Week 18 — The Return

This week, the country’s angst and anger over mass firings, frozen federal funding, and cuts in entitlement programs converged on Elon Musk and his so-called DOGE. Republican lawmakers, who have encountered such severe pushback from their constituents back home that GOP leaders have advised them to no longer hold in-person events, met with Musk on Wednesday to discuss concerns. The next day, at his second cabinet meeting, Trump announced that cabinet secretaries, not Musk, would make decisions on staffing cuts. It was later reported by the Times that even at that meeting, Musk had heated confrontations with at least two cabinet secretaries.

The public also expressed their displeasure with Musk by protesting at Tesla dealerships, calling for boycotts, and even in random acts of vandalism. The result was Tesla stock, akin to a proxy on Musk, plummeted, at one point down 55% from its highs in December, in what Wall Street dubbed the “Tesla chainsaw massacre.” Trump came around to defend Musk, holding what amounted to an infomercial for Tesla at the White House. NYT reporting revealed Musk had committed to putting another $100 million into Trump political operations days before.

Trump continued to poke a stick in the eye of our former allies. Pulling more military aid, in the form of satellite imagery support, and shockingly, approaching Ukrainian President Zelensky’s political opponents to push them to call for snap elections — essentially an effort to orchestrate a coup! Trump continued his acrimonious trade war with Canada, and threatened further tariffs, as the U.S. economy continued to weaken, and mentions of a “Trump Recession” were becoming more loud and frequent. Trump himself, when asked on Fox Business Sunday, refused to rule out a recession, musing about a “period of transition,” which sent stocks plummeting on Monday.

While this week had its share of horribleness, Trump and his regime’s pace of breaking norms continued to slow down. Trump is once again reigned in by a falling stock market and public opinion turning against him. His big, beautiful economy is in the crapper (I wrote a note about it here). His proxy Elon Musk saw his approval continue to fall to just one in three Americans, one of the reasons I believe we are in the 5th or 6th inning of Musk (I wrote a note about why here). A poll of Republicans in the suburbs of New York City flashed trouble for Trump, with his net favorability down 22 points in one month.

That is the good news, but the bad news is Trump’s cabinet secretaries, now newly confirmed, are doing the work of taking apart federal agencies from within, often following the Project 2025 playbook. This week has troubling signs for the Education Department, Environmental Protection Agency, State Department, Department of Veterans Affairs, Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration. The Justice Department continues what amounts to a purge. On the other hand, the courts continue to hand the Trump regime important losses, constraining some of his worst impulses, with one federal judge chastising, “an American president is not a king.”

1. NYT reported fear of retribution by Trump has silenced public criticism of him by many fired federal workers, business leaders, and college presidents. Republican lawmakers also fear Trump, and primary challenges funded by Musk.
2. Republican lawmakers also fear for their personal safety, and the safety of their families. Even GOP hawks who would normally speak out on Ukraine have gone silent. Some say the “Never Trump” movement has also splintered for fear of retribution, and for self-preservation.
3. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order stripping security clearances and access to government buildings for officials at a second law firm, Perkins Coie, as retribution for its legal work for Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign.
4. On Monday, Perkins Coie hired Williams & Connolly, an elite Washington firm, to fight Trump’s order, marking a significant escalation. There had been concern in the legal community that no law firm would step up to oppose Trump.
5. On Monday, Ruth Marcus, a top political columnist for the Washington Post, whose career there spanned four decades, resigned, after chief executive and publisher Will Lewis killed her column dissenting on Jeff Bezos’ overhaul of the opinion pages.
6. On Wednesday, NYT reported on Trump’s growing frustration over the slow pace of deportations. Trump has been calling in ‘border czar’ Thomas Homan for an update each week. Some choreographed raids, like in Aurora, Colorado, have turned out to be duds.
7. NYT reported the Trump regime is finalizing plans for a new ban on travel to the U.S. The so-called “red” list of countries whose citizens would be barred include Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
8. On Friday, after using polygraph tests on Department of Homeland Security staff to identify leakers of information about immigration raid, Secretary Kristi Noem claimed on X to have identified two “criminal leakers” who are being referring them to the DOJ for prosecution.
9. On Monday, DHS unveiled an overhaul of a cellphone app which was formerly used by 900,000 migrants seeking temporary asylum. The app will now be used for “self-deportations” of people living the U.S. illegally who want to leave voluntarily, and “return legally in the future.”
10. On Wednesday, Elon Musk met with Republican lawmakers, as they have faced outrage from constituents back home over mass layoffs, budget cuts, and possible cuts to Medicaid. While Republicans were still supportive of DOGE publicly, they asked for better communications.
11. On Thursday, federal marshals escorted DOGE agents into the U.S. African Development Foundation, a day after its employees refused access. Security officials were also directed to change the agency’s locks.
12. NBC News reported that the FAA’s consideration of using Musk’s Starlink, comes despite its contract with Verizon not expiring until 2038. The General Services Administration was pushed by Musk’s DOGE agents, who installed it in February, to formally use Starlink as well.
13. Musk has publicly called for agencies, including the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Communications Commission, to use it. The Trump regime is reviewing a proposed merger of two satellite operators, SES and Intelsat, which would compete with Starlink.
14. On Friday, CNBC reported shares of Musk’s Tesla have declined in each of the seven weeks since he went to Washington D.C., giving up almost half of all of the stock’s post-election gains, and losing $800 billion in market capitalization.
15. WAPO reported that anger at Musk has resulted in a dozen violent or destructive acts directed at Tesla facilities since Trump’s inauguration, including charging stations set on fire, and graffiti on dealerships. Owners have reported their cars being vandalized.
16. On Saturday, nationwide protests at Telsa showrooms were held across the country, including Delray Beach, Boston, and Chicago. Six were arrested at a raucous protest of hundreds in New York City. Portugal also had protests ahead of their snap election.
17. Musk falsely claimed on X that the protests were being funded by Democratic donors: “ActBlue funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix.” ActBlue is a platform for funding political candidates only.
18. On Sunday, WAPO reported that a spending freeze ordered by Musk’s DOGE, and signed as an executive order by Trump, has put a freeze on purchase cards that agencies use to cover everything, from garbage pick up at national parks to cleaning fluid for government scientists.
19. DOGE has frozen 24,000 cards across 14 agencies so far. The net effect of the freezes has amounted to a government shutdown for parts of the government. The Defense Department stopped research on developing lifesaving protective equipment with their cards frozen.
20. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported at a cabinet meeting, Trump ordered cabinet secretaries, not DOGE, to make workforce cuts at their agencies, directing them to use a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet,” and “keep the best and most productive people.” The move marked a major shift.
21. NYT reported on a blowup between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the cabinet meeting on Thursday. Musk said Rubio had fired “nobody.” Rubio cited 1,500 State employees who took early buyouts, and Musk said Rubio was only “good on TV.”
22. Musk then clashed with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, with Duffy saying there had been multiple plane crashes “and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?” Musk said it was a “lie.” Many other cabinet members have privately complained about Musk.
23. NYT reported after swift mass layoffs, many federal agencies have then tried to rehire employees, including: food safety and medical devices; bird flu response; nuclear arsenal maintenance; 9/11 survivors health program; National Science Foundation; financial watchdog workers; aid agency workers; and Department of Agriculture workers.
24. On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed course, reinstating dozens of employees at the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. The agency said it is reassessing its staffing plans, citing recent guidance from the White House.
25. On Wednesday, NBC News reported Trump is considering a major shift in U.S. participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, under which the U.S. would only defend NATO members who were attacked if they meet a certain defense spending threshold.
26. On Thursday, Reuters reported that Trump is considering revoking the temporary legal status of roughly 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia.
27. On Thursday, Politico reported top Trump regime officials held secret talks with Zelensky’s political opponents in Ukraine, including Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko, on pushing for a quick presidential election. Both said no. The outreach marks political interference.
28. On Friday, WAPO reported that the U.S. has suspended satellite imagery services to Ukraine. Forces in Ukraine had heavily relied on the service to give them a technological advantage over Russia.
29. The Financial Times reported White House official Peter Navarro has pushed to expel Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence group, as a way to increase pressure on the country as Trump pushes his trade agenda and muses about making Canada the 51st state.
30. On Sunday, Musk posted on X that the U.S. should quit the North American Treaty Organization, saying, “Doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe.”
31. On Sunday, Poland’s foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski posted on X that Poland, which pays for Ukraine’s access to Starlink, may seek other suppliers if Musk shuts off access, after Musk posted Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse” if the network was switched off.
32. On Sunday, WSJ reported Russia accelerated its advances in the Kursk region, where Russian and North Korean troops seized several villages, as the U.S. paused its military and intelligence support. Ukrainians had hoped to trade Russia’s Kursk for a chunk of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
33. On Sunday, NBC News reported that as Trump upends the international order, shifting alliances and eroding U.S. prestige, China has made a strategic decision to present itself as a model of stability to fill the leadership void.
34. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported Russia’s oil exports surged, as U.S. sanctions on Russia’s tanker fleet appeared to be faltering, with blacklisted vessels sailing from the country’s main regional port.
35. On Tuesday, Ukrainian and U.S. officials met in Saudi Arabia, and agreed to a framework for a 30-day ceasefire. As part of the deal, the U.S. lifted the pause on intelligence sharing and resumed military assistance. Russia said it had retaken 12 settlements in Kursk on Tuesday.
36. On Thursday, acting Social Security Administration commissioner Leland Dudek said Musk’s DOGE was calling the shots at the agency to fire thousands and shrink the budget, telling advocates, “Things are currently operating in a way I have never seen in government before.”
37. Dudek has overseen the firing of 7,000, or 12%, of the SSA workforce, the exodus of senior officials, the close of regional hub and field offices, and the elimination of entire departments. The disability benefits system came under threat after being overwhelmed amid cutbacks.
38. NBC News reported that SSA barred employees from reading the news at work on Thursday in an email, saying “the categories include: Online shopping, General News; and Sports.”
39. On Friday, Dudek apologized and reversed a change he had made in how newborns in Maine receive their Social Security cards. The move appeared to be a way to punish Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who stood up to Trump at a White House governors meeting.
40. On Friday, in a sweeping declaration filed as part of a federal lawsuit, Tiffany Flick, a 30 year civil servant and SSA’s former acting chief of staff, described in detail how Musk’s DOGE has conducted what amounts to a hostile takeover of the agency.
41. Flick and acting commissioner Michelle King had placed Dudek on paid leave and opened an investigation into his improperly sharing information with DOGE. Trump promoted Dudek, and fired King and Flick, and then DOGE got the information they wanted.
42.  Musk’s DOGE sent three Musk allies with backgrounds in private equity into the SSA, as well as a former employee of Peter Thiel. The four were rushed through background checks, with one being sworn in by phone, breaking protocol.
43. Flick noted the DOGE agents “have never been vetted by SSA or trained” and expressed concern for “the potential to inappropriately and inaccurately disclose this information” to bad actors. She also noted that full access would allow them to change data in the SSA system.
44. On Monday, Musk told Fox Business that entitlement spending, including Social Security and Medicare, which he falsely claimed were plagued by fraud, are the “big ones” to cut as part of his DOGE efforts.
45. On Wednesday, WAPO reported that on Tuesday a list of 443 federal properties were listed for sale on a General Services Administration webpage; however, directors of several agencies were not informed in advance that their D.C. headquarters were being sold.
46. Later, the list was pared down to exclude properties based in D.C. Then overnight, the webpage was completely removed, with the list noted as “coming soon.” A GSA employee said the plan was still to move forward with sales at a later time.
47. NYT reported the State Department is preparing to close a dozen consulates overseas, along with missions and fire locals who work there. Officials warn it will harm partnerships and gathering intelligence. China has overtaken us in its global diplomatic footprint.
48. State also paused international exchange and study-abroad programs, including the Fulbright-Hays and Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship programs, leaving some students stranded.
49. WAPO reported that mass firings, especially of young officers, and others disruptions at U.S. intelligence agencies is already impacting recruiting, and could make it harder to collect intelligence on threats from China, Russia, Iran, and terrorist groups.
50. On Wednesday, NYT reported according to a memo, Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs plans to cut 80,000 jobs, more than 15% of its employees. The agency has faced pushback from lawmakers from both parties for already firing 2,400 employees.
51. Cuts in the VA by DOGE have already created chaos, delaying and disrupting clinical studies, forcing firings of hospital support staff, and resulting in canceled contracts. With further cuts, officials warn of harms to veterans.
52. NYT reported the Trump regime plans to cut another 1,000 employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, bringing the total to 2,300 or 20% of NOAA staff. The cuts come as hurricane and disaster season approaches.
53. NBC News reported many federal workers are struggling with mental health issues, including overwhelming stress, personal crises, rapid weight loss, panic attacks and more. Messaging from Musk and the Trump regime is that federal workers have no value.
54. On Wednesday, WAPO reported a draft of an executive order that Trump is set to sign would direct the new Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon to work to close the agency, ordering her to facilitate closing “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
55. CNBC reported that Education Department employees who handled complaints from federal student loan holders and resolved their issues have all been fired. Hundreds of thousands of people submit complaints each year.
56. On Thursday, ABC News reported the Trump regime had pulled the executive order on Education, citing concern about the blowback it would receive, and the lack of messaging in place ahead of the rollout.
57. On Tuesday, the Education Dept. fired more than 1,300 workers, which in addition to employees who took accepted early separation packages and probationary employees means half of the department’s staffers would be eliminated, gutting the agency.
58. Earlier in the day, Trump had suggested that student loans should be handled by another agency — Commerce, Treasury, or the Small Business Administration. This follows the plan set out in Project 2025 to shutter Education and have its work parceled out to other agencies.
59. NYT reported that with Trump’s plan to gut the Internal Revenue Service, laying off 7,000 employees so far, the agency may struggle with its basic mission of collecting taxes, and there will be a decline in work-intensive investigations of large businesses and wealthy Americans.
60. The Hill reported the Trump regime is putting together plans to eliminate 30 percent of payroll at the National Park Service, ahead of the busy summer vacation season.
61. WAPO reported the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled most courses for the National Fire Academy, a federally run school for firefighters, to ensure its programs and funding fit into the Trump regime’s priorities.
62. On Thursday, U.S. employers announced 172,017 layoffs for February, up 245% from January, and the highest monthly number since July 2020, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Of the cuts, 62,242, or one-third, came from Musk’s DOGE.
63. On Thursday, Trump granted a one month reprieve on some tariffs on Mexico and Canada after the stock market plummeted again. Trump claimed he was not even looking at the stock market, and blamed “the globalists.” The NASDAQ dropped 2.6% putting it in correction territory.
64. Although Trump cited fentanyl as the national emergency that was the basis of his tariffs, Canada is responsible for less than 4% crossing the border. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mused that it would be very beneficial for Canada to become the 51st state to avoid tariffs.
65. WSJ reported the recession trade is back, amid confusion with Trump’s tariffs and their implementation, concerns about the consumer, along with the Trump regime laying off government workers.
66. On Sunday, Trump declined to rule out a recession on Fox News, saying, “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.” Earlier Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told “Meet the Press” the opposite, saying, “There’s going to be no recession in America.”
67. On Monday, the Dow Jones plummeted more than 900 points, at one point trading down more than 1,100 points. The NASDAQ fell 4 percent, its worst session since 2022. The Trump regime tried to play down the sell off, now in its third week, as irrational fear and negativity.
68. On Monday, Musk also had a bad day, with Tesla trading down 15.4%. His social media platform X had widespread outrages Monday, which he blamed, without evidence, on a cyberattack stemming from Ukraine. Last week a SpaceX rocket exploded at launch, showering debris.
69. Earlier Monday, Musk attacked Democratic senator and former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly for visiting Ukraine over the weekend, calling him a “traitor” on X.
70. On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he plans to buy a Tesla to support “Elon Musk, a truly great American,” and blamed “radical left lunatics” for “illegally and collusively” boycotting Tesla.
71. On Sunday, Canada’s prime minister-designate Mark Carney said in his acceptance speech, “I know these are dark days, dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust,” and “Democracy is not a given. Freedom is not a given. Even Canada is not a given.”
72. On Monday, Ontario, which exports electricity to the U.S., raised power prices for Michigan, Minnesota and New York by 25 percent. Premier Doug Ford said, “I feel terrible for the American people. It’s one person who is responsible. That’s President Donald Trump.”
73. On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he instructed Commerce Secretary Lutnick to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports by an additional 25 percent, and ratcheted up talk about Canada becoming “our cherished Fifty First State,” saying it would make tariffs “disappear.”
74. Shortly after, Ford told CNBC, “If we go into a recession, it will be called the Trump recession,” and threatened to shut off electricity exports to the U.S. if Trump continues his trade war.
75. Carney said the Canadian retaliatory tariffs will remain in place until “Americans show us respect” and commit to free trade again.
76. On Tuesday, ABC News reported that according to a new Trump regime rule, starting April 11, Canadians who remain in the U.S. for more than 30 days will be required to apply for registration with the federal government and be fingerprinted.
77. Later Tuesday, Lutnick and Ford spoke. Ford agreed to suspend the surcharge on electricity, and Trump backed off on raising tariffs. The Dow Jones recovered a bit, closing down nearly 500 points. The S&P 500 is down nearly 10% in the three week selloff.
78. The conservative WSJ Editorial Board called Trump’s trade war with Canada the “dumbest in history,” and said Trump “behaves as if his manhood is implicated because a foreign nation won’t take his nasty border taxes lying down.”
79. Later at the White House, Trump downplayed increasing talk of a recession, saying, “I don’t see it at all. I think this country’s going to boom,” and claimed he was not focused on the stock market: “They’re “going to go up and they’re going to go down, doesn’t concern me.”
80. Trump also hosted a 30 minute event at the White House with Musk and Musk’s son to promote Tesla. Trump took questions from reporters while sitting in five parked Teslas. Trump, who has bashed electric vehicles for years, essentially did a commercial for Musk’s Tesla.
81. Most presidents avoid promoting or endorsing products. Trump said Musk has been “treated very unfairly by a very small group of people.” In recent days Musk has told Trump advisers he plans to put another $100 million in groups controlled by Trump’s political operations.
82. The size of Musk’s financial pledge to support the agenda of his boss is unprecedented by a White House adviser. In recent discussions between Musk and Trump, Musk has said he wants to contribute not to his own PAC, but to an outside entity affiliated with Trump.
83. NYT reported Trump has yet to disclose the names of donors to his transition, despite a promise to do so. It is typical for presidents to disclose names within 30 days, and Trump did his first time. It was unclear if he took foreign donations, or limited individual contributions.
84. ABC News reported the Trump regime has been hit by more than 100 lawsuits since his inauguration. Approximately 30 of the lawsuits relate to immigration, 20 relate to Musk’s DOGE, 20 oppose his unilateral changes to federal funding, and ten relating to transgender people.
85. On Thursday, attorneys general from 19 states and D.C. filed a lawsuit accusing the Trump regime of failing to follow proper procedures for mass firings, and asked the court to stop the firings and restore jobs for those who have been dismissed.
86. On Thursday, a federal judge reversed the firing National Labor Relations Board chair Gwynne Wilcox, and in a scathing ruling wrote, “an American president is not a king.” The Trump regime said it will appeal the ruling.
87. On Friday, Climate United, a nonprofit organization, filed a lawsuit against Trump’s EPA, claiming it illegally withheld nearly $7 billion awarded last April. In Week 17, the rationale for the EPA freezing $20 billion in funds was a conspiracy by far-right Project Veritas.
88. On Tuesday, Trump’s EPA terminated the $20 billion of grants promised under the Biden-era program. Congressional Democrats and environmental groups said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin did not have the legal authority to terminate the funding.
89. On Tuesday, Zeldin said in a memo that the EPA would close all environmental justice offices, a three-decade long effort to address the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor and minority communities.
90. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Musk’s DOGE has all the hallmarks of a federal agency, and therefore is subject to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act, and must comply with open records law.
91. On Tuesday, ABC News reported Erica Carr, acting executive secretary of USAID, said in an email to employees to destroy classified documents, saying, “shred as many documents first” and “reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.”
92. On Friday, a group of Native American tribes and students sued the Trump regime over a series of firings of federal workers at Native schools carried out by DOGE, which they claim has severely lowered their quality of education.
93. “Hamilton,” the musical, canceled its scheduled performances at the Kennedy Center celebrating of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, said “we’re not going to be a part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center.”
94. On Thursday, Ventris Gibson, the first Black director of the U.S. Mint, said in an email that she would be retiring at the end of the month. Last week the Treasury Department put several employees on administrative leave, and said it was investigating allegations in its DEI programs.
95. On Friday, Trump said on Truth Social that he would offer South Africans a rapid pathway to U.S. citizenship, falsely claiming their government was confiscating their land “and MUCH WORSE THAN THAT.” Musk is from South Africa.
96. On Friday, the Agriculture Department eliminated two advisory committees dedicated to food safety. The panels were staffed with experts from universities, consumer safety groups, and industry. One expert in food safety called the move “alarming.”
97. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order limiting who is eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The order would bar those working for nonprofit organizations engaging in so-called “lawbreaking activities.”
98. On Friday, NYT reported on a list of hundreds of words listed in a memo to federal agencies that the Trump regime considers “woke,” and has sought to remove them from public facing government websites and discourage their use, including in school curricula.
99. On Friday, the Trump regime renamed another military base for a Confederate general, renaming Fort Liberty backed to Fort Bragg. The regime claimed that name was not after the Confederate general, but for an obscure infantryman Pvt. Roland Bragg.
100. On Monday, under pressure from Republicans, Washington D.C. removed the Black Lives Matter mural that was painted blocks from the White House, and had turned into a pedestrian zone called Black Lives Matter Plaza.
101. On Friday, the Trump regime canceled $400 million in grants and contracts with Columbia University, saying the school had not done enough to address antisemitism on campus, despite Columbia ramping up its own investigations, alarming free speech advocates.
102. On Tuesday, the USDA canceled $1 billion in spending for two programs that provided school lunches and food banks. More than 40 states had signed up for the Local Food for Schools program.
103. On Saturday, Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement. Khalil is in the U.S. on a green card, and is married to a U.S. citizen.
104. ICE agents told Khalil’s attorney they were executing a State Department order to revoke his student visa. Told that he graduated in December, agents said they were revoking his green card too. Immigration courts can revoke green cards, but government agencies cannot.
105. On Friday, in another purge, Trump’s Justice Department fired several senior officials who managed pardon work, bankruptcy litigation, and other issues. Turmoil continued within the department as amid firings and a reshaping of the agency to carry out Trump’s agenda.
106. The official overseeing the Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles internal ethics investigations, was placed on leave. Elizabeth Oyer, the DOJ’s pardon attorney, was fired by deputy AG Todd Blanche in his first full day. WSJ reported Oyer was escorted out by security.
107. Oyer told the Times that she was fired the day after she refused to recommend that the actor Mel Gibson, a Trump supporter, should have his gun rights restored. Gibson lost his rights in 2011 over a domestic violence misdemeanor conviction.
108. On Friday Celia Cohen and Andrew Rohrbach, two Manhattan prosecutors who worked on the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, were also put on administrative leave by the DOJ.
109. WAPO reported the DOJ also reassigned three top national security officials, completely gutting the leadership in the National Security Division, which is responsible for working with the FBI and other intelligence agencies to protect the U.S. from threats.
110. On Friday, WSJ reported that FBI Director Kash Patel requested a secure line directly to the Oval Office from his office and home, a break from precedent. Since J. Edgar Hoover, FBI directors’ chain of command was to report to the deputy AG, and presidents usually talks only to the AG.
111. Patel, who shares a distrust of the agency he now leads with Trump, has also asked to hire his own private security, indicating he did not fully trust FBI agents. Patel and Bondi were both called out by Trump at his State of the Union. It is a rarity for the director to attend a SOTU.
112. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it planned to study the potential connection between vaccines and autism, a debunked theory often mentioned by Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
113. On Monday, amid a measles outbreak of more than 200 cases and one death in West Texas, in an interview, Kennedy downplayed the use of the measles vaccines, saying they are “recommended,” but that injuries from the vaccine were more common than known.
114. Kennedy also cited other fringe theories including false claims that natural immunity gained from getting measles protected against cancer and heart disease, and cheered unproven treatment like cod liver oil.
115. On Monday, WAPO reported the National Institutes of Health terminated or limited more than 40 grants related to research on vaccine hesitancy.
116. On Monday, a memo posted online by the Interior Department weakened one of the country’s oldest environmental laws, suspending a legal opinion that held companies liable for accidentally killing ducks, cranes, pelicans, owls, and hundreds of other bird species.
117. On Friday, WAPO reported that over objections of career employees, HHS granted Musk’s DOGE agents access to a highly sensitive government database created to help enforce child support payments, which contains substantial amounts of personal income data.
118. On Friday, DHS said it would no longer honor a bargaining agreement with the union representing 40,000 Transportation Security Administration agents set to run through 2031. Union officials said the move was against the law.
119. On Friday, the Trump Organization sued Capital One, accusing the bank of de-banking more than 300 of their accounts in the wake of Jan. 6, claiming it was “a result of political and social motivations and Capital One’s unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs.”
120. On Wednesday, WSJ reported that Trump’s economic messaging is spooking some of his allies, triggering a flood of panicked calls to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles from business executives, concern from Republican lawmakers, and tensions within the regime.
121. The mixed messages from Trump, Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has raised concerns among Republicans that Trump does not actually have a plan. Trump makes frequent last minute changes to his tariffs, leading to uncertainty.
122. On Wednesday, Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum went into effect. The European Union said it would retaliate. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Trump’s move was “entirely unjustified.”