Trump Corruption

NBC News reports: Dozens of employees who attended a diversity training course that former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos [photo] encouraged during President Donald Trump’s first administration have been placed on paid leave as part of Trump’s targeting of DEI programs, a union official told NBC News. Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents hundreds …

Wired reports: Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of—and in at least one case, purportedly still in—college. Most have connections to Musk and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chairman of the analytics firm …

CNN reports: Two top security officials at the US Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave Saturday night after refusing to allow officials from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to access systems at the agency, even after DOGE personnel threatened to call law enforcement. Personnel from the Musk-created office physically tried to access the USAID headquarters in …

Canada’s CTV News reports: As Sunday morning began, U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media to blast Canada and other trade partners. He repeated his claims that the U.S. subsidizes Canada to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, without explaining why he categorizes his country’s trade deficit with Canada as a subsidy. “Without this massive subsidy, Canada …

Posted this morning to Truth Social: The “Tariff Lobby,” headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA. …

Reuters reports: Lawyers at the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) have been told they need to seek permission from the politically appointed leadership before formally launching probes, two sources briefed on the matter said, in a marked change in procedure that could slow down investigations. The change, which has not been previously reported, was made under new leadership at the …

The Desk reports: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Saturday said it will stop e-mailing news organizations and reporters with updates about two plane crashes that occurred earlier this week. Moving forward, the federal agency tasked with investigating transportation-related accidents and disasters said news organizations and reporters will have to follow the agency’s official account on X. The Desk …

The New York Times reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave representatives of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency full access to the federal payment system late on Friday. Mr. Bessent granted access to the payments system to a handful of staff members affiliated with DOGE, including Tom Krause, the chief executive of a Silicon Valley company, Cloud Software Group. Access …

The Daily Beast reports: A photo from the FBI’s training academy in Quantico, Virginia, has gone viral as a grave symbol of the Trump administration’s push to strip diversity, equity, and inclusion values from all facets of the federal government. The image, which has racked up millions of views on social media, shows a man painting solid gray over a …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Mr. Trump’s justification for this economic assault on the neighbors makes no sense. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says they’ve “enabled illegal drugs to pour into America.” But drugs have flowed into the U.S. for decades, and will continue to do so as long as Americans keep using them. Neither country can …

The Hill reports: The Trump administration forced out a number of FBI officials Friday, removing agents who worked on the criminal cases into President Trump as well as the heads of various field offices. A source familiar said agents who had worked on the Mar-a-Lago and Jan. 6 investigations were escorted out of the Washington Field Office. The same source …

The New York Times reports: The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, was fired on Saturday, prematurely ending a five-year term that was scheduled to run through late 2026. “With so much power concentrated in the hands of a few, agencies like the C.F.P.B. have never been more critical,” Mr. Chopra wrote in a letter he posted …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s social media startup gifted more than $800,000 worth of stock each to Kash Patel, his nominee to run the FBI, and Linda McMahon, his pick to lead the Education Department, according to regulatory filings. Patel and McMahon — who both sit on the company’s board — were each awarded 25,946 shares in Trump Media & …

Axios reports: A new White House video features mothers whose children’s deaths were linked to undocumented immigrants rebuking actress Selena Gomez for her Instagram post in which she cried over President Trump’s plans for mass deportations. The video is the latest sign that Trump’s new administration will use campaign-like tactics — and the power of social media — to talk …

Politico reports: The Justice Department abruptly fired dozens of prosecutors who worked on criminal cases stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to correspondence reviewed by POLITICO and an interview with one of the people who was terminated. Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin emailed the employees just before 5 p.m. Friday, appending a memo from acting …

The Washington Post reports: The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks. David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for …

The Daily Beast reports: Air traffic controllers were emailed by the Trump administration urging them to quit their jobs and take mass “buyouts” just 24 hours after the D.C. plane crash. They were among hundreds of thousands of federal workers sent the email at 8.30 p.m. Thursday. The email dropped almost exactly 24 hours after an Army helicopter crashed into …

“Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union? Do you want the truthful answer, or should I give you the political answer? Absolutely. Absolutely. The European Union has treated us so terribly. Let me just tell you, I got elected for a lot of reasons. Number one was the border, number two was inflation, because I had almost …

NBC News reports: The CDC on Friday is scrubbing a swath of HIV-related content from the agency’s website as a part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. CDC employees were told in a Jan 29. email from Charles Ezell, the acting director of the U.S. office of personnel …

ABC News reports: A federal judge in Rhode Island has formally blocked the Trump Administration’s spending freeze, saying in an order this afternoon that the funding freeze is likely a violation of the Constitution. “During the pendency of the Temporary Restraining Order, Defendants shall not pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate Defendants’ compliance with awards and obligations to provide …