The Paper Trail: June 16, 2026

Top stories for June 16, 2026

Frustrated by courts, Trump weighed suspending a constitutional right: Secret memos show that, in the early months of the second Trump administration, the White House debated whether to suspend habeas corpus rights for undocumented immigrants in order to accelerate their deportation. The idea was proposed by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who also proposed invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military into U.S. cities. (Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, New York Times)

The Trump administration keeps ghosting its congressional watchdog: Agencies have been stonewalling the GAO ever since President Trump returned to office, to the point that GAO leadership told employees at a staff meeting in May that they’ve encountered “significant access issues” during the last year and a half. Officials at that meeting cited the OMB, HUD, the Commerce Department, the Education Department, and the SBA as particularly noncooperative. (Jose Pagliery, NOTUS)

Is DHS a threat to elections this year? Voting officials are planning on it: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s history of false election fraud claims has heightened concerns that local election officials have had for more than a year: that DHS will not be a partner helping to secure elections, but rather a threat seeking to undermine results that Trump dislikes. (Miles Parks, NPR)

A year after sounding the alarm, NIH dissenters say political influence is entrenched at research agency: Last year, a group of NIH employees compiled their objections to workforce and research funding policy changes at the agency into the “Bethesda Declaration.” Last week, 74 current and former NIH staffers published a one-year update to the declaration, arguing that the overhauls have led to increased political influence and “coordinated, systematic, institutionalized destruction” at the agency. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Who watches the watchdogs? GAO finds flaws in inspector general oversight system: The GAO found that the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), which reviews ethics complaints against federal IGs and other IG office personnel, frequently fell short of its own process requirements when investigating misconduct allegations against agency watchdogs. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

$60M and 7 federal agencies required to stage Trump’s UFC fight at White House: President Trump’s UFC fight on the White House’s South Lawn has required a monumental effort from seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working onsite daily, and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing. (Jesse Bedayn, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: UFC to pay White House fighters in crypto issued by Trump company (Aram Roston and Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian)

An Indian billionaire was targeted by Trump. Then he poured money into a startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr.: An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to Donald Trump Jr. received a $100 million investment from one of India’s richest men. At the same time, the man’s family secured major policy wins from the Trump administration. (Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica)

Rogers earmarks money for nonprofits he helped launch: Rep. Harold Rogers has earmarked more than $30 million in funding since 2011 to three nonprofits he helped launch and requested an additional $22.5 million for two of the organizations for fiscal 2027. Critics say this underscores a shortcoming in earmark rules. (Ryan Tarinelli, Roll Call)

Opinion: Bill Pulte is a symptom, not the cause, of our broken surveillance system: Bill Pulte will still serve as acting Director of National Intelligence until a permanent leader is confirmed. While Pulte is a uniquely unqualified and dangerous pick, nominating a replacement doesn’t change the fact that extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in its current form, amid the rapidly expanding use of domestic surveillance, threatens all of us. (Don Bell, MS NOW)

🔎 See Also: Controversial FISA spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica)

Opinion: The federal government has a major blind spot in how it evaluates programs: Every year, the federal government spends trillions of dollars on programs meant to improve lives. It spends remarkably little figuring out whether they work — and even less making sure those findings reach anyone who can act on them. (Nick Hart, Government Executive)

Trump Anti-Weaponization Fund

Federal judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s $1.8 billion payout fund: U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a preliminary injunction blocking the fund. She rejected the government’s arguments that the case was moot, citing Trump’s praising of the idea and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s unwillingness to say under the penalty of perjury that the administration won’t try to stand it up in the future. (Katie Mettler and Jeremy Roebuck, Washington Post)

Iran War

Congress must review Iran agreement, senators say: Under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA), any nuclear agreement with Iran must be transmitted to Congress within five days of being reached, and Congress then has 30 days to vote on a resolution of disapproval. In the meantime, U.S. lawmakers are in the dark about the deal. (Rebecca Kheel, Roll Call)

Epstein Files

Inside the White House freakout over the Epstein files: Last summer, as pressure mounted on the Trump administration to release material it held on Jeffrey Epstein, the president’s top advisers gathered in a series of meetings, many in the secure Situation Room complex, as they struggled to contain the fallout. The meetings included Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Counsel David Warrington, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel. (Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, New York Times Magazine)

🔎 See Also: 6 takeaways from the story of how the Epstein files paralyzed the White House (Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, New York Times Magazine)

🔎 See Also: Trump aides fear Haberman and Swan obtained Situation Room tapes for “Regime Change” (Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, Axios)

Epstein file says Trump “knew and funded underage sex parties” at his golf course: Among the documents in the Epstein files is an FBI intake report from 2021 containing allegations that Trump, Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell discussed “marketing strategies” for sex parties at a Trump golf course, and that girls were murdered and buried at a Trump golf course. Other records suggest federal investigators ultimately viewed the source skeptically and that other complainants making similar allegations were “deemed not credible.” (Natasha Yee, Miami New Times)

Bill Gates tells Congress he didn’t know of Epstein’s crimes, renounces ties: Gates distanced himself from Jeffrey Epstein during congressional testimony last week, writing in prepared remarks that he made “a grave error in judgement” by meeting with him 15 years ago and denying any knowledge of his criminal conduct. (Mariana Alfaro and Maegan Vazquez, Washington Post)

Insurrection

Alleged Wisconsin fake elector accomplices to be arraigned as Trump seeks to rewrite 2020 election: Three alleged planners of Wisconsin’s fake elector scheme in 2020 — Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s Wisconsin campaign attorney; attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who advised Trump on legal matters; and former Trump aide Mike Roman — will be arraigned this week in Wisconsin county court on 11 felony forgery charges. (Alexander Shur, Wisconsin Watch)

🔎 See Also: Kenneth Chesebro draws reprimand from Florida supreme court (Michael Moline, Wisconsin Examiner)

The War on “Narcoterrorists”

Top Pentagon official admits boat strike may have killed victims of human trafficking: Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, a high-ranking officer on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff said that some of the people killed in the first boat strike on September 2, 2025, may have been the victims of human trafficking. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

Weaponization of the Government

Newsom says Trump’s Justice Department is investigating him and his wife: California Governor Gavin Newsom said federal agents have questioned his wife, friends, and associates. The full scope of any investigation remains unclear, but sources say it appears to focus on his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and nonprofit groups with which she is involved. (Laurel Rosenhall, Devlin Barrett, and Maggie Haberman, New York Times)

DOE head says agency didn’t punish blue states. His lawyers admit it did: Energy Secretary Chris Wright was unrepentant on Capitol Hill last week, firing back at a lawmaker’s charge that the Energy Department canceled clean energy projects in blue states to exact political revenge. At the same time, a federal judge ordered the department to restore 11 clean energy grants after its lawyers acknowledged it aimed to punish Democrats. (Evan Halper, Washington Post)

White House Ballroom

Records reveal $600M estimate for Trump’s ballroom project, with half from taxpayers: An internal cost estimate in March by the project’s contractor ran $200 million more than the president has said publicly and counters his claims that no taxpayer money will be spent. More than $1.6 million in Secret Service funds was also budgeted to cover part of the cost of the East Wing demolition, which contracting experts say appears to fall outside the scope of the Secret Service’s mission. (Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O'Connell, Washington Post)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Top Pentagon official worked closely with CIA officer later found with gold bars: David Rush, the former CIA officer found last month with $40 million in gold bars in his home, had powerful friends in government. One of them, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, worked with Rush on a highly classified program focused on spying on China. Feinberg and Rush have known each other at least since President Trump’s first term. (Mark Mazzetti and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)

VA denies military sexual trauma claims more often than combat injuries: Veterans seeking to file disability claims related to military sexual trauma are “more likely” to be denied by the VA than those whose claims are for combat injuries, according to a new report. The report also found that, long before veterans reach the VA, the military’s hierarchical structure and internal culture dissuade survivors from reporting military sexual trauma. (Patty Nieberg, Task & Purpose)

An Army whistleblower believed in Pete Hegseth — until the military covered up her child’s abuse: The Army told a mother that video of her son being abused at the North Post Child Development Center at Fort Belvoir didn’t exist, then produced it months later. It’s part of a pattern of obfuscation in abuse cases at military daycare centers. (Austin Campbell, The Intercept)

Only 1 in 4 F-35s is fully mission capable, GAO finds: The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter’s readiness rates continued to decline through fiscal 2025, with the fleet’s full mission capable rate falling to 25%. (Michael Scanlon, Military Times)

The DOGE bros were hired to slash government contracts. Now they want to win some: Several former DOGE employees are plotting their next act: forming start-up companies and looking for a cut of the $1 trillion defense budget. (Margaux MacColl and Sylvia Varnham O’Regan, Vanity Fair)

🔎 See Also: Two former DOGE staffers have created a new, perplexing company (Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic)

Business and Finance

Justice Department decision to allow Paramount deal surprised staff investigators: The DOJ’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid to acquire Warner Discovery before staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object. A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a legal challenge on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would violate antitrust law. (Dave Michaels et al., Wall Street Journal)

Tech

Soccer fans, you’re being watched: From anti-drone tech to face recognition, 2026 World Cup stadiums in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are subjecting fans to an array of surveillance technologies. Experts fear the tech deployed for the World Cup will remain long after the final match, further dissolving the boundary between defense infrastructure and ordinary public policing. (Vas Panagiotopoulos, Wired)

Most new U.S. data centers are slated for drought-plagued areas: About two-thirds of upcoming data centers, which typically require a large amount of water to operate, are set to be built in the driest places in the country. (Oliver Milman, Mother Jones)

Trump promised to bring order to AI oversight. That lasted 2 weeks: The White House’s last-minute restrictions on Anthropic’s new AI model are raising doubts about President Trump’s two-week-old effort to place guardrails on the technology. Observers say the move could be motivated by the history of bad blood between Anthropic and the administration. (Brendan Bordelon, Gabby Miller, and Cheyenne Haslett, Politico)

The dangerous tech found aboard “dark-fleet” tankers captured by the U.S.: As tankers ferry sanctioned oil from Iran and Russia around the world, their criminal owners are using a mishmash of digital tools to control crews and cover their tracks. The practices, discovered by U.S. Coast Guard, have left ships in the so-called dark fleet exposed to bad actors who could use those weaknesses to cause an explosion or oil spill. (Shelby Holliday, Wall Street Journal)

Infrastructure

Tensions are rising between states that rely on the Colorado River: Water in the Colorado River is dwindling to levels that haven’t been seen in decades, and the seven states whose residents depend on the river can’t agree on a fair way to divide up what’s left. (Scott Dance, New York Times)

Health Care

New rules expand ACA insurance choices but could come with risks: Plans could offer 30% higher out-of-pocket costs or no set hospital networks. Critics say the changes may reduce enrollment by 2 million. (Julie Appleby, Washington Post)

Backed by threat of clawbacks, feds wield tight grip on $50B rural health fund: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz praised states’ plans when announcing rural health program awards last year and said his agency would help states “turn their ideas into lasting improvements for rural families.” But state officials and healthcare leaders said it’s also clear the agency wants to encourage specific policy changes and hold states accountable to the promises they made and rules they agreed to follow. (Sarah Jane Tribble and Arielle Zionts, KFF Health News)

Vance’s fraud task force is sweeping up legitimate small businesses: A White House task force led by Vice President JD Vance is cracking down on theft from federal health care and other programs. But some innocent operations are being harmed along with the nefarious ones. (Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post)

He profits off raw milk that’s making people sick. The government isn’t stopping him: As raw, unpasteurized milk continues to sicken consumers, high-level lawmakers and government officials — most notably HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are championing the industry’s expansion rather than curbing the danger. (Annie Waldman, ProPublica)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ ICE wants local police to enforce immigration law. These officers signed up

→ World Cup players and officials are being detained or barred entry into U.S.

→ ICE tries to raid legal offices, demanding files on migrant children

→ ICE has detained over 500 babies and toddlers under Trump

→ Report finds Texas ICE facility wasted millions, endangered detainee

→ Billions in border wall contracts are going to a Montana firm run by a Trump donor

→ VIDEO: An Afghan family shattered by Trump’s visa ban

Other News:

→ Event honoring servicewomen canceled after most branches decline to attend

→ “Spoiled, adulterated” food: Trump golf club hit with health violations

→ Olympic organizers working with White House on Trump golf tournament

→ Anti-fraud overhaul clears House despite Democratic concerns over privacy and IG independence

→ DOJ brings new criminal charge in deadly Key Bridge collapse probe

→ Millionaires are overrepresented in the U.S. Senate — by a lot

On The Lighter Side

Green algae return to reflecting pool days into Trump’s renovation: Green algae have returned to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool despite the $13 million renovation. The Interior Department said the algae flare-ups were expected and are “part of the normal startup process.” (Ashleigh Fields, The Hill)

Upcoming Events

📌 Nomination of Walter “Jay” Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Wednesday, June 17, 2:00 p.m. G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Immigration Detention: Waste and Performance Issues at Camp East Montana Provide Valuable Lessons for Future Facilities. GAO-26-108886 (PDF)

🔥📃 GAO - Inspectors General Integrity Committee: Strengthened Oversight and Policy Needed to Ensure Consistent Investigations. GAO-26-107922 (PDF)

🔥📃 GAO - Weapon Systems Acquisition: Beyond Business as Usual — Using Leading Practices to Curb Waste and Save Billions. GAO-26-109135 (PDF)

🔥📃 GAO - F-35 Sustainment: Actions Needed to Ensure Updated Strategy Improves Persistent Readiness Challenges. GAO-26-108113 (PDF)

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Matthew R. Byrne - Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
• Walter “Jay” Clayton - Director of National Intelligence
• James Andrew Crowell IV - Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• Brian Johnson - Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
• Stuart Gordon Nash - Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals