The Paper Trail: May 6, 2025

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Announcements

Making the Most of Your Resources: Working with Inspectors General: POGO’s virtual training on working with Inspectors General (IGs) will be Friday, May 9 at 12 noon. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

Top stories for May 6, 2025

Spy agencies do not think Venezuela directs gang, declassified memo shows: A newly declassified memo confirms that U.S. intelligence agencies rejected a key claim President Trump used to justify invoking the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador. (Charlie Savage and Julian E. Barnes, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: Trump, asked if he has to uphold the Constitution, says, “I don’t know” (Amanda Terkel and Lawrence Hurley, NBC News)

These judges ruled against Trump. Then their families came under attack: At least 11 federal judges and their families have faced threats of violence or harassment after the judges ruled against the Trump administration. (Ned Parker, Reuters)

🔎 See Also: Ketanji Brown Jackson sharply condemns Trump’s attacks on judges (Josh Gerstein, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Justice Department lawyers face skeptical judges upset by “shoddy work” (Mark Berman and Jeremy Roebuck, Washington Post)

“Biohazard”: Forest Service employees warn cuts having devastating, and disgusting, impacts: Due to a new review procedure at the U.S. Forest Service, processes that once took minutes are now taking a month or longer. As a result, trash is piling up and public restrooms aren’t being cleaned at Forest Service recreational centers and campgrounds. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

The IRS has lost almost one-third of its tax auditors after 2 months of DOGE cuts, report says: Through March, the IRS lost about 11% of its workforce. But revenue agents — the workers who perform audits — have seen a much bigger hit, with 31% (about 3,600 auditors) either taking deferred resignation or getting fired. (Aimee Picchi, CBS News)

The latest Trump and DOGE casualty: energy data: The Energy Information Administration, an independent agency within the Department of Energy, has long provided reliable data on everything from oil and gas to alternative energy. Now one of its signature reports has been slashed and a second one canceled amid sweeping job reductions and turmoil. (Peter Elkind, ProPublica)

National Endowment for the Arts rescinds grants, dazing publishers and theaters: Numerous cultural institutions received notice from the National Endowment for the Arts that funds awarded for fiscal year 2025 had been withdrawn. Many have already spent the awarded amounts expecting to receive payment. (Sophia Nguyen and Herb Scribner, Washington Post)

Report spotlights lobbying by White House chief’s former clients: Five companies and one nonprofit White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles previously represented as a lobbyist have reported recent activity with White House staff, drawing concerns about potential conflicts of interest. It’s unclear to what extent Wiles is recusing herself from decisions that affect the entities that used to pay her. (Martine Powers, Washington Post)

Trump sons’ deals on three continents directly benefit the president: In recent weeks, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have pursued a blitz of moneymaking ventures around the world. Many of these deals will financially benefit not only Eric and Donald Jr. but also the president. (Eric Lipton and David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times)

Elon Musk & DOGE

Democratic senators call for investigation into Elon Musk’s foreign deals involving Starlink: Democratic senators allege Elon Musk may have used his White House job to drum up private deals in foreign countries for his Starlink satellite internet service. The senators called for President Trump to investigate and make the findings public. (David Ingram, NBC News)

Watchdogs reviewing DOGE actions at CFPB, Democratic lawmaker says: The GAO and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s inspector general agreed to review DOGE’s efforts to dismantle the CFPB, according to letters released by Rep. Maxine Waters. (Douglas Gillison, Reuters)

A DOGE recruiter is staffing a project to deploy AI agents across the U.S. government: Anthony Jancso, an entrepreneur who was among the earliest known recruiters for DOGE, is hiring technologists to work on a project that aims to have AI perform tasks that are currently the responsibility of tens of thousands of federal workers. (Caroline Haskins and Vittoria Elliott, Ars Technica)

Weaponization of the Government

Judge strikes down Trump order punishing law firm Perkins Coie: U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Friday struck down President Trump’s executive order aimed at the law firm Perkins Coie, saying his actions were an unconstitutional effort to punish the firm for taking on clients and cases he dislikes. The ruling marked the first time a judge has permanently blocked one of Trump’s orders targeting a law firm. (Mark Berman, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Trump presidential orders target law firms. Here’s how some lawyers say that threatens the rule of law (Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes)

Orders to investigate Columbia protesters raised alarms in Justice Dept.: Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered an aggressive investigation in the last several months of student protesters at Columbia University, raising anger and alarm among career prosecutors and investigators who saw the demand as politically motivated and lacking legal merit. (Devlin Barrett, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: Trump administration disqualifies Harvard from future research grants (Michael C. Bender and Alan Blinder, New York Times)

Analysis: The destruction of the Department of Justice: President Trump’s attack on the DOJ is threefold: using the mechanisms of justice to go after political opponents, using those mechanisms to reward allies, and eliminating internal opposition within the department. Each incident making up this pattern is appalling; together, they amount to the decimation of a crucial institution. (Paul Rosenzweig, The Atlantic)

Signalgate

Hegseth used multiple Signal chats for official Pentagon business: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used Signal more extensively for official Pentagon business than previously disclosed, engaging in at least a dozen separate chats. Hegseth set up many of the chats himself, sending texts from an unsecured line in his Pentagon office and from his personal phone. (Alexander Ward and Nancy A. Youssef, Wall Street Journal)

The Signal clone the Trump admin uses was hacked: A hacker breached and stole customer data from TeleMessage, an Israeli company that sells modified versions of Signal and other messaging apps to the U.S. government. Former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was photographed last week using the tool in a Cabinet meeting. (Joseph Cox and Micah Lee, 404 Media)

Insurrection

DOJ agrees to settlement with family of Ashli Babbitt, rioter killed on Jan. 6: DOJ lawyers and Babbitt’s estate revealed the agreement during a court hearing Friday. The amount of the settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit wasn’t disclosed. (Allison Detzel, MSNBC)

Dobbs Aftermath

Despite historic indictment, doctors will keep mailing abortion pills across state lines: Doctors who prescribe abortion pills across state lines face a new reality in which criminal indictment is no longer hypothetical. (Rosemary Westwood, KFF Health News)

🔎 See Also: Trump Administration asks court to dismiss abortion pill case (Pam Belluck, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Hegseth directs 20% cut to top military leadership positions: Defense Secretary Hegseth directed the active-duty military to shed 20% of its four-star general officers, a move the administration says will promote efficiency but which critics say could result in a more politicized force. (Tara Copp, Associated Press)

Trump’s pick for a top Army job works at a weapons company — and won’t give up his stock: Since 2023, Army undersecretary nominee Michael Obadal has worked for Anduril, a defense technology company with billions of dollars in Army contracts. If confirmed, Obadal plans to keep his Anduril stock. (Sam Biddle, The Intercept)

Army suspends helicopter flights to Pentagon after airliners abort landings: The Army said Monday that the 12th Aviation Battalion was suspending flights to the Pentagon after an incident last week that led to aborted landings at Reagan National Airport. The battalion was the unit involved in the January midair crash near the airport that killed 67 people. (Ian Duncan, Washington Post)

The Trump administration is hiding American casualties of war: The number of military personnel killed or wounded in the U.S. campaign against the Houthis in Yemen is being withheld from the public. (Nick Turse, The Intercept)

VA mental health care staff, crowded into federal buildings, raise patient privacy alarms: Clinicians at the VA say the president’s return-to-office order is forcing them to work in makeshift spaces where sensitive conversations can be overheard. The lack of privacy makes veterans hesitant to discuss issues like legal problems, substance abuse, and domestic violence, limiting the effectiveness of their treatment. (Ellen Barry and Nicholas Nehamas, New York Times)

Business and Finance

Student loan borrowers struggle to pay, get answers as debt collections begin: “We’re kind of drowning”: The Department of Education warned that, starting this week, federal student loan borrowers who don’t pay on time could damage their credit scores and have their wages garnished — creating challenges for some of the more than 5 million borrowers who are in default and struggling to get answers about their loans. (Lana Zak and Kelsie Hoffman, CBS News)

DEI vanishing from corporate filings, mirroring business world’s retreat: Last year, companies among the S&P 500 recorded the fewest DEI references in their public filings since 2020. (Eric Lau and Taylor Telford, Washington Post)

Waters plans to block House GOP crypto hearing: After objecting to the hearing, House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters plans to walk out with other Democrats and host a “shadow hearing” focused on the Trump family’s entanglements in the crypto industry. (Jasper Goodman, Politico)

Swiss bank pays $510 million fine for helping clients evade taxes: The fallen banking giant Credit Suisse, now a part of UBS, admitted to helping clients hide billions of dollars from the IRS. DOJ prosecutors may not yet be done. (Rob Copeland, New York Times)

Tech

TikTok fined $600 million for sending European user data to China: Irish investigators said TikTok didn’t protect the data of users in the European Union, improperly transferring some of it to China. (Adam Satariano, New York Times)

Debate over age verification intensifies in Washington: The fight over a key internet protection for children is ramping up in Washington, where Big Tech companies are pinning the responsibility on each other as lawmakers push for stricter requirements. (Miranda Nazzaro, The Hill)

Health Care

Scientist who was part of COVID treatment controversy returns to HHS: Steven Hatfill, a virologist and White House adviser during President Trump’s first term who pushed hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID, is now a special adviser at an HHS office responsible for preparing the country for pandemics. (Lena H. Sun, Lisa Rein, and Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post)

Trump Administration slashes research into LGBTQ health: Nearly half of the NIH grants canceled through early May — together worth more than $800 million — addressed the health of LGBTQ people, including studies of cancers and viruses that affect members of sexual minority groups. (Benjamin Mueller, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: HIV testing and outreach falter as Trump funding cuts sweep the South (Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News)

GOP targets a Medicaid loophole used by 49 states to grab federal money: States have long used taxes on hospitals and nursing homes to increase federal Medicaid funds. If Republicans end the tactic, red states could feel the most pain. (Margot Sanger-Katz and Sarah Kliff, New York Times)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Defense Department designates second military zone on southern border

→ U.S. offers migrants free airline tickets and $1,000 stipend if they self-deport

→ Moldy food, used underwear: inside the U.S. prisons where Trump is jailing immigrants

→ GlobalX, airline for Trump’s deportations, hacked

→ Missing lynx: How the rise of border walls has divided wildlife populations

→ Can I travel outside the U.S. with a green card? These are the risks

Other News:

→ Top Senate Democrat seeks probe into Newark flight woes

→ FEMA is ending door-to-door canvassing in disaster areas

→ Park Service suspends air-quality monitoring at all national parks

→ Trump says he will reopen “enlarged and rebuilt” Alcatraz prison

Upcoming Events

📌 Oversight of the United States Air Force and Space Force. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Defense. Tuesday, May 6, 2:00 p.m., H-140 Capitol Complex.

📌 Oversight of the United States Army. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Defense. Wednesday, May 7, 10:00 a.m., H-140 Capitol Complex.

📌 Oversight of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Wednesday, May 7, 2:00 p.m., 2008 Rayburn House Office Building.

📌 Oversight of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. House Committee on Appropriations; Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Thursday, May 8, 9:00 a.m., 2008 Rayburn House Office Building.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 GAO - Veterans’ Community Care: VA Needs Improved Oversight of Behavioral Health Medical Records and Provider Training. GAO-25-106910 (PDF)

🔥📃 Public Citizen: Listening To Lobbyists: White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ Former Lobbying Clients Who Have Lobbied The White House This Year. May 5, 2025