The Conversation -- March 21, 2025
Trump Reins in Musk. Maggie Haberman & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: Donald "Trump on Friday rejected the notion that the billionaire Elon Musk should be given access to top-secret U.S. plans for a potential military conflict with China,even as he denied a report that such a briefing had been planned to be held at the Pentagon. 'We don't want to have a potential war with China, but I can tell you, if we did, we're very well equipped to handle it,' Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'But I don't want to show that to anybody, but certainly you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much.' Mr. Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla and a part-time government staff member, visited the Pentagon on Friday and met privately with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Mr. Musk was originally going to visit the Tank, a secure conference room at the building, for a briefing with top military leaders about the China war plan, according to two U.S. officials. The top-secret briefing was to include Adm. Christopher W. Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, the head of the military's Indo-Pacific Command; and Mr. Hegseth....
"But the Tank visit was called off after The Times's report on the visit, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Instead, Mr. Musk, who has extensive business interests in China, met with Mr. Hegseth and Admiral Grady in the defense secretary's office.... Mr. Trump made clear he had been caught by surprise by The Times's report, saying he called his White House chief of staff and Mr. Hegseth to ask about it; he said they said it was 'ridiculous.' But he also said that Mr. Musk -- who has extensive business in China -- should not be made aware of such sensitive information. It was one of the first specific statements from the president about what he would consider a bridge too far for Mr. Musk, who has expansive potential conflicts of interest...."
Giselle Ewing of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday suggested that recent attacks on Tesla cars and property have been more harmful than the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, emphasizing that the alleged Tesla attackers should be considered 'terrorists.' Protesters across the country have made their outrage known against Elon Musk's slash-and-burn efforts to shrink the federal government in recent weeks, targeting the electric car company, of which he remains CEO. While many of the protests at Tesla showrooms have remained peaceful, some have involved instances of vandalism and arson, including setting cars alight." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Obviously vandalism and arson are wrongful acts, but -- so far -- they have caused only property destruction, crimes that are not nearly as serious as unprovoked physical attacks on police officers committed during an attempt to overturn a federal election. I hope most people are smart enough to figure that out.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration fired nearly the entire civil rights branch of the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, gutting a government office responsible for conducting oversight of ... [Donald] Trump's immigration crackdown. The more than 100 staff members were told on Friday they would be put on leave for 60 days to find another job in the administration or be fired in May, according to five current and former government officials. Mr. Trump also closed the ombudsman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, another office responsible for scrutinizing the administration's legal immigration policies. The moves were the latest attempt by Mr. Trump to root out civil rights divisions and oversight mechanisms across government agencies. But the shuttering of the Homeland Security Department's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was particularly notable given the lack of transparency over the administration's immigration crackdown."
Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: "A federal judge sharply grilled a government attorney Friday about the Trump administration's apparent disregard of his order to return deportation flights to the United States, a dispute that has sparked a high-profile showdown this week between the president and the judiciary. Before deputy assistant attorney general Drew Ensign even had a chance to address the court at a hearing, James E. Boasberg, chief justice for the U.S. District Court in D.C., dramatically scolded him over the government's conduct in the case. Boasberg accused Ensign of using 'intemperate and disrespectful language that I can't remember seeing from the United States' in court filings and questioned whether the attorney failed to show for a hearing Monday because he knew he had knowingly violated Boasberg's order about getting the flights back.... Boasberg will have difficult choices to make if he decides to take a tougher line against the government. If the judge feels officials are continuing to disregard his orders, he could find them in contempt of court, but that's a step federal judges rarely take against the executive branch."
Sophia Cai, et al., of Politico: "The pervasive fear and anger that have been rippling through federal agencies over Elon Musk's slashing approach to shrinking government deepened even further on Friday over the billionaire tech mogul's threat to root out and punish anyone who is leaking to the media.... Following Thursday's New York Times report that Musk was set to receive a Pentagon briefing about a confidential contingency plan for a war with China, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO posted on ... X that leakers 'will be found' and, he intimated, punished. 'I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,' Musk wrote in his post. But Musk's post is not having the chilling effect on leakers he'd intended.... 'We are public servants, not Elon's servants,' said one Food and Drug Administration employee.... 'Leakers are patriots,' said one Agriculture Department employee.... 'He IS A LEAKER,' one senior Federal Aviation Administration official said of Musk in a Signal message. 'When you put hard drives on data systems at government agencies you are creating the biggest security breaches we have seen in years and years. Possibly ever.'"
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Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start dismantling the Education Department. 'It sounds strange, doesn't it? Department of Education. We're going to eliminate it,' Trump said in the East Room of the White House at a ceremony where he was flanked by children seated at school desks. Before he signed the order, Trump turned to the children and asked, 'Should I do this?'... Congressional approval would be needed to fully abolish the department. Trump said he hoped Democrats would vote in favor.... Immediately after the signing, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said on X that he will 'submit legislation' to accomplish Trump's goal of shutting down the Education Department 'as soon as possible.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Nice going, Bill. The state you represent, Louisiana, is one of the five (one of the two, by some calculations) U.S. states with the highest levels of poverty, so most in need of federal funds that run through the Education Department. See also Ken W.'s commentary below.
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Washington edged closer on Thursday to holding the Trump administration in contempt for possibly having violated an order he issued last weekend pausing the deportation of scores of Venezuelan immigrants under a rarely invoked wartime statute. In an angrily written order, the judge, James E. Boasberg, told the administration to explain to him by Tuesday why officials had not violated his instructions when they allowed two flights of immigrants to continue on to El Salvador even after he directed the planes to return to the United States. Judge Boasberg also called out efforts by the Justice Department to repeatedly stonewall his attempts to get information about the timing of the flights. 'The government again evaded its obligations,' he wrote, adding that the Justice Department's most recent filing about the flights was 'woefully insufficient.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The very basis of Trump's assertion that he can deport suspected Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act is a big fat lie: ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: Donald "Trump's assertion that a gang is committing crimes in the United States at the direction of Venezuela's government invocation of a wartime law last week to summarily deport people whom officials suspected of belonging to that group. But American intelligence agencies circulated findings last month that stand starkly at odds with Mr. Trump's claims, according to officials familiar with the matter. The document, dated Feb. 26, summarized the shared judgment of the nation's spy agencies that the gang was not controlled by the Venezuelan government. The disclosure calls into question the credibility of Mr. Trump's basis for invoking a rarely used wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to transfer a group of Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador last weekend, with no due process. The intelligence community assessment concluded that the gang, Tren de Aragua, was not directed by Venezuela's government or committing crimes in the United States on its orders, according to the officials...." ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: "On Monday, March 17, Acting Field Office Director Robert L. Cerna of ... [ICE's] Enforcement and Removal Operations ... told the court that 'The lack of criminal record does not indicate [deportees] pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA [-- a Venezuelan street gang --], the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.' [IOW, Cerna] asserts ... that a person's lack of criminal record proves that they are more dangerous than people who do have a criminal record because their clean record simply shows that the government lacks a complete profile of their crimes. Wow.... In a webcast on Monday, Trump ally Steve Bannon defended the deportations: ... 'Big deal.... If there's some innocent gardeners in there [among the deportees]? Hey, tough break for a swell guy.'... The end to the due process of the law leads to situations where a government official can argue that the lack of a criminal record for someone perceived to be an enemy of those in power just proves that person is a criminal." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait, Steve. Exactly why is it okay to send an innocent gardener to an inhumane Salvadorian jail, but it's a travesty to send a guilty podcaster to a U.S. Club Fed? ~~~
~~~ Camilo Montoya-Galvez & Annabelle Hanflig of CBS News: "CBS News has obtained an internal government list of the names of the Venezuelan men the Trump administration deported to El Salvador as part of a secretive operation last week that has triggered a legal standoff in the U.S. and a debate around the world. On March 15, the U.S. government deported 238 male Venezuelan citizens on three flights to El Salvador, accusing them of being part of a transnational gang known as Tren de Aragua, which ... [Donald] Trump has labeled a foreign terrorist group and wartime enemy.... U.S. officials have said 137 of the Venezuelan men were treated as 'enemy aliens' and removed from the country under the 18th century [Alien Enemies Act]. The other 101 were deported under regular immigration procedures, the officials have said.... Family members and lawyers of deportees have said they only learned their loved ones or clients had been deported to the small Central American country through videos and photos posted by the Salvadoran government and news outlets." The article republishes the government's list of names. ~~~
~~~ Lilia Luciano of CBS News cites one deportee, Franco José Caraballo Tiapa, who has no U.S. criminal record, and outlines the perils Caraballo faces.
Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "Trump administration lawyers have determined that an 18th-century wartime law the president has invoked to deport suspected members of a Venezuelan gang allows federal agents to enter homes without a warrant.... The disclosure reflects the Trump administration's aggressive view of presidential power, including setting aside a key provision of the Fourth Amendment that requires a court order to search someone's home. It remains unclear whether the administration will apply the law in this way.... Warrantless entries have some precedent in America's wartime history, but invoking the law in peacetime to pursue undocumented immigrants in such a way would be an entirely new application, [experts say].... 'All such alien enemies, wherever found within any territory subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are subject to summary apprehension,' the proclamation [Trump signed last week aimed at Venezuelan gang members,] said. Senior lawyers at the Justice Department view that language, combined with the historical use of the law, to mean that the government does not need a warrant to enter a home or premises to search for people believed to be members of that gang." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So here's how this goes: Trump says he can ignore the Fourth Amendment by (1) claiming war powers against people who come from a country with which we are not at war; THEN (2) declaring that these people are "alien enemies" who he can "summarily apprehend." IOW, whatever I say. "I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president." Trump is out of control, and so are his "loyal" lawyers. Not a Constitutional crisis yet, Chuck? ~~~
Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Thursday ordered that a Georgetown University fellow in the United States legally who was detained by federal immigration authorities cannot be removed from the country, pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking his release from detention. Federal judge Patricia Tolliver Giles in Virginia's Eastern District did not rule on the Trump administration's efforts to deport Indian national Badar Khan Suri, who was apprehended earlier this week for what a DHS spokesperson said was 'Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.' The arrest, part of several recent Trump administration arrests of people with legal status that has included scholars from other universities who've opposed U.S. foreign policy on Israel, has further inflamed outrage from those who say such actions are a violation of the First Amendment that could have chilling effects on free speech." (Also linked yesterday.)
Still planning a vacation in the U.S., Trump notwithstanding? You might want to think again. Bear in mind that we don't know if the particulars of this story are true, or if Becky there is a raging maniac who required heavy restraints. (She looks pretty sweet.) But ICE agents don't seem to be denying the family's allegations. ~~~
~~~ Julie Watson of the AP: "U.S. border agents handcuffed [Lennon] Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her [German] fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention center. He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany. Since ... Donald Trump took office, there have been other high-profile incidents of tourists like Sielaff being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at U.S. immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense. They include another German tourist who was stopped at the Tijuana crossing on Jan. 25. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks locked up, including over a week in solitary confinement, a friend said.... Sielaff, 25, and ... others say it was never made clear why they were taken into custody even after they offered to go home voluntarily." ~~~
~~~ Nelli Bird of BBC News: "A tourist held in the US for 19 days was removed in chains like Hannibal Lecter, according to her parents. Becky Burke, 28, arrived home in Wales on Tuesday from her ordeal which began half way through a backpacking trip across North America. Parents Paul and Andrea Burke, of Portskewett, Monmouthshire, said their daughter was 'traumatised' after being taken in 'leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs'. The Northwest ICE Processing Center said in a statement: 'All aliens in violation of US immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States regardless of nationality.' It said that Ms Burke was repatriated to the UK on March 18 after being detained 'related to the violation of the terms and conditions of her admission'. Ms Burke's detention came as what her family think was a misunderstanding of her accommodation arrangements. She got free accommodation for helping host families 'around the house', which her father believes authorities may have suspected broke the terms of her tourist visa. The US State Department says people on visitor visas are prohibited from carrying out 'employment' during their stay." (Also linked yesterday.)
The zeal with which these guys are engaging in increasingly open, authoritarian behavior is unlike almost anything I've seen. Erdogan, Chavez, Orban -- they hid it.... If even a dozen Republicans in Congress had the capacity to stand up to Trump, this would be a very different ballgame. Trump and Musk and Stephen Miller could not do this alone. They're doing it with the full cooperation of the majority party in Congress. We're in a bad place. -- Steven Levitsky of Harvard University ~~~
~~~ Amanda Taub of the New York Times: Donald "Trump's intensifying conflict with the federal courts is unusually aggressive compared with similar disputes in other countries, according to scholars. Unlike leaders who subverted or restructured the courts, Mr. Trump is acting as if judges were already too weak to constrain his power. It is extremely rare for leaders to simply claim the power to disregard or override court orders directly, especially so immediately after taking office.... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump wrote on social media that Judge [James] Boasberg [-- who ordered the administration to turn around planes carrying deportees --] was a 'Radical Lunatic' and should be 'IMPEACHED,' because the judge 'was not elected President -- He didn't WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn't WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn't WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN'T WIN ANYTHING!'... (In fact, U.S. courts can and do order the return of aliens who have been wrongfully deported.)" (Also linked yesterday.)
Ishan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "For the first time in more than two decades, [The V-Dem Institute] categorized more societies as autocracies than democracies. The United States is part of that story of democratic backsliding. The Trump administration's stunning purge of federal bureaucracy, its pressure tactics on universities, and the dubious legality of its more brazen attempts to wield executive power are taking the country into uncharted territory.... '[Trump and his allies] are copying the path taken by other would-be dictators like Viktor Orban,' Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told the Guardian last month.... 'You have a move towards state-controlled media. You have a judiciary and law enforcement that seems poised to prioritize the prosecution of political opponents. You have the executive seizure of spending power so the leader and only the leader gets to dictate who gets money.' Leaders like Orban, Netanyahu, Erdogan and Trump are unruffled by such criticism -- and often feel validation because of it."
Marie: After Donald Trump issued an order making it virtually impossible for a large law firm to represent anyone in any federal case, I wrote that Trump was one of the few people who could make me feel sorry for lawyers. Well, I don't feel sorry for lawyers anymore. In fact, these snivelling cowards make me sick: ~~~
~~~ More Chickens Come Home to Roost in Trump's Coop. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: Donald "Trump and the head of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP have reached a deal under which Mr. Trump will drop the executive order he leveled against the firm, Mr. Trump said on Thursday. In the deal, Mr. Trump said, the firm agreed to a series of commitments, including to represent clients no matter their political affiliation and contribute $40 million in legal services to causes Mr. Trump has championed, including 'the President's Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and other mutually agreed projects.'... The firm, Mr. Trump said, also agreed to conduct an audit to ensure its hiring practices are merit based 'and will not adopt, use, or pursue any DEI policies.' The deal materialized after the head of the firm, Brad Karp, went to the White House this week and had a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Trump to discuss a resolution....
"The White House said that Mr. Karp had acknowledged 'wrongdoing' by one of the firm's former partners, Mark F. Pomerantz. Mr. Pomerantz had tried to build a criminal case against Mr. Trump several years ago while working at the Manhattan district attorney's office.... Members of the legal profession said in interviews that ... it appears as if the firm -- which is dominated by Democrats and has long prided itself in being at the forefront of the fight against the government for civil rights -- was capitulating to Mr. Trump over an executive order that is likely illegal.... Last week, a federal judge in Washington ruled that a subsequent executive order Mr. Trump signed targeting the law firm Perkins Coie, which is also aligned with Democrats, was likely unconstitutional and issued a restraining order halting it.... The firm has long prided itself on breaking barriers and standing up to the government on issues like civil rights." Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is a big firm (more than 1,000 lawyers), and it had the resources -- as smaller law firms do not -- to stand up to Trump & quash his unlawful order. Beating Trump in this particular intimidation/retribution campaign and protection racket would make the country safer for every person who had a grievance against the government that required legal representation to resolve it. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Disgraceful, even if one doesn't expect better of BigLaw right now[.]... The message here is clear: these shakedowns will work, so Trump will keep doing them."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Wherein the Verge Cops to Making a Common Mistake. Sarah Jeong of the Verge: "On Tuesday, the president of the United States fired the Democratic commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission in clear contravention of what has been the law since 1935. News outlets -- including The Verge -- all went up with their articles as fast as they could.... The blowback from readers was evenly distributed. 'This is wildly illegal,' one person wrote in The Washington Post's comment section. 'Just say that. Don't say the fired people said it was illegal. Say it as the Washington Post when you know it's true. Democracy dies, thanks in part to this rag.' We also caught flack for our own headline, which put 'illegal' in quotation marks, attributing it to the Democratic commissioners.... What Trump did on Tuesday was wackadoodle beyond belief. It violated Supreme Court precedent from 1935 -- Humphrey's Executor v. US, a case that is ... about the limits of presidential power when it comes to firing FTC commissioners."
MEANWHILE, the American taxpayer is paying Trump's personal lawyers, a/k/a the Department of Justice, to defend his bloody insurrection. The corruption of the DOJ is complete: ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The Justice Department made an unusual effort on Thursday to short-circuit a series of civil lawsuits seeking to hold ... [Donald] Trump accountable for his supporters' attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Department lawyers argued in court papers filed to the judge overseeing the cases that Mr. Trump was acting in his official capacity as president on Jan. 6 and so the federal government itself should take his place as the defendant. That move, if successful, could protect Mr. Trump from having to face judgment for his role in the Capitol attack and from having to pay financial damages if he were found liable. The legal maneuver appeared to be Mr. Trump's latest effort to use the powers of the Justice Department to his advantage by effectively having himself removed from the lawsuits, which were brought against him by groups of Capitol Police officers and lawmakers who claim they were injured when the mob stormed the building." ~~~
President Trump delivered on his promise of maximum transparency by fully releasing the files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. -- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ~~~
~~~ William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "After the Social Security numbers of more than 400 former congressional staffers and others were made public in files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the White House acknowledged the breach Thursday and worked to mitigate the harm. The National Archives and Records Administration will scrub the files for Social Security numbers, and the Social Security Administration will issue new numbers to those exposed by the inadvertent release, a White House official said.... The National Archives will also offer credit monitoring services to those affected until they receive their new number....
"Many of those affected have gone on to become high-ranking officials in Washington, including a former assistant secretary of state, researchers in the intelligence world, State Department workers and prominent lawyers.... The Post discovered the Social Security numbers, birthplaces and birth dates of more than 100 staff members of the Senate Church Committee, established in 1975 to investigate abuses by America's intelligence agencies and government. The Post also discovered more than 100 Social Security numbers of staff members of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the killing of Kennedy. At least one of them, an author and former law professor, had his number disclosed more than two dozen times.... Experts said the release of the information raises legal questions under the Privacy Act of 1974. ~~~
~~~ Question: Who is responsible? Who is directly responsible for this lawless, careless breach? Answer: "When Trump said Monday that the assassination-related files would be released the next day, he said he had directed staff not to redact them. 'I don't believe we're going to redact anything,' Trump told reporters during a visit to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 'I said, "Just don't."'"~~~
~~~ Sarah Nir & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "White House officials acknowledged on Thursday that it was only after the papers were made public that they began combing through them for exposed details." This is an update of a story linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you were a person old enough to have had a government job in 1975, would you want to be dealing with a new Social Security number now? -- especially now that Elon is gutting the Social Security administration staff and disallowing phone calls to the SSA? I don't think so. Neither does Rachel Maddow: ~~~
~~~ Could Not Have Happened to a More Deserving Person. Tom Sanders of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's former campaign lawyer is furious after his personal information and social security number were made public as part of this week's release of unredacted JFK assassination files. 'It's absolutely outrageous. It's sloppy, unprofessional,' Joseph diGenova, a long-time Trump supporter who formerly served as the president's lawyer on the campaign trail, told The Washington Post. 'It not only means identity theft, but I've had threats against me,' diGenova said." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ The DOJ is working for President Musk, too: ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "In highlighting the Trump administration's efforts to defend Elon Musk's flagship company, Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday cited past arrests of people charged with trying to torch Tesla products. Announcing what she described as severe charges against people in Colorado, South Carolina and Oregon, Ms. Bondi said in a news release: 'Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars.' Two of the three arrests, in fact, happened weeks ago, and the other happened one week ago. But Ms. Bondi's statement underscored the extent to which the administration has publicly defended and embraced Mr. Musk, one of ... [Donald] Trump's chief allies and the billionaire leading efforts to slash the federal bureaucracy." ~~~
~~~ When a mere girl (Bondi) threatens to win a hand, Drunk Pete ups the ante: ~~~
~~~ ⭐President Musk To Get Top-Secret Military Briefing Today. Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: "The Pentagon was scheduled on Friday to brief Elon Musk on the U.S. military's plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said on Thursday. Another official said the briefing would be China focused, without providing additional details. A fourth official confirmed Mr. Musk was to be at the Pentagon on Friday, but offered no details. Hours after news of the planned meeting was published by The New York Times, Pentagon officials and ... [Donald] Trump denied that the session would be about military plans involving China. 'China will not even be mentioned or discussed,' Mr. Trump said in a late-night social media post....
"Providing Mr. Musk access to some of the nation's most closely guarded military secrets would be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as an adviser to Mr. Trump.... It would also bring into sharp relief the questions about Mr. Musk's conflicts of interest as he ranges widely across the federal bureaucracy while continuing to run businesses that are major government contractors. In this case, Mr. Musk, the billionaire chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, is a leading supplier to the Pentagon and has extensive financial interests in China." An Independent story is here. ~~~
~~~ Joshua Keating of Vox (March 18): Musk' is, in his own words, 'kind of pro-China.' China is vital to Musk's car company Tesla as both a producer of vehicles and as a consumer market.... The symbiotic relationship between Tesla and China almost can't be overstated.... Along the way, Musk has developed relationships with senior Chinese leaders, notably Premier Li Qiang, China's No. 2 official, who reportedly offered him a Chinese green card during a meeting in 2019." MB: Any chance Musk would be conveying those top-secret war plans to China? Nah! ~~~
~~~ D check out Akhilleus's comment in today's thread if you're still thinking that maybe giving Elon top-secret war plans against China might be okay. ~~~
~~~ Trump just denied the Musk/China story. Then a few minutes later the WSJ confirmed it. Any guesses who's governing the country right now? -- Josh Marshall in a BlueSky post ~~~
~~~ President Musk Threatens Pentagon Leakers. Csongor Körömi of Politico: "... Elon Musk has openly threatened Pentagon employees who may have leaked information that the tech billionaire was due to get a briefing on a potential American war with China.... After the [NYT] story went live, the planned meeting was confirmed by Pentagon officials and ... [Donald] Trump -- but both denied that the session would discuss military plans involving China.... Musk ... called the New York Times 'pure propaganda'" and issued a threat, saying he looks 'forward to the prosecution of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT.' 'They will be found,' [Musk] ... warned." ~~~
~~~ Over at Commerce, Howard Lutnick makes himself President Elon's Third Stooge: ~~~
~~~ Justine McDaniel & Sabrina Rodriguez of the Washington Post: "Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged Fox News viewers Wednesday night to buy Tesla stock, an apparent violation of federal ethics rules that prohibit officials from endorsing products or businesses. His promotion of Tesla was the latest move by a Trump administration official to bolster support for Elon Musk's car company as it becomes a target for voters upset about the sweeping, unprecedented cuts Musk is leading across the federal government through the U.S. DOGE Service. 'I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It's unbelievable that this guy's stock is this cheap. It'll never be this cheap again,' Lutnick said on Fox News. With only a few exceptions, the Code of Federal Regulations prohibits executive branch employees from using their public office 'for the endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise.' Employees are also generally barred from giving preferential treatment to an individual or organization. Those ethical rules, along with the tenet that officials shouldn't use their public office for private gain, are central to American democratic norms, advocates for ethics in government said." ~~~
~~~ In fairness to these Tesla enthusiasts, Musk makes a great driving machine: ~~~
~~~ Sean O'Kane of TechCrunch: "Tesla is issuing a recall for around 46,000 Cybertrucks sold to date because of an exterior steel trim panel on the side of the windshield that can peel off. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a filing that the piece can come off while in motion, which can create a hazard for the driver and other people on the road. The filing states that Tesla became aware of the problem in early January and has identified 151 warranty claims related to this panel coming off since then. The company is not aware of any resulting crashes or injuries, according to the filing. The problem with the panel occurs because the 'structural adhesive' that holds it in place on the vehicle is 'susceptible to environmental embrittlement,' according to the filing. Tesla will fix Cybertrucks covered by the recall at no cost to owners by using a 'different structural adhesive not prone to environmental embrittlement.' It will also use a nut to 'clamp' the steel panel to the vehicle structure." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: "Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday sharply cut back the number of federal real estate leases it claimed to have terminated, signaling that the group is losing at least some internal battles to get rid of government office space. For weeks, Mr. Musk's group said on its website that it had terminated more than 700 leases, and saved more than $460 million in the process. But around 1 a.m. Wednesday, the group eliminated references to 136 of those cancellations. That reduced its savings by $140 million, or almost 30 percent of the total for lease cancellations it had claimed a day earlier. Mr. Musk's team did not give a reason for the changes.... G.S.A. officials said they walked back some terminations because of 'feedback from customer agencies.'... Other agencies received help from Republican members of Congress, who lobbied to keep offices in their districts open.... Mr. Musk's group [also] claimed credit ... for terminating contracts that were actually canceled under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and two that ended under President George W. Bush."
"Keep Your DOGE Hands Off My Social Security." Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal judge has barred Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive systems at the Social Security Administration, saying the group appears to be on a 'fishing expedition' that could jeopardize the data of millions of people. 'The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,' said U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander in a 137-page ruling. 'It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.' Hollander, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said the group's broad access likely violated privacy laws. The Maryland-based judge ordered an immediate halt to the DOGE Social Security team's access to any systems that contain sensitive data of Social Security recipients. She ordered Musk, DOGE and other affiliates to destroy any non-anonymized data they've obtained." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The AP's report is here. Judge Hollander's ruling, via Axios, is here. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Perez of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump's interim Social Security chief [Lee Dudek] suggested Thursday night he will effectively turn off the agency that manages the essential safety net program for seniors and the disabled, if Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can't access the non-anonymized sensitive personal information and data of hundreds of millions of Americans, based on a judge's order.... Dudek's threat to block SSA employees from using the agency's IT systems -- a move that could halt Social Security payments ' came in response to a judge's temporary restraining order in a case brought by the AFL-CIO labor union.... [The judge's order requires] Musk and DOGE [to] comply with existing privacy laws. According to Dudek..., this requirement is a reason to threaten to halt the safety net program that 71 million Americans rely on for support."
Vjosa Isai of the New York Times: "Elon Musk has said that 'Canada is not a real country,' just one of his social media jabs at the U.S. neighbor. But people in Canada have done real damage to the vehicles and dealerships belonging to his electric car company, Tesla.... More than 80 Teslas had their tires punctured and bodies scratched at a lot in Hamilton, Ontario, the police said on Thursday. Several acts of vandalism against Tesla property have also been committed in the United States. Hamilton, west of Toronto, is the heart of Canada's steel manufacturing industry and a battlefront in the country's trade war with the United States....[Donald] Trump has imposed tariffs on steel and other Canadian products and Canada has responded by applying levies to $20.5 billion worth of exports from the United States. Mr. Trump has also claimed that Canada has long 'ripped off' the United States and wants to make it the 51st state. Canadians have responded with a grass-roots protest, changing how they shop, travel and think about their relationship with the United States, the country's closest ally and trading partner."
Drill, Baby, Drill. Jake Spring of the Washington Post: "The Interior Department on Thursday announced that it aims to open up millions of acres of near-pristine land in Alaska to oil drilling and allow for a new pipeline to be built across the state. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the department would allow oil and gas leases on 82 percent of the 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, overturning protections that President Joe Biden finalized last year, and will reinstate a program to permit drilling in the 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the country's largest preserve of its kind."
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has sidelined a senior Defense Department spokesman, defense officials said Thursday, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed with colleagues and journalists who cover the Pentagon, and aggressively defended the agency's purge of government-produced content recognizing the contributions of minorities in the military. John Ullyot, a public affairs official who also held senior communications roles during ... Donald Trump's first term in office, is expected to take another role within the Defense Department working on 'special projects.'... Ullyot's removal followed an uproar Wednesday over the Pentagon's removal of an online article about the military background of Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.... As news of the article's removal drew widespread condemnation on social media, Ullyot released a statement ... that said in part..., 'Discriminatory Equity Ideology Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services' core warfighting mission.'"
A Government Lawyer Resigns. Tom Dreisbach of NPR: "A prosecutor with years of experience at the U.S. Department of Justice has resigned amid major changes..., telling NPR, 'It just was not a Department of Justice that I any longer wanted to associate with.' In a sharp resignation letter shared with NPR, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Murphy warned of the erosion of the Justice Department's independence from the president, writing to his coworkers, 'you serve no man.'... Murphy is a veteran prosecutor who ... most recently ... served in the Department of Justice's Capitol Siege Section, which prosecuted more than 1,500 people for crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. When Trump took office, he immediately granted clemency to all of the Jan. 6 defendants -- even the most violent offenders and those with lengthy criminal records -- and his administration fired and demoted< many prosecutors who worked on those cases. As a result, Murphy said, he simultaneously faced threats and harassment from Jan. 6 defendants, who were emboldened by their presidential pardons, while also having to fear retaliation from the administration."
[The Trump administration is running] a campaign to remove public access. And at the end of the day, American taxpayers paid for these tools. -- Jessie Mahr, Director of the Environmental Policy Innovation Center ~~~
~~~ Unseen Heroes. Austyn Gaffney of the New York Times: "Amid the torrent of executive orders signed by ... [Donald] Trump were directives that affect the language on government web pages and the public's access to government data touching on climate change, the environment, energy and public health. In the past two months, hundreds of terabytes of digital resources analyzing data have been taken off government websites, and more are feared to be at risk of deletion. While in many cases the underlying data still exists, the tools that make it possible for the public and researchers to use that data have been removed. But now, hundreds of volunteers are working to collect and download as much government data as possible and to recreate the digital tools that allow the public to access that information. So far, volunteers working on a project called Public Environmental Data Partners have retrieved more than 100 data sets that were removed from government sites, and they have a growing list of 300 more they hope to preserve."
Barbara Sprunt of NPR: "Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet stopped short Wednesday of calling on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from leadership, but came pretty darn close. 'I do think on the leadership question, it's always better to examine whether folks are in the right place, and we're certainly going to have that conversation,' he said at a town hall in Golden." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Chris Hayes suggested to Schumer this week that he (Schumer) was approaching the Trump juggernaut as he would handle a Mitt Romney presidency. That's right, I think. Schumer's Alfred E. Neuman attitude reminds me of John McCain, who, during the financial industry's meltdown in mid-September 2008, declared that the "fundamentals" of the U.S. economy were "strong." McCain's rival for the presidency, Barack Obama, responded, "It's not that I think John McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of most Americans. I just think doesn't know. He doesn't get what's happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of Washington where he works." That was the moment Obama won the presidency. And McCain lost it.
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Wisconsin. Money Corrupts. Absolutely Too Much Money Corrupts Absolutely. Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "Elon Musk is bringing back his most controversial gambit from the 2024 presidential election: paying voters as part of a plan to identify and turn out conservative-leaning ones. The super PAC that Mr. Musk founded to funnel his fortune into Republican causes, America PAC, said on Thursday that it was offering $100 to registered voters in Wisconsin who sign a petition 'in opposition to activist judges' or refer others to sign it. Mr. Musk has been using the group to spend millions of dollars to elect a conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in an April 1 election.... The purpose of the petition is multifaceted: Drive attention from the news media, increase awareness and voter registration among conservative voters, and help America PAC collect data on the most energized Wisconsinites who are likely to turn out for the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel."
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