Newsletter

The Paper Trail: May 13, 2025

Qatar’s $400M Gift to Trump; Hegseth Escalates DEI Purge at Military Academies; Agencies Ordered to Ignore “Social Cost of Carbon”; And More.

May 13, 2025

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for May 13, 2025

Trump’s free plane is not so free: To serve as Air Force One, the Boeing aircraft that Qatar may give the president would require a complicated retrofitting that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. (Joe Gould and Connor O’Brien, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Qatar’s gift to Trump reveals a loophole big enough to fly a jumbo jet through (Jacob T. Levy, Washington Post)

Auction to dine with Trump creates foreign influence opportunity: Several buyers of a digital coin the Trump family is marketing said they bought the coins or entered a contest to win a private dinner with the president with the intention of trying to influence his policies. (Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: A VIP seat at Donald Trump’s crypto dinner cost at least $2 million (Paige Oamek, Joel Khalili, and Natasha Bernal, Wired)

Don Jr. is the new Hunter Biden: Last November, Donald Trump Jr. became a partner in a small investment startup called 1789 Capital. Almost overnight, the firm has become a significant beneficiary of the federal bureaucracy, with investments in Elon Musk’s companies and other companies with lucrative federal business. (Bethany McLean, Business Insider)

Judge orders temporary halt to Trump’s mass layoffs of federal workers: U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the administration to halt mass layoffs of federal workers for at least two weeks. (Frances Vinall, Washington Post)

Hill leaders question Trump’s attempted Library of Congress takeover: Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that congressional leaders “want to make sure we’re following precedent and procedure” in naming a replacement for Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress whom President Trump dismissed last week. Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting Librarian of Congress, but the official now holding that post didn’t immediately recognize the appointment as valid. Trump on Saturday also dismissed top U.S. copyright official Shira Perlmutter, who was appointed by Hayden. (Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney, and Kyle Cheney, Politico)

The hidden ways Trump, DOGE are shutting down parts of the U.S. government: Across the federal government, officials are halting a wide range of operations by declining or delaying approval of key funds. This unofficial hold on activities has incapacitated many agency divisions, even though they remain technically intact. The effects are especially pronounced at the EPA. (Hannah Natanson and Maxine Joselow, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: DOGE cuts leave federal staff cleaning their own toilets (Will Neal, Daily Beast)

What’s the cost to society of pollution? Trump says zero: The administration directed agencies to stop estimating the economic impact of climate change when developing policies and regulations, except in cases where it’s “plainly required” by law. (Lisa Friedman, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Farmers sued over deleted climate data. So the government will put it back (Karen Zraick, New York Times)

Fake pizza orders sent to judges seen as threat to judicial safety: Federal judges presiding over lawsuits challenging the Trump administration say unsolicited pizza deliveries to their homes that began in February may number in the hundreds across at least seven states, prompting increased security concerns. (Derek Hawkins, Washington Post)

Elon Musk & DOGE

Elon Musk’s regulatory troubles have begun to melt away in Trump’s second term: The administration has halted some regulatory matters involving Musk's companies and slashed the workforce of agencies investigating Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink. There is also concern that federal regulators are slow-walking dozens of ongoing matters involving Musk's companies. (David Ingram, NBC News)

🔎 See Also: Elon Musk’s Boring Company is in talks with government over Amtrak project (Ryan Mac and Mark Walker, New York Times)

DOGE’s zombie contracts: They were killed but have come back to life: Federal agencies have revived at least 44 contracts worth more than $220 million that DOGE still publicly lists on its “Wall of Receipts” as canceled. (David A. Fahrenthold and Jeremy Singer-Vine, New York Times)

Other DOGE News:

→ Trump tried to fire Corporation for Public Broadcasting board members. Then came DOGE

→ Union, groups drop DOGE lawsuit based on federal advisory law

Weaponization of the Government

Trump administration takes fight with Harvard to university’s hiring practices: The EEOC is probing Harvard for alleged discrimination against white, Asian, male, and heterosexual employees. The agency claims there was a drop in tenured white male faculty from 64% to 56% between 2013 and 2023. (Lauren Weber, Wall Street Journal)

Attorney general’s brother vies to lead D.C. Bar, upending contest: The contest to lead Washington’s influential bar association features two candidates connected to the Trump administration, raising concern that the body will be transformed into a retaliatory arm of the president. (Keith L. Alexander, Washington Post)

Russia-Ukraine War

HIV patients in Ukraine face treatment “apocalypse” as U.S. funds in limbo: The Trump administration reversed cuts to life-saving humanitarian assistance while it conducts a review of foreign aid, bringing a reprieve to NGOs and government-run projects in Ukraine working to tackle one of the largest HIV epidemics in Europe. But with no long-term funding decision in sight and supplies of medicines only sufficient until November, health staff and patients are worried. (Lily Hyde, Politico)

Police Misconduct

How will the Trump administration handle police who sexually abuse kids? Current and former DOJ employees and children’s advocates fear the dismantling of DOJ police accountability measures puts at risk progress toward prosecuting local police officers who use their positions of power to sexually abuse children. (Jessica Contrera and Jenn Abelson, Washington Post)

The DEA once touted body cameras for their “enhanced transparency.” Now the agency is abandoning them: The DEA quietly ended its body camera program barely four years after it began, according to an April 2 internal email. The email said the agency made the change to be “consistent” with a Trump executive order rescinding the 2022 requirement that all federal law enforcement agents use body cameras, but at least two other federal law enforcement agencies still require them. (Mario Ariza, ProPublica)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Hegseth sparks fears as he moves to ax generals: Secretary Hegseth could eliminate roughly 100 generals and admirals. While America’s forces are arguably brass-heavy, experts worry a move to slash those numbers will be politically motivated and without care for the loss of institutional knowledge. (Ellen Mitchell, The Hill)

Hegseth escalates targeting of race, gender in military’s academic settings: The Pentagon on Friday directed the military academies to end consideration of race, gender, and ethnicity in their admissions processes and begin a purge of educational materials focused on “divisive concepts” such as “diversity in the workplace,” “gender expression,” and “white privilege.” (Andrew deGrandpre, Washington Post)

Explosive materials bound for Israel are flying out of JFK airport: Americans know that the U.S. government and defense industry export huge amounts of military goods to Israel — but they may not be aware that in some cases these shipments travel beside them. (Jonah Valdez, The Intercept)

Army hits setback as Hawaii board votes to reject environmental study: Hawaii’s land board rejected the Army’s environmental impact statement to retain land on the Big Island for live-fire training, a vote some say reflects a growing distrust of the U.S. military. (Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Military Times)

Infrastructure

Transportation secretary calls Newark safe as outage hits airport again: Despite hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and several technical issues in recent weeks, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it’s still safe to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport, but flights will need to be scaled back. Duffy denied that DOGE-directed workforce cuts at the FAA worsened the situation. (Daniel Wu, Washington Post)

Schools are digging underground for their heat — and saving money: Using federal tax credits for clean energy projects, K-12 school districts across the country are adopting geothermal technology to lower energy costs, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars they can use to upgrade facilities and increase teacher pay. But the fate of future projects is in doubt as Republicans in Congress look for ways to pay for President Trump’s tax cuts. (Anna Phillips, Washington Post)

Health Care

The price of remission: Revlimid, one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, has extended tens of thousands of lives. But Revlimid is also extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for a pill that costs just 25 cents to make. (David Armstrong, ProPublica)

🔎 See Also: With no real policy, Trump asks drugmakers to lower U.S. prices (Margot Sanger-Katz and Rebecca Robbins, New York Times)

Why patients are being forced to switch to a 2nd-choice obesity drug: Tens of thousands of Americans will soon be forced by their health insurers to switch to a less-effective weight loss drug. It’s the latest example of the consequences of secret deals between drugmakers and middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers. (Rebecca Robbins and Reed Abelson, New York Times)

Nursing home and elder-care residents could be hit hard by potential Medicaid cuts: As Congress examines steep cuts to Medicaid, nursing home residents are among the recipients who could be affected — especially if lawmakers upend a long-standing tax arrangement enjoyed by most nursing homes. (Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Pentagon spent $21 million on flights to Guantanamo Bay amid deportation effort

→ Thousands of kids are stuck in immigration facilities — with no end in sight

→ White South Africans arrive at Dulles as refugees under Trump order

→ DHS ends deportation protections for Afghans

→ Private prison CEO on ICE contracts: We’re a better deal than El Salvador’s CECOT

Other News:

→ USPS confirms waste management executive and FedEx board member will serve as postmaster general

→ As White House steers DOJ, Pam Bondi embraces role of TV messenger

→ Trump budget hawk Russ Vought takes over DOGE agenda. First up: the military

→ U.S. spy agencies told to gather intelligence on Greenland

→ Ticketmaster begins up-front ticket pricing as Biden admin “junk fee” ban takes effect

Upcoming Events

📌 Oversight of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Wednesday, May 14, 10:00 a.m., 2362-A Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the Federal Judiciary. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Wednesday, May 14, 10:00 a.m., 2362-B Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the Navy and Marine Corps. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Defense. Wednesday, May 14, 2:00 p.m., H-140 Capitol Complex.

📌 Oversight of the Coast Guard. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Wednesday, May 14, 2:00 p.m., 2362-A Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of Customs and Border Protection. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m., 2362-A Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Thursday, May 15, 10:00 a.m., 2362-B Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the Transportation Security Administration. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Thursday, May 15, 2:00 p.m., 2362-A Rayburn House Office Building.