The Paper Trail: January 10, 2025

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Announcements

Applications are now open for a two-day intensive Boot Camp on the art and practice of oversight and investigations hosted by POGO, the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, and The Lugar Center. This training is only open to staff in Congress. Apply at THIS LINK by January 22.

Top stories for January 10, 2025

Trump says his transition with the Biden administration is “not smooth”: Others, including incoming Trump chief of staff Susie Wiles, indicate the process is going according to plan. Senate leaders said they are still awaiting the results of nominee background checks. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

🔎 See Also: DOGE is dispatching agents across U.S. government (Faiz Siddiqui, Jeff Stein and Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post)

Appeals court denies Trump’s bid to block release of Smith Jan. 6 report: The DOJ plans to release the volume of special counsel Jack Smith’s report detailing the election interference case. (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)

IG, regulator bash USPS plans to slow some mail delivery: A test rollout of a key Postal Service initiative hasn’t achieved any of the promised cost savings, according to an inspector general report. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Energy Dept. watchdog reports that travel expense violations in secretary’s criticized EV road trip caused by lack of oversight and knowledge: An inspector general report found government staffers exceeded travel spending limitations and broke certain related policies during a summer 2023 electric vehicle multi-state road trip with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to tout the administration’s clean energy initiatives. The IG found inadequate reviews of travel vouchers and a lack of knowledge about federal travel requirements. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Dozens of lawmakers beat stock market in 2024: The stock portfolios of dozens of members of Congress once again outperformed the market, according to a new report. Democratic lawmakers were up 31% and Republicans 26% while the S&P 500 was up 25%. The report also identified a number of conflicts between lawmakers’ stock holdings and their committee and legislative work. (Taylor Giorno, The Hill)

Analysis: Biden’s legacy: Fundamentally changing nothing for whistleblowers: When Joe Biden was vice president, he was part of an administration that waged an unprecedented war on leaks. As president, Biden may not have been as zealous as Obama, but he harnessed the very machinery that Obama and Trump wielded to enforce secrecy and silence whistleblowers. (Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter)

Police Misconduct

Years after Floyd’s death, Minneapolis and DOJ agree to police changes: Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ has opened a dozen “pattern or practice” civil investigations into state and local law enforcement agencies. Minneapolis is the second jurisdiction to enter a consent agreement, after Louisville last month. The outcomes of such agreements have produced mixed results in lowering police abuses. (David Nakamura, Washington Post)

Ohio puts police bodycam footage behind a paywall: Ohio joins a handful of states that have put a steep price tag on law enforcement transparency by charging the public hundreds of dollars to obtain police bodycam footage. (Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept)

Supreme Court Ethics

Alito spoke with Trump shortly before Supreme Court filing: Justice Samuel Alito spoke with President-elect Trump on Tuesday, not long before Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to delay his sentencing in his New York hush money case. Alito said the call was a routine job reference for a former law clerk whom Trump was considering for a government position, and that they didn’t talk about any legal proceedings. (Adam Liptak, New York Times)

Dobbs Aftermath

Abortion bans linked to people moving out of state, study says: Since 2022, the 13 states with strict abortion bans collectively lost a net 36,000 residents per quarter. Over a five-year period, abortion-banning states could lose almost 1% of their population. (Aimee Picchi, CBS News)

Russia-Ukraine War

U.S. will announce $500M in weapons to be sent to Ukraine: To date, the U.S. has provided about $66.5 billion in weapons assistance. There is now a little less than $4 billion remaining in congressionally authorized funding for Ukraine. (Tara Copp and Matthew Lee, Associated Press)

Political Misbehavior

Trump DOJ leaders leaked NY, NJ COVID probes to media, IG says: An inspector general investigation found that Trump DOJ officials in October 2020 improperly provided the New York Post and Wall Street Journal non-public details of investigations into COVID deaths at New York and New Jersey nursing homes. The IG’s office referred its findings to the Office of Special Counsel to review possible Hatch Act violations. (Ben Penn, Bloomberg Law)

Police Misconduct

ATF urges police to reevaluate reselling used firearms to the public: Reselling law enforcement weapons to the public is a widespread practice that has led to tens of thousands of these weapons being used in crimes, often with fatal consequences. ATF released new data about the practice and urged law enforcement agencies to reconsider it. (Chris Hacker, CBS News)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Coast Guard is resisting oversight of mishandled sexual misconduct cases, lawmakers say: Lawmakers in recent weeks have criticized the U.S. Coast Guard for not fully complying with investigations into its handling of sexual assault and harassment incidents. (Sean Michael Newhouse, Government Executive)

Navy depends on contractor for heavy lift vertical deliveries: The Navy is dependent on a private company, Air Center Helicopters Inc., to perform a vital task it once did itself: carrying out airborne supply missions to ships at sea. “The U.S. military has forgotten how to do a lot of the things it hires contractors to do,” said American Enterprise Institute senior fellow John Ferarri. (Jan Tegler, National Defense)

Cost of Navy’s newest Arleigh Burke destroyers is ballooning: The Navy’s Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyers are facing cost increases and delays, jumping from an average of $2.1 billion per ship to $2.5 billion, with even steeper cost increases coming in the future, according to a new CBO report. (Geoff Ziezulewicz, The Warzone)

Retired generals warn against giving D.C.’s fighter jets to Maryland: Control of D.C.’s 121st fighter squadron was a long-sought prize for Maryland, but former D.C. National Guard generals and other brass say the transfer deserves greater scrutiny from Congress. (Meagan Flynn and Erin Cox, Washington Post)

Business and Finance

California’s insurance is in crisis. The solution will cost homeowners a ton: The rising threat of wildfires, and insurance companies pulling back on offering coverage in the large swaths of California at risk for these disasters, has become a crisis for homeowners throughout the state. (Chris Isidore, CNN)

U.S. sues six of the biggest landlords over “algorithmic pricing schemes”: The Justice Department alleges six of the largest landlords participated in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters. One of the landlords, Cortland Management, agreed to settle. (Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica)

Tech

Meta ends fact checks as it prepares for Trump era: With Trump returning to office, social media platforms are rolling back their fact-checking systems as they position themselves to answer to a Republican administration and Congress. (Naomi Nix, Will Oremus, and Aaron Gregg, Washington Post)

Health Care

Lead and cadmium found in muscle-building protein powders, report says: Over-the-counter protein powders may contain dangerous levels of lead and cadmium, with the highest amounts found in plant-based, organic, and chocolate-flavored products. (Sandee LaMotte, CNN)

Most online pharmacies are run illegally and could be selling dangerous or ineffective drugs, U.S. warns: Most of the 35,000 online pharmacies around the world are operating illegally and could be selling dangerous or ineffective drugs, according to a U.S. Trade Representative report. (Kierra Frazier, CBS News)

🔎 See Also: U.S. overdose deaths far outpace other countries (Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill)

Health care AI, intended to save money, turns out to require a lot of expensive humans: When it comes to medicine and health care, artificial intelligence is still far from being a set-it-and-forget-it tool. (Darius Tahir, KFF Health News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Bill to expand deportations of migrants accused of crimes sails ahead in Senate

→ Inside Trump’s search for a health threat to justify his immigration crackdown

Other News:

→ Trump inauguration, awash in cash, runs out of perks for big donors

→ Trump’s pick for Sweden ambassador didn’t clear the Senate when he nominated her the last time

→ 2 prisoners ask judge to block Biden’s death sentence commutations

→ Court strikes down Biden Title IX protections for trans students

Upcoming Events

📌 Nomination of Douglas Collins to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Tuesday, January 14, 9:00 a.m., 106 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Peter Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Tuesday, January 14, 9:30 a.m., G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Tuesday, January 14, 10:00 a.m., 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Kristi Noem to be Secretary of Homeland Security. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Wednesday, January 15, 9:00 a.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Pam Bondi to be Attorney General. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Wednesday, January 15, 9:30 a.m., 216 Hart Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Wednesday, January 15, 10:00 a.m., 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of John Ratcliffe to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Senate Committee on Intelligence. Wednesday, January 15, 10:00 a.m., G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Sean Duffy to be Secretary of Transportation. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Wednesday, January 15, 10:00 a.m., 253 Russell Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Marco Rubio to be Secretary of State. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Wednesday, January 15, 10:00 a.m., 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Russell Vought to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Wednesday, January 15, 1:00 p.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

📌 Nomination of Eric Turner to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Thursday, January 16, 10:00 a.m., 538 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 DOJ OIG: An Investigation of Alleged Misconduct by Senior DOJ Officials for Leaking Department Investigative Activities Concerning COVID-19 in Nursing Homes to Members of the News Media in October 2020. December 2024 (PDF)