Week 39 — The Return – The Weekly List

Noteworthy this week is that several of the most important stories received little media coverage and attention. Part of this is the continued gutting of U.S. journalism, not only in our public broadcasting, but also in mastheads taken private by billionaires. For example, the Washington Post, an important source of breaking stories about the first Trump regime, has been rendered a shell of itself by owner Jeff Bezos. We are also being continually bombarded with news and crazy antics, even in the slow summer month of August with Congress on recess. At times, the Trump regime seems to float lawless ideas, until the media catches wind, reports on it, and then suddenly the moves are reversed. That happened twice this week.

Trump has still largely maintained his ability to drive the news cycle, throwing shiny coins to distract from what he is getting away with. The exception being the Epstein files, which continue to dog him, and to be one of the few issues on which Americans across the political spectrum can agree, albeit for vastly different reasons. Trump is very purposefully trying to distract from the Epstein files, with his Justice Department convening a grand jury investigation of the Obama administration, without any clear charges. Notably, he has already investigated the so-called ‘Russia Hoax’ (recall, John Durham), and Congressional committees have been here as well.

Alarming stories this week related to not only the economy, of which Trump has assumed unilateral control with his trade war, but also with the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over a report showing the impacts of his first months in office. The firing follows the playbook of authoritarian leaders, Trump being one, who dismiss data they don’t like as scams or hoaxes. Trump also ordered Texas Republicans to redistrict their Congressional seats, another broken norm happening mid-decade, setting off a gerrymander war, that even the conservative WSJ Editorial Board referred to as “mutual assured political destruction.”

The stories not getting enough coverage, but of great import, include Trump’s DOJ and CFTC quietly closing their investigations of Polymarket (I wrote more about it here), the Smithsonian rewriting history by altering an exhibit on the “Limits of the Presidential Power” to hide Trump’s impeachments, a continual degradation of our federal agencies, and just the continual shift of the feel of our country and what is permissible.

The Smithsonian removed references to Trump’s impeachment from an exhibit on the “Limits of Presidential Power.” The exhibit was changed to say “only three presidents have seriously faced removal,” referring to Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton.
The Smithsonian gave an excuse that the exhibit had reverted to its 2008 version, even though it presented a false account of history, to match with other sections that had not yet been updated. Trump, who ordered removal of any “anti-American ideology,” was impeached twice.
WAPO’s fact checker, in his final column, wrote about how Trump changed the sanctity of the truth during the first regime, and by the second ignored the facts altogether, writing, “In an era where false claims are the norm, it’s much easier to ignore the fact-checkers.”
He was one of more than 60 Post staffers who took buyouts, including notable journalists David von Drehle, Catherine Rampell, Erik Wemple, Hank Stuever, and White House reporter Carol Leonnig, who broke many stories about the Trump regime, leaving the Post a shell of itself.
On Friday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created in 1967 by the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act, and served as the parent company of NPR, PBS, and stations around the country, said it would shut down in January.
On Monday, the Trump regime fired Mike Abramowitz, the director of Voice of America, after he rejected his reassignment to a VOA station in Greenville, NC, which transmits to regions where VOA’s foreign language services have gone mostly silent.
Trump’s DOJ and CFTC quietly ended their investigations of Polymarket, without charges. Polymarket, backed by Trump ally Peter Thiel, had been accused of accepting bets in Week 1 from the so-called Trump Whale, a foreign entity, that may have moved prediction markets.
NYT reported the IRS reinterpreted the Johnson Amendment, saying for the first time that churches could endorse candidates from the pulpit. The change came after conservative Christian activists appealed to Trump after the Easter prayer service in April.
In a letter from pastor Robert Jeffress, requested by Trump, he claimed his church had been subject to “wrongful weaponization” of the law and the “unlawful targeting” by the Biden administration. Franklin Graham said his church had faced an IRS inquiry under the Obama administration.
The Trump regime issued a memo which would allow federal workers to try to persuade their coworkers that their religious beliefs are “correct,” and to encourage coworkers to participate in “religious expressions of faith, such as prayer” while at work.
On Thursday, three federal judges spoke about violent threats they’ve faced and concerns about attempts by Trump and his allies to intimidate the judiciary at an event organized by the nonpartisan judicial advocacy group Speak Up for Justice, saying, “Stop fanning these flames.”
NYT reported that as a general rule, judges have traditionally taken DOJ lawyers at their word, but after months of Trump’s DOJ misleading the courts, violating judges’ orders, and demonizing judges who have ruled against them, the ‘presumption of regularity’ has been lost.
Recently, several judges have openly questioned DOJ lawyers, in ways that under previous norms would be unthinkable. This lost of trust would also force DOJ lawyers to commit time and energy to prepare to back up their assertions with witnesses or written submissions.
On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. canceled nearly $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. Many scientists view mRNA vaccines as the best option for protecting Americans from future pandemics and biological threats.
On Thursday, Virginia Giuffre’s family responded to Trump’s comment in Week 38 that his parting of ways with Jeffrey Epstein was because he stole her, saying, “It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister” and say she was “stolen.”
The family added in a statement, “It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey ‘likes women on the younger side…no doubt about it.’”
The family also said Giuffre wanted the Epstein files to be released before her death, and urged Trump to do say, saying, “She was fighting for that to happen right up until the very end,” and “She wanted the public to know the crimes that they had committed.”
Asked by reporters whether he knew why Epstein was taking the 15 year-old Giuffre, Trump claimed, “No, I don’t know really why, but I said, if he’s taken anybody from Mar-A-Lago, he’s hiring or whatever he’s doing, I didn’t like it. And we threw him out.”
On Friday, Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer said Maxwell was moved from a detention center in Florida to a lower-security prison in Texas, which is known as a federal prison camp. Her lawyer did not provide the reason for the transfer, and the DOJ did not comment.
NBC News reported according to Bureau of Prisons protocols, Maxwell was ineligible to be transferred to minimum-security because she is a convicted sex offender, unless she was granted a waiver.
The Giuffre family, along with accusers Annie and Maria Farmer, said, “It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment,” saying, “Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions.”
Bloomberg News reported as many as 1,000 FBI agents and other personnel worked around the clock poring through more than 100,000 documents in the Epstein files, and blacked out all mentions of Trump, along with other high-profile individuals.
Officials cited two FOIA exemptions in justifying their redactions: Exemption 6 protects individuals against “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” and Exemption 7(C) protects personal information contained in law enforcement records.
On Monday, confronted by angry constituents at a town hall, Nebraska Republican Rep. Mike Flood vowed to sign onto a nonbinding resolution to release the Epstein files after being repeatedly asked, and also said he does not support a pardon for Maxwell.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee sent a subpoena to the DOJ for the Epstein Files, and requested the documents by August 19. The committee also sent subpoenas to Democratic and Republican government officials, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The committee also subpoenaed eight other officials including past attorneys general. Notably, the committee did not subpoena former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who served during the first Trump regime and handed Epstein a sweetheart plea deal in 2008, nor any victims.
CNN reported top regime officials, including AG Pam Bondi, deputy AG Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel will meet at the home of Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday to discuss Epstein strategy, and whether to release Blanche’s interview of Maxwell, which was taped.
On Saturday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said it is investigating Jack Smith, the former DOJ official who oversaw two federal prosecutions of Trump, for potential Hatch Act violations. Trump baselessly accused Smith of bringing the case for political reasons.
On Monday, AG Bondi said the DOJ is opening a grand jury probe in South Florida into the Trump regime’s baseless claim that Obama administration officials manufactured intelligence on Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections.
The emerging grand jury inquiry was announced by right-wing media like Fox News, before any investigative steps had been taken. Even after the public announcement, the DOJ did not clarify what crimes the grand jury would investigate.
Trump has repeatedly urged his supporters to shift their focus from the Epstein files to the baseless ‘Russia Hoax’ investigation. Trump claimed Tuesday that he had nothing to do with the investigation, but added, “they deserve it.”
On Wednesday, Brown University announced it had reached a deal with the Trump regime to pay $50 million over 10 years to support workforce development in Rhode Island, in exchange for restoring its federally sponsored medical and health sciences research.
On Thursday, the University of California, Los Angeles said the Trump regime was freezing over $300 million in research funds for the school, citing claims of antisemitism and bias.
On Thursday, in a 52–45 vote along party lines, the Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas as commissioner at the Equal Opportunity Commission, which regulates workplace discrimination. Lucas has been on the forefront of Trump’s war against DEI.
NYT reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a memo to field offices that the Trump regime had authorized deployment of the National Guard at immigration facilities, to assist with the paperwork done before placing immigrants in detention.
The Pentagon said more than 1,000 National Guard troops would leave Los Angeles, as the Trump regime rolled back its unprecedented deployment. Just 250 troops out of the 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marine troops will remain.
On Thursday, a federal judge in Tennessee overseeing the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case ordered the Trump regime to moderate its public comments to ensure he could get a fair trial.
On Friday, a federal judge barred the Trump regime, for now, from removing hundreds of thousands of migrant from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti, given temporary protections under a Biden-era program, saying, “In a world of bad options, they played by the rules.”
On Monday, the AP reported the State Department is starting a 12 month pilot program requiring applicants for business and tourist visas from countries deemed to have a high overstay rate to post a bond of up to $15,000 in order to enter the U.S.
On Monday, ICE released Yeonsoo Go, 20, a graduate of a New York high school who attends Purdue University, after detaining her during a routine immigration hearing, resulting in widespread outrage and protests. Her family said her visa was valid until December 2025.
On Tuesday, the government of Rwanda said it would accept 250 migrants, the latest African country to work with the Trump regime as they try to expel tens of thousands of migrant in custody.
On Tuesday, in an internal email, ICE announced a pilot program offering cash bonuses for agents who deported immigrants through a fast-track program known as expedited removal, which allows migrants to be deported without court proceedings.
ICE announced signing bonuses of up to $50,000 amid a recruiting push to add 10,000 new agents. Both were part of incentives to meet Trump’s mass deportation push. ICE withdrew the cash bonuses for expedited removal after being questioned by the Times about the program.
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters construction was beginning on a new White House ballroom expansion, including gold-encrusted chandeliers. She added Trump and unidentified donors would be paying for the $200 million addition.
The 90,000 square-foot project, the largest in decades, was set to start in September and be completed before Trump leaves office. Images showed the ballroom would resemble one of the rooms in Mar-a-Lago. The project would also give donors a chance to curry favor.
Experts on historic preservation raised concerns that the renovation could be done in keeping with the historic nature of the building within the regime’s proposed time frame. The White House is exempt from the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, so Trump will not need approvals.
NYT reported a new federal disclosure by a pro-Trump PAC called MAGA Inc. revealed Trump raised $177 million in the first half of the year, an astounding amount, twice what was raised by the Republican National Committee, as donors sought access and favor.
Donors included people seeking pardons, business people in the cryptocurrency industry, and people seeking appointments in the regime. This amount is in addition to the record $239 million raised by Trump’s inaugural committee, and other groups not needing to disclose.
On Wednesday, Trump moved ahead with 50% tariffs on Brazil, the highest of any country, for so-called political persecution, and slapped sanctions on the judge overseeing the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, a major escalation as Brazilians had sought a dialogue.
On Thursday, a federal court of appeals appeared skeptical that Trump had the authority to impose sweeping tariffs with an unprecedented use of emergency powers. The case was brought by five small businesses and 12 Democratic attorneys general.
On Thursday, at the Federal Reserve meeting two Fed officials, Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, both of whom were appointed by Trump and are vying to be named as the next Chair, dissented on holding rates steady, the first double dissent in more than 30 years.
Trump attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Truth Social, saying he is “TOO LATE, and actually, TOO ANGRY, TOO STUPID, & TOO POLITICAL, to have the job of Fed Chair,” adding, “‘Too Late’ is a TOTAL LOSER, and our Country is paying the price!”
WAPO reported the federal government is paying 154,000 federal employees, 6.7% of the workforce, who opted in for Trump’s DOGE deferred resignation program, costing the government $21.7 billion, according to one Senate Democrat.
CNN reported that the National Weather Service is looking to hire 450 meteorologists, hydrologists, and radar technicians back, after previous cuts by DOGE. The cuts raised questions of whether the country is properly prepared for hurricane season.
The Trump regime ordered NASA to destroy satellites used for monitoring planet-warming greenhouse gases, used by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers for detailed information about carbon dioxide. No rationale was given as to why.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it would move to cancel $7 billion in Biden-era grants for 60 nonprofit groups and state agencies, which help low- and moderate-income families install solar panels on their homes.
Late Thursday, Trump issued an executive order unveiling sweeping tariffs ahead of his August 1 deadline “to be applied against nearly 70 countries, ranging from 10% to 41%” starting in one week. Trump heralded the tariffs as a “new system of trade.”
On Friday, before jobs numbers came out, Trump posted on Truth Social that the Federal Reserve board “SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL” from Chair Jerome Powell “AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!” calling Powell “a stubborn MORON.”
Shortly after, stocks tumbled and bond yields fell after a weak jobs report, as U.S. hiring in July slowed to 73,000, well below expectations, as employers pulled back from hiring. The report also downwardly revised the hiring numbers for the past two months by 258,000 jobs.
After the report, Trump again attacked Powell on Truth Social, posting, “Too Little, Too Late. Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell is a disaster,” adding, “DROP THE RATE! The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!”
Shortly after, Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler, a Biden nominee, said her last day would be Friday, although her term was set to expire in January 2026, paving the way for Trump to replace her. Trump baselessly claimed it was over a disagreement with Powell, although she was in agreement with him.
Later Friday, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, following the jobs report, posting that she was a “Biden Political Appointee,” and baselessly adding it was important the numbers “can’t be manipulated for political purposes.”
Later, Trump told reporters, “We’re doing so well. I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election, and there were other times,” adding, “I fired her, and you know what? I did the right thing.” McEntarfer had worked for decades as a government economist.
Trump falsely claimed, “Days before the election, she came out with these beautiful numbers for Kamala. Then right after the election…she had an eight or nine hundred thousand-dollar massive reduction.” The opposite was true, numbers were revised down days before the election.
Some Senate Republicans spoke out against the firing: Sen. Cynthia Lummis called the firing “kind of impetuous,” Sen. Thom Tillis said Trump “ought to grow up,” and Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “when you fire people, then it makes people trust [the numbers] even less.”
William Beach, Trump’s pick during the first regime to lead the BLS, called the firing of his successor “damaging,” adding, “I don’t know that there’s any grounds for this firing,” and that it “really hurts the statistical system. It undermines credibility in BLS.”
Beach also cited that studies show that the agency is more accurate than 20 or 30 years ago, including any revisions to initial data. McEntarfer was confirmed by the Senate in January 2024 by a vote of 86–8, with Vice President JD Vance voting to confirm her.
NYT reported Trump’s firing of the head of an agency that collects data is reminiscent of an authoritarian playbook, and underscores his efforts to hide facts that he doesn’t like and promote his own reality.
Late Sunday, Trump again baselessly accused McEntarfer of making revisions to the jobs report as part of a “scam,” telling reporters, “The numbers were ridiculous,” and repeating his false claim about revisions around the 2024 election.
By Monday, Republicans fell in line with Trump’s firing of McEntarfer, despite many, including Trump, having praised her when the jobs numbers were better. Some said there were too many revisions, others said the bureau lacked transparency, or that Trump had the right to fire her.
On Monday, the Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index fell to 107.55 in July, the lowest reading since last October, amplifying concerns about the health of the labor market.
An AP-NORC poll found that nearly nine in 10 Americans are stressed about grocery costs, including 53% who see it as a major source of stress, and 33% as a minor source.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported the U.S. services sector stagnated in July. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of services declined to 50.1, down from 52.8 when Trump took office. The employment index dropped to 46.4, contracting for the fourth time in five months.
WSJ reported the Trump regime is preparing an order to punish banks that are perceived to discriminate against conservatives and crypto companies, citing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The draft also criticizes the role banks played in investigations into Jan. 6.
Trump baselessly claimed in an interview on CNBC that he had been discriminated against by JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and suggested his personal grievances were behind the order. JP Morgan said Trump’s accounts were not closed for political reasons.
On Friday, a federal judge, who was a Trump appointee, declined to order the regime to reinstate hundreds of millions of dollars in funding awarded by the National Science Foundation to universities across 16 states.
On Friday, a federal appeals court ruled that Trump can instruct government agencies to end collective bargaining with federal unions, finding that even if Trump’s order was a form of retaliation, the regime’s statements demonstrate Trump’s “focus on national security.”
On Friday, a coalition of 16 states led by Democrats and D.C. sued the Trump regime over its efforts to end pediatric transgender medical care, as more hospitals stopped treating transgender youth, calling it “a cruel and targeted harassment campaign against providers.”
NYT reported the Trump regime is seeking sensitive personal data on millions of Americans available at the state level, for programs like safety nets and voter rolls. The regime claimed it needs the information to identify fraud and ensure election integrity. Critics disagree.
Attorneys general from 20 Democratic states and D.C., as well as Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its demand for data related to food stamps. Other AGs sued Health and Human Services for requests on data related to Medicaid.
The Department of Homeland Security announced it would deny Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to states and cities that boycott Israeli companies. After reporting on the move, the agency removed the reference to denying grants from its terms and conditions.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump regime from reallocating $4 billion in FEMA funding meant to help communities protect against natural disasters, after a lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general.
Billions of dollars for scientific research at the National Institute of Health was temporarily frozen by an Office of Management and Budget memo. After reporting by several news outlets, OMB reversed, saying funding was “undergoing a programmatic review” and will be released.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan legislative agency, found that the Trump regime illegally withheld NIH funding when it terminated 1,800 grants. This marked the fifth time Trump and his regime have rearranged the budget in defiance of Congress.
On Thursday Texas Republicans unveiled a gerrymandered House map that could likely deliver five additional House seats to Republicans in 2026, and help them keep the majority, at the insistence of Trump. Mid-decade redistricting is something that has rarely been done.
On Sunday, Texas House Democrats left the state, denying Republicans the needed quorum for a redistricting vote, which they said amounted to “rigging” the 2026 election, and said they would stay away for two weeks, until the 30-day special session is expected to end.
Later Sunday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to remove the Democrats who fled the state. Experts said Abbott could not remove lawmakers on his own, and would need the courts to concur, which would take months and be difficult to win.
Later Sunday, Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker vowed to protect Texas democrats who fled to his state, saying, “We’re going to do everything we can to protect every single one of them,” adding, “they’re doing the right thing, we know that they’re following the law.”
On Monday, New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was exploring ways to redraw her state’s congressional map “as soon as possible,” saying, “We are at war,’” and “I’m tired with fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back.”
Several other states said they are considering redistricting following Texas, including blue states like California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland, and red states including Missouri, Ohio, Florida, and Indiana.
Later Monday, Texas House Republicans voted to issue civil arrest warrants for the Democrats who left the state. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said he was prepared to sign warrants for their arrest, warning, “To those who are absent, return now.”
On Tuesday, Trump falsely claimed in an interview that he “got the highest vote in the history of Texas,” and therefore said he was “entitled to five more seats.”
On Tuesday, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn asked the FBI to help locate and arrest Texas Democratic state lawmakers who sought refuge in New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts. When Trump was asked if the FBI should be involved, he said “they may have to.”
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said the state was discussing an idea of a redistricting proposal that the state legislature would vote on during the week of August 18, in hopes of putting a new map before voters in a special election on November 4.
On Friday, the Trump regime moved to roll back a Biden-era policy expanding abortion access at Veterans Affairs hospitals in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy threatens their health, resulting in pregnant vets being barred from nearly all abortion access.
On Tuesday, the Trump regime announced it would reinstall a statue of a Confederate general, Albert Pike, in D.C., after the statue was toppled and set on fire by Black Lives Matter demonstrators in 2020.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened a federal takeover of D.C., posting on Truth Social that DOGE employee Edward Coristine, 19, who nicknamed himself ‘Big Balls,’ was beaten in an attempted carjack by 10 young assailants.
On Tuesday, Trump fired five of the seven members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, which oversees Puerto Rico’s finances, after right-wing influencer Laura Loomer criticized the board’s spending.
On Tuesday, the National Endowment for the Humanities, after canceling virtually all of its grants in April, citing a shift to Trump’s agenda, announced $35 million in new grants relating to the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the Founding era.

On Friday, August 1st, Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after the jobs report showed weakened hiring.