The Paper Trail: June 13, 2025

L.A. Military Deployment; What It Takes to Get a Trump Pardon; CDC Vaccine Panel Picks Spark Concern; And More.

Jun 13, 2025

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Top stories for June 13, 2025

FAQ: The L.A. protests, military deployment and the Constitution: Experts on immigration enforcement, surveillance, and emergency presidential powers discuss what the Constitution has to say about the military deployment in Los Angeles — and what we should all be aware of in the days and weeks to come. (Don Bell, Katherine Hawkins, and David Janovsky,The Constitution Project at POGO)

“Fuel on the fire”: Trump’s National Guard memo goes far beyond California: In federalizing the California National Guard over the objections of the governor, President Trump asserted broad powers that could be used against any state, according to legal scholars and national security experts. (Jacob Knutson, Democracy Docket)

Other Los Angeles Military Deployment News:

→ Appeals court delays order blocking Trump National Guard deployment in California

→ House Dems demand testimony from Noem after Padilla handcuffed in L.A.

→ L.A. deployments to cost $134 million and last 60 days, Pentagon says

→ Troops and Marines deeply troubled by L.A. deployment: “Morale is not great”

→ What I saw in L.A. wasn’t an insurrection. It was a police riot

HHS watchdog cuts could increase waste, fraud and abuse, inside sources say: Insiders warn that the Department of Health and Human Services’ plan to close six general counsel offices could enable more fraud, waste, and abuse and significantly impact Americans’ healthcare access. (Maren Machles, Project On Government Oversight)

Forest chief says losing 5,000 employees won’t impact fire season response. Many federal firefighters disagree: U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said his agency is ready for this summer’s wildfire season despite shedding thousands of employees in recent months, projecting a confidence level not shared by much of his workforce. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

Employee groups challenge “favorite EO” question as agencies begin rollout: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility called on the acting U.S. Special Counsel to take action against a new questionnaire for federal government job applicants that asks for their favorite Trump administration policy or executive order. The group claims the question is “an illegal litmus test for federal job applicants.” (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

CFPB enforcement lead resigns, slams “attack” on core mission in departure email: Cara Petersen, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s acting enforcement director, resigned from the agency on Tuesday. In an email to colleagues announcing her decision, Petersen slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, which was established as a banking watchdog following the 2008 financial crisis. (Samantha Delouya and Tami Luhby, CNN)

Document shows EPA plans to loosen limits on mercury from power plants: The EPA plans to weaken limits on toxic emissions from power plants while also scrapping restrictions on greenhouse gases. (Lisa Friedman, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: EPA drops legal case against the GEO Group, a major Trump donor, over its misuse of harmful disinfectant in an ICE facility (Sharon Lerner and Lisa Song, ProPublica)

Fulbright board resigns after accusing Trump aides of political interference: The dozen board members of the Fulbright program that promotes international educational exchanges resigned on Wednesday because of what they said was political interference in their operations by State Department appointees, who canceled scholarship awards to almost 200 American professors and researchers and are reviewing the applications of about 1,200 scholars from other countries. (Edward Wong, New York Times)

What it takes to get a Trump pardon: loyalty, connections or the pardon czar: President Trump has upended the federal pardoning process, increasing the White House’s authority over a task that until now was largely governed by DOJ guidelines. The new system has given rise to a lucrative cottage industry of high-powered lawyers seeking Trump’s attention. In other cases, pardon seekers try to leverage their own connections to Trump or his inner circle. (Emily Davies and Perry Stein, Washington Post)

Kelly Loeffler, a Trump Cabinet appointee who regularly appears on Newsmax, has quiet financial ties to its parent company: SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler is one of several top Trump appointees — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, and U.S. Agency for Global Media senior advisor Kari Lake — who have potential financial conflicts of interest between their personal finances and their public service. (Dave Levinthal, Fortune)

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner raised safety concerns but had never crashed before: It could take months or years to determine the cause of the Air India crash on Thursday, but the type of plane involved in the crash, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, has been under scrutiny for years. Whistleblowers have raised concerns about the South Carolina facility where the Dreamliner is assembled. (Niraj Chokshi, New York Times)

Elon Musk & DOGE

The DOGE 100: Musk is out, but more than 100 of his followers remain to implement Trump’s blueprint: Elon Musk is leaving a network of DOGE acolytes embedded inside nearly every federal agency. At least 38 DOGE members currently work or have worked for a Musk business, and several more own stock in Musk companies. Nearly two dozen are embedded at federal agencies that regulate the companies that employed them — several remain employees or advisers or receive financial benefits from those companies. (William Turton et al., ProPublica)

Senators warn DOGE’s Social Security Administration work could break benefits: In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden warn that DOGE’s plans to “hastily upgrade” the agency’s IT systems could disrupt the delivery of benefits or result in mass data losses. (Makena Kelly, Wired)

Elon Musk’s foreign visitors were tracked by U.S.: DHS and DOJ tracked foreign nationals’ visits to Elon Musk’s proprieties in 2022 and 2023 amid concerns over possible attempts to influence Musk, who holds top-secret security clearance and owns companies that work on national security projects. (Jesus Mesa and Gabe Whisnant, Newsweek)

Weaponization of the Government

Harvard, Trump admin clash over court protection for foreign students: Harvard’s attorney said in a new court filing that despite two court orders temporarily protecting foreign students, the administration has continued its attempt to strip students’ visas through “creative relabeling.” (Josh Gerstein and Bianca Quilantan, Politico)

Russia-Ukraine War

Group tracking Russian abductions of Ukrainian children prepares to shut down following Trump admin funding cut: The Ukraine Conflict Observatory at the Yale School of Public Health — the preeminent body tracking alleged Russian war crimes including the abduction of Ukrainian children — transferred its data to Ukraine’s government and the U.S. State Department as it prepares to shut down after the Trump administration terminated its funding. (Kylie Atwood, CNN)

Police Misconduct

Supreme Court revives lawsuit over FBI raid of wrong house: The Supreme Court unanimously revived a lawsuit by two Atlanta residents seeking to hold the federal government accountable after FBI agents mistakenly battered down their front door and held them at gunpoint during a raid of the wrong house. The justices sent their case back to the appellate court to grapple with the meaning of the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows individuals to bring claims for damages for certain actions taken by federal officials. (Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post)

Starved in jail: People incarcerated in county jails around the country are dying from lack of food or water, even as private companies are paid millions for their care. (Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker)

Defense and Veteran Affairs

Senators demand transparency on canceled Veterans Affairs contracts: Senators Richard Blumenthal and Angus King and Rep. Mark Takano demanded transparency from the VA, saying the agency continues to “stonewall” requests for details on its recent cancellation of hundreds of contracts. The lawmakers cited the VA’s use of a flawed AI tool to determine which contracts to cancel. (Brandon Roberts and Vernal Coleman, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: VA’s DOGE cuts sting and will reduce efficiency (Scott Amey, Project On Government Oversight)

🔎 See Also: Who’s winning the multi-billion dollar battle over veterans benefits? (Leah Rosenbaum, Military.com)

🔎 See Also: Trump administration warns VA employees over social media posts (Kate Plummer, Newsweek)

$53M Andersen barracks improvements to start in about 5 months after scathing comments: A $53 million contract to improve the barracks at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam will be awarded and break ground within the next five months, after reports of the substandard condition of housing at the base. (Joe Taitano II, Pacific Daily News)

Trump says Army bases will revert to Confederate names: The Army said it would take immediate action to restore the old names of bases originally honoring Confederates, but the base names would instead honor other American soldiers with similar names and initials. (Chris Cameron, New York Times)

Business and Finance

FTC may put unusual condition on ad mega-merger: no boycotting: As the FTC considers approving a proposed merger between two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, it may impose a condition preventing the new company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients’ ads on them. Omnicom participated in an alliance that recommended advertisers pause their spending on X after it was acquired by Elon Musk. (Lauren Hirsch et al., New York Times)

Walmart and Amazon are exploring issuing their own stablecoins: Stablecoins could save merchants billions in fees and offer quicker payment processing, but there is skepticism about the security of stablecoins and the regulatory implications of getting involved with digital assets. (Gina Heeb, AnnaMaria Andriotis, and Josh Dawsey, Wall Street Journal)

Tech

New study shows social media use predicted future depression in tweens: Researchers examined social media use and depressive symptoms among tweens and found that an increase in social media use predicted a future rise in symptoms of depression — but not the other way around. (Caitlin Gibson, Washington Post)

They asked an AI chatbot questions. The answers sent them spiraling: Generative AI chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild belief systems. For some people, these conversations can reinforce or amplify existing, negative behavior. (Kashmir Hill, New York Times)

Infrastructure

As floods keep coming, this small city can’t afford to let people leave: Federal buyouts have become a major focus of America’s flood-mitigation strategy, with taxpayer money purchasing more than 55,000 flood-damaged properties since the 1990s — a number that has increased dramatically in recent years. But the program has become a major burden for small towns and villages around the country struggling with declining populations. (Anna Phillips, Washington Post)

Health Care

Kennedy announces eight new members of CDC vaccine advisory panel: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named eight doctors and researchers, including four who have spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace roughly half the members he fired from a vaccine advisory panel. (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Party politics is said to have played a role in Kennedy’s firing of vaccine advisers (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times)

HHS sent Congress “junk science” to defend vaccine changes, experts say: A document HHS sent to Congress to support its decision to change policy on COVID vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others. (Jackie Fortiér, KFF Health News)

There’s one vice RFK Jr. isn’t talking about: Last month’s Make America Healthy Again report assessing the biggest threats to Americans’ health didn’t mention cigarettes or smoking. HHS also has apparently shelved two anti-smoking initiatives. (Danny Nguyen and David Lim, Politico)

The price you pay for an Obamacare plan could surge next year: Extra subsidies put in place during the pandemic expire December 31. Without enhanced subsidies, Affordable Care Act insurance premiums would rise by more than 75% on average. (Daniel Chang, CBS News)

White House proposes axing 988 suicide hotline services for LGBTQ youth: A senior administration official said the money for services for LGBTQ young people hasn’t been cut, but rather reallocated to the general 988 services so it doesn’t go to “radical grooming contractors.” (Jo Yurcaba, NBC News)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ DHS tells immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela they have to leave

→ Trump team plans to send thousands of migrants to Guantanamo

→ Trump launches website for “gold card”

→ ICE expands immigration raids into California’s agricultural heartland

→ House appropriators decry “egregious” ICE funding mismanagement

→ Inside a courthouse, chaos and tears as Trump accelerates deportations

Other News:

→ The days around Trump’s trade war announcements saw spikes in lawmaker stock market transactions

→ Job cuts could throw a wrench in the IRS’s plan to modernize

→ Trump’s ongoing push to erase his criminal conviction lands in federal appeals court

→ “Delay, interfere, undermine”: How the Salvadoran government impeded a U.S. probe of MS-13

Because It’s Friday

Which states’ residents spend the highest share of their income on fast food? A recent study looked to see which states’ residents spend the largest portion of their income on fast-food burgers, pizza, and chicken sandwiches. It found those living in Mississippi and New Mexico spend the most (0.47%), while those in New Jersey and Massachusetts spend the least (0.29%). (Danielle Langenfeld, The Hill)