on social media calling for Trump’s impeachment and skewered the president’s signature tariffs, predicting a recession this year.... 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on his social media network. 'Go ahead, make my day,' Musk quickly replied on X. Hours later, Musk announced SpaceX would begin decommissioning the spacecraft it used to carry astronauts and cargo to the International Space, presaging the rest of his day. 'But I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.'... The tech entrepree Station for NASA.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the New York Times liveblog, which adds both details & context. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Chris Hayes & Alex Wagner of MSNBC read the tweets (including the one where Musk threatens to leave four astronauts lost in space): ~~~
~~~ Sarah Frostenson & Lazaro Gamio of the New York Times also post the tick-tock.
When co-presidents* break up, it isn't all comedic soap opera & tabloid titillation: ~~~
~~~ Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: “As SpaceX succeeded its competitors stumbled, and today Mr. Musk’s company is the dominant player in the space industry. The federal government now relies heavily on SpaceX — and Mr. Musk, who founded the company in 2002 on a quixotic quest to send people to Mars one day. In the short term, the government has few other options for getting people and payloads to orbit and beyond.” Chang outlines SpaceX's range. It's a long list. ~~~
~~~ Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Elon Musk’s federal contracts, a remarkable escalation in a public feud between the president and the world’s richest man, his former ally. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on his social media platform Thursday afternoon. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!'” Svirnovskiy briefly outlines the importance of Musk's SpaceX contracts with the federal government. Svirnovskiy also discusses Tesla's dependence on the federal clean energy subsidy which Trump's Big Bad Bill would terminate. ~~~
~~~ AP: “After Trump threatened to cut government contracts given to Musk’s SpaceX rocket company and his Starlink internet satellite services, Musk responded via X that SpaceX 'will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.'... SpaceX is the only U.S. company capable right now of transporting crews to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules. Boeing’s Starliner capsule has flown astronauts only once; last year’s test flight went so badly that the two NASA astronauts had to hitch a ride back to Earth via SpaceX in March, more than nine months after launching last June. Starliner remains grounded as NASA decides whether to go with another test flight with cargo, rather than a crew.... Russia’s Soyuz capsules are the only other means of getting crews to the space station right now. The Soyuz capsules hold three people at a time. For now, each Soyuz launch carries two Russians and one NASA astronaut, and each SpaceX launch has one Russian on board under a barter system. That way, in an emergency requiring a capsule to return, there is always someone from the U.S. and Russian on board.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: There little or no indication in any of the Trump-Musk mudwrestling show that either gives a flying fuck about anyone but themselves. Is it possible that Musk would allow astronauts to die if it meant he could one-up Trump? If you are convinced by George Packer's argument (linked below), then your answer will be "yes."
~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “The moment had finally come, and it was every bit as lowdown, vindictive, personal, petty, operatic, childish, consequential, messy and public as many had always expected it would be.... Usually, when Mr. Trump has a big, messy falling-out in public, it is with someone who needs him, a lesser being who lives in fear of a primary challenge or somehow being ruined. But now he was beefing with the rare person who has leverage over him — political and financial leverage and perhaps even some emotional leverage.”
~~~ David Graham of the Atlantic reflects on the pouty bros' cage fight. These were “two guys who thought they had bought each other off.... Trump got at least a quarter of a billion dollars in campaign support from Musk, and he got the joy of having the world’s richest man as his sidekick. Maybe Trump even believed that DOGE would be able to make huge budget cuts via improvements in efficiency. Musk, meanwhile, was able to wield unprecedented power as an unelected, unconfirmed bureaucrat. In 2023, during an onstage discussion, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the South African–born Musk, 'You can’t be president of the U.S. last time I checked, right?' Musk replied with a smirk, 'Not officially.' For a moment, he seemed to achieve that unofficial reign.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~
~~~ Arwa Mahdawi of the Guardian also has some thoughts, including this historical tidbit which might not be known to you: “It’s worth noting that Musk, a man who reportedly foists his sperm on every woman of a certain age that he meets, has a well-documented history of calling other people sex offenders.... He called the British cave explorer Vernon Unsworth a 'pedo guy' in 2018, without any justification, after Unsworth helped rescue 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave. Musk, in case you had forgotten, had made a lot of noise about how he was going to rescue the kids with a very special little submarine. He did not, in fact, rescue any children and Unsworth hurt the billionaire’s feelings when he suggested Musk 'stick his submarine where it hurts'.” ~~~
~~~ Comma-comma, down, dooby-doo, down-down. Breaking up is ha-a-a-rd to-o-o do, so maybe there's a detente in the making: ~~~
~~~ Aw! Dasha Burns of Politico: “Signs of a truce are emerging in the increasingly bitter clash between two of the world’s most powerful men.... Donald Trump projected an air of nonchalance in an interview Thursday with Politico during a day of sparring over social media with Elon Musk. Separately, White House aides, after working to persuade the president to temper his public criticism of Musk to avoid escalation, scheduled a call Friday with the billionaire CEO of Tesla to broker a peace.” ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats are asking the Department of Justice and FBI whether it is true, as Elon Musk now claims, that ... [Donald] Trump is in the Epstein files.... In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel first obtained by Axios, Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked that they 'immediately clarify whether this allegation is true.' The lawmakers asked for a timeline of the DOJ's declassification and publication of the Epstein files, an explanation for why they haven't turned over any new documents since February. And they requested a description of Trump's role in reviewing the files, a list of personnel involved in their release and an answer for why files previously released to Congress contained 'significant redactions.' Lynch is the acting ranking member of the House Oversight Committee and Garcia is the top Democrat on the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems to me Trump has to be "in the Epstein files" since there are public photos and videos of Trump partying with Epstein as well as some statements by Trump acknowledging his association with Jeffrey Epstein. The question is whether or not there is any more compromising material on Trump in regard to his friendship with Epstein. ~~~
~~~ Ahmad Austin of Mediaite: “A House Democrat on Thursday claimed that Elon Musk confirmed his suspicion that Attorney General Pam Bondi didn’t release the Jeffrey Esptein files to protect ... Donald Trump.... In the immediate aftermath of [Musk's] bombshell accusation, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) said Musk’s tweet confirmed a prior suspicion he had. 'I called for the full release of the Epstein Files a month ago because of my suspicion that @AGPamBondi was concealing the files to protect Donald Trump,' Goldman said. 'Now my suspicion has been confirmed. Release the #EpsteinFiles now!'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I kinda doubt Elon really has as much power to control the GOP as he thinks he does, but there's this for your consideration: ~~~
~~~ Andrew Howard & Adam Wren of Politico: “Elon Musk just launched a war against the GOP. Now the party’s hopes of holding onto power are at stake. Musk has gone from helping Republicans take total control of Washington — spending nearly $300 million to become the single biggest known donor last year — to attacking the highest-ranking leaders of the party and daring the rank and file to cross him. 'Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,' Musk said on X.... He’d already threatened to challenge Republicans who support the megabill; on Thursday, he blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, took credit for Republicans winning trifecta control in November, and floated the idea of launching a third party.” ~~~
~~~ After all, there's this: ~~~
~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "Congressional Republicans are openly attacking Elon Musk like never before after the billionaire Tesla founder claimed ... [Donald] Trump is 'in the Epstein files' and even called for him to be impeached.... It's a stunning fall from grace for a man who flexed so much influence over Republican lawmakers just weeks — even days — earlier. 'This is absolutely childish and ridiculous. Enough of this nonsense,' Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) said of Musk's comments, adding that the recently departed Trump lieutenant has 'lost some of his gravitas.' 'Nobody elected Elon Musk, and a whole lot of people don't even like him, to be honest with you, even on both sides,' said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.)." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "... Republicans worry that an escalating feud between ... Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk could live on, leaving collateral damage in its wake for weeks, months or even years.... In interviews with GOP lawmakers and operatives with ties to Congress, a clear theme emerged: Republicans should be scared of getting crosswise with either Trump or Musk — a tough task when they are slinging mud, insults and threats at each other." ~~~
~~~ Lora Kolodny & Chris Eudaily of CNBC: “Shares of Tesla fell 14% on Thursday as ... Donald Trump threatened to pull government contracts for CEO Elon Musk’s companies, escalating a war of words over the spending bill. The move dropped the EV maker $152 billion in value, the biggest hit to its market cap ever, putting it below the $1 trillion benchmark and settling Thursday at $916 billion. 'Elon was “wearing thin,” I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Trump wrote on Truth Social.” ~~~
~~~ A normal person who, at the very moment he was engaging in a childish fight against his childish friend, would be self-aware enough to realize what he was doing. Not Trump: ~~~
~~~ This Is Rich. Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “As Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, sat beside him watching in silence..., [Donald] Trump compared Russia and Ukraine to two fighting children who needed to work out their differences for a while before anyone could intervene. 'Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,' Mr. Trump said on Thursday in an Oval Office news conference. 'They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.... And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday,” Mr. Trump added.... [Lately, Mr. Trump has been acting] as if he was a commentator without a stake in the outcome. Mr. Trump continued in that vein on Thursday, despite a plea from Mr. Merz to use American power to force Russia’s retreat. Mr. Merz reminded the president that the anniversary of the D-Day operation was Friday, June 6, 'when the Americans once ended a war in Europe.'” This prompted Trump to make a Nazi joke. Really.
George Packer of the Atlantic: “A full accounting [of the suffering caused by the Trump regime] would be impossible to compile, but it already includes an estimated several hundred thousand people dead or dying of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria because of the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as the starvation of refugee children in Sudan, migrants deported to a Salvadoran Gulag, and victims of domestic violence who have lost their shelter in Maine.... I can’t stop thinking about the people who are doing this ... — especially about Musk and Vance. As for Trump, I find it difficult to hold him morally responsible for anything. He’s a creature of appetite and instinct who hunts and feeds in a dark sub-ethical realm.... Musk and Vance function at a higher evolutionary level than Trump. They have ideas to justify the human suffering they cause.” Packer goes into those excuses/“philosophies.” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think Packer misunderstands how Musk and Vance (and I'd guess Trump, too) got to "where they're at." They all started with the goal -- to dump on ordinary people and refugees who will do them no direct good -- then dreamed up a justification. As Packer suggests, Musk's may be that what happens today doesn't matter in the great arc of the history of humankind and Vance's may be a primitive "blood and soil" nationalism. Trump's "logical path," IMO, is more visceral: he knows he doesn't want to be around "those people," so he finds they are immoral or incapable of adjusting to proper values: they're "the worst of the worst," either flat-out criminals or the criminally insane, fresh out of Venezuelan asylums.
Ana Swanson & David Pierson of the New York Times: “China and the United States agreed on Thursday to hold more trade talks in hopes of breaking an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals that has begun to threaten the global economy. The promise of fresh discussions followed a phone conversation between the leaders of the two superpowers that ... [Donald] Trump described as 'very positive.' Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that his call with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, had focused entirely on the trade relationship between the nations, which has soured in recent months in a dispute over the export of critical minerals used in an array of industries. The president implied that the two leaders had resolved issues surrounding mineral exports, which China had recently halted to the United States, though he did not provide details. He said his trade team would meet again soon with Chinese officials, in a yet-to-be-determined location.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Thursday that his new travel ban ... would help prevent terrorist attacks and keep out those who overstay their visas. But even by that logic, Mr. Trump’s ban is rife with contradictions.... Immigration experts noted that nations home to a higher number of people who overstay visas were left off the list. Spain is not on there, even though more than 20,000 visitors from the nation overstayed their visas in the United States in the fiscal year covering 2023, according to government data, far more than the combined total for all seven banned African countries.... Others said the selection of the countries on the list did not support the argument that the ban was about protecting Americans from attacks. 'If the ban had been preventing attacks, then why did those attacks not happen when the ban was lifted?' said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute.... P. Deep Gulasekaram, a professor of immigration law at the University of Colorado’s law school, said that the effort appeared to be 'performative national security theater.... This new proclamation is another step in trying to reclaim a white, Christian America, and capitalize by stoking the fires of racial and foreign threat.'...” ~~~
~~~ Marie: My congratulations to Spain. It appears Donald Trump has designated you a "White People's Country" and has ignored your Moorish/Muslim heritage. Lucky you.
~~~ Matthew Haag of the New York Times has more on the health hazards a Somerset County, N.J., inspector found at Donald Trump's Bedminister golf club. “'This is clearly nothing more than a politically motivated attack,' the club’s general manager, David Schutzenhofer, said in a statement that bore a certain resemblance to a typical rebuttal by the president and his aides. 'Never before have we witnessed such visceral hostility from the Health Department,' he said....” MB: Right. The inspector found “... expired milk..., butter left on the counter..., a faulty dishwasher, poorly stocked sinks, improperly stored raw meat....”
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Hiring decreased just slightly in May even as consumers and companies braced against tariffs and a potentially slowing economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose 139,000 for the month, above the muted Dow Jones estimate for 125,000 and the downwardly revised 147,000 that the U.S. economy added in April. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. Worker pay grew more than expected, with average hourly earnings up 0.4% during the month and 3.9% from a year ago, compared to respective forecasts for 0.3% and 3.7%."
Surprise! Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process..... Even before [the Trump-Musk explosion], the administration was working to undo some of DOGE’s highest-profile actions. Trump officials are trying to recover not only people who were fired, but also thousands of experienced senior staffers who are opting for a voluntary exit as the administration rolls out a second resignation offer. Thousands more staff are returning in fits and starts as a conflicting patchwork of court decisions overturn some of Trump’s large-scale firings, especially his Valentine’s Day dismissal of all probationary workers, those with one or two years of government service and fewer job protections.”
Erwin Chemerinsky & “The White House took a step last week that ... undermine[s] the nonpartisan Civil Service and consolidate[s] control over almost all federal employees in the White House. In a densely worded, 12-page memo, Vince Haley, an assistant to the president for domestic policy, and Charles Ezell, the acting O.P.M. director, make fealty to the president’s agenda a criterion for hiring for most federal positions. Imposing such a litmus test for nonpolitical positions runs afoul of the nearly 150-year-old federal Civil Service law, the 1939 Hatch Act and the First Amendment.” MB: I'm not sure who has standing to sue here, but the practice seems illegal on its face and courts should be able to stop it immediately.
Impeach Noem Now! Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “Nearly a dozen immigration officers and eight deportees are sick and stranded in a metal shipping container in the searing-hot East African nation of Djibouti, where they face the constant threat of malaria and rocket attacks from nearby Yemen, according to a federal court filing issued Thursday. A federal judge in Boston interrupted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight taking immigrants from Cuba, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Mexico to South Sudan more than two weeks ago. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy said the flight violated his order prohibiting officials from sending immigrants to countries where they aren’t citizens without a chance to ask for humanitarian protection. He instructed officials to arrange screenings. Trump officials could have flown the immigrants back to the United States. Instead, they were taken to Djibouti, where in late May officers turned a Conex container into a makeshift detention facility on U.S. Naval Base Camp Lemonnier, according to Mellissa Harper, a top ICE official, who detailed the conditions Thursday in a required status update to the judge.” ~~~
~~~ And here's the zinger: “Department of Homeland Security officials seized on the court filings to criticize the judge.” Right. DHS sent these deportees and ICE officials to South Sudan in violation of the judge's order, so the fact that DHS won't let them all return to the U.S. or to someplace with adequate accommodations is the judge's fault. This is insane.
Here in the Fatherland, the Gestapo are out in force: ~~~
~~~ Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo has a similar roundup, worth reading for the particulars. Thanks to RAS for the link.
Stephanie Saul & Andrés Martinez of the New York Times: “A federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s latest effort to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students, stalling ... [Donald] Trump’s first bid to directly use the power of the presidency against the university. Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts also extended for about two weeks her previous order from May that prevented the Trump administration from blocking Harvard from issuing certain types of student visas. The orders from Judge Burroughs were victories, if perhaps temporary ones, in Harvard’s battle with Mr. Trump, for whom the university has become a focal point in the administration’s effort to make higher education conform to his political agenda. The White House proclamation ... was the third time in the past month that the Trump administration has tried to use its power to ban international enrollment at Harvard.... But it was the first to rely directly on Mr. Trump’s executive power rather than agency rules and actions, a sign of how personal the effort to inflict distress on the Ivy League university has become for him.”
Joanna Slater, et al., of the Washington Post: “A federal judge issued a new order Thursday preventing the Trump administration from arresting a Columbia University student whom it is seeking to detain and deport after she participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration earlier this year. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is attempting to send Yunseo Chung, 21, back to South Korea, a country where she has not lived since she was 7. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald’s preliminary injunction blocks ICE from taking Chung into custody. Her ruling marks the latest legal setback for the Trump administration’s crackdown on noncitizen students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian activism. Chung, a U.S. permanent resident, is one of several students whom ICE has sought to arrest and deport.”
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “The F.B.I. has targeted another round of employees who ran afoul of conservatives.... Two of the men, Spencer Evans and Stanley Meador, are senior agents who ran F.B.I. field offices in Las Vegas and Richmond, Va. The third, Michael Feinberg, a top deputy in the Norfolk, Va., office, had ties to a former agent whom Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, identified in his book as part of the so-called deep state. The moves add to the transfers, ousters and demotions that have rippled across the F.B.I. as Mr. Patel and Dan Bongino, his No. 2, promise to remake the country’s premier law enforcement agency. The wave of changes, current and former agents say, amount to little more than retaliation, underscoring what they describe as the politicization of the F.B.I. as its leaders seek to mollify Mr. Trump’s supporters. Critics say Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino, who ... lack the experience of their predecessors, are simply doing what they railed about for years under the previous administration: weaponizing the bureau. In a statement addressing his decision to step down, Mr. Feinberg denounced the agency as an organization that had begun 'to decay.'... He said that in late May, he was threatened with an investigation and the possibility of a demotion because of his friendship with Peter Strzok, a longtime counterintelligence agent who was fired in 2018 ... after it was disclosed that he had sent text messages disparaging Mr. Trump.”
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that the United States would impose sanctions on four judges on the International Criminal Court as retaliation for investigations of the U.S. military and arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Rubio said in a statement that the sanctions would target four judges responsible for actions against the United States and Israel: Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. The move follows similar sanctions imposed in February, when the U.S. government penalized Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the court. Mr. Khan had brought a case against Israel over its war in Gaza, and the sanctions have hobbled the work of his team. The United States and Israel are not members of the court and have long chafed at its efforts to prosecute officials in their governments or militaries.”
Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, informed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday that he could face steep fines for having accepted a luxury jet from the Qatari government, arguing the gift violated the Constitution and a federal gifts law, and required congressional approval. Mr. Hegseth was the official who formally accepted a Boeing 747 jetliner from Qatar last month, according to a Defense Department spokesman. The Pentagon has directed the Air Force to upgrade its security measures so that President Trump can use the plane as a new Air Force One. The gift has raised a host of concerns among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.... 'You may be on the hook for $400 million (plus $5,000) even for a jumbo jet that you accepted on behalf of the president but do not get to personally enjoy,' Mr. Raskin told Mr. Hegseth [in a letter].... If Mr. Hegseth believed there was 'nothing untoward' about the arrangement, Mr. Raskin wrote, the defense secretary 'should let Congress and the president’s Republican colleagues vote to approve the transaction. If you’re unwilling to do that, you must return the plane to Qatar.'”
Sarah Kliff & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: “Millions of Obamacare enrollees would lose health coverage under the Republicans’ major policy bill, which would make coverage more expensive and harder to obtain. Most of the proposals in the bill, which passed the House last month, are technical changes — reductions to enrollment periods, adjustments to formulas, and additional paperwork requirements. But together, they would leave about four million people uninsured in the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. 'In many ways, it’s sort of repeal by paper cut,' said Audrey Morse Gasteier, the director of the state marketplace in Massachusetts. Alongside these proposals is another challenge to the program: Additional Obamacare funding is set to expire at the end of the year, and Republicans do not plan to extend it. If they don’t, the C.B.O. estimates an additional 4.2 million Americans would lose coverage.... Taken together, proposed changes and the expiration of the subsidies could threaten the viability of the Obamacare markets themselves.... These losses would be in addition to those from the bill’s many changes to Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Cuts to Medicaid are expected to cause 7.8 million more people to be uninsured by the end of a decade.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jason DeParle of the New York Times: “While the giant domestic policy bill that Republicans pushed through the House last month includes tens of billions of dollars to increase child-rearing subsidies, millions of low-income children would not benefit because their parents earn too little, a new analysis shows. The change involves the child tax credit, a once-obscure segment of the tax code that distributes about $110 billion a year and has ignited partisan debates over poverty and inequality. Republicans say their support for the credit, which President Trump doubled in his first term, shows concern for ordinary families, while Democrats fault income tests that exclude the neediest parents. The G.O.P. bill raises the maximum credit to $2,500 per child, from $2,000, and includes virtually all middle- and upper-income families. But a third of children would not receive the full credit because their parents have low wages or lack jobs.... Those excluded from the maximum aid include 65 percent of children with single mothers, 51 percent of Black children, 44 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of children in rural areas.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The way Republicans have structured the child tax credit is so-o-o Ross Douthat. They want to encourage middle-class White people in "traditional" two-parent families to have children so we can get back to that nice 1950s suburban "ideal." As a 1950s reader of the "Fun with Dick and Jane" primer series, I am deeply disappointed there is not a cocker spaniel tax credit.
Making Grandma Pay. Jordain Carney, et al., of Politico: “... Senate Republicans are now seriously considering [cutting Medicare] as they race to pass their party-line tax and spending package before a self-imposed July 4 deadline. The idea came up in closed-door meetings this week and, crucially, some Republicans believe ... Donald Trump is on board with touching the program as long as it’s limited to 'waste, fraud and abuse.' 'I think anything that is waste, fraud and abuse are obviously open to discussions,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday when asked about Medicare.... 'There was legitimate debate about: Can we do more with Medicaid? Are we doing too much with Medicaid? How much waste, fraud, abuse is there in Medicare — why don’t we go after that? I think we should,' Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said about the discussion Wednesday. Asked if there was any consideration of including Medicare as part of the megabill, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said, 'There is on the Senate Republican side.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Not mentioned in the Politico article: The CBO already has determined the House bill will automatically trigger $535 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade as required by the PAYGO Act. There's nothing to suggest the Senate is going to alter the legislation to foreclose on triggering the PAYGO requirements. So it appears that whatever the GOP senators have up their proverbial sleeves, they're looking at cuts on top of cuts for seniors and people with disabilities.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled in favor of a straight woman who twice lost positions to gay workers, saying an appeals court had been wrong to require her to meet a heightened burden in seeking to prove workplace discrimination because she was a member of a majority group. The decision came two years after the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions programs in higher education and amid the Trump administration’s fierce efforts to root out programs that promote diversity. The ruling will place further pressure on employers and others to eliminate affirmative action and other initiatives that seek to provide opportunities to members of historically disadvantaged groups. Nearly half of the federal appeals courts had required men and white people and other members of majority groups to meet a more demanding standard when they sued for workplace discrimination. In eliminating that requirement, the court said that a federal civil rights law demanded equal treatment of all individuals.” The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
In yesterday's thread, RAS leaned into the concept of "vincible ignorance" when it comes to Trump voters who "had no idea" Trump would be deporting moms and doing other cruel stuff. I'd say RAS (and Joe Stieb who explains "vincible ignorance") got that right. Whatever you call it, and whether or not it's based on religious doctrine, there's no excuse for what I call "wilful ignorance." Even busy moms have a duty to the rest of society, including to their own children, to bone up on major candidates and make educated voting decisions. ~~~
~~~ This satirical Onion story, which RAS also linked, is of the same theme.
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Ukraine/Russia. David Stern & Kostiantyn Khudov of the Washington Post: “Moscow launched a major air assault on Ukraine overnight Friday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, pounding the capital Kyiv and half a dozen other locations including the rarely touched west of the country. The strikes killed at least three people in the capital and injured dozens elsewhere. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes were in retaliation for the 'terrorist acts' of the Ukrainian government, which is how it has been characterizing Ukraine’s audacious attack over the weekend on Russian air bases as well as other attacks.”
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