The Paper Trail: August 26, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for August 26, 2025

Trump budget officials claim sweeping spending power from Congress, records show: OMB Director Russell Vought has been given vast authority to approve or block billions in federal spending. Newly released documents show the OMB is imposing litmus tests on releasing money, demanding plans from agencies to show they are adhering to the president’s executive orders on such matters as DEI programs. (Riley Beggin and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post)

Trump, in a move with little precedent, says he is firing a Fed governor: President Trump further threatened the independence of the Federal Reserve by telling Lisa Cook that he had found sufficient cause to remove her from her position over allegations of mortgage fraud. Ms. Cook and her lawyer said they would fight the firing. (Tony Romm, Colby Smith, and Ben Casselman, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump team makes mortgage fraud its newest revenge tool (Avery Lotz, Axios)

Bondi aides corrupted antitrust enforcement, ousted DOJ official says: Roger Alford, the recently fired second-in-command at the DOJ’s antitrust division, accused two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi of cutting deals with favored lobbyists and undermining the office’s independence. The two officials were involved in negotiating a settlement in June that allowed Hewlett Packard to acquire competitor Juniper Networks. (Dave Michaels, Wall Street Journal)

Trump revokes security clearances of 37 former and current officials: Many of the current and former national security officials worked on Russia analysis or foreign threats to U.S. elections. Rescinding clearances appears to be part of a campaign by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to reveal what she sees as flaws in intelligence assessments about Russian influence operations during the 2016 election. (Julian E. Barnes and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Gabbard slashing intelligence office workforce and cutting budget by over $700 million (Aamer Madhani, Eric Tucker, and Ali Swenson, Associated Press)

In battle over D.C. police, federal prosecutors open inquiry into crime data: The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., is investigating whether city police officials falsified crime data. In April, the same U.S. attorney’s office heralded figures showing a 25% drop in violent crime in Washington since Trump took office. (Devlin Barrett, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: House GOP launches probe into alleged D.C. crime data manipulation (Josephine Walker, Axios)

🔎See Also: Chicago is up next for the National Guard. “They’re screaming for us,” says Trump (Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy and Michael Loria, USA Today)

Pirro orders office to maximize criminal charges on street arrests: Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, instructed her understaffed office to charge anyone arrested in the administration’s crackdown on street crime with stiffer federal crimes whenever possible. (Devlin Barrett, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Jeanine Pirro bragged about helping Trump and GOP while a Fox News host (Jeremy Barr, Washington Post)

Trump bought more than $100 million in bonds since January, filings show: The president purchased at least $103 million worth of corporate and municipal bonds in nearly 700 transactions since he took office in January. His purchase of bonds from Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup — worth at least $100,000 apiece — comes as he considers an eventual replacement of the Federal Reserve chair and after he nominated a top aide to a seat on the Fed’s board. Likewise, Trump’s ownership stake in hundreds of municipal bonds puts him in line to benefit from decisions regarding the distribution of federal funds to local governments. (Steve Kopack, NBC News)

FEMA staffers accuse Trump of weakening disaster programs: Current and former FEMA officials wrote in a public letter that FEMA under President Donald Trump has strayed far from the disaster preparedness reforms designed to correct the agency’s mistakes in responding to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. (Zack Colman, Politico)

Elon Musk & DOGE

DOGE targeted him on social media. Then the Taliban took his family: Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his work for the U.S. Institute of Peace. (Avi Asher-Schapiro and Christopher Bing, ProPublica)

Weaponization of the Government

FBI launches dawn raid on home of Trump nemesis John Bolton: The FBI hasn’t given any reason for its Friday morning raid of the home of former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton, who was accused of leaking classified material when he published a memoir in 2020 in which he claimed Trump was “unfit to be president.” (Nico Hines and Ewan Palmer, Daily Beast)

Two big law firms said to be doing free work for Trump administration: After making deals with the president to avoid punitive executive orders, the firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Kirkland & Ellis are doing free legal work for the Commerce Department on a range of matters, including trade deals. (Michael S. Schmidt, Matthew Goldstein, and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)

Trump threatens new investigation of Christie over ‘Bridgegate’ scandal: President Trump is threatening a new investigation of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie over a years-old scandal after a television appearance in which Christie was critical of Trump. (Patrick Svitek, Washington Post)

Harvard’s research is shrinking amid the Trump administration’s freeze: The university is at a crossroads as it navigates lawsuits and negotiations to try to mitigate the damage to research. (Susan Svrluga, Washington Post)

Epstein Files

DOJ goes 0-3 in requests to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury materials: U.S. District Judge Richard Berman last week rejected the DOJ’s effort to unseal grand jury transcripts and exhibits in the Epstein case, writing that the government itself is the “logical party” to make the files public and criticizing its motion as a “diversion” tactic. Berman noted the DOJ’s 100,000 pages of Epstein materials, which it could release at any time and which are now the target of a congressional subpoena, “dwarf” the roughly 70 pages of grand jury material. (Erica Orden, Politico)

Ghislaine Maxwell provided no incriminating information during meetings with deputy AG on high-profile individuals who interacted with Jeffrey Epstein, transcript shows: During the two-day interview session last month with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell claimed there was no client list, no blackmail scheme, and no inappropriate or criminal activity by high-profile Epstein associates including President Trump and former President Bill Clinton. (James Hill et al., ABC News)

House Oversight subpoenas Epstein estate, including for any ‘client list’: The Committee also requested any document or record that could be reasonably construed to be a potential list of clients involved in sex, sex acts or sex trafficking facilitated by Epstein. (Kadia Goba, Washington Post)

House Oversight Committee Democrats say most Epstein files turned over by DOJ were already public: The Justice Department has provided 33,000 pages so far to the House Oversight Committee but committee Democrats say only three percent are new. (Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN)

Reproductive Freedom

Judge allows blocking of funds to Maine abortion providers: U.S. District Court Judge Lance E. Walker wrote that he would not thwart Republican lawmakers’ bid to pull Medicaid funds from organizations that perform abortions. (Zach Montague, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Gold rush: Top Trump officials’ silicon valley ties: The Golden Dome missile defense project could be a “slush fund” for tech companies like Palantir — and for high-level officials with financial stakes. (Nick Schwellenbach and Neil Gordon, Project On Government Oversight)

Pentagon asks its civilian employees if they want to work for ICE: The Pentagon sent an email to its nearly 1 million civilian employees last week asking them to sign up for a “volunteer force” to help with the administration’s mass deportation campaign. A job application page says they would be deployed to ICE and CBP sites and may be expected to work under “austere conditions.” (Jason Koebler, 404 Media)

Price tag for Trump's D.C. military surge: at least $1 million a day: The military forces deployed to Washington, D.C. — whose mission includes “community safety patrols,” assisting in “traffic control,” and “area beautification” — could cost upward of $1 million per day, with the possible price tag climbing into the hundreds of millions of dollars for the open-ended occupation. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

🔎 See Also: DC delegate presses Trump officials on cost of National Guard ‘mass deployment’ (Aris Folley, The Hill)

Hegseth’s expansive security requirements tax Army protective unit: The defense secretary’s unusually large personal security requirements are straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him as it pulls agents from criminal investigations to safeguard family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and D.C. (Tara Copp, Alex Horton, and Dan Lamothe, Washington Post)

Trump, Hegseth float renaming Defense Department to Department of War: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said plans to rename his agency as the Department of War are “coming soon,” but it remains unclear whether the executive branch can make such a move without congressional permission. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

Ex-Veterans Affairs acquisition leader broke several ethics rules at 2023 conference, watchdog finds: A VA inspector general report found that Judith Dawson violated several ethics violations and generally ignored or dismissed concerns raised by an employee. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Crackdown on mail-in ballots won’t focus on military, White House says: White House officials said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is committed to making sure overseas and out-of-state military ballots are still counted in upcoming elections, even while he pushes for significant changes in how states handle mail-in voting procedures. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

VA needs more oversight of health care options to prevent waste: Study: Veterans Affairs leaders are working with Medicare officials to cut down on duplicative billing for veterans medical services, but outside experts say fully fixing the problem will require better record-keeping and patient monitoring by both agencies. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

Veterans stole over $150K from Air Force base’s sports program in Florida, feds say: Two U.S. military retirees, including the longtime intramural sports director at a Central Florida Air Force Base, stole more than $150,000 from the base’s sports program over 15 years, federal prosecutors said. (Julia Marnin, Military.com)

Business and Finance

U.S. and Japan at odds over terms of $550 billion investment: The United States and Japan will announce details of their trade deal later this week, a pact that calls on the Japanese government to make $550 billion in investment available to be directed by President Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Monday. (River Akira Davis, New York Times)

The backbone of the global auto supply chain Is at risk from Trump’s tariffs: Under the Trump administration, virtually all of the world’s largest car making countries are subject to double-digit tariffs on automobiles and auto parts. While big foreign manufacturers of cars, such as Toyota, have the profits to absorb the added costs, industry experts expect a more devastating effect on the dense networks of auto parts suppliers that make everything from pistons to wiring. (River Akira Davis, et al., New York Times)

Southwest Airlines is changing its seating policy for larger customers: Beginning in January, larger passengers who cannot be accommodated in a single plane seat will be required to purchase a second seat ahead of time, and can then request a refund after the flight if there were unused seats on the plane. (Michael Bartiromo, The Hill)

Public broadcast cuts hit rural areas, revealing a political shift: Threatened by the president with political retribution, Republicans agreed to defund public broadcasting, imperiling a lifeline of communication in rural Alaska. (Megan Mineiro, New York Times)

Tech

Intel agrees to sell U.S. a 10% stake in its business: President Trump said on Friday that Intel, the troubled Silicon Valley chipmaker, had agreed to sell the U.S. government a 10 percent stake in its business, worth $8.9 billion, in one of the largest government interventions in a U.S. company since the rescue of the auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis. (Tripp Mickle, Lauren Hirsch, and Ana Swanson, New York Times)

Health Care

‘I could literally be left behind to die’: How a student with a disability changed the law: Schools across the country face increasing threats, but many students with disabilities don't have a way to evacuate. (Sonia A. Rao, New York Times)

How deeply Trump has cut federal health agencies: Though Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would add scientists to the workforce, agencies have lost thousands of them, along with support staff those scientists depended on to do their jobs. In total, more than 20,500 employees, or about 18% of HHS’s workforce, have left or been pushed out. (Brandon Roberts, Annie Waldman, and Pratheek Rebala, ProPublica)

🔎See Also: 750 HHS employees send signed letter to RFK Jr. asking him to stop spreading misinformation (Mary Kekatos, ABC News)

Cities move away from strategies that make drug use safer: As fentanyl propelled overdose deaths to ever more alarming numbers several years ago, public health officials throughout the United States stepped up a blunt, pragmatic response. Desperate to save lives, they tried making drug use safer. (Jan Hoffman, New York Times)

Supreme Court lets Trump Administration cut NIH grants for disfavored research: In a fractured ruling, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled 5-to-4 that the Trump administration could for now cancel more than $780 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health that the government said had been intended to explore topics like diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, “gender ideology” and vaccine hesitancy. (Adam Liptak, New York Times)

Why your health insurance could explode next year: Health insurance premiums for some Americans could increase by a whopping 66 percent next year. Why are insurers jacking up their rates? And why are Republicans killing off Biden-era subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, despite their overwhelming, bipartisan popularity? Could such efforts backfire and make Medicare for All inevitable? And how can individuals and small businesses prepare for insurance hikes? (David Sirota and Ariella Markowitz, The Lever)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ DeSantis appeals judge’s order blocking expansion of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention site

→ Phone searches at the U.S. border hit a record high

→ ICE hunts down immigrants by spying on their wire transfers

→ ICE is using Taylor Swift’s loophole to hide deportation flights

→ Trump’s tactics mean many international students won't make it to campus

Other News:

→ Supreme Court allows NIH to stop making nearly $800M in research grants for now

→ White House lists Smithsonian exhibits it finds objectionable

→ Appeals court voids $500 million fine in NY case against Trump, upholds fraud finding

→ Elon Musk and X reach tentative settlement with laid-off Twitter staff

On The Lighter Side

Government staffing cuts have fueled an ant-smuggling boom: Ant smugglers in the U.S. have become emboldened by DOGE-directed cuts to the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which works to stop the smuggling of invertebrate pests. “The illegal market rapidly has become much more aggressive because of the lack of enforcement,” said an expert. (Kate Knibbs, Wired)

Upcoming Events

📌 VIRTUAL EVENT: Counterterrorism in the Trump Era. ProPublica. Thursday, September 4, 4 p.m. EDT.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Priority Open Recommendations: Department of the Treasury. GAO-25-108067 (PDF)