The Paper Trail: April 4, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for April 4, 2025

Waltz’s team set up at least 20 Signal group chats for crises across the world: National security adviser Mike Waltz’s team regularly set up chats on Signal to coordinate official work on issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. In some of the chats, which included Cabinet members and high-level staff, sensitive information was discussed. (Dasha Burns, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Pentagon will review Hegseth’s use of Signal (Helene Cooper and John Ismay, New York Times)

Waltz and staff used Gmail for government communications, officials say: Members of President Trump’s National Security Council, including national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts — a far less secure method of communication than Signal. One NSC official used Gmail for highly technical conversations that discussed sensitive military positions and weapons systems. (John Hudson, Washington Post)

White House fires multiple administration officials after president meets with far-right activist Laura Loomer: The White House fired multiple administration officials, including at least four National Security Council staffers and the director and deputy director of the National Security Agency, after Loomer told President Trump the officials were disloyal. (Katie Bo Lillis et al., CNN)

Another big law firm reaches agreement with Trump: Milbank became the fourth major U.S. law firm to strike a deal with the president, agreeing to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services to causes supported by Trump. The firm also agreed to not engage in “illegal DEI discrimination” or to deny representation to a client because of their political views. (Matthew Goldstein, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Conservative group asks law firms for free help, noting Trump’s attacks (Emily Birnbaum, Bloomberg)

Judge further protects most fired probationary feds, though some may be newly vulnerable: U.S. District Judge James Bredar on Tuesday indefinitely extended his order blocking the administration from firing probationary workers at 20 agencies, although his ruling narrowed those protected to only feds living or working in 19 states and Washington, D.C. Relatively few workers will be eligible for firing as a result of the new injunction, however, as another judge in a different case issued a nationwide injunction. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Kennedy suggests 20 percent of HHS cuts may be reversed: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he expects about 20% of fired employees to be reinstated as the agency backtracks after making cuts directed by DOGE. (Lauren Irwin, The Hill)

Some agencies are notifying employees of their “Schedule F” status: Some agencies have begun notifying employees that they are likely to be placed in a new, fireable-at-will civil service category. Hundreds of thousands of employees could lose civil service protections that prevent politically motivated firings. (Eric Katz and Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

No toilet paper and no privacy: Returning to the office, federal workers walk into chaos: Federal workers returning to offices face logistical challenges, cramped conditions, and shortages of basic supplies. (Eileen Sullivan, New York Times)

States scramble to address “catastrophic” halt to federal pandemic education aid: State officials across the country are scrambling to assess how schools will absorb the sudden loss of billions of dollars in federal pandemic aid they’re using for everything from construction to literacy programs. As of March, states collectively had $2.5 billion in unobligated American Rescue Plan funds. (Juan Perez Jr., Politico)

🔎 See Also: Federal judge temporarily blocks $11 billion in Trump administration’s cuts to public health funding (Jacob Rosen and Alexander Tin, CBS News)

ICE deportation flight assault goes unreported by agency: Guards allegedly assaulted a shackled man onboard a deportation flight in December 2022. It was the sort of incident that should have been reported through official channels by both ICE and the private company supplying the flight’s security guards, but neither entity reported it. (René Kladzyk and Nick Schwellenbach, Project On Government Oversight)

🔎 See Also: Inside ICE Air: Flight attendants on deportation planes say disaster is “only a matter of time” (McKenzie Funk, ProPublica)

Leaked memo reveals insane ban on words Agriculture Department can say: A leaked memo from the Department of Agriculture’s Research Service division revealed that the agency has banned some key language from its vocabulary, including the words “pollution,” “vulnerable,” “clean water,” “solar energy,” and “affordable housing.” It’s unclear how the guidance would do anything other than completely hinder the department’s ability to monitor the health and edibility of crops, or aid America’s rural development. (Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, The New Republic)

Elon Musk & DOGE

Analysis: What’s wrong with DOGE? Its structure, for one: In the months since DOGE’s creation, its reach and power have steadily expanded while its mission, structure, leadership, personnel, and funding have remained hazy. This opacity makes it extremely difficult for Congress, the courts, and the public to hold DOGE accountable. (Faith Williams, Project On Government Oversight)

🔎 See Also: The DOGE playbook targeting federal agencies (Eli Murray, June Kim, and Jeremy White, New York Times)

DOGE’s Pentagon budget cuts don’t touch Elon Musk’s SpaceX: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a major show of canceling $580 million in Defense Department contracts and grants. But there’s one contractor that hasn’t faced a single cut so far: SpaceX. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

DOGE staffer who shared Treasury data now has more access to government systems: DOGE staffer Marko Elez, who resigned in February over his racist social media posts and broke data-sharing rules, was rehired to work with sensitive data at several federal agencies. (Stephen Fowler and Jenna McLaughlin, NPR)

Other DOGE News:

→ White House says Elon Musk will stay until DOGE work complete following reports of leaving

→ Top oversight Dem files resolution to demand answers from DOGE on AI use

→ DOGE is trying to gift itself a $500 million building, court filings show

Israel-Hamas War

Rubio orders U.S. diplomats to scour student visa applicants’ social media: Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats overseas to scrutinize the social media content of some applicants for student and other types of visas, in an effort to bar those suspected of criticizing the U.S. and Israel. Rubio ordered consular officers to refer certain visa applicants to the “fraud prevention unit” for a “mandatory social media check.” (Edward Wong, New York Times)

Trump admin halting more than $500M in federal funding to Brown University over antisemitism response: Brown became the fifth university to face a dire loss of federal funding for what the Trump administration claims is relentless antisemitism on campus. (Elizabeth Pritchett, Fox News)

🔎 See Also: Trump pauses dozens of federal grants to Princeton (Alan Blinder and Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times)

Russia-Ukraine War

Ukraine’s ravaged environment: In addition to the human costs of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the environment is also being devastated. Fields are contaminated with the residue of explosives. Burning fuel tanks spew pollution into the air and wildfires burn unchecked. Water from reservoirs has poured through destroyed dams, causing droughts upstream and damaging floods below. (Brendan Hoffman and Evelina Riabenko, New York Times)

Political Misbehavior

How the Trump administration took aim at Maine: After a pointed exchange between President Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills at a White House event in February, Maine has been subjected to unusual, overlapping federal investigations and arbitrary reversals of federal funding. Some of those actions were subsequently reversed, thanks largely to the intervention of Sen. Susan Collins, but Mills and Maine remain in the administration’s crosshairs. (Joanna Slater and Lisa Rein, Washington Post)

Hunter Biden tax informant set to control IRS criminal division: The Trump administration is bypassing senior career officials at the IRS by putting in charge of criminal investigations an official who told Congress in 2023 that prosecutors slow-walked an inquiry into Hunter Biden. The appointment is raising concerns that a partisan agenda for tax investigations could be coming. (Shannon Najmabadi and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Capitol Hill wants $15 billion for weapons pentagon didn’t seek: report: Congress recommended adding nearly $15 billion the Pentagon didn’t request in fiscal 2025 for several hundred military research and procurement programs. More than one-third of the money went to scores of new programs, mostly weapons, that weren’t in the Pentagon’s budget plans. (John M. Donnelly, Military.com)

Mold in privatized housing cost this Navy family their health and reenlistment bonus: Dozens of families have joined a lawsuit against military housing contractor Balfour Beatty for fraud and gross negligence, alleging that they were exposed to mold, water damage, lead paint, asbestos, structural defects, and other unsafe conditions because of “systematic neglect” by the company. (Patty Nieberg, Task & Purpose)

Business and Finance

Unsanitary practices persist at baby formula factory whose shutdown led to mass shortages, workers say: Workers at one of the nation’s largest baby formula plants say the Abbott Laboratories facility is engaging in the same unsanitary practices that led to its temporary shutdown three years ago. One worker complained to the FDA, but it’s unclear how the agency will respond: The administration recently cut 3,500 jobs at the FDA. (Heather Vogell, ProPublica)

Trump lets “good” banks hide their bad fees: Federal credit unions are often seen as the kinder, gentler version of big banks. But the largest credit unions made nearly $4 billion last year charging their members unnecessary overdraft fees, and now the Trump administration has given credit unions more leeway to hide how they charge members. (Freddy Brewster, The Lever)

Trump just pardoned … a corporation? Experts say it was within President Trump’s powers when he pardoned two companies last week — HDR Global Trading, the owner of a cryptocurrency exchange sentenced to a $100 million fine for violating an anti-money laundering law, and Ozy Media, an online outlet that collapsed under allegations of fraud by its founder — but they were unaware of any prior instances of corporations granted full pardons. (Matt Sledge, The Intercept)

Health Care

FDA layoffs could raise drug costs and erode food safety: Wide-ranging layoffs at the FDA include experts who determine if an expensive drug can be sold as a low-cost generic, lab scientists who test food and drugs for contaminants, veterinary division specialists investigating bird flu transmission, and researchers who monitor TV ads for false claims about prescription drugs. (Christina Jewett, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: CDC cuts threaten to set back the nation’s health, critics say (Apoorva Mandavilli and Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times)

More Americans can’t afford medical care, poll finds: According to a new survey, 11% of Americans can’t afford medication and health care — the highest level in the four years the survey has been conducted. (Reed Abelson, New York Times)

Paging Dr. Land Baron: Nonprofit hospital chains are buying up billions of dollars’ worth of real estate around the country, milking it for income while using their charity status to avoid paying property taxes and using their taxpayer-subsidized fortunes to gain political power. (Helen Santoro and Luke Goldstein, The Lever)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Mistaken deportations stoke concerns over Trump’s aggressive immigration push

→ Inside one migrant’s accidental journey to a Salvadoran prison

→ Colleges say the Trump administration is using new tactics to expel international students

→ Immigration crackdowns disrupt caregivers. Families are paying the price

→ U.S. Coast Guard triples forces along southwest maritime border, seizes $785M in drugs

Other News:

→ Judge dismisses Eric Adams case and says it cannot be brought again, defying Trump DOJ

→ Trump administration threatens to withhold funds from public schools

→ Trump’s DEI undoing undermines hard-won accommodations for disabled people

→ SEC continuing $150 million lawsuit against Elon Musk over Twitter purchase

Because It’s Friday

More penguins than people: Trump imposes tariffs on remote islands: President Trump’s tariffs have spared almost no corner of the Earth — even Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Australian territories near Antarctica where many penguins, but no people, live. (Jenny Gross, New York Times)

Nominations & Appointments

Nominations

• Anthony D’Esposito - Inspector General, Department of Labor
• T. Elliot Gaiser - Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel