The Conversation -- March 26, 2025
Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld federal restrictions aimed at curtailing access to kits that can be easily assembled into homemade, nearly untraceable firearms. In a 7-to-2 decision, written by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, one of the court's conservatives, the justices left in place requirements enacted during the Biden administration as part of a broader effort to combat gun violence by placing restrictions on so-called ghost guns. The ruling in favor of gun regulations is a departure for the court, which has shown itself to be skeptical both of administrative agency power and of gun regulations. Two conservative justices -- Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas -- each filed dissents. The Biden administration enacted rules in 2022 tightening access to the weapons kits, after law enforcement agencies reported that ghost guns were exploding in popularity and being used to commit serious crimes."
RAS & Nick Anderson seem a bit flummoxed about the rationale behind what constitutes a "state secret": ~~~
Trump Logic#signalscandal #trump pic.twitter.com/2GMN6qog5m
— Nick Anderson/Political Cartoonist (@Nick_Anderson_) March 25, 2025
Jeff Goldberg & Shane Harris of the Atlantic Hit Send: "... statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump -- combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts -- have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared.... A CIA spokesperson asked us to withhold the name of John Ratcliffe's chief of staff, which Ratcliffe had shared in the Signal chain, because CIA intelligence officers are traditionally not publicly identified. Ratcliffe had testified earlier yesterday that the officer is not undercover and said it was 'completely appropriate' to share their name in the Signal conversation. We will continue to withhold the name of the officer. Otherwise, the messages are unredacted." Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It doesn't take a national security expert to look at Drunk Pete's "What, When, Where, Who and How" message and realize that had this message been read in real time by, say, Iran, that U.S. military personnel and equipment would have been severely compromised and that the "Target Terrorist" would have moved out of harm's way. It seems ludicrous to claim that running this thread over a non-secure commercial app is no big deal.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times annotates excerpts from the Signal group chat re: plans for U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
Tyler Pager & David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald "Trump characterized an extraordinary security breach as a minor transgression on Tuesday, insisting that top administration officials had not shared any classified information as they discussed secret military plans in a group chat that included the editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine.... Mr. Trump also stood by his national security adviser, Michael Waltz, who had inadvertently added the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat on the Signal app, which included Vice President JD Vance and others. In the chat, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared information on timing, targets and weapons systems to be used in an attack on Houthi militants in Yemen, according to Mr. Goldberg. 'I think it was very unfair the way they attacked Michael,' the president said of Mr. Waltz. Former national security officials said they were skeptical that the information shared by Mr. Hegseth ahead of the March 15 strike was not classified, given the life-or-death nature of the operation." ~~~
~~~ Trump Blames Unnamed Staffer for Goldberg Read-in. Garrett Haake & Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "... Donald Trump stood by his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, after The Atlantic's editor-in-chief was accidentally added to a private, high-level chat on the messaging app Signal where military plans were being discussed. 'Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man,' Trump said Tuesday in a phone interview with NBC News. When asked what he was told about how Goldberg came to be added to the Signal chat, Trump said, 'It was one of Michael's people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.' Trump said Goldberg's presence in the chat had 'no impact at all' on the military operation.... The situation, Trump said, was 'the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Say, Garrett, why didn't you follow up and ask Trump why his top aides violated standard protocol for discussing non-public information? He can't blame an anonymous staffer for that. ~~~
~~~ Sam Levin of Guardian: "... Mike Waltz said he took full responsibility for a stunning leak of military plans in a Signal chat, while Trump intervened to defend him, saying it was 'the only glitch in two months'. 'I take full responsibility. I built the group. My job is to make sure everything is coordinated,' Waltz said in an interview with Fox News, in which he conceded: 'it's embarrassing'.... When pressed by Fox News's Laura Ingraham, Waltz accepted responsibility for making the Signal group, though he continued to deflect blame, insulted [Atlantic editor Jeffrey] Goldberg and said he couldn't explain how the mistake had occurred.... Waltz said ... that he was consulting with Elon Musk: 'We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened.'... [Waltz] said he didn't know Goldberg or text with him, calling him the 'bottom scum of journalists' while criticizing the media for focusing on the controversy. Although Waltz claimed a staffer was not responsible, Trump ... [said] in a Newsmax interview...: 'We believe ... somebody that was on the line, with permission, somebody that ... worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had Goldberg's number or call through the app, and somehow this guy ended up on the call.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Thank god Elon is on the case.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Vice President JD Vance's team sought to immediately contain the fallout over a report ... that the [Signal] conversation displayed a hint of his dissent with his boss.... In the Signal chat..., Mr. Vance told the other officials that he thought the timing of the Yemen operation was a 'mistake...,' and he seemed to question if Mr. Trump understood the potential consequences of the action.... William Martin, a spokesman for Vance said [Monday]..., 'The vice president's first priority is always making sure that the president's advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations.... Vice President Vance unequivocally supports this administration's foreign policy. The president and the vice president have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement.'&" ~~~
~~~ Marie: A lot of good JayDee's clean-up effort did. The boss banished him to the Arctic Circle anyway. (Story linked below.)
Marita Vlachou of the Huffington Post: "Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic..., blasted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that 'nobody was texting war plans.'... 'That's a lie,' [Goldberg] told CNN's 'The Source.' 'He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans.'"
A Short History of Drunk Pete Screw-ups. Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Even before he disclosed secret battle plans for Yemen in a group chat, information that could have endangered American fighter pilots, it had been a rocky two months for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.... Mr. Hegseth's stumbles started soon after he was sworn in to lead the Pentagon on Jan. 25. In his debut on the world stage in mid-February, he told NATO and Ukrainian ministers that a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders, before Russia's first invasion, was 'an unrealistic objective' and ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine.... 'He made a rookie mistake in Brussels,' [Sen. Roger] Wicker [R-Miss.] said.... The Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth considered plans in which the United States would give up its command role overseeing NATO troops.... Mr. Hegseth ordered a ban on transgender troops.... 'The military ban is soaked in animus and dripping with pretext,' Judge Ana C. Reyes of U.S. District Court in Washington wrote in a scathing ruling last week.... The Pentagon planned a sensitive briefing to give [Elon] Musk a firsthand look at how the military would fight a war with China, a potentially valuable step for any businessman with interests there. In all of those endeavors, Mr. Hegseth was pulled back, by congressional Republicans, the courts or even Mr. Trump.... Across the military on Monday and Tuesday, current and retired troops and officers expressed dismay and anger in social media posts, secret chat groups and the hallways of the Pentagon." ~~~
~~~ Missy Ryan & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "... the incident -- in which Hegseth detailed not only the weapons U.S. forces intended to use when attacking Yemen but the planned targets and timing as well, according to Goldberg's account in the Atlantic -- is an uncomfortable one for the Pentagon chief as he and his deputies vow to take a hard line on unauthorized disclosures of national security information. Trump did not mention Hegseth in his remarks at the White House."
See Patrick's comment yesterday on just how vulnerable are the phones of our Signal-ing leaders and their appy-happy aides. Then check out the story RAS linked next: ~~~
~~~ Joanne Stocker & Emmet Lyons of CBS News: Donald "Trump's Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when he was included in a group chat with more than a dozen other top administration officials -- and inadvertently, one journalist -- on the messaging app Signal, a CBS News analysis of open-source flight information and Russian media reporting has revealed. Russia has repeatedly tried to compromise Signal, a popular commercial messaging platform that many were shocked to learn senior Trump administration officials had used to discuss sensitive military planning." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Oh, And This. Quil Lawrence & Tom Bowman of NPR: "Several days after top national security officials accidentally included a reporter in a Signal chat about bombing Houthi sites in Yemen, a Pentagon-wide advisory warned against using the messaging app, even for unclassified information. 'A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal messenger application,' begins the department-wide email, dated March 18.... 'Russian professional hacking groups are employing the "linked devices" features to spy on encrypted conversations.' It notes that Google has identified Russian hacking groups who are 'targeting Signal Messenger to spy on persons of interest.' Moreover there was a memo in 2023 obtained by NPR warning of using Signal for using any non-public official information.... The 2023 DoD memo prohibited use of mobile applications for even 'controlled unclassified information,' which is many degrees less important than information about on-going military operations.... A Signal spokesman said the Pentagon memo is not about the messaging app's level of security, but rather that users of the service should be aware of so-called 'phishing attacks.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Now This. James LaPorta of CBS News: "The National Security Agency sent out an operational security special bulletin to its employees in February 2025 warning them of vulnerabilities in using the encrypted messaging application Signal, according to internal NSA documents obtained by CBS News.... The NSA is an arm of the Defense Department.... 'A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal Messenger Application. The use of Signal by common targets of surveillance and espionage activity has made the application a high value target to intercept sensitive information,' the internal bulletin begins.... The bulletin warned of Russian professional hacking groups employing phishing scams to gain access to encrypted conversations, bypassing the end-to-end encryption the application uses. The bulletin also underscored to NSA employees that third-party messaging applications such as Signal and Whatsapp are permitted for certain 'unclassified accountability/recall exercises' but not for communicating more sensitive information." ~~~
~~~ Marie: One would certainly think that Drunk Pete would have been copied on the NSA memo and that he should have (a) heeded it (which he did not), and (b) issued a general alert to DOD employees as well as other federal employees who handled sensitive and classified matters.
Of all of the dangerous, stupid errors committed by Signalgate participants, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post is most upset by their use of emojis: "The vice president, the secretary of state, the defense secretary, the national security adviser, the head of national intelligence and others were deciding whether or not to launch a military strike -- the most consequential exercise of power a government has -- and they were texting each other emojis like a bunch of teenagers? These, alas, are the people in charge of keeping us safe." But -- since emojis seem to be terms these aged teens understand, Milbank helps them out by explaining what they did wrong with the aid of emojis. MB: This is a gift link, because it's the only way I can express Milbank's objections.
Heather Cox Richardson: "As national security specialist Tom Nichols noted: 'If the President is telling the truth and no one's briefed him about this yet, that's another story in itself. In any other administration, [the chief of staff] would have been in the Oval [Office] within nanoseconds of learning about something like this.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is evidently going to try to bully his way out of this disaster. When asked about it, he began to yell at a reporter that Goldberg is a 'deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who's made a profession of pddling hoaxes time and time again.' Hegseth looked directly at the camera and said: 'Nobody was texting war plans.' But Goldberg has receipts.... Zachary B. Wolf of CNN noted that 'Trump intentionally hired amateurs for top jobs. This is their most dramatic blunder.'... Foreign policy scholar Timothy Snyder posted: 'These guys inherited one of the most functional state apparatus in the history of the world and they are inhabiting it like a crack house.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Abigail Hauslohner & Warren Strobel of the Washington Post: "Democrats hammered the United States' top intelligence officials Tuesday morning as they delivered the annual global threat assessment to Congress -- a day after a bombshell report that the vice president, defense secretary, national security adviser and other top Cabinet members used a commercial messaging app to discuss secret war plans for Yemen and inadvertently included a journalist in the group chat. At least two of the officials who appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe -- were among those who participated in the group chat over the Signal messaging app.... 'This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly toward classified information,' exhibited by the Trump administration, [Sen. Mark] Warner [(Va.) -- the top Democrat on the select intelligence committee --] said, adding, 'This is not a one-off.' Gabbard on Tuesday at first declined to say whether she was involved in the group chat. Later, she and Ratcliffe insisted that no classified information was shared in the chat -- a claim that triggered an incredulous backlash from the committee's liberals." ~~~ Summary of Gabbard's and Ratcliffe's testimony: "Homina-homina, lie-la-la-lie-lie-lie." The NPR story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the Trump administration for using a Signal group to discuss plans for carrying out bombing in Yemen, calling on officials to resign and saying others would have been fired for the same actions. Warner said national security adviser Mike Waltz
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "Several Democrats in Congress called on Tuesday for the resignations of Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, over their involvement in a Signal group chat discussing U.S. strikes in Yemen.... Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon..., during the same [Intelligence Committee] hearing [in which Mark Warner and other Democrat senators criticized the breach of security]..., [said,] 'I am of the view that there ought to be resignations, starting with the national security adviser and the secretary of defense.'... In a letter to ... [Donald] Trump on Tuesday, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries became the highest-ranking Democrat to demand the defense secretary be terminated, saying he was 'unqualified' and a national security risk.... While some Republican lawmakers have called for an investigation, most have shied away from criticizing the Trump administration and have refrained from calling on any officials to step down."
Brandi Buchman of the Huffington Post: "A public watchdog group sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a slew of other Trump administration officials Tuesday.... The lawsuit, brought by the watchdog group American Oversight..., requests that a federal judge formally declare that Hegseth and other officials on the chat violated their duty to uphold laws around the preservation of official communications. Those laws are outlined in the Federal Records Act and, according to lawyers for American Oversight, if agency heads refuse to recover or protect their communications, the national archivist should ask the attorney general to step in.... As American Oversight lawyers pointed out in their lawsuit Tuesday, [Marco] Rubio [-- who participated in the Signal chat --] is also the acting archivist of the United States and, as such, 'is aware of the violations' that allegedly occurred."
Erica Green of the New York Times: Donald "Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that will require proof of U.S. citizenship on election forms, in an aggressive push to catch and combat voter fraud, which is exceedingly rare but constantly cited by Mr. Trump as a reason he lost the 2020 election. The order calls for the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information. It also seeks to require states to count ballots by Election Day.... Like many of Mr. Trump's orders, this one is likely to face legal challenges for executive overreach. Rick Hasen..., director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, said that Mr. Trump had no authority to dictate how states ran their elections, such as requiring them to count their ballots by Election Day. Mr. Hasen added that Mr. Trump's exertion of power over the commission -- which was created by legislation passed in Congress -- would need to be tested in court, since what he is ordering them to do is 'either contrary to law or at best disputed.'" The AP's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Say, here's a fun fact Green didn't mention: ~~~
~~~ Jessica Huseman, et al., of Vote Beat: "The executive order envisions a new role for federal agencies in scrutinizing the voter rolls.... It allows the Department of Government Efficiency..., led by billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk, and the Department of Homeland Security to view publicly available voter files and other unspecified 'available records' to ensure the rolls are being cleaned to federal standards." ~~~
~~~ Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Constitution designates the power to regulate the 'time, place and manner' of elections to the states, with the proviso that Congress can step in and override those laws. It gives no specific power to the president to do so. Election experts said that Trump was claiming power he does not have and that lawsuits over the measure were all but guaranteed." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Marley does mention how Trump's order allows DOGE to sift through voter rolls. And this: "The order allows voters to use passports or certain driver's licenses to prove citizenship, but not birth certificates." I think my birth certificate is the only proof of citizenship I currently have. (I've misplaced my expired passport and I don't have a REAL-ID driver's license.) So Trump's order, if activated, probably would deprive me -- and millions of others -- of the right to vote we have enjoyed for many years.
Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: Donald "Trump initiated a fresh attack on lawyers on Tuesday, singling out a firm where a former prosecutor who investigated him once worked as the White House pursues vengeance against the profession he blames for his legal troubles. An executive order from Mr. Trump focused on Jenner & Block, a prominent white-shoe firm that once employed Andrew Weissmann, a longtime deputy to Robert S. Mueller III, who as a special counsel investigated Mr. Trump in his first term over possible links to Russia. The order underscored the extent to which the president, who faced four criminal indictments after he left office in 2021, now aims to exact a steep price from anyone associated with past investigations of him.... At the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Weissmann a 'bad guy' and said he would also declassify additional documents from the Russia investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, that began in 2016.... The executive order signed Tuesday declares that many big law firms 'take actions that threaten public safety and national security, limit constitutional freedoms, degrade the quality of American elections, or undermine bedrock American principles.' The order also criticizes firms for doing pro bono work, or representing clients who are indigent or have limited financial resources to afford lawyers, charging that such work is often for what he called 'destructive causes.'" Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, it's really "destructive" that some lawyers defend poor people. ~~~
~~~ Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's crackdown on lawyers is having a chilling effect on his opponents' ability to defend themselves or challenge his actions in court, according to people who say they are struggling to find legal representation as a result of his challenges. Biden-era officials said they're having trouble finding lawyers willing to defend them. The volunteers and small nonprofits forming the ground troops of the legal resistance to Trump administration actions say that the well-resourced law firms that once would have backed them are now steering clear. The result is an extraordinary threat to fundamental constitutional rights of due process and legal representation, they said -- and a far weaker effort to challenge Trump's actions in court than during his first term. Legal scholars say no previous U.S. administration has taken such concerted action against the legal establishment, with Trump's predecessors in both parties typically respecting the constitutionally enshrined tenet that everyone deserves effective representation in court and that lawyers cannot be targeted simply for the cases and clients they take on....
"Trump on Friday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to expand the campaign by sanctioning lawyers who 'engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation' against his administration. Legal scholars say there is little precedent in modern U.S. history for Trump's actions. But the president is following a playbook from other countries whose leaders have sought to undermine democratic systems and the rule of law, including Russia, Turkey and Hungary." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Shame on the lawyers. Every large law firm -- left, right and apolitical -- should be standing up against Trump and for individuals and organizations who oppose him. This would not be remarkable heroism; it would saving democratic ideals and preserving the rule of law for everyone, including their own sorry businesses.
Luke Broadwater & Ken Vogel of the New York Times: Donald "Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon on Tuesday for Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden whose congressional testimony two years ago helped fuel House Republicans' investigation into the Biden family. Mr. Archer had been convicted in a fraud case, and was sentenced in 2022 to a year and a day in prison. The pardon erases the conviction and also tens of millions of dollars in forfeitures and restitution that Mr. Archer had been ordered to pay. Mr. Archer was pardoned before he served any of his prison sentence. Mr. Archer ... accused the Bidens of abusing 'soft power' through business deals in which then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son Hunter made millions of dollars.... The pardon is the latest example of Mr. Trump's aggressive use of his clemency power to reward allies or highlight his own grievances about what he sees as the political weaponization of the justice system."
Jeffrey Gettleman, et al., of the New York Times: "Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday that he was headed to ... [Greenland] later this week, taking over a controversial visit that officials in Greenland have made very clear they don't want at all.... Some political analysts in Denmark said that the decision to send Mr. Vance was an 'escalation.'... Originally, the Trump administration said that Usha Vance, the second lady, and Michael Waltz, the national security adviser, would make the trip to Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark that ... [Donald] Trump wants for the United States. Officials from Denmark and Greenland immediately branded the move 'aggressive' and part of the president's plan to get the island, as he recently put it, 'one way or the other.' The White House then issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon changing up the visit.
"The new itinerary is for Mr. and Ms. Vance to visit Pituffik Space Base, an American military installation high above the Arctic Circle, 'to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members.'... Greenland officials have emphasized that they never invited the Americans in the first place but they have little control over who visits the American base. Initially, the plan was for Ms. Vance and one of her sons to watch a dog sled race, a cherished Greenland tradition, in Sisimiut, one of Greenland's bigger towns." While she claimed she received "multiple invitations" to watch the race, the organizers said they had not invited the Vances. Usha Vance will not be attending the race. It's not clear whether or not Waltz, who is in the doghouse over Signalgate, will travel to Greenland with the Vances.
Akhilleus has found a cap popular in Greenland. Here's a related Huffington Post story: ~~~
Joe Lawlor of the Portland Press Herald, republished by Yahoo! News: "The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration admitted this week that he specifically targeted Maine after watching Gov. Janet Mills clash with ... Donald Trump during an event at the White House. 'I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president,' Lee Dudek told the New York Times. Dudek directed the agency to cancel a decades-old program that allows parents to register their newborns for a social security number while at hospitals. The mandate only applied to Maine and required new parents to show up at a Social Security office in person to register their newborns. The change was rescinded one day later after an outcry from Maine and criticism from the state's congressional delegation.... Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District said the targeting of Maine by Dudek is 'infuriating and absurd.'"
Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: “Frank Bisignano..., Donald Trump's nominee to run the Social Security Administration, testified under oath at his confirmation hearing Tuesday that he has had no contact with the Elon Musk cost-cutting team that is directing a major downsizing of the agency. But Sen. Ron Wyden (Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the claim is 'not true,' citing an account the senator said he received from a senior Social Security official who recently left the agency. The former official -- whose detailed statement was shared with The Washington Post -- described 'numerous contacts Mr. Bisignano made with the agency since his nomination,' including 'frequent' conversations with senior executives. The nominee 'personally appointed' Michael Russo, the chief information officer leading Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team at Social Security, and the two speak frequently about agency operations, the former executive said. The Post confirmed the former official's account with two people.... [One] said she was told by acting commissioner Leland Dudek that the nominee and Russo 'spoke multiple times a day' about Social Security operations."
AND Trump's Former Lawyer Lied Under Oath at HIS Confirmation Hearing. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "During his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing to become the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Todd Blanche suggested that he had no direct knowledge of the decision to abandon a criminal corruption case against the mayor of New York City. But in a draft letter unsealed on Tuesday, the interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan wrote that a top department official, Emil Bove III, had suggested otherwise before ordering her to seek the case's dismissal. The U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, wrote that when she suggested that department officials await Mr. Blanche's Senate confirmation so he could play a role in the decision, Mr. Bove informed her that Mr. Blanche was 'on the same page,' and that 'there was no need to wait.' The draft was written by Ms. Sassoon earlier this year, as she fought for the case's survival.... When Senator Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, asked Mr. Blanche about whether the decisions in the case had been directed by officials in Washington, Mr. Blanche suggested that he had no direct knowledge. 'I have the same information you have,' he said. 'It appears it was, yes, I don't know.' Reached for comment on Tuesday, Senator Welch said, 'If this is true, it clearly indicates Blanche "misled" -- in plain English, lied -- to the committee.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
HHS Secretary Makes Sick Kids Sicker. Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: "Doctors in West Texas are seeing measles patients whose illnesses have been complicated by an alternative therapy endorsed by vaccine skeptics including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary. Parents in Gaines County, Texas, the center of a raging measles outbreak, have increasingly turned to supplements and unproven treatments to protect their children, many of whom are unvaccinated, against the virus. One of those supplements is cod liver oil containing vitamin A, which Mr. Kennedy has promoted as a near miraculous cure for measles. Physicians at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they've now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage." ~~~
Lena Sun & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two.... The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct the analysis.... Geier and his father, Mark Geier, have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism, a theory that has been ... debunked. David Geier was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license. He is listed as a data analyst in the HHS employee directory. Public health and autism experts fear that choosing a researcher who has promoted false claims will produce a flawed study with far-reaching consequences.... Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have repeatedly linked vaccines to autism. Kennedy has often cited studies by David Geier and his father, a physician, asserting that their research reveals the negative effects of vaccines." ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, Geier is the kind of person HHS is hiring even as the department fires hundreds of medical doctors, scientists and other qualified research staff who were working on critical projects at the CDC & NIH. Oh, and some just up and quit: ~~~
~~~ Kevin Griffis in a Washington Post op-ed: "Friday was my last day leading communications at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I left my job because I believe public health policy must always be guided by facts and not fantasy.... Public health communications have slowed to a trickle. The CDC hasn't held a public briefing, despite multiple disease outbreaks, since ... Donald Trump's inauguration. Instead of seeking guidance about how to combat the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico from the world-leading epidemiologists and virologists he oversees, [Robert] Kennedy [Jr.] is listening to fringe voices who reinforce his personal beliefs.... In my final weeks at the CDC, I watched as career infectious-disease experts were tasked with spending precious hours searching medical literature in vain for data to support Kennedy's preferred treatments."
Amudalat Ajasa of the Washington Post: "According to an internal email, EPA officials knew they had no contractual right to cancel dozens of grants. They did it anyway.... An agency lawyer warned officials they had cited contractual language that did not apply to many of the grants the EPA had ended in recent weeks, advising that terminations could be reversed if recipients challenged them administratively or in court.... In a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Monday, nine Democratic senators on the Environment Committee challenged the grant terminations, pointing out that the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act 'directed EPA to distribute $3 billion to improve environmental protection in communities facing economic hardship.'... 'Any attempt to withhold these funds violates the Impoundment Control Act and Congress's constitutional Article I spending authority,' the senators said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Raphael Satter of Reuters: "The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters. Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government. Past reporting had focused on his youth - he is 19 - and his chosen nickname of 'bigballs,' which became a pop culture punchline. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers last month that 'Big Balls is awesome.'"
Ah, Bible Mike thinks he has figured out a way to get rid of those pesky lawsuits that are stalling Trump's march to perfect authoritarian rule: ~~~
We do have the authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts and all these other things.... Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act. -- Speaker Mike Johnson, to reporters Tuesday ~~~
~~~ Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "Facing pressure from his right flank to take on judges who have ruled against ... Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday floated the possibility of Congress eliminating some federal courts. It's the latest attack from Republicans on the federal judiciary, as courts have blocked a series of actions taken by the Trump administration. In addition to funding threats, Trump and his conservative allies have called for the impeachment of certain federal judges who have ruled against him, most notably U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who attempted to halt Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.... Johnson, a former constitutional attorney, later clarified that he was making a point about Congress' 'broad authority' over the 'creation, maintenance and the governance' of the courts. Article III of the Constitution established the Supreme Court but gave Congress the power to 'ordain and establish' lower federal courts."
Minho Kim of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked ... [Donald] Trump's push to close down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded news organization that was born out of the American efforts to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, issued a temporary restraining order, saying that the Trump administration cannot unilaterally shut down RFE/RL, even if the president has ordered the closure. Judge Lamberth said the administration cannot overrule Congress, which gave the news outlet a statutory mandate to promote the freedom of opinion and expression, with 'one sentence of reasoning offering virtually no explanation.' Judge Lamberth was referring to a March 15 letter to RFE/RL from the Trump administration that said the broadcaster was no longer needed as the government's priorities had shifted. The letter did not elaborate, other than citing Mr. Trump's directives to shut down federal agencies." Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ole Royce was there at the creation. He was already in grade school when Congress created Radio Free Europe in 1950.
Santul Nerkar & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to arrest and deport a 21-year old Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The administration began seeking to arrest the student, Yunseo Chung, this month, according to a lawsuit filed by Ms. Chung's lawyers. The judge, Naomi Buchwald, said during a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday that 'nothing in the record' indicated that Ms. Chung posed a danger to the community or a 'foreign-policy risk' or had communicated with terrorist organizations. Ms. Chung is a legal permanent resident. She was not a prominent participant in demonstrations on Columbia's campus; she was arrested along with several other students this month at a protest at Barnard College, the Manhattan university's sister school. A high school valedictorian who moved to the United States from South Korea when she was 7, she has not been detained by federal agents...."
Max Eddy of the New York Times: "23andMe, maker of popular DNA test kits, announced Sunday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is looking for a buyer. Although the company has promised to continue protecting customer data amidst a possible sale..., California attorney general Rob Bonta issued an urgent consumer alert ... [advising] advised 23andMe users to consider deleting their information.... Customers should delete their information before [the company is] sold.... Few guardrails protect genetic data stored by companies like 23andMe."
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Pennsylvania. David Nir & Jeff Singer of the Downballot: "Democrats pulled off an astonishing upset in a special election for the Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday night, as East Petersburg Mayor James Andrew Malone defeated Republican Josh Parsons by a 50-49 margin to flip a district Donald Trump carried by 15 points last year. Those toplines, however, don't tell the complete story of just how ancestrally Republican Pennsylvania's 36th District is. Since taking its present form in Lancaster County 40 years ago, the district has always been held by the GOP, and the county as a whole has gone for a Democrat at the presidential level just once since 1856 (Lyndon Johnson just barely won it in 1964)."
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Israel/Palestine. Natan Odenheimer, et al., of the New York Times: "The Israeli authorities on Tuesday released a Palestinian director of an Oscar-winning documentary who was detained overnight after what he and witnesses said was an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The police said that the filmmaker, Hamdan Ballal, one of the directors of the documentary, 'No Other Land,' was questioned along with two other Palestinians on suspicion of hurling stones, property damage and 'endangering regional security.' All three deny the accusations, their lawyer said.... Witnesses said the detention took place as a group of Israeli settlers -- some of whom were masked -- carried out an assault in the outskirts of Mr. Ballal's home village of Susya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank."
Ukraine. Lizzie Johnson & Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "Russia and Ukraine agreed Tuesday to expand their initial limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure to include the Black Sea after U.S.-sponsored indirect talks in Saudi Arabia. In separate joint statements from the White House -- one between the United States and Russia, another between the U.S. and Ukraine -- the two countries agreed to 'ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes' in the Black Sea, as well as to develop measures to implement and monitor the partial ceasefire. The statements did not specify when the limited ceasefire would go into effect." (Also linked yesterday.)
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