The Conversation -- April 10, 2025
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Thursday instructed the government to take steps to return a Salvadoran migrant it had wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. In an unsigned order, the court stopped short of ordering the return of the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, indicating that courts may not have the power to require the executive branch to do so. But the court endorsed part of a trial judge’s order that had required the government to 'facilitate and effectuate the return' of Mr. Abrego Garcia. 'The order properly requires the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,' the Supreme Court’s ruling said. 'The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the district court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the district court’s authority.' The case will now return to the trial court, and it is not clear whether and when Mr. Abrego Garcia will be returned to the United States.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bear in mind that any other court would be more definitive in their order. Rachel Maddow called reminiscent of "Kafka mixed with Bozo the Clown." And any other administration would forthwith call up El Savadoran President Bukele and tell him, "We're coming to get Mr. Abrego & take him back to his family." Expect the Trumpies to continue to pretend there's no way they can get Mr. Abrego out of jail.
Alexandra Berzon, et al., of the New York Times: “... the [Trump] administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some ... immigrants and others who had legal status to 'self-deport' by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with six people familiar with the plans. The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits. The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s 'death master file,' which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead. As a result of being added to the death database, they would be blacklisted from a coveted form of identity that allows them to make and spend money. The initial names are limited to people the administration says are convicted criminals and 'suspected terrorists,' the documents show. But officials said the effort could broaden to include others in the country without authorization.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I see the sinister visage of Stephen Miller looming over the "death master file." But let us not hold him wholly accountable. The cruelty of the entire Trump mob is a reproof of humanity. Decent people would step away. These are not decent people.
Abha Bhattarai, et al., of the Washington Post: “An escalating trade war with China sent stocks tumbling Thursday, even as ... Donald Trump downplayed the sell-off, saying he’s 'very, very happy with the way the country is running.' Whipsawing tariff policies — including temporarily lowering dozens of countries’ rates, but dramatically raising levies on Chinese imports — have sent markets seesawing in the past 48 hours. The S&P 500 on Wednesday posted its biggest one-day jump since 2008, but by Thursday afternoon about a third of those gains had been reversed. The S&P 500 fell more than 3.44 percent and tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 4.26 percent, while the more narrow Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.54 percent. The slide picked up momentum shortly after 11 a.m., when the White House said Chinese imports would face tariffs of 145 percent, not 125 percent as Trump previously touted. All three major indexes are down significantly from the beginning of the year, and both the S&P and the Nasdaq have fallen by double digits.”
Bad News. But It Ain't Over Till the Fat Man Sings. Marianna Sotomayor & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “Republicans in Congress approved an agreement Thursday to begin implementing ... Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on taxes and immigration — a deal that could add trillions of dollars to the national debt. The House in a 216 to 214 vote adopted a budget that allows Congress’s GOP majorities to use the reconciliation process, which permits conservatives to bypass a Democratic Senate filibuster so long as the two chambers work in lockstep drafting the policies. Major portions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire at the end of the year, and Republicans aim to pair renewing them — at a cost of $5.5 trillion — with new business tax breaks and major new spending to power the White House’s mass deportation campaign. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) signaled an agreement shortly before the vote to cut at least $1.5 trillion in spending. But the chambers remain sharply divided over how to arrive at that figure — and if it will truly reduce the federal deficit, as House hard-liners have demanded.”
Hakyung Kim & Sean Conlon of CNBC: "Stocks fell Thursday, giving back half of the gains from the historic rally seen in the previous session after ... Donald Trump announced a 90-day reprieve on some of his “reciprocal” tariffs. Investors worried that even with the short reprieve on some of the duties, economic activity will be slowed by Trump’s singling out of China with a much higher rate. The S&P 500 sold off 4.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 5.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,542 points, or 3.8%."
From CNBC's live updates: "The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports now effectively totals 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC. Trump’s latest executive order hikes tariffs on Beijing to 125% from 84%. But that comes on top of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump previously imposed on China."
Daisuke Wakabayashi, et al., of the New York Times: “A dizzying escalation of tariffs has unraveled a trade relationship between the United States and China forged over decades, jeopardizing the fate of two superpowers and threatening to drag down the world economy.... As hard as Mr. Trump has pushed [raising tariff rates on China to 125 145 percent], China has refused to back down. China has elevated its tariffs on goods imported from America to 84 percent.... At risk is a relationship that shaped the global economy in the 21st century. For years, both sides benefited. American companies’ extensive use of China’s factories kept prices in check for American consumers and padded the profits of the country’s biggest companies. China got jobs and investment that lifted millions of Chinese families out of poverty. And as China’s spending power grew, it opened up a giant and lucrative market for American brands.... The looming disruption to the flow of billions of dollars worth of goods between China and the United States, as well as the trade that often passes through other countries, will have a devastating impact on both economies and their trading partners.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The underlying problem is, as Krugman writes (also linked below), "Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak." And the "stupid" part includes Trump's inability to understand that -- with careful trade planning, policy & negotiation -- U.S.-China trade can be largely "win-win." Being an ignorant bully, Trump understands only a "zero sum game": I win only if you lose.
In a New York Times column titled "Who Needs Free Trade When You Can Raise Your Own Chickens?" David French contrasts the left's and right's versions of back-to-the-land. He writes, “I feel a degree of moral kinship with critics of free markets on the left and the right. I share many of their cultural values and cultural concerns. I do not, however, share their belief that the government should limit my economic opportunities for my own good.” MB: That, I think is the crux of it. It's great if I want to grow my own Romaine & watch my kids plant pumpkin seeds in our homemade compost-rich soil. But I should not encourage the government to make avocados too costly for you to buy at the supermarket.
Marie: I embed these late-night monologues, in general, because we need the laughs. But I also sometimes embed them because the comedians cover particulars in more depth than news articles do. So, for instance, in his monologue last night, Jimmy Kimmel went into remarks Trump made at an NRCC dinner Tuesday evening. And what Kimmel riffed on did a lot to make the case of what a narcissistic moron Trump is:
The other day, Rachel Maddow went looking for waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Kinda her own Deputy Doge project. Right away, she was successful! ~~~
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Blinkity Blink Blink. Ana Swanson & Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Just hours after he put punishing levies into place on nearly 60 countries, the president said he would pause them for 90 days. But Mr. Trump did not extend that pause to China, opting instead to raise tariffs again on all Chinese imports, bringing those taxes to a whopping 125 percent.... Nearly every U.S. trading partner now faces a 10 percent blanket tariff, on top of 25 percent tariffs that Mr. Trump has imposed on cars, steel and aluminum.... Mr. Trump, who for days had insisted he was not concerned about the market rout, acknowledged on Wednesday that the downturn had fed into his decision.... Mr. Trump’s change in course came amid a sharp sell-off in U.S. government bond markets and the dollar, which are typically seen as the safest corner for investors during times of turmoil. Asked Wednesday if the bond market reaction had caught his attention, Mr. Trump said he noticed over the weekend that investors were getting 'queasy.'... Slumping markets quickly rallied after Mr. Trump’s post. The S&P 500 climbed several percentage points in a matter of minutes and closed with a rise of more than 9 percent, sharply reversing days of losses. Wednesday was the best day for the S&P 500 since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis....
“Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump had told Americans to 'BE COOL!' and quickly followed up with a post saying 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! That prompted some Democrats to suggest that Mr. Trump was intentionally manipulating stock markets. In a hearing in the House of Representatives Wednesday, several Democrats questioned Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, about the president’s aim.” ~~~
The shock to confidence could potentially have an even larger effect on the economy than the tariffs themselves. -- Neel Kashkari, Minneapolis Federal Reserve president, this week ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Patterson in a New York Times op-ed: “In financial markets, the most important place to check for damage is the market for U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. government bond market is by far the world’s largest. Treasury yields serve as an anchor for borrowing costs for American households and companies and for governments overseas. Hints of distress in Treasuries can quickly create contagion around the world and amplify investor worries about global growth back at home. Not surprisingly, then, when the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond yield briefly rose above 5 percent before the tariff pause — its sharpest increase since 2020, according to Bloomberg — bond markets beyond America's borders reacted as well.... Even if American tariff levels settle at a lower level than what was proposed on April 2, questions about what’s next, as well as the impact of the remaining tariffs, could keep growth and inflation uncertainty alive.... [A number of Trump's] moves could reduce foreign demand for U.S. Treasuries, the bedrock of American finance.” MB: You will notice that Patterson makes the common mistake of assuming Trump acts rationally. ~~~
~~~ Maybe stick with Paul Krugman, whose headline is, "Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak": "We’re in a hardly better place than we were before Donald Trump announced a tariff pause (in a Truth Social post, of course.) In fact, we may be in a worse place. Let me make four points about Trump’s post-pause tariff regime. 1. Even the post-pause tariff rates represent a huge protectionist shock[.] 2. Destructive uncertainty about future policy has increased[.] 3. We’re still at risk of a major financial crisis[.] 4. The world now knows that Trump is weak as well as erratic[.]" ~~~
~~~ Jorge Liboreiro of Euro News: “The European Union has temporarily paused its counter-tariffs against the United States to further pursue talks with Donald Trump's administration on how to resolve what, until a few hours ago, was shaping up to be an all-out trade war. The suspension will remain in place for at least 90 days. The counter-tariffs, imposed in reaction to Trump's duties on steel and aluminum, were approved on Wednesday by member states, targeting almost €21 billion in American products, such as soybeans, copper, iron, motorbikes, boats and orange juice.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: My first thought upon reading about Trump's partial reversal was what fun he was having messing with billions of people around the world. My second was, "insider trading." How much did Bessent, Lutnick, Musk & other insiders make in the markets Wednesday when they learned -- before the rest of us -- that Trump was about to announce a partial reversal of his stupid tariffs? I was glad to see that Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal & Adam Schiff raise the issue of insider trading, too. Blumenthal noted that the Trump administration was full of grifters. ~~~
~~~ Nick Popli of Time: "Senator Adam Schiff on Wednesday called on Congress to investigate whether ... Donald Trump engaged in insider trading or market manipulation when he abruptly paused a sweeping set of tariffs, a move that sent stock prices skyrocketing. 'I’m going to do my best to find out,' Schiff, a California Democrat, tells Time. 'Family meme coins and all the rest of it are not beyond insider trading or enriching themselves.' Schiff’s comments regarding a formal inquiry, which has not been previously reported, came soon after the S&P 500 surged more than 9% Wednesday afternoon after Trump announced the tariff pause. 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!' Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after the market opened on Wednesday, along with the letters 'DJT,' which stands for both his initials and the ticker for his media company.... Schiff is the first Senator to openly call for a congressional investigation into potential insider trading by the Trump Administration.... Still, the timing of Trump’s announcement — and the market rally that followed — has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. 'When my own barber asks me whether Donald Trump is selling short or doing this to try to make money for himself, it shows that a lot of people are pretty suspicious about what’s going on,' Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, tells Time.” A related Mother Jones story is here. ~~~
~~~ AND. Bernard Condon of the AP: When Trump wrote on social media Wednesday at 9:37 am ET, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” “it was a prescient call by the president. Maybe too prescient. 'He’s loving this, this control over markets, but he better be careful,' said Trump critic and former White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, noting that securities law prohibits trading on insider information or helping others do so. 'The people who bought when they saw that post made a lot of money.'... Asked about when he arrived at his decision, Trump gave a muddled answer. 'I would say this morning,' he said. 'Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.' He then added, 'Fairly early this morning.'... Another curiosity of the posting was Trump’s signoff with his initials. DJT is also the stock symbol for Trump Media and Technology Group.... The ambiguity about what Trump meant didn’t stop people from pouring money into that stock. Trump Media closed up 22.67%, soaring twice as much as the broader market, a stunning performance by a company that lost $400 million last year and is seemingly unaffected by whether tariffs would be imposed or paused.... Trump Media was bested, albeit by only two-hundreds of a percentage point, by another Trump administration stock pick — Elon Musk’s Tesla.... 'He’s sending the message that he can effectively and with impunity manipulate the market, [Kathleen Clark of Washington University Law] said, 'As in: Watch this space for future stock tips.'” A Washington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I believe I see some evidence of insider trading there. ~~~
Tyler Pager, et al., of the New York Times: “The economic turmoil, particularly a rapid rise in government bond yields, caused Mr. Trump to blink on Wednesday afternoon and pause his 'reciprocal' tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days, according to four people with direct knowledge of the president’s decision.... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others on the president’s team, including Vice President JD Vance, had been pushing for a more structured approach to the trade conflict that would focus on isolating China as the worst actor while still sending a broader message that Mr. Trump was serious about cracking down on trade imbalances. After his reversal on social media, Mr. Trump’s team was put in the unenviable position of trying to spin the media that this was the plan all along.... Mr. Bessent went so far as to deny that the bond market had driven the change.... Mr. Bessent played a significant role in steering the president toward the pause. But the real credit, Mr. Trump’s advisers admit privately, should go to the bond markets. Mr. Trump’s decision was driven by fear that his tariffs gamble could quickly turn into a financial crisis. And unlike the two previous crashes of the past 20 years — the global financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020 — this crisis would have been directly attributable to only one man.” ~~~
I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history. -- Donald Trump, yesterday, after his post that upended his tariff policy ~~~
~~~ Michael Birnbaum, et al., of the Washington Post: “Washington woke up Wednesday to the highest tariffs on foreign goods in a century and to bond markets flashing warning signs that ... Donald Trump’s bid to remake global trade could spark a far bigger crisis. Trump’s advisers were still projecting confidence that his effort to restructure the world’s economy and sweep away generations of globalization was foolproof despite the S&P 500 wiping away 12 percent of its value in a week.... But hours later, Trump partially backed down — escalating his trade war with China but lowering many of the tariffs he had just imposed on the rest of the world. Stock markets soared.... From Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon, Trump and his trade advisers spoke to several Republican lawmakers and top foreign leaders who raised concerns about the faltering global markets and the growing concerns of a worldwide recession, urging him to do something.” The reporters relate various people who they say may have influenced Trump, including, for instance, Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.
Bonds, U.S. Bonds. Trumpity-Doo-Dah. Eshe Nelson, et al., of the New York Times: “Stocks surged on Wednesday afternoon, ripping higher after ... [Donald] Trump said he would back down on tariffs for most of the world for the next 90 days, citing new talks with foreign nations. The S&P 500 climbed over 7 percent in a matter of minutes after Mr. Trump posted the decision on Truth Social, sharply reversing days of losses. But Mr. Trump said that the pause did not extend to China and that he would instead raise tariffs on its exports to 125 percent after Beijing announced a new round of retaliation.... Earlier in the day, when stocks were still oscillating between small gains and losses, Mr. Trump posted ]BE COOL' on his Truth Social platform, before adding, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: He really gets a kick out of jerking everybody around, doesn't he? This is the dominance game Bouie is writing about here: ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “There is no grand plan or strategic vision [to Donald Trump's obsession with tariffs] ... — only the impulsive actions of a mad king, untethered from any responsibility to the nation or its people.... Trump’s tariffs are not a policy as we traditionally understand it. What they are is an instantiation of his psyche: a concrete expression of his zero-sum worldview. The fundamental truth of Donald Trump is that he apparently cannot conceive of any relationship between individuals, peoples or states as anything other than a status game, a competition for dominance.... Trump’s ... obsession with territorial conquest ... is an obvious product of his predatory approach to human interaction. His authoritarian attempts to cow and coerce key institutions of civil society into compliance with his agenda and obedience to his will are, likewise, a kind of dominance game.... He even said as much during an event on Tuesday, when he bragged about the law firms 'signing up with Trump' and said that 'they give me a lot of money, considering they’ve done nothing wrong.'... If we view the president’s actions in light of his psychological need to dominate, it is almost certainly true that his flagrant abuse of the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and foreign-born students in the United States ... is just the beginning.... There is no point at which he can be satisfied.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Daniel Gilbert of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is pledging to target the pharmaceutical industry with tariffs even while pausing many of his global levies for 90 days, threatening to disrupt international supply chains and raising the prospect of a clash between drugmakers and insurers that could determine whether patients are hit with higher costs. Trump said Tuesday that his administration will 'be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals,' a bid to force companies to make more of their medicines in the United States. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a 90-day pause Trump announced on most of his country-specific 'reciprocal' tariffs would not apply to sector-specific tariffs such as pharmaceuticals.” An ABC News report is here.
RAS found a recommendation that every invoice should include a line breaking out the Trump Tariff Surcharge to show the consumer how Trump's tariffs figure into what he has to pay for a product. Seems like an excellent idea.
Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: “Much of the world was focused at that moment on his trade war, but Mr. Trump wanted to talk about showers.... 'I like to take a nice shower to take care of my beautiful hair,' [he] ... said on Wednesday in the Oval Office. 'I stand under the shower for 15 minutes until it gets wet. It comes out drip, drip, drip. It’s ridiculous.'... He offered this insight while signing an executive order to loosen restrictions on water flow from American shower heads. The order directs Energy Secretary Chris Wright to rescind a definition of shower heads first implemented by President Barack Obama. It is the second time that Mr. Trump as president has attempted to redefine a shower head. A rule he introduced in his first term drastically increased the amount of water that showers with multiple nozzles could use. The Biden administration later reversed that change.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If I'm not mistaken, shower manufacturers, probably because of dueling executive orders, merely put a small metal gizmo in shower heads that reduces the water flow. The gizmo is easily removed. (I vaguely recall having removed one myself.) So Trump's plumbers probably despise him and enjoy saying, “I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing I can do.” And, as Zhuang writes, “If your water pressure is weak, according to the Appliances Standard Awareness Project, it’s probably because of your home plumbing or because of lime scale buildup on the shower head, rather than anything to do with the flow rate.”
Perhaps because of the Trump Tariffs that remain, we can honestly sing, "Yes, We Have No Bananas." But we are nevertheless residents of the world's largest banana republic. ~~~
~~~ Welcome to Our New, Official Tinpot Dictatorship. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday signed executive orders punishing two officials from his first administration and an elite law firm, continuing a campaign of retribution that he has gleefully carried out since his inauguration. Two executive orders targeted Christopher Krebs, who as a senior cybersecurity official oversaw the securing of the 2020 presidential election, and Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Mr. Trump’s first term and anonymously wrote a high-profile opinion article for The New York Times in 2018. Among other measures, the orders directed Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to investigate the former officials and report their findings to the White House. A third order targeted the law firm Susman Godfrey with many of the same sanctions that Mr. Trump has applied to other law firms that had taken on cases or causes he did not like. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to resolve a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election. Susman Godfrey represented Dominion, a manufacturer of voting machines that lawyers allied with Mr. Trump attacked with outlandish claims about widespread voting fraud.” ~~~
~~~ Adam Cancryn & Maggie Miller of Politico: “A president ordering investigations of specific individuals whom he considers to be his political enemies is a remarkable breach of the traditional wall of separation between the White House and the Justice Department. Under that norm of separation, criminal investigations are supposed to be insulated from political pressure, but Trump has repeatedly scorned the notion of DOJ independence. Making Wednesday’s action even more remarkable, and perhaps unprecedented, is that Trump used the formal power of executive orders to effectively brand two individuals as subjects of criminal investigations.” ~~~
It was somebody that went out and wrote a book and said all sorts of terrible things or all lies. And it was like he was this gentleman or that gentleman, like I dealt with him all the time. I had no idea who this guy was. I said, “Who the hell is Miles Taylor?” And he made a living on going on CNN talking about the president. And I think what he did, he wrote a book, Anonymous, said all sorts of lies, bad things. And I think it’s like a traitor. It’s like spying, he walks into the office, he’s supposed to be sitting here. A lot of people, you know, I’ll be here and there’ll be 20 people standing in the room, there’ll oftentimes be young people in the office. I assume he was one of them at least. -- Donald Trump, commenting on his reason for ordering an investigation of Miles Taylor ~~~
~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Trump went so far as to accuse [Miles] Taylor of committing treason, a capital offense, for writing about what he saw during Trump’s first term.” MB: Do read Trump's entire monologue; it's another fine example of Trump's very good brain doing its ingenious “weave.” ~~~
~~~ Charlie Nash of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump shocked conservatives and liberals alike on Wednesday after he ordered an investigation into his former cybersecurity appointee Chris Krebs for 'falsely and baselessly' denying 'that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen.'... Trump’s memo received backlash on Wednesday from social media users who called the review 'Stalinesque' and pointed out that it was Trump who appointed Krebs in the first place.” MB: The comments Nash reports are well-worth reading. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I was a little troubled by the peremptory pardons President Biden gave to some family members and other high-profile people who had displeased Trump. Biden was right. Of course if Pam & Kristi had any integrity, they would refuse to carry out these unconstitutional orders. But they are not. Pam will come up with some rude, tough-gal public response (see Berman-Roebuck story linked below) before cracking down on Krebs & Taylor, & Kristi is pondering what costume she should wear to the interrogations (see Rachel Maddow's segment, embedded here yesterday afternoon). To be clear, this does not happen in a democracy. When a former president secretly did something similar, he was forced to resign. (Yes, it appears Trump caused some illegal tax audits to be conducted, but that has not been proved.) ~~~
~~~ Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “The leader of the pro bono practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is resigning from the law firm, within weeks of the elite firm striking a deal with ... [Donald] Trump to lift an executive order that had threatened its ability to represent clients with business before the federal government. Steven Banks, a former New York City social services commissioner, said in a statement he was leaving his post at Paul Weiss, where he has served as special counsel for the past three years, in order to return to ... work for the rights of the homeless by providing legal services to the Coalition for the Homeless and The Legal Aid Society.” ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “The Justice Department on Wednesday barred its lawyers from attending any American Bar Association events, escalating the Trump administration’s battle with the legal profession over who lawyers should take on as clients. In a memo, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said that the bar association was 'free to litigate in support of activist causes' but that the department’s employees 'must conduct themselves in a manner that does not undermine or appear to undermine the department’s core mission of administering justice in a fair, effective, and evenhanded manner.' The department, Mr. Blanche wrote, 'will no longer use taxpayer funds to pay for any travel to or engagement with A.B.A. events.' Any department employees who work in policy-related positions also may not 'speak at, attend, or otherwise participate in' the association’s events in their official capacity, the memo continued, adding that those employees may not hold positions in the association or renew their memberships. Mr. Blanche also barred those employees from writing or publishing material in 'A.B.A.-sponsored media' without his specific approval.”
In case you were hoping that inspectors general or other government watchdogs could put a stop to some of Trump & Co.'s illegal and/or unconstitutinal moves, Chief Supreme Johnnie says, Not now." ~~~
~~~ Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to temporarily remove a pair of independent regulators while the full Supreme Court decides how to proceed with their cases that have broad implications for at least two dozen other agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board. The brief administrative order from Roberts, which does not address the merits of the cases, came less than three hours after the administration asked the court to quickly schedule argument in the matter for May.... Donald Trump has moved aggressively to seize greater control of the bureaucracy, ousting independent watchdogs and removing the two Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission, which protects consumers from deceptive practices and monopoly power. The cases before the Supreme Court involve Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees laws protecting workers’ rights, and Cathy A. Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which protects federal government workers from partisan practices — as well as a 90-year-old court precedent the Trump administration said it will seek to overturn.”
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is once again free to fire probationary employees. For now. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in a 2-to-1 decision, sided with the government on Wednesday to block a lower-court ruling in Maryland that had led to the reinstatement of thousands of federal workers who had been fired in February. The purge of the employees had marked one of the first stages of ... [Donald] Trump’s plan to rapidly downsize the civil service and overhaul or eliminate entire offices and programs. Since then, the status of the workers has been tied up in legal battles over whether the firings had been carried out lawfully. The Wednesday appeals court decision came a day after the Supreme Court blocked a similar ruling in California reining in the government in a separate case. There is now no court order in place to stop the government from firing probationary employees. Both courts ruled on narrow issues of standing: whether the probationary firings harmed the plaintiffs so much that they had the right to sue in district court.”
Everything Is Going Very Smoothly: Patel Fired as Acting ATF Director. Alanna Richer & Lolita Baldor of the AP: “FBI Director Kash Patel has been removed as the acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and has been replaced with the Army secretary.... It was not immediately clear why Patel was replaced by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to lead the Justice Department agency that’s responsible for enforcing the nation’s gun laws. One person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move, said Patel was removed at the end of February, just days after he was sworn in. But that was never publicly announced. Patel on Wednesday afternoon remained on the agency’s website and was identified as the acting director in an April 7 press release. In March, he posted on social media a note he sent to the ATF workforce that read 'special message from the acting director.' And senior ATF leaders were only informed Wednesday of the change.... Driscoll will remain secretary of the Army, according to a defense official. This puts a defense leader — with an already large job — in charge of a domestic law enforcement agency. U.S. defense officials have historically tried to maintain a strict divide between military forces and law enforcement.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Just more evidence that the administration doesn't know what it's doing. According to the headline in the Daily Beast (firewalled), Patel was dismissed for not showing up for weeks at his ATF office. the answer to "Who knows?" is "Nobody knows for certain." The incompetence of this administration is remarkable.
Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: “Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday was forced to delay a vote on the Republican budget blueprint to unlock ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, after conservatives balked at a plan that they said would add too much to the nation’s debt. In a dramatic scene on Capitol Hill that laid bare Republican divisions, Mr. Johnson huddled with the holdouts in a room off the House floor for over an hour before the vote was scheduled to begin, grinding activity in the chamber to a halt....” MB: The report doesn't specifically say so, but MSNBC contributors -- as well as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee -- made clear that what the holdouts objected to was that the budget resolution did not cut enough from social safety net programs like Medicaid. The AP report, by Lisa Mascaro & Kevin Freking, does a better job of it.
Oops!? Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Federal prosecutors have abruptly abandoned the criminal case against a Virginia man portrayed by the Justice Department as a major leader of the brutal Central American gang MS-13. Authorities moved Wednesday to dismiss their prosecution of Henrry Villatoro Santos, whose arrest was celebrated by ... Donald Trump, the attorney general and head of the FBI. Instead, the Trump administration seems poised to seek Villatoro’s quick deportation, despite holding up his arrest as a triumph for the president’s crackdown on violent transnational gangs. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin all appeared before TV cameras during a rare press conference at the FBI’s Manassas, Virginia, office last month to tout the arrest of Villatoro, who officials described as one of the gang’s most senior bosses in the U.S.... Muhammad Elsayed, his attorney, in a self-described 'unusual' motion, asked the magistrate judge who locked up Villatoro not to let the government drop the criminal case yet. Doing so, the lawyer said, might result in a quick deportation of the kind the Trump administration deployed against hundreds of Venezuelan nationals last month, devoid of the due process....”
Jacob Rosen & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "Federal judges in both New York and Texas have blocked the deportations of Venezuelan men likely to be deported under the Trump administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, again stopping the White House's attempts to remove alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang after the Supreme Court cleared the way for their deportations this week. In one case filed in Manhattan, attorneys for two Venezuelan men who are currently being detained in Orange County, New York, successfully argued to block their clients' deportations and movement outside of the state and the United States. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton, granted the temporary relief. After their arrests, both men were first transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas before being moved to New York. One man, who is 21, came to the U.S. to escape Tren de Aragua violence, and the other, who is 32, actively protested the regime of Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro, their attorneys wrote. The new case in Texas was brought on behalf of the same Venezuelans who challenged their potential deportation in Washington, D.C., where the initial block of the deportations was entered by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg before it was lifted by the Supreme Court on Monday in a 5-4 decision. The Texas judge overseeing the petition, Fernando Rodriguez Jr., was appointed to the federal bench by President Trump during his first term." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.
Mark Berman & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Attorney General Pam Bondi this week complied with a federal judge’s orders in a court case — and made clear she didn’t like doing it.... The judge required Bondi and Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to notify other federal agencies that they must refrain from implementing parts of Trump’s order ... punishing the law firm Jenner & Block.... In her memo, which was submitted in court Tuesday and also attributed to Vought, Bondi bluntly signaled she was begrudgingly following a court order. Bondi also referred to what she called 'an unelected' judge who 'invaded the policy-making and free speech prerogatives of the executive branch' by making demands beyond his jurisdiction.... In a separate filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department also argued for dismissing Jenner & Block’s lawsuit. The department said Trump’s order is lawful and that his actions are all within the bounds of his power.”
DOGE Caves. Hannah Natanson & Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk’s cost-cutting operation, the U.S. DOGE Service, set off a panic in March among elderly and disabled people after proposing that the Social Security Administration scrap many of its claims services over the phone in an effort to end alleged identity fraud. Beneficiaries began lining up at field offices across the country, clutching driver’s licenses and asking if they must prove who they were in person. Phone wait times ballooned and the agency’s website started crashing almost daily under a crush of panicked callers and visitors. Besieged by angry constituents, lawmakers demanded that the acting commissioner end the chaos. Now, after nearly a month of chaos and backlash, the DOGE plans are dead. According to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, plans to force people awarded retirement, disability and Medicare benefits to set up direct-deposit payments online or in person have been canceled after the agency concluded it could vet these transactions for fraud by phone.” The Hill's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow has pointed out several times that this is no way to run a government: (1) destroy a service; (2) wait for mass protests, outrage and/or panic; (3) reinstate service (or say you will).
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The House passed legislation on Wednesday that would bar federal district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, part of an escalating Republican campaign to take aim at judges who have moved to halt some of ... [Donald] Trump’s executive orders. The bill, approved mostly along party lines on a vote of 219 to 213, would largely limit district court judges to issuing narrow orders that pertain to parties involved in a specific lawsuit, rather than broader ones that can block a policy or action from being enforced throughout the country. It would make an exception in cases that were brought by multiple states, which would need to be heard by a three-judge panel. It faces a slim chance of becoming law because of the obstacles it faces in the Senate, where seven Democrats would have to join Republicans to allow it to advance. So far, similar bills have not been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: “Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday was forced to delay a vote on the Republican budget blueprint to unlock ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda, after conservatives balked at a plan that they said would add too much to the nation’s debt. In a dramatic scene on Capitol Hill that laid bare Republican divisions, Mr. Johnson huddled with the holdouts in a room off the House floor for over an hour before the vote was scheduled to begin, grinding activity in the chamber to a halt....” MB: The report doesn't specifically say so, but MSNBC contributors -- as well as Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee -- made clear that what the holdouts objected to was that the budget resolution did not cut enough from social safety net programs like Medicaid. The AP report, by Lisa Mascaro & Kevin Freking, does a better job of it.
Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Maddie Lauria of NPR: "A Delaware judge, once again, has found that a conservative news outlet broadcast false and defamatory claims about the role a voting technology company played in the 2020 presidential election. This time, that network is Newsmax, Fox News' upstart rival, which is fresh off a successful initial public offering. Following Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump that November, Trump's allies and supporters took to right-wing media to accuse Dominion Voting Systems of rigging the vote to help Biden. In his opinion, Judge Eric M. Davis says Dominion 'presents clear and convincing evidence' that shows Newsmax broadcast segments with inaccurate information that 'would likely cause reasonable viewers to think significantly less favorably about Dominion than if the viewers knew the truth.'... If the lawsuit heads to trial as scheduled later this month, the jury will be asked to decide whether to award damages and how much, and whether the broadcasts were aired with 'actual malice,' which means knowledge of falsity or disregard for the truth."
News Lede
New York Times: “At least four people died when a helicopter tumbled out of the sky and plunged into the Hudson River just off Jersey City, N.J., across from the West Village in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, according to people briefed on the rescue efforts and video footage of the crash. At least two adults and three children — all believed to be members of a family of Spanish tourists — were pulled from the helicopter or from the frigid river and taken to hospitals in New Jersey, officials briefed on the crash said. A sixth person, believed to be the pilot, was unaccounted for. The helicopter went down in the river near a ventilation building above the Holland Tunnel, at about 3:15 p.m. Here is what else we know:
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“Witness and video accounts: Video of the crash shows the helicopter tumbling end over end and hitting the water at a high speed. One witness, Mandy Bowlin, said she was on a Circle Line tour boat, heard a boom behind her and saw the helicopter plummeting. Its rotor flew off and the craft nose-dived into the water, sending debris flying toward the boat.
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“The route: It is not known where the helicopter took off from or where it was headed. Tourist helicopters routinely fly over the river, carrying sightseers from heliports in Lower Manhattan and New Jersey. The typical temperature of the river this time of year is about 45 degrees, according to a government site.” This is a liveblog. In an update, Gov. Kathy Hochul has put the number of those who died in the accident as six.
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