The Paper Trail: October 28, 2025

The War on “Narcoterrorists” Escalates; Trump’s Ballroom Blitz; CDC Shake-Up: Reform or Revenge?; And More.

October 28, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Government Shutdown

Hunger and cold loom as shutdown imperils funding for antipoverty programs: Within days, tens of millions of low-income Americans may lose assistance for food, child care, and utilities if the federal government remains shut down. (Linda Qiu and Eileen Sullivan, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump administration says it won’t tap emergency funds to pay food aid (Grace Yarrow and Meredith Lee Hill, Politico)

Advocacy group warns families are facing medication shortages, rationing at on-post: Military families using on-base pharmacies have begun to see their prescriptions out of stock or rationed. (Rose L. Thayer, Stars and Stripes)

Shutdown is “holding my veterans hostage,” VA chief says: Around 30,000 VA employees are currently furloughed as a result of the shutdown, VA Secretary Doug Collins told reporters. Virtually all of the Veterans Health Administration, where most of VA’s employees work, is currently working and getting paid on time; still, the secretary said, veterans are missing out on critical services such as vocational training and employment assistance. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Timothy Mellon is Trump’s $130 million mystery military donor: The mystery donor whose $130 million contribution is meant to pay U.S. military troops during the shutdown was revealed to be billionaire railroad magnate Timothy Mellon, who contributed $50 million to Trump’s super PAC during the 2024 election. Mellon’s donation works out to about $100 per service member, and it likely runs afoul of the Antideficiency Act. (Annie Nova and Dan Mangan, CNBC)

Other Shutdown News:

→ As shutdown drags and Trump flexes, Congress cedes its relevance

→ Flights to Los Angeles International Airport halted due to air traffic controller shortage

→ How the shutdown threatens to halt Trump’s aggressive nuclear security goals

→ Key GOP senator offers proposal to pay essential and furloughed workers during shutdown

→ That time one agency shut down for one day and changed government forever

Weaponization of the Government

Analysis: Letitia James case shows ruthlessness of Justice Dept. in Trump’s grip: The president’s crusade against those he believes wronged him may once have been interpreted as a tit-for-tat effort to go after his enemies. But it’s becoming clear that creating an aura of criminality — through headlines in right-wing media, scrutiny of the target and their relatives, and reputational damage — may be as important as a conviction. (Jonah E. Bromwich and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times)

Nation’s biggest law firms back off from challenging Trump policies: The largest law firms have been far less likely to challenge President Trump’s policies than they were during his first term. Small- and medium-sized firms (fewer than 500 lawyers) are carrying much more of the burden. (Shayna Jacobs, Clara Ence Morse, and Mark Berman, Washington Post)

Trump says all Canada trade talks “terminated” over ad criticizing tariffs: President Trump announced an immediate end to trade negotiations with Canada over a Canadian television ad containing excerpts of a 1987 speech in which Ronald Reagan said, “trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.” (Joanna Partridge, The Guardian)

University of Virginia makes deal with White House to halt investigations: The deal — the first reached with a public university — will require UVA to adhere to the administration’s broad interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision that forbids the explicit consideration of race in admissions. In return, the DOJ will pause investigations into the university’s admissions policies and other civil rights concerns. (Michael C. Bender and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times)

NPR lawsuit alleges Corporation for Public Broadcasting gave in to political pressure: In court documents, NPR claims the board of CPB yanked a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract for NPR to operate a satellite distribution system days after President Trump warned that NPR should receive no more federal funds. (David Folkenflik, NPR)

The War on “Narcoterrorists”

Trump orders U.S. carrier strike group to Caribbean: Deploying an aircraft carrier strike group is a significant move and often suggests larger scale military operations. The warships will add to the 10,000 troops and dozen F-35 fighters deployed to the Caribbean over the last several weeks. (Paul McLeary, Politico)

Ecuador says no evidence to detain survivor of U.S. strike on suspected drug vessel: Ecuador’s prosecutor’s office released the Ecuadorean survivor of a U.S. military strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean after finding no evidence the man had committed a crime. (Reuters)

Natural Disasters

NC counties that busted budgets after Helene still waiting for FEMA to pay them back: A year after Hurricane Helene, FEMA hasn’t reimbursed millions of dollars spent on cleanup and recovery, upending local budgets and hindering reconstruction. The Trump administration has instituted new layers of red tape, making it even harder for communities to recoup disaster expenditures. (Brady Dennis, Brianna Sacks, and Kevin Crowe, Washington Post)

Russia-Ukraine War

Trump’s sanctions target Russian “war ATM,” but the real test is enforcement: The impact that the new sanctions could have on the Russian economy is up for debate. Experts largely expect that while there may be temporary supply disruptions, Russia will find ways to keep its oil flowing onto global markets. (Clare Sebastian, CNN)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Pentagon touts “next generation” press corps of mostly right-wing outlets: The Pentagon last week announced the “next generation” of its press corps, containing mostly right-wing outlets, after the mass exodus of legacy outlets who refused to sign the department’s restrictive new press policy. According to a spokesperson, more than 60 journalists who signed the policy will join 26 journalists from 18 outlets who already had building access and agreed to the new rules. (Ellen Mitchell, The Hill)

Hegseth changes policy on how Pentagon officials speak with Congress: In a pair of new memos, the secretary and deputy secretary ordered DOD officials — including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — to obtain permission from the department’s legislative affairs office before they communicate with Capitol Hill. (Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin, Military Times)

Army counterintelligence agents to get enhanced arrest powers: Civilian special agents of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command will receive enhanced authorities to conduct searches, execute warrants, and make arrests outside of military bases. (Zita Ballinger Fletcher, Defense News)

Army, Marine Corps vehicles not ready for combat, watchdog finds: The GAO found the majority of ground combat vehicles used by the Army and Marine Corps aren’t ready to take part in missions due to a lack of maintenance and shortages of spare parts. (Zita Ballinger Fletcher, Defense News)

Newly released data reveals Air Force suicide crisis after years of concealment: The Pentagon is concealing the scale of a real threat to the lives of his military’s active-duty members: a suicide crisis killing hundreds of airmen. (Austin Campbell, The Intercept)

Congress members question Pentagon’s delay in “forever chemical cleanup”: A bipartisan group of lawmakers asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to explain why the Pentagon has pushed back its cleanup of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at nearly 140 military sites. The delays extended the timelines for cleanup of contaminated water and soil by an average of five years. (Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times)

Business and Finance

NBA player and head coach among 30 arrested in illegal U.S. gambling investigation: The years-long illegal gambling and sports-rigging operations that led to the arrests were allegedly backed by the major mafia crime families and involved the laundering of proceeds through cryptocurrency. (Anna Betts, The Guardian)

🔎 See Also: Congress wants to hear from Adam Silver about NBA scandal (Faith Wardwell, Politico)

Universities failed to disclose spending details for millions in Chinese funds, report shows: China provided more than $530 million to top-ranked American universities from 2022 to 2024, but the schools failed to provide details to the federal government on how the money was spent. (Bill Gertz, Washington Times)

Tech

Trump administration cuts cyberdefense even as threats grow: Cyberattacks by the nation’s adversaries have increasingly targeted broader swaths of American communications and public infrastructure. But even as more sophisticated threats emerge, the Trump administration’s cuts to federal programs have eroded U.S. cyberspace defenses. (Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)

Two federal judges say use of AI led to errors in U.S. court rulings: U.S. District Judges Henry Wingate and Julien Xavier Neals admitted in response to an inquiry by Sen. Chuck Grassley that their staff used artificial intelligence to help prepare recent court orders that Grassley called “error-ridden.” (Sara Merken, Reuters)

Amazon strategized about keeping its datacenters’ full water use secret, leaked document shows: Amazon, the world’s largest owner of data centers, strategized about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its server farms’ use of water to cool their vast arrays of circuitry. Microsoft and Google regularly publish figures for their water consumption, but Amazon has never publicly disclosed how much water its data centers consume. (Luke Barratt and Rosa Furneaux, The Guardian)

Health Care

Behind the dismantling of the CDC: reform or “humiliation”?: Before Trump took office, the CDC itself recognized that reforms were needed. But critics say the administration’s assault on the agency has stemmed less from a desire to reform than from a deep animus born during the pandemic. (Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times)

Anti-science bills hit statehouses, attacking longstanding public health protections: More than 420 bills attacking longstanding public health protections — vaccines, milk safety, and fluoride — have been introduced in statehouses across the country this year, part of an organized campaign to enshrine a conspiracy-theory-driven agenda into law. The wave of anti-science legislation is being pushed by people with close ties to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Michelle R. Smith and Laura Ungar, PBS News)

Many fear federal loan caps will deter aspiring doctors and worsen MD shortage: Experts warn that new federal student loan caps in President Trump’s tax cut law could make it more expensive for many people to become doctors, exacerbate physician shortages nationwide, and steer many medical students to lucrative specialties in more affluent areas. (Bernard J. Wolfson, KFF Health News)

The mysterious rise of cancer among young adults in the Corn Belt: Cancer rates among young adults in the Corn Belt — Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Kansas — are rising more rapidly than in the country as a whole. (Ariana Eunjung et al., Washington Post)

Thousands of stillbirths occur without clear warning signs, study finds: Despite advances in prenatal care, stillbirths in the U.S. are far more common than previously reported, with a significant number of them striking without warning. Stillbirths also fall unevenly along racial and socioeconomic lines, with Black families and poorer communities being hit hardest. (Sabrina Malhi, Washington Post)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Trump plans to install Border Patrol officials to lead a more aggressive migrant crackdown

→ Judge expected to quiz border patrol leader over immigration crackdown tactics

→ Looking to speed up building network of migrant detention centers, Trump administration turns to the Navy

→ DHS is billing unaccompanied immigrant kids $5,000

→ Trump administration seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

→ Trump refugee plan seeks 7,000 Afrikaners — and virtually no one else

→ Why has ICE detained British commentator Sami Hamdi on his U.S. speaking tour?

Other News:

→ Trump asks Supreme Court to let him refire Copyright Office director

→ House GOP concludes investigation into Biden alleged mental decline

→ Trump backs off federal deployment in San Francisco after Huang, Benioff phone calls

→ Your diet’s impact on the planet depends on where you live. Look up your city

→ Spirit Halloween’s nightmare on Wall Street

Upcoming Events

📌 Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order. Senate Judiciary Committee; Subcommittee on Constitution. Tuesday, October 28, 2:30 p.m., 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 The Shadow President: A conversation about ProPublica’s yearlong investigation into Russell Vought, the Project 2025 architect and Trump budget guru. ProPublica. Wednesday, November 5, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 Project On Government Oversight: Census Matters: Why an Accurate Count is Essential to Funding Our Communities. October 28, 2025

🔥📃 Brennan Center for Justice: Supreme Court Shadow Docket Tracker — Challenges to Trump Administration Actions. October 21, 2025.

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

Brian Barber - U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Louisiana
Brian Birdwell - Assistant Secretary of Defense
John Breslow - Ambassador, Cyprus
Wesley Brooks - Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Edward Eppler - Chief Financial Officer, Department of Transportation
Gregory Gilmore - U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois
Brian Gootkin - U.S. Marshal for the District of Montana
Thomas Govan, Jr. - U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama
Kevin Holmes - U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas
Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve - Vice Chief of Staff of the Army
Gregory LoGerfo - Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Adm. Kevin Lunday - Commandant of the United States Coast Guard
Ryan Raybould - U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas
James Stuart - U.S. Marshal for the District of Minnesota
Phillip Williams, Jr. - U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama

Withdrawals

Jeffrey Bornstein - Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
Paul Ingrassia - Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel
Kevin O’Farrell - Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Department of Education

Pardons & Commutations

Changpeng Zhao