The Paper Trail: March 3, 2026

The Paper Trail

Announcements

How to Conduct Oversight from a Minority Office: POGO’s virtual training on how to conduct oversight when you don’t have a gavel will be Friday, March 13 at 12 noon ET. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

New on the Hill, or not sure what to do if a whistleblower constituent or source contacts your office? Stop by the Coffee Hour with the Whistleblower Ombuds on Thursday, March 19, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. in Rayburn 2043. Meet the team, grab a coffee and donut, and learn how the Office can support you. More info at this LINK.

Top stories for March 3, 2026

ICE training was slashed, records show, corroborating whistleblower claims: Records show that ICE last year dramatically cut its basic training program amid a hiring spree meant to speed up the administration’s deportation efforts, corroborating the whistleblower claim of former ICE instructor Ryan Schwank. The previously undisclosed records show that ICE slashed more than 40% of the program’s instructional time, including time spent on firearms training, fitness training, and instruction on case processing and deportation officers’ legal authority. (Sarah Blaskey, Washington Post)

Democrats decry meager medical care for detainees in funding fight: ICE is violating standards that ensure immigrants receive initial medical screenings, routine health care, and timely responses to physical complaints, according to a review of detainee lawsuits, research reports, and investigations by congressional Democrats. (Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News)

Refugee released by Border Patrol found dead, sparking outrage: Border Patrol agents left Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a partially blind refugee who spoke little English, in the parking lot of a Buffalo coffee shop on the night of February 19. He was found dead five days later. Democratic officials and civil rights advocacy groups called for further investigation. (Evan Hill and Joanna Slater, Washington Post)

Judge: IRS broke law “approximately 42,695 times” in giving DHS data: U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found the vast majority of the nearly 47,300 taxpayer addresses the IRS shared with ICE in August were disclosed without the IRS confirming that ICE provided a valid address. The government is appealing Kollar-Kotelly’s November order blocking the data-sharing arrangement. (Jeff Stein, Washington Post)

Democrats demand answers for federal prison staffing shortage after corrections officers flee for ICE jobs: House Democrats demanded Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall III explain how he plans to address the agency’s “persistent, unsafe conditions” and “pervasive shortage of critical staff,” driven in part by corrections officers fleeing the bureau for more lucrative jobs at ICE. (Keri Blakinger, ProPublica)

Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency: Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a draft executive order that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting based on claims that China interfered in the 2020 election. (Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Trump officials attended a summit of election deniers who want the president to take over the midterms (Doug Bock Clark, ProPublica)

Spy agency blocks Congress from seeing Gabbard whistleblower intelligence: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office told Democratic congressional staffers it won’t share the classified intelligence that led to a whistleblower complaint against Gabbard, citing executive privilege. The intelligence was assembled early last year and relates to a conversation two foreign nationals had about Jared Kushner. (Dustin Volz, Wall Street Journal)

Kash Patel’s use of jet delayed FBI team’s mass shooting response, whistleblower tells top senator: A whistleblower told Senator Richard Durbin that FBI agents were delayed in reaching the scene of a mass shooting at Brown University in December because of Director Kash Patel’s misuse of the bureau’s aircraft. (Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, MS NOW)

🔎 See Also: Kash Patel’s girlfriend seeks fame and fortune, escorted by an FBI SWAT team (Elizabeth Williamson, New York Times)

GAO report offers new details on the workers agencies lost last year: The GAO found that the VA and DOD saw the largest downward swing in headcount during the first half of 2025, but in relative terms, the Education Department saw the most job losses with its workforce decreasing by more than 20%. Nearly 144,000 federal workers opted for the deferred resignation program. (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

Labor secretary is a rare presence at department in turmoil: Dozens of current and former Labor Department employees described a toxic workplace characterized by an absentee secretary, hostile aides, and a deeply demoralized staff. (Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Evan Gorelick, New York Times)

Judiciary requests control over courthouse property management partially due to job cuts at GSA: The Judicial Conference reported a more than $8 billion backlog in infrastructure repairs needed at courthouses across the country, and that the situation has worsened due to staff cuts at GSA. At some courthouses, people have gotten stuck in elevators, ceilings have fallen in the middle of trials, and legionella has been found in the water supply. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Federal judges who’ve ruled against Trump administration denounce threats against themselves, their families: Last year, 400 federal judges were targets of serious threats, a 78% jump in four years. (Bill Whitaker and Heather Abbott, 60 Minutes)

Trump tells committee chairs he backs controversial spy law extension: Congress faces an April 20 deadline to renew the controversial Section 702 surveillance program. Lawmakers in both parties want to put new restrictions on the program to prevent warrantless surveillance of Americans; Trump asked for a straight renewal with no changes. (Jordain Carney and John Sakellariadis, Politico)

Database reveals which items the Park Service thinks may “disparage” America: An internal government database shows that officials have flagged hundreds of displays and materials in response to administration orders to scrub national parks and monuments of DEI descriptions and materials. The database highlights the many hours of work that the orders imposed on already overextended park employees. (Karin Brulliard and Brady Dennis, Washington Post)

Iran War

Analysis: Trump’s attack on Iran puts him on shakier legal ground than before: The U.S. attack on Iran crosses multiple legal lines, both domestically and internationally, and the president’s new interest in targeting foreign leaders also goes far beyond his previous gambits. (Ankush Khardori, Politico)

Pentagon offers no evidence to support claim it attacked Iran in defense: The White House has yet to explain to the public or Congress what Iranian threat prompted the massive attacks that have upended the region and could draw the U.S. into another Middle East war. (Jack Detsch et al., Politico)

The money behind the new Iran War: Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE lobbied President Trump to strike Iran. Both have significant financial ties to Trump and his family. (Judd Legum, Popular Information)

Prediction market bets on Iran strikes stoke insider trading, ethics scrutiny: Bets on the potential death of Iran’s supreme leader drew new scrutiny of prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, and stoked concerns over the legality and ethics of such trades and the potential for insider trading. (Tom Westbrook, Reuters)

X is drowning in disinformation following U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran: Hundreds of posts on X, some of which have racked up millions of views, promote misleading claims about the locations and scale of the attack and the Iranian counterattack. Almost all of the most viral posts came from accounts with blue check marks, meaning they’re eligible to earn money based on engagement. (David Gilbert, Wired)

Tensions in the Twin Cities

Justice Department indicts 30 more in anti-ICE church protest in Minnesota: A total of 39 people now face charges in the case, including former CNN host Don Lemon. (Ryan J. Reilly, NBC News)

Greg Bovino, other federal agents investigated for Operation Metro Surge actions: The use of a chemical irritant by U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino is among 17 instances of potential unlawful behavior by federal agents currently being investigated for criminal charges by the Hennepin County Attorney’s office. The office created the Transparency and Accountability Project (TAP), to which citizens can submit evidence of potential illegal activity by federal agents. (Jeff Day, Minnesota Star Tribune)

Trump Treasury official to exit after objecting to Minneapolis crackdown: Treasury Department undersecretary John Hurley is leaving his post after privately raising objections to the administration’s plan to crack down on alleged fraud by Minnesota’s Somali immigrant community. Sources said Hurley raised data privacy concerns. Other Treasury officials have balked at the speed and aggressiveness of the crackdown and view it as a clumsy and inefficient way to root out fraud. (Andrew Ackerman et al., Washington Post)

Epstein Files

Nude photos and passports: Justice Department posted dozens of problematic images to Epstein files site, CNN analysis finds: The DOJ failed to immediately take down numerous images in the Epstein files that should have been redacted, including photos showing what appear to be naked teenagers on a beach, pictures of a young girl kissing Jeffrey Epstein, and personal data on passports and drivers’ licenses. These findings add to a growing list of botched redactions by DOJ. (Marshall Cohen, CNN)

🔎 See Also: DOJ reviewing if Epstein files with Trump allegations were wrongly withheld (Perry Stein, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Democrats demand special counsel investigation of Bondi, accusing her of perjury (Sudiksha Kochi and Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)

Top Oversight Democrat says Merrick Garland should testify on Epstein: “Why the [Department of Justice] under Merrick Garland, or others, weren’t forthcoming in what was actually in these files, I think is an important question that has to be answered,” said Rep. Robert Garcia. (Tara Suter, The Hill)

How Jeffrey Epstein sought to infiltrate the justice system: The files show how Epstein curated a network of influential people at almost every level of the criminal justice system. Epstein wooed state and federal prosecutors, assistant DAs, sheriff’s deputies, probation officers, federal marshals, and customs and border patrol officers. (Julie K. Brown and Claire Healy, Miami Herald)

🔎 See Also: Why the Epstein investigations took so long and did so little (Benjamin Weiser, Matthew Goldstein, and Mike Baker, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Wyden presses DEA for answers on secret Epstein investigation (Ashleigh Fields, The Hill)

🔎 See Also: Epstein’s New Mexico ranch gets scrutiny at last. It may be too late (Reis Thebault, New York Times)

Other Epstein Files News:

→ House panel releases videos of Bill and Hillary Clinton depositions

→ Elite doctors served Jeffrey Epstein while treating his “girls”

→ Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers quits Harvard over Epstein probe

→ How Jeffrey Epstein ingratiated himself with top Microsoft executives

→ Leader of Columbia brain institute quits over friendship with Epstein

→ Former Senator Bob Kerrey resigns from Nebraska start-up amid Epstein emails

→ Lifestyles of the rich, famous, and Epstein-connected: Leon Black

→ Citizen journalists, citizen sleuths helping to unravel the tangle of Epstein documents

Insurrection

New legislation in House would ban taxpayer money from going to Jan. 6 rioters: The Trump administration has already approved at least one civil settlement in connection with the insurrection: a $5 million payment to the family of Ashli Babbitt. A U.S. Capitol Police officer testified to Congress in January that the more than 140 police officers injured in the riot haven’t received any kind of compensation for their losses. (Scott MacFarlane, CBS News)

Weaponization of the Government

Trump administration withholds $259 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota: The administration announced last week that it will withhold $259 million in Medicaid funds to Minnesota, claiming rampant fraud in the state’s social welfare programs. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the move was part of a “campaign of retribution.” (Chris Cameron, New York Times)

Pentagon appeals order blocking Sen. Kelly’s punishment for unlawful orders video: The DOJ is appealing a judge’s order blocking the Pentagon from punishing Senator Mark Kelly for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders. (Michael Kunzelman, Military Times)

FBI fires agents who worked on Trump Mar-a-Lago investigation: The FBI fired ten more agents who worked on cases involving President Trump, including the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)

Trump FCC’s equal-time crackdown doesn’t apply equally — or at all — to talk radio: Critics point out that FCC Chairman Brendon Carr’s threats of equal-time enforcement apply unequally since he hasn’t directed them at talk radio, which is predominantly conservative. (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica)

DOJ sues over alleged antisemitism at UCLA: The lawsuit stems from allegations by Jewish students and faculty that university officials didn’t take steps to rein in pro-Palestinian protesters who harassed them during campus unrest in 2023. (Eric He, Politico)

White House Ballroom

Judge rules Trump’s White House ballroom can continue, for now: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that construction on the ballroom can proceed for now, denying a preliminary injunction sought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation but allowing the group to amend its complaint. (Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post)

Inspectors General

Pentagon watchdog stalls proposal to review targeting in Trump’s boat strikes: DOD Inspector General Platte Moring III delayed a decision on whether to evaluate military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, telling his staff he wanted to consult department leadership first. A close study of command directives and procedures could be politically embarrassing to the administration. (Charlie Savage, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Pentagon declares Anthropic a threat to national security: The president on Friday placed AI firm Anthropic on a far-reaching national security blacklist, directing federal agencies to stop using its technology and banning any other company that does business with the military from doing business with the company. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth followed up by declaring Anthropic a “supply-chain risk.” The dispute sprang from Anthropic resisting the use of its AI system for powering autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance. (Ian Duncan, Tara Copp, and Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: How talks between Anthropic and the Defense Dept. fell apart (Sheera Frenkel, Cade Metz, and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: OpenAI announces Pentagon deal after Trump bans Anthropic (Shannon Bond and Geoff Brumfiel, NPR)

Inside the fight for safe military housing: Nearly two dozen families describe similar patterns of housing neglect in lawsuits filed in Texas federal courts against Hunt Military Communities, a company that wields a monopolistic hold on military housing management at military installations throughout the country. Despite ongoing reports of chronic problems, Hunt has largely evaded accountability through political influence and legal finesse, as well as congressional inaction. (René Kladzyk, Project On Government Oversight)

Despite promises, Veterans Affairs department cut thousands of roles for doctors and nurses: Roughly 14,400 positions — about 5% of the VA’s medical staff — remain unfilled. (Nicholas Nehamas et al., New York Times)

Pentagon to cut ties with Columbia, Yale, Brown and others Hegseth accuses of “wokeness”: The DOD will forbid members of the military from attending Columbia, Yale, Brown, and other universities starting next school year amid a campaign to cut ties with institutions the defense secretary calls “factories of anti-American resentment” and “breeding grounds of toxic indoctrination” that undermine military values. (Collin Binkley, Military Times)

Scouts will abandon DEI policies under agreement with Pentagon, Hegseth says: The Defense secretary announced Scouting America will discontinue DEI programs and policies in order to maintain DOD’s support. Hegseth also said the organization will ban transgender people from openly participating, but Scouting America said the claim was false. The group also said it had staved off a demand to change its name back to the Boy Scouts of America and exclude the more than 200,000 girls who participate. (Chris Cameron, New York Times)

Military dogs are facing substandard conditions, leading to deaths, report finds: Non-training military working dogs at bases across the country are facing neglectful conditions caused by aging facilities and a lack of ample caretakers, according to an inspector general report. (Cristina Stassis, Military Times)

Business and Finance

The “Trump accounts” for kids come with a catch in some states: The White House touts “Trump accounts” as a new way to grow a nest egg for children, with preferential tax treatment. But some states plan to tax those accounts as they would other investment income. (Julie Z. Weil, Washington Post)

Fossil fuel giant wins $370 million tax break for burning gas as an “alternative fuel”: The IRS handed a $370 million windfall between 2018 and 2024 to Cheniere, one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas, by allowing the company to claim an “alternative fuels” tax incentive for operating some of the planet’s most heavily polluting ships. Company CEO Jack Fusco donated at least $250,000 to Trump campaign committees in 2024. (Evan Halper, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Reconciliation bill subsidizes fossil fuels by $3.5B each year, Democratic report finds (Rachel Frazin, The Hill)

Walmart to pay $100 million to settle allegations that it deceived delivery drivers about pay: The FTC and 11 states accused Walmart of misleading its delivery drivers about pay, costing them tens of millions of dollars in earnings. The FTC also alleged that Walmart deceived customers by falsely claiming that 100% of their tips would go to the drivers. (Mary Cunningham, CBS News)

Family seating on planes triggers tears, stress and social media rants: For years, parents have been driven to stressed-out pleas and angry social media rants when their young kids have been given seats next to strangers on a plane. Lawmakers have sought to address the issue for nearly a decade, but no regulation is in place yet to force airlines to keep families together without charging extra for the privilege. (Hannah Sampson, Washington Post)

Infrastructure

Trump announced a major deal on data centers. It’s still unclear what’s in it: The president used his State of the Union address to tout a plan for tech companies to pay their own way for data center power. Details remain scarce. (Gabby Miller and Katherine Long, Politico)

We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea?: Two applications under review by the FCC would fundamentally remake the night sky: A start-up called Reflect Orbital proposes to use large, mirrored satellites to redirect sunlight to Earth to bathe solar farms, industrial sites, and even entire cities. SpaceX proposes to launch as many as a million satellites to serve as orbiting data centers. The FCC appears to have fast-tracked approval without much of a pause to weigh the benefits of these proposals against the harms they could cause to life on the planet. (Dana Milbank, Washington Post)

Federal aid for lead cleanup is receding. That’s a problem for cash-strapped cities: Congress and the Trump administration have made it more difficult for many cities and towns to undertake efforts to clean up lead contamination in soil, drinking water, and older homes. (Halle Parker, KFF Health News)

Health Care

15 states sue HHS over revisions to vaccine schedule: A coalition of 14 attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania seeks to nullify the administration’s decision last month to reduce the number of diseases children are routinely immunized against. It also challenges “the unlawful replacement” of members of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times)

Medicaid is paying for more dental care. GOP cuts threaten to reverse the trend: Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the federal government is expected to reduce Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over the next decade. Such massive federal cuts could force states to shrink or eliminate dental benefits. (Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News)

States limiting HIV drug access as federal funding plateaus: Nearly two dozen states are reducing or considering cutting back on funding for programs that help people access HIV drugs as federal funding fails to keep up with costs. (Joseph Choi, The Hill)

Ivermectin is making a post-pandemic comeback, among cancer patients: Ivermectin is making a comeback in conservative political circles, where its reputation keeps growing as a kind of cure-all for various ailments, even cancer, despite a lack of evidence it works. (Yuki Noguchi, NPR)

How 10-minute procedures and routine scans become five-figure medical bills: Medical inflation has steadily outpaced general inflation for years, with bills for many brief, routine procedures reaching tens of thousands of dollars. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, Washington Post)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Judge restores lawmakers’ unfettered access to ICE detention facilities

→ Judge finds third-country deportations unlawful

→ Supreme Court deals setback to ICE detention contractor in fight over detainee work

→ Trump-appointed judge finds DHS in contempt over detainee transfer

→ Texas grand jury declines to charge Homeland Security officer in fatal shooting

→ Denver mayor bars ICE from city property and orders protection for protesters

→ How the federal government is painting immigrants as criminals on social media

→ U.S. aims to bring in 4,500 white South Africans per month as refugees, document says

Other News:

→ Whoops: U.S. military laser strike takes down CBP drone near Mexican border

→ Court rules against Justice Dept. search of reporter’s computers

→ Nancy Mace under investigation by House Ethics Committee

→ Trump administration to drop defense of law firm sanctions

→ Trump’s Board of Peace consists entirely of human rights abusers

→ A professor challenged the Smithsonian. Security shut the gallery

→ An Army Corps project could wipe out one of Florida’s last thriving coral reefs

On The Lighter Side

How $15.5 billion will be spent on Congress’s pet projects: From jazz history to oyster shell recycling to tuna research, lawmakers returned to earmarks en masse after a pause in 2025, larding up Congress’s annual funding package with 8,271 local projects worth more than $15 billion. An additional $273 million in earmarks are tucked into the DHS appropriations bill. (Riley Beggin and Federica Cocco, Washington Post)

Upcoming Events

📌 Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota: Part II. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Wednesday, March 4, 9:00 a.m., HVC-210 Capitol.

📌 Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. House Committee on the Judiciary. Wednesday, March 4, 10:00 a.m., 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Inspectors General for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Thursday, March 5, 10:00 a.m., 2358-A Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 The True Cost of a $1.5 Trillion Pentagon Budget. Quincy Institute. Thursday, March 5, 12:00 noon - 1:00 p.m. ET.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Needs to Improve the Accuracy of Cost and Schedule Information for Major Projects and Activities. GAO-26-107820 (PDF)