The Paper Trail: November 25, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Announcements

Join the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) on Thursday, December 4, at 12:00 noon EST in 2247 Rayburn House Office Building for From Article I to Action: A Panel on Congressional Oversight. This panel will break down the essentials of congressional oversight — equipping participants with practical insights to strengthen their oversight work and support Congress’s responsibility to ensure laws, taxpayer dollars, and executive actions align with legislative intent. Register HERE.

Join the Office of the Whistleblower Ombuds on Thursday, December 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST in the Longworth Cafeteria for their last pop-up tabling event of the year. This is a great opportunity to pick up the Office’s latest resources and ask questions about their new interactive training: Protecting Whistleblower Information: A Deep Dive. This training is available to House staff through the Congressional Staff Academy.

Top stories for November 25, 2025

Pentagon threatens to recall Sen. Mark Kelly to military service for court martial over illegal orders video: The Pentagon is investigating Senator Kelly, a retired Navy captain, in light of “serious allegations of misconduct.” President Trump has been pushing for consequences for Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers over a video they made reminding service members of their duty to disobey illegal orders. Kelly could be recalled to active duty to face a court martial or administrative punishment. (Natasha Bertrand, CNN)

🔎 See Also: Military oaths and unlawful orders (Virginia Burger, Center for Defense Information at POGO)

🔎 See Also: Trump says he wasn’t threatening Democrats he accused of “seditious behavior, punishable by death” (Rebecca Shabad and Sarah Dean, NBC News)

As judges face more threats, only the Supreme Court got new security funds: The deal Congress passed to end the government shutdown boosted security funding for the Supreme Court, but it provided no new security funding for lower court judges who for months have urged Congress to set aside more money for their safety amid a surge in threats of violence. (Derek Hawkins, Washington Post)

Final Schedule F regulations to describe civil service protections as “unconstitutional overcorrections”: OPM draft final regulations cite “accountability to the president” as grounds for stripping federal employees of their civil service protections. OPM estimates that around 50,000 federal workers would be placed in the new “Schedule Policy/Career” job category and will become effectively at-will employees. (Eric Katz and Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

The Education Department gave another agency power to distribute its money. It hasn’t gone well: Critics say recent issues with distributing funds are likely a preview of bigger problems that could unfold when the Trump administration starts to outsource more of the Education Department’s work to other agencies. (Juan Perez Jr., Nick Niedzwiadek, and Bianca Quilantan, Politico)

$99,999 DHS contracts balloon under Kristi Noem’s directive: The DHS secretary’s directive requiring her sign-off on spending above $100,000 has created backlogs of contract awards. An abnormally high number of recent awards have been valued at one dollar or less below that threshold in an apparent attempt to skirt her review. Experts warn that Noem’s personal involvement in agency spending increases ethical risks and conflicts of interest. (Nick Schwellenbach, Project On Government Oversight)

🔎See Also: Noem at odds with Trump-appointed panel over future of FEMA (Brianna Sacks and Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post)

Patel under scrutiny for use of SWAT teams to protect his girlfriend: FBI Director Kash Patel is facing growing scrutiny over his excessive use of taxpayer-funded resources, including SWAT team protection for his girlfriend and using government aircraft for his recreational travel. (Alan Feuer, Adam Goldman, and Glenn Thrush, New York Times)

Family affair: Commerce secretary’s sons cash in on AI frenzy: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been traveling the world, dangling policy favors in exchange for investments in U.S. industrial projects from which his children stand to profit. (Eric Lipton et al., New York Times)

The case of a felon who paid lobbyists nearly $1 million to seek a Trump pardon: Nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz was sentenced in April to three years in prison for defrauding the government. Around that time, Schwartz paid $960,000 to two right-wing provocateurs to lobby the administration for a pardon, which Trump granted earlier this month. (Michael Kranish and Aaron Schaffer, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: NJ man whose fraud conviction was commuted by Trump is back in prison for another fraud (The Guardian)

Senate Democrats are investigating Kennedy Center’s deals and spending: Senate Democrats are examining the Kennedy Center’s spending practices and booking deals, accusing its Trump-installed leadership of “self-dealing, favoritism, and waste.” The senators allege “millions of dollars in foregone revenue" from event bookings and “unusual and excessive” food and beverage expenses. (Janay Kingsberry, Washington Post)

Who attended the White House dinner for Mohammed bin Salman: Donald Trump Jr., Elon Musk, and dozens of prominent business figures including the heads of Citigroup, Nvidia, OpenAI, Coinbase, Apple, and IBM gathered last week at the White House for a black-tie dinner in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Cat Zakrzewski, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: White House facing calls to release “shocking and disturbing” 2019 phone call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince (Farrah Tomazin, Daily Beast)

Weaponization of the Government

U.S. judge tosses case against ex-FBI chief Comey, New York AG James: U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie yesterday dismissed criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling that interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed. The indictments were dismissed without prejudice, which allows prosecutors to seek charges again. (Andrew Goudsward, Reuters)

Pentagon urges inquiry of Trump foe Vindman over Ukraine work: The Pentagon urged the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether Rep. Eugene Vindman improperly consulted on behalf of the Ukrainian government before being elected to Congress. Vindman, who with his twin brother Alex received national attention while serving on the National Security Council during Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, denied the allegations and called them a politically motivated attack. (Noah Robertson, Washington Post)

Justice Department is investigating handling of Adam Schiff mortgage fraud probe led by Ed Martin and Bill Pulte: The Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Housing Finance Agency inspector general are investigating whether people impersonated federal agents and grand jury materials were improperly shared in the mortgage fraud cases against Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. (Katelyn Polantz et al., CNN)

Trump berates one reporter and tells another, “Quiet Piggy”: President Trump got angry with ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce over her questions during his meeting with the Saudi crown prince last week. The president suggested FCC Chairman Brendan Carr “should look at” revoking ABC’s broadcasting license. (Michael M. Grynbaum, New York Times)

The Charlie Kirk purge: How 600 Americans were punished in a pro-Trump crackdown: An effort led by senior Trump officials, local Republican lawmakers, and allied influencers has led to firings, suspensions, investigations, and other retaliatory actions against more than 600 people over their comments about Kirk’s murder. (Raphael Satter and A.J. Vicens, Reuters)

The War on “Narcoterrorists”

• Military Times: A List of U.S. Military Strikes Against Alleged Drug-Carrying Vessels
• The Intercept: How Many People Has the U.S. Killed in Boat Strikes?

White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats: President Trump and top White House aides pushed for lethal strikes on Western Hemisphere drug traffickers almost as soon as they took office in January, and in the past 10 months they have repeatedly steamrolled or sidestepped government lawyers who questioned the policy's legality. (Ellen Nakashima, Warren P. Strobel, and Alex Horton, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Senate Democrats ask Hegseth, Bondi to declassify DOJ memo on drug boat strikes (Filip Timotija, The Hill)

🔎 See Also: The U.S. designated more terrorist groups in 2025 than in the last 10 years combined (Patty Nieberg and Jeff Schogol, Task & Purpose)

Elon Musk & DOGE

DOGE disbanded: Elon Musk’s cost-cutting project quietly ended ahead of schedule: OPM Director Scott Kupor said earlier this month that DOGE “doesn’t exist,” and that most of the group’s functions have been absorbed by OPM. DOGE was scheduled to sunset in July 2026. (Rebecca Schneid, Time)

Epstein Files

Wyden presses for investigation into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein: Sen. Ron Wyden issued a report last week calling for an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase deliberately underreported $1.3 billion in suspicious transactions by Jeffrey Epstein from 2002 to 2016. (Matthew Goldstein, New York Times)

Natural Disasters

Administration again denies FEMA disaster relief for Illinois, Pritzker says: Some lawmakers and FEMA officials contend that decisions on federal aid for natural disasters have become increasingly political, favoring red states over blue, especially when it comes to the speed of approving disaster declarations. (Gaya Gupta and Brianna Sacks, Washington Post)

Too many cooks, not enough cash: Lack of a master plan muddies Los Angeles fire rebuild:With federal dollars stalled and local efforts splintering, wildfire survivors are left wondering who is in charge. Acrimony between President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with dysfunction in Congress, have put Newsom’s $40 billion request for long-term aid on ice. (Liam Dillon, Politico)

Insurrection

Senate phone records shield risks hampering DOJ probes of lawmakers: The House last week passed a bill to strike down a provision included in the shutdown-ending bill that would let senators whose phone records were seized in the January 6 investigation recover millions of dollars in damages. But the Senate is under no obligation to take up the House measure, and critics warn the provision could undermine future law enforcement investigations involving senators. (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)

Pardoned Capitol rioter tried to hush child sex victim with promise of Jan. 6 reparation money, police say: Pardoned January 6 rioter Andrew Paul Johnson was arraigned in a Florida court in October on multiple charges, including molesting an 11-year-old child. According to a police report, Johnson tried to buy one of his alleged victims’ silence by promising them a share of the money he expects to receive as reparations for his January 6 prosecution. (Amanda Moore, The Intercept)

Reproductive Freedom

New federal student debt rule seen as tool to enforce Trump agenda: Under a final rule slated to take effect in July, employers that participate in “unlawful activities such that they have a substantial illegal purpose” would be excluded from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The activities that could disqualify employers include “aiding and abetting” illegal immigration, “illegal discrimination,” and providing gender-affirming care. (Shauneen Miranda, Government Executive)

Under Trump, U.S. human rights reports will flag abortion, gender care: The State Department is overhauling its annual global human rights reports, emphasizing rights “given to us by God” and issuing new guidance for U.S. diplomats to scrutinize the prevalence of abortion and gender-transition surgery on children. The new instructions stand in sharp contrast to the reports’ past focus on torture, politically motivated killings, and persecution of minority groups. (Adam Taylor and Hannah Natanson, Washington Post)

Russia-Ukraine War

Trump officials’ meeting with Russian in Miami spurs questions about Ukraine proposal: U.S. officials and lawmakers are concerned about a meeting last month in which special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting resulted in a 28-point plan that prompted criticism for its Russia-friendly terms and caught many State Department and National Security Council officials off guard. (Erin Banco and Gram Slattery, Reuters)

Trump envoy mistakenly blows source’s cover in DM fail: U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff last week mistakenly posted on X a private message that outed the source of an Axios story about the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations. (Leigh Kimmins, Daily Beast)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

In reversal, Coast Guard again classifies swastikas, nooses as hate symbols: Within hours, the U.S. Coast Guard reversed itself and re-classified swastikas and nooses as prohibited hate symbols, rather than just “potentially divisive” symbols. There are still questions as to who approved the controversial policy in the first place. (Tara Copp et al., Washington Post)

Military families forced to pay out of pocket for problems with privatized base housing: Hundreds of troops and their families paid an average of $1,680 to address problems with their base housing, including mold, water damage, flooding, sewage backup, air conditioning and heating problems, and gas leaks. (Jeff Schogol, Task & Purpose)

Recent data shows significant spike in U.S. military aircraft accidents: The number of major accidents involving military aircraft spiked in 2024, and a series of high-profile aviation mishaps in 2025 suggest the trend is continuing. Experts say the trend is a reflection of multiple smaller issues that accumulate to create an unsafe culture. (Konstantin Toropin and Aaron Kessler, Marine Times)

Pentagon must do better to safeguard public information, GAO warns: GAO found security lapses across ten DOD components linked to digital activity from personal and government devices, online communications, and defense platforms that “generate volumes of traceable data about military personnel and operations.” (Lillian Juarez and J.D. Simkins, Military Times)

Analysis: Increasing oversight of the relief of military leaders: Congress needs to implement new tools for oversight of the removal of senior military leaders so they can check abuses of power by the secretary of defense and prevent the politicization of the military. (Virginia Burger, Center for Defense Information at POGO)

Business and Finance

$10 billion and counting: Trump administration snaps up stakes in private firms: The government’s growing portfolio of corporate ownership involves minority stakes, or the option to take them in the future, in at least nine companies involved in steel, minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductors. The government’s intervention in the private market is fueling concerns regarding the opacity of the process, the potential for favoritism, corruption, market distortions, and the possible loss of taxpayer funds should the investments fail. (Ana Swanson, New York Times)

Feds object to laws that shield patients from medical debt: States are forging ahead with laws that keep medical debt off credit reports, despite new guidance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau saying only the federal government has that right. About 14 million Americans collectively owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, which disproportionately impacts people of color. (Jenna Portnoy, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: CFPB to issue mass furlough by year’s end and transfer outstanding cases to DOJ (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

The auto industry was warned: Battery recycling was poisoning people: Despite decades of evidence on the toxic effects of lead battery recycling, automakers and their suppliers opted not to act and blocked efforts to clean up the industry. (Will Fitzgibbon, New York Times)

For victims of sexual assault on cruise ships, justice can be elusive: In 2010, Congress passed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, requiring lines sailing in and out of U.S. ports to report certain crimes to the FBI. Yet despite the law, not much has changed in the prevention and prosecution of on-board sexual assaults. (Ceylan Yeğinsu, New York Times)

Wall Street is paywalling your kids’ sports: As the $40 billion youth sports industry comes under private equity control, corporate-owned facilities and leagues have begun prohibiting parents from recording their kids’ games. Instead, parents are forced to subscribe to the companies’ exclusive recording and streaming services. (Luke Goldstein, The Lever)

Tech

Top MAGA influencers accidentally unmasked as foreign trolls: A new feature on X that allows users to see what country accounts are based in reveals that many of the site’s top MAGA influencers are actually foreign actors. (Jack Revell, Daily Beast)

Prosecutor used flawed AI to keep a man in jail, his lawyers say: The problem of AI-generated errors in legal papers has burgeoned with the growing use of tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. An illegal gun possession case in California is one of the first times a prosecutor has been accused of filing court papers marred by AI-generated mistakes. (Shaila Dewan, New York Times)

Advocacy groups urge parents to avoid AI toys this holiday season: Children’s and consumer advocacy groups warn that AI toys can foster obsessive use, enable explicit sexual conversations, and encourage unsafe behaviors, violence against others, and self-harm. (Barbara Ortutay and Matt O’Brien, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: White House drafts order directing Justice Department to sue states that pass AI regulations (Gerrit De Vynck and Nitasha Tiku, Washington Post)

Infrastructure

The deadliest roads in America: The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles in the U.S. has surged amid neglect and lack of investment by transportation authorities. (Ian Duncan, Emmanuel Martinez, and Dylan Moriarty, Washington Post)

Health Care

Senate committee advances a Trump-aligned pick for HHS watchdog, a role long seen as nonpartisan: Thomas March Bell’s nomination to be HHS’s inspector general advanced last week to the full Senate, where he is expected to be confirmed. Bell’s outspoken alignment with President Trump and his history of working for GOP lawmakers have led to concerns about his suitability for the watchdog role. (Ali Swenson, Associated Press)

CDC in turmoil after agency backpedals on debunking vaccines-autism link: The CDC’s updated website on vaccines and autism makes several false claims about a connection between the two, blindsiding staff at the agency. (Lena H. Sun, Washington Post)

Complaints about gaps in Medicare Advantage networks are common. Federal enforcement is rare: Federal regulators rarely warn insurers that their Medicare Advantage plans fail to meet provider network adequacy requirements. (Susan Jaffe, KFF Health News)

EPA just approved new “forever chemical” pesticides for use on food: The EPA is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing “forever chemicals” as an active ingredient, dismissing concerns about health and environmental impacts raised by scientists and activists. The authorized pesticides will be used on vegetables such as romaine lettuce, broccoli, and potatoes. (Amudalat Ajasa, Washington Post)

“Nobody wants to come”: What if the U.S. can no longer attract immigrant physicians?: Experts say recent immigration and health policies are making it harder and less appealing for foreign-born talent to augment the short-staffed American health care system. (Yuki Noguchi, NPR)

Millions of kids are on ADHD pills. For many, it’s the start of a drug cascade: For one in five kids who take them, ADHD drugs are just the beginning. An analysis of Medicaid data from 2019 through 2023 shows that children who were prescribed a medication for ADHD were far more likely to take additional psychiatric drugs over the ensuing four years. (Shalini Ramachandran et al., Wall Street Journal)

🔎 See Also: Pfizer, Tris Pharma ink $41.5M deal to settle ADHD drug fraud allegations in Texas (Zoey Becker, Fierce Pharma)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Border Patrol is monitoring U.S. drivers and detaining those with “suspicious” travel patterns

→ ICE sent 600 immigrant kids to detention in federal shelters this year. It’s a new record

→ Contractor recruiting people on LinkedIn to physically track immigrants for ICE, will pay $300

→ ICE says critical evidence in abuse case was lost in “system crash” a day after it was sued

→ Social Security data is openly being shared with DHS to target immigrants

→ Noem ends temporary protected status for Myanmar migrants

→ Migrants thought they were in court for a routine hearing. Instead, it was a deportation trap

→ An immigration court error 6 years ago could lead to release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Other News:

→ Senate Democrats seek Bondi legal opinion on Qatari jet

→ The White House intervened on behalf of accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate during a federal investigation

→ Veteran FBI employee files lawsuit claiming he was fired for displaying Pride flag

→ Sen. Jim Justice, wife to pay $5 million in back taxes to settle IRS suit

→ Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida charged with stealing FEMA money, using it for her campaign, DOJ says

→ House ethics panel launches investigation into Rep. Cory Mills

→ After a week of censures, some in Congress are having second thoughts

→ U.S. ready to cut support to Scouts, accusing them of attacking "boy-friendly spaces"

→ How billionaires took over American politics

→ This law helped save the bald eagle. Trump officials want to weaken it

→ How a small Chicago nonprofit is resisting Trump’s war on DEI

On The Lighter Side

Government wants “civility” back on flights, starting with your clothes: “Flying,” an old-timey voice says in a video released by the Department of Transportation, “was a bastion of civility.” The public service announcement is part of a new campaign to “restore courtesy and class to air travel” as cases involving disruptive passengers increase. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — dressed in a dark suit and tie — offers another suggestion in the video: “Are you dressing with respect?” (Hannah Sampson, Washington Post)

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Robert Cekada - Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
• Carter Crow - General Counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• David Clay Fowlkes - Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
• Nicholas Jon Ganjei - Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
• Stuart Levenbach - Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
• Aaron Christian Peterson - Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

Appointments

• Brad Schimel - Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Withdrawals

• Donald Korb - Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service

Pardons & Commutations

• Suzanne Kaye
• Joseph Schwartz
• Daniel Edwin Wilson