Trump Corruption

NPR reports: A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has issued a temporary restraining order against a Trump administration effort to freeze funding for federal grants and other programs. Monday’s order by U.S. Judge Loren AliKhan comes in response to a memo released by the Office of Management and Budget last week directing the funding pause. The memo spurred a legal …

The New York Post reports: President Trump may use his executive powers to gut the Department of Education and then push for legislation to abolish it as part of his administration’s efforts to shrink the size of government, according to a report. Trump administration officials are reportedly in talks about using an executive order to shut down nearly all of …

Raw Story reports: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo issued a “read-out” of her call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday — but her list of what the two leaders agreed to is different from his in one major respect: guns. Washington Post staff writer Meryl Kornfield pointed out on X that in Sheinbaum’s list of things the U.S. had …

“Elon’s got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good — if we agree with him, and it’s only if we agree with him. He’s a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs, and we put him in charge of seeing what he can do with certain groups and certain numbers.” “The numbers, …

It just gets more and more stupid by the minute: Elon Musk has accused an X user of committing a crime for listing the names of alleged DOGE employees who helped Musk access the US Treasury payment system. News of Musk’s access to the closely-guarded Treasury data system—which controls and distributes trillions of dollars a year—raised alarm over the weekend. …

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a powerful watchdog agency whose oversight and enforcement actions Bessent immediately halted in a move that delighted big banks and enraged public-interest groups. In an email to agency staff, Bessent ordered the bureau to cease all …

The Associated Press reports: Elon Musk is working for President Donald Trump as a “special government employee,” according to a White House official, solidifying his controversial role in the administration but sidestepping some disclosure rules that are typical of federal workers. The official, speaking Monday on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Musk has a government …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday ordering the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments to create a sovereign wealth fund and said it may purchase TikTok. “We’re going to stand this thing up within the next 12 months. We’re going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people,” he told …

From the new Substack site Musk Watch: Several of Elon Musk’s associates installed at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have received unprecedented access to federal human resources databases containing sensitive personal information for millions of federal employees. According to two members of OPM staff with direct knowledge, the Musk team running OPM has the ability to extract information from …

First, a reminder about this guy: Interim D.C. U.S. attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., on Friday dismissed about 30 federal prosecutors who have worked on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases over the past four years, undertaking a housecleaning of the top prosecutor’s office in Washington, while preparing to extend the office’s scrutiny to top Democratic leaders and former Justice …

NPR reports: Elon Musk’s X broadened an existing lawsuit on Saturday to include several major brands — accusing more companies of illegally boycotting the social media platform in 2022 following Musk’s acquisition. The suit, which was filed last year in a federal court in Texas, initially targeted the boycott organizer, the World Federation of Advertisers, along with companies including CVS …

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk said his “DOGE team” of government efficiency enforcers is shutting down payments to federal contractors, suggesting that the world’s richest man may have access to sensitive systems used at the U.S. Treasury Department. “The corruption and waste is being rooted out in real-time,” Musk posted on X on Sunday, saying officials reporting to his so-called …

“Secretary of State Rubio is in Panama — Panama right now. And we’re talking about the Panama Canal. What they’ve done is terrible. They violated the agreement. They are not allowed to violate the agreement. China is running the Panama Canal. That was not given to China. That was given to Panama, foolishly. But they violated the agreement. And we’re …

The Associated Press reports: Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters on Monday, according to a notice distributed to them, after billionaire Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. USAID staffers said they tracked 600 employees who reported being locked out of …

CNN reports: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded on Monday to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off aid over the alleged mistreatment of White farmers, denying Trump’s claim that authorities were “confiscating land.” “South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated …

“Canada has been very abusive of the United States for many years. They don’t allow our banks. And you know that Canada does not allow banks to go in, if you think about it. That’s pretty amazing. “If we have a U.S. bank, they don’t allow them to go in. Canada has been very tough for oil on energy. They …

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 …