The Paper Trail: November 18, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for November 18, 2025

“We’ll probably waste millions again:” Feds dig out of 43 days’ worth of piled-up work: Only around 30% of the workforce was not working during the funding lapse, but those employees returned to their offices facing a mountain of tasks to catch up on. Workers said their lost productivity would have lasting impacts on the missions of their agencies. Millions of dollars were wasted on contractors who produced nothing. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

The shutdown is over, but the nation’s aviation problems are not: The shutdown may be over, but the task of fixing deficiencies that have dogged the nation’s aviation system is far from complete: a dire shortage of certified air controllers, outdated equipment, and lack of funding to update those critical systems. (Lori Aratani, Washington Post)

Trump’s military occupations of U.S. cities cost $473 million and rising: The current price tag includes $172 million spent in Los Angeles, $270 million in Washington, D.C., $15 million in Portland, $3 million in Memphis, and $13 million in Chicago, according to estimates derived from open-source information and data supplied by the office of Senator Dick Durbin. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

🔎 See Also: Hundreds of troops deployed to Portland, Chicago are being sent home (Julie Watson, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: In an encrypted group chat, National Guard members question Trump deployments (Kat Lonsdorf, NPR)

🔎 See Also: “Riots raging”: The misleading story Fox News told about Portland before Trump sent troops (Rob Davis, ProPublica)

Homeland Security missions falter amid focus on deportations: The diversion of thousands of DHS agents to immigration enforcement has hampered the pursuit of child predators, a probe into Iranian oil being sold on the black market to finance terrorism, and efforts to combat human smuggling and sex trafficking. (Nicholas Nehamas et al., New York Times)

Firm tied to Kristi Noem secretly got money from $220 million DHS ad contracts: A consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to the homeland security secretary and her senior aides won a piece of a nine-figure TV advertisement contract. (Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica)

Greg Bovino’s Border Patrol agents use disproportionate force, data shows: Gregory Bovino, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector in California who has also been in charge of immigration raids in Chicago and L.A., has presided over a disproportionate number of use-of-force incidents. (Nick Schwellenbach and Will Sytsma, Project On Government Oversight)

FBI Director Kash Patel waived polygraph security screening for Dan Bongino, two other senior staff: Patel exempted Deputy Director Dan Bongino and two other newly hired senior FBI staff members from passing polygraph exams required to gain access to highly sensitive information. Insiders say Bongino’s ascent to his position without passing a standard bureau background check is unprecedented. (William Turton and Christopher Bing, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: Kash Patel’s girlfriend being protected by FBI SWAT agents as security perk (Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig, NBC News)

🔎 See Also: Kash Patel’s “effin wild” ride as FBI director (Sadie Gurman et al., Wall Street Journal)

Justice Department struggles as thousands exit — and few are replaced: The DOJ has lost thousands of experienced attorneys since January and has backfilled a fraction of the open jobs, with the process snarled by a lack of qualified candidates, bureaucratic delays, and hiring freezes. (Perry Stein, Washington Post)

🔎See Also: The unraveling of the Justice Department: Sixty attorneys describe a year of chaos and suspicion (Emily Bazelon and Rachel Poser, New York Times Magazine)

Opinion: Keep inspectors general independent and on the job: Following President Trump’s firing numerous inspectors general and his efforts to defund and muzzle them, Congress needs to fight harder to defend this independent voice that brings to light facts that Congress and the American people need to know. (Jim Townsend, The Hill)

Trump Organization is said to be in talks on a Saudi government real estate deal: The Trump Organization is in talks to bring a Trump-branded property to one of Saudi Arabia’s largest government-owned real estate developments. Jerry Inzerillo, chief executive of the project and a longtime friend of President Trump, said it was “just a matter of time” before the deal is sealed — one among a flurry of deals in the Persian Gulf region since last year involving the Trump family. (Vivian Nereim and Rebecca R. Ruiz, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump Organization unveils crypto-tied hotel project in Maldives (Julia Shapero, The Hill)

How Trump has exploited pardons and clemency to reward allies and supporters: The beneficiaries of President Trump’s mercy in his second term have mostly been people with access to the president or his inner circle. Meanwhile, thousands of other people seeking clemency who have followed the rules set by the DOJ are still waiting in line. (Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: Trump pardon of crypto billionaire sparks concerns over his use of the pardon power (Scott Pelley and Maria Gavrilovic, 60 Minutes)

Weaponization of the Government

Judge says James Comey indictment may be tainted by “profound investigative missteps”: Federal Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick slammed the DOJ's handling of its case against former FBI Director James Comey, raising the possibility that the indictment may be dismissed. “The procedural and substantive irregularities that occurred before the grand jury, and the manner in which evidence presented to the grand jury was collected and used, may rise to the level of government misconduct resulting in prejudice to Mr. Comey,” the judge wrote. (Katelyn Polantz, CNN)

Fannie Mae watchdogs probed how Pulte obtained mortgage records of key Democrats: Fannie Mae investigators who were removed from their jobs had been probing if Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte had improperly obtained the mortgage records of Democratic officials. (Gina Heeb, Brian Schwartz, and C. Ryan Barber, Wall Street Journal)

🔎 See Also: Rep. Swalwell denies allegations of fraud and says Trump is targeting him (John Yoon, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Housing regulator watchdog ousted, another in Trump’s ongoing replacement of acting inspectors general (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

The Trump prosecutor probing former top Obama administration officials: Jason Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney in Miami, is pursuing a broad investigation into former Obama officials including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former FBI officials Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, and Peter Strzok under a theory that Democrats and other “deep state” actors conspired for years to violate Trump's rights. (Perry Stein, Jeremy Roebuck, and David Ovalle, Washington Post)

President Trump wants Seth Meyers fired. The FCC chair amplified the message: Less than an hour after the president posted on Truth Social that NBC should fire late night host Seth Meyers, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr reposted the comment on X. Meyers’ show is a property of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, one of the companies expected to bid on Warner Bros. Discovery, a sale that will likely face FCC scrutiny. (Elizabeth Blair, NPR)

The War on “Narcoterrorists”

U.S. troops not liable in boat strikes, classified Justice Dept. memo says: The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel stated in a classified opinion issued in July that personnel taking part in military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats wouldn’t be exposed to future prosecution. The opinion also argues that the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” waged under the president’s Article II authorities. (Ellen Nakashima et al., Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Guilt by association: Trump’s illegal boat strikes (David Janovsky, The Constitution Project at POGO)

🔎 See Also: A list of U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels (Riley Ceder and Beth Sullivan, Military Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump has a secret list of 24 “designated terrorist organizations.” We got some of the names (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

The top U.S. military contractors cashing in on Caribbean operations: The five established defense “primes,” including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and RTX (formerly Raytheon), stand to benefit the most from the military build-up in the region. General Atomics is also an early winner, receiving a $14 billion contract for its MQ-9 Reaper drone. (Stavroula Pabst, Responsible Statecraft)

Epstein Files

Trump reverses stance on Epstein files, urges Republicans to vote for releasing them: President Trump on Sunday urged Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump also directed the attorney general and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s relationship with former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and prominent Democratic donor Reid Hoffman. (Matt Spetalnick, Reuters)

House Democrats release Epstein email that claimed Trump “spent hours” with victim: The emails included one from 2011 that claimed President Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with one of his sex trafficking victims. Another message suggested that the president was more aware of Epstein’s history of abuse than previously reported. (Matthew Choi, Kadia Goba, and Scott Nover, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Epstein texted with House Democrat during Cohen hearing, documents show (Amy B Wang et al., Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: House Oversight Democrats call on embattled royal Andrew Windsor to testify (Gregory Svirnovskiy, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Larry Summers steps back from public commitments, “deeply ashamed” by Epstein revelations (Sam Sutton and Victoria Guida, Politico)

Democrats reveal whistleblower details of Ghislaine Maxwell prison “luxuries”: The Epstein confidante and convicted child sex trafficker is being waited on “hand and foot” by the staff at her minimum-security prison camp and is receiving benefits unavailable to other inmates, according to whistleblower revelations made public last week by House Democrats. (Ken Dilanian, MSNBC)

Natural Disasters

FEMA chief steps down as Trump administration prepared to oust him: Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, who submitted his resignation letter yesterday, was tapped to lead the agency even though he lacked disaster management experience. His tenure was punctuated by eyebrow-raising moments — like when he told staff he was unaware the U.S. has a hurricane season and was on vacation and unreachable when catastrophic floods struck Texas in July. (Gabe Cohen, CNN)

Mold causes hidden health crisis as extreme weather risk grows: An estimated 47% of residential buildings in the U.S. contain mold or dampness. So even as the latest hurricane season winds down, the threat of mold-related health risks lingers. (Jonathan R.M. Charles, CBS News)

Insurrection

Trump pardons Giuliani and others involved in effort to overturn 2020 election: President Trump granted pardons to his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, conservative lawyers John Eastman and Sidney Powell, former senior DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and presidential adviser Boris Epshteyn. The pardons are primarily symbolic: None of the recipients are currently facing federal charges. (Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, New York Times)

GOP senators distance themselves from provision allowing them to sue over phone record searches: Most of the senators whose phone records were seized in the special counsel’s January 6 investigation have distanced themselves from a provision included in the shutdown-ending bill that would let them sue the government and recover potentially millions of dollars in damages. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would hold a vote on the House floor to repeal the provision. (Frank Thorp V and Julie Tsirkin, NBC News)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

“She was the best man for the job”: Hegseth’s policies are pushing qualified women out of the military: Many in the U.S. military fear that a culture of misogyny is permeating the armed forces under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Active-duty women across the military branches say that Hegseth’s actions, policies, and rhetoric risk pushing out both experienced soldiers and potential recruits. (Brianna Keilar, Isabelle Khurshudyan, and Haley Britzky, CNN)

🔎 See Also: Hegseth is purging military leaders with little explanation (Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt, and Helene Cooper, New York Times)

Trump greenlights sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia: A Pentagon intelligence report raised concerns that China could acquire the warplanes’ technology if the sales go through. (Laura Kelly, The Hill)

Why VA pays more in disability for sleep apnea than it does for some lost limbs: Even as once-debilitating ailments like sleep apnea become manageable for most patients, the VA has repeatedly backed away from making changes to its disability program that would anger veterans and their supporters. (Lisa Rein, Craig Whitlock, and Caitlin Gilbert, Washington Post)

Business and Finance

Trump administration declares CFPB funding illegal: The DOJ announced in a court filing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding mechanism is unlawful, putting the consumer watchdog agency on track to shut down in the coming months when its existing funds run out. (Michael Stratford, Politico)

Trump cuts and orders have broad impact on American museums, report finds: One-third of American museums have lost government grants or contracts since President Trump took office. The losses have forced museums to make difficult choices, including deferring construction projects, reducing or canceling programming, and laying off employees. (Julia Halperin, New York Times)

White House pulls rule forcing airlines to pay passengers for flight disruptions: The rule, proposed a month before President Biden left office, required airlines to compensate passengers with money, lodging, and meals in response to flight cancellations or changes. (Julia Manchester, The Hill)

Tech

“You’re not rushing. You’re just ready:” Parents say ChatGPT encouraged son to kill himself: The parents of a man who committed suicide claim ChatGPT creator OpenAI put their son’s life in danger by tweaking its design to be more humanlike and failing to put enough safeguards on interactions with users in need of emergency help. (Rob Kuznia, Allison Gordon, and Ed Lavandera, CNN)

Roblox steps up age checks and groups younger users into age-based chats: The popular gaming platform continues to face criticism and lawsuits over child safety, and critics express caution about the reliability of facial age estimation tools. (Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press)

Infrastructure

Key Bridge rebuild could cost up to $5.2B, more than twice initial estimate: Maryland transportation officials updated their financial and construction projections for the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, pushing the reopen date two years to 2030 and estimating that the cost could more than double their initial estimate. Safety experts said the tragedy raises concerns about how federal and state agencies and private companies managed a potentially catastrophic risk for bridges nationwide over decades. (Katie Mettler and Michael Laris, Washington Post)

Trump proposes to narrow water regulations: The administration’s proposed new definition of what counts as a “water of the United States” subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act has sparked controversy, with developers and farmers pushing to regulate fewer waterways while environmental advocates argue more protections are needed. (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)

China has lent $200B to U.S. tech and infrastructure projects, report finds: Chinese financial institutions have lent more than $200 billion to the U.S. over the past 25 years, backing 2,500 high-tech and infrastructure projects in almost every state. (Christian Shepherd, Washington Post)

Health Care

Trump slashed spending on clinical trials. The toll is starting to become clear: From the end of February to August, grants for 383 clinical trials were terminated, and the funding disruptions affected more than 74,000 trial participants. The cuts disproportionately affected trials focused on infectious diseases, prevention, and behavioral interventions. (Allyson Chiu, Washington Post)

Science for sale: How drugmakers captured the FDA: The pharmaceutical industry spent decades manipulating the FDA into rubber-stamping its products. A review of all drugs approved by the FDA over a 10-year period found that 73% were allowed on the market without solid evidence that they work. (Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer, The Lever)

Medicaid insurers promise lots of doctors. Good luck seeing one: Private Medicaid insurers dominate the government healthcare program that covers more than 70 million low-income and disabled Americans. But when Medicaid-plan enrollees need care, they often can’t get appointments with the doctors listed in those insurers’ networks. (Christopher Weaver, Anna Wilde Mathews, and Tom McGinty, Wall Street Journal)

ByHeart infant formula recall tied to botulism outbreak puts parents on edge: ByHeart faces at least two lawsuits from parents who say their babies were sickened and allege the company was negligent in selling defective formula. (Minyvonne Burke and Daniel Arkin, NBC News)

Americans are injecting themselves with unproven peptides: More Americans are injecting themselves with chemicals that are pitched as ways to build muscle, rejuvenate skin, and extend life. Many of the substances being promoted by influencers, celebrities, and wellness gurus have never been approved for human use. (Matthew Perrone, ABC News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Border Patrol rounds up 81 “illegal aliens” in Charlotte raids

→ What ICE could look like under Border Patrol takeover

→ ICE plans to spend $180 million on bounty hunters to stalk immigrants

→ “Climate of fear”: Immigration judges say functioning of their court system is in jeopardy due to Trump’s firings

→ U.S. visas can be denied for obesity, cancer and diabetes, Rubio says

→ Trump revives policy penalizing immigrants for using safety net programs

Other News:

→ Georgia election interference case against Trump will carry on for now with new prosecutor

→ NTEU sues OPM for Schedule F records

→ Felon freed by Trump is sentenced again, this time to 27 months

→ Inside the CIA’s secret mission to sabotage Afghanistan’s opium

→ Recycling lead for U.S. car batteries is poisoning people

On The Lighter Side

What to know about names such as Operation Charlotte’s Web: Recent military and law enforcement operations under the Trump administration have raised eyebrows and drawn criticism, not only because of their missions but also because of their names. Other operation appellations have received backlash and criticism in the past. (Chandelis Duster, NPR)

The last-ever penny was minted today in Philadelphia: After 238 years, the penny is finally getting dropped, leaving retailers to round out the details on whether prices go up or down. Any savings from discontinuing the penny could be offset by the need to press more nickels — which also cost much more than their face value to produce. (Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN)

Upcoming Events

📌 Enumeration or Estimation: Why Inaccurate Census Results Hurt American Citizens. House Committee on the Judiciary; Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. Wednesday, November 19, 10:00 a.m., 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Taking Stock of the STOCK Act. Committee on House Administration. Wednesday, November 19, 10:00 a.m., 1310 Longworth House Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Priority Open Recommendations: Internal Revenue Service. GAO-25-108066 (PDF)

🔥📃 Lawfare: Tracking Domestic Deployments of the U.S. Military. November 2025.

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Daniel E. Burrows - Assistant Attorney General
• Jared Isaacman - Administrator, NASA
• Stevan Pearce - Director, Bureau of Land Management
• Douglas Weaver - Member, Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Pardons & Commutations

• Glen Casada
• Cade Cothren
• Robert Henry Harshbarger, Jr.
• Troy Lake
• Michael McMahon
• Darryl Strawberry, Sr.
• Michelino Sunseri