Newsletter: Chaos by Design

If it feels like there are too many news stories to keep up with — for instance, Elon Musk’s relentless dismantling of core agencies and incursion into sensitive data systems, the devastating purges of the federal workforce, draconian immigration enforcement actions, corrupt quid pro quo dealings, to name a few — you are not alone.

President Trump’s unprecedented executive power grab has unleashed an ongoing chaotic newscycle that makes it easy for important stories to be missed. Especially confusing ones, like the contradictions about who is actually running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
* After the White House claimed on Monday in a court filing that Musk was not even part of “DOGE” ([link removed]) — despite initial announcements that Musk was leading the office — Trump on Wednesday said that he had ([link removed]) “put a man named Elon Musk in charge.”
* Playing with titles and official designations may be an attempt to dodge scrutiny, just as moving the office to the Executive Office of the President was an apparent attempt to get around the Freedom of Information Act.
* That’s why we sued DOGE last week ([link removed]) under FOIA, seeking not only records about the administration’s attacks on agencies and the civil service but also to challenge Trump and Musk’s efforts to evade federal transparency laws.

Over the last two weeks, we also took several legal actions aimed at bringing to light the special counsel report on Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. The report potentially could reveal whether Kash Patel, now the head of the FBI, engaged in misconduct, including by misleading the public about Trump having declassified documents before leaving office.
* On Wednesday, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected our request ([link removed]) to expedite a motion to lift her gag order barring the release of the report, despite Patel’s Senate confirmation vote being just a day away. “The notion that there’s an ‘insufficient basis’ to act quickly on our request is completely divorced from reality,” said Chioma Chukwu, our interim executive director.
* Patel — who has promoted conspiracy theories about elections and has pledged to “come after” perceived enemies — was confirmed on Thursday ([link removed]) .
* “Despite his record of vitriol, political attacks, and complete lack of law enforcement management experience, the Senate voted to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director without full disclosure of his role in one of the most consequential criminal investigations in our nation’s history,” Chukwu said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, we filed a disciplinary complaint ([link removed]) asking New York authorities to investigate potential professional misconduct by acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, the Justice Department official who oversaw and directed the corrupt dismissal of criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
* Bove’s pursuit of the dismissal was reportedly achieved by threatening to fire subordinate attorneys, and by claiming the dismissal was appropriate in light of Adams’ political cooperation with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.
* “Letting an elected official off the hook for serious, criminal charges in exchange for political support is textbook corruption and could be grounds for suspension of an attorney’s law license,” Chukwu said.



On the Records

Dehumanizing Immigrants
This week, the White House posted a video ([link removed]) of detained immigrants in shackles, calling the deportation footage “ASMR.”
* Unfortunately, this kind of dehumanization is nothing new. In 2017, Customs and Border Protection tweeted photos of immigrants in custody, calling them the “catch of the day.” We sued under FOIA ([link removed]) to find out whether such language was part of a coordinated campaign by the Trump administration, which had exhibited a pattern of referring to some immigrants as “animals.”
* Records we obtained ([link removed]) show that two days after we’d filed our FOIA request, a CBP official reminded employees not to use such dehumanizing language, stating that it is “appropriate for fish … but not in reference to people.”
* On top of all the Trump administration’s actions against immigrant communities, this latest news makes clear the lesson has not been learned.

Misinformation About Voter List System Continues
Despite the clear shortcomings of the various systems and agreements put in place since several states abandoned the Electronic Registration Information Center, lawmakers in Georgia and Utah are looking to withdraw their states as well from the nonpartisan voter-list maintenance system.
* On Tuesday, we reported on records ([link removed]) we recently obtained from Virginia, which highlight the deficiencies in the patchwork of poor substitutes that the state has relied on since it withdrew from ERIC in 2023.
* The records include three previously unseen memoranda of understanding from the state elections department related to the implementation of executive orders from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
* The data specified in the MOUs is only a fraction of what ERIC provided. One agreement says that the Department of Motor Vehicles must supply a daily file of potential noncitizens — based on the false threat of widespread “noncitizen voting” ([link removed]) — indicating a heavy reliance on data that could become out of date or used for discriminatory purposes against, for instance, naturalized citizens. Read more here. ([link removed])


Other Stories We’re Following

National News
* Trump's funding freeze raises a new question: Is the government's word good? (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Justice Department deletes database tracking federal police misconduct (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration drops work on stronger building codes for disasters (NPR ([link removed]) )
* Trump order shifts the financial burden of climate change onto individuals (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* Jan. 6 rioters argue pardons apply to charges including murder plot, child porn (Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )
* Trump officials ask CDC, FDA to use gender notice on restored websites (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump official destroying USAID secretly met with Christian nationalists abroad in defiance of U.S. policy (ProPublica ([link removed]) )

In the States
* Louisiana Department of Health says it will no longer promote mass vaccination (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Hochul plans to impose new oversight of New York City amid Adams scandal (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Black residents of Chestnut have little hope of access to public water (Alabama Reflector ([link removed]) )
* NC Supreme Court won't fast-track lawsuit challenging 60K ballots in race for one of its own seats (WRAL ([link removed]) )
* Musk-linked group flexes its muscle in a crucial Supreme Court race in Wisconsin (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Arkansas secretary of state touts election security, calls for changes to ballot initiative process (Arkansas Advocate ([link removed]) )
* Texas banned abortion. Then sepsis rates soared. (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* Missouri lawmaker proposes tracking system for pregnant women 'at risk of seeking an abortion' (KSHB 41 Kansas City ([link removed]) )

Trump Purges and Takeovers
* CDC to lose one-tenth of workforce under Trump administration probationary job cuts (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Trump expected to take control of USPS, fire postal board, officials say (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump dismantles government fight against foreign influence operations (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Trump orders DOJ to fire all remaining Biden-appointed US attorneys (Newsweek ([link removed]) )
* IRS fires 6,000 employees as Trump slashes US government (Reuters ([link removed]) )
* Senior Justice Department ethics official resigns over sidelining by Trump appointees, source says (Reuters ([link removed]) )
* Trump vowed to clean up Washington, then his team hired a man who pushed a scam the IRS called the ‘worst of the worst’ (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* Judge halts firing of intel agency personnel involved with DEI (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Agriculture Department tries to rehire fired workers tied to bird flu response (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration fires thousands for ‘performance’ without evidence, in messy rush (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump asks Supreme Court to allow him to fire independent agency leader (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Trump signs order to claim power over independent agencies (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Senior prosecutor in Washington quits, citing pressure to probe Biden-era climate funds (Politico ([link removed]) )

Trump Accountability
* Donald Trump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money playing golf HuffPost ([link removed]) )
* Billionaires court Saudi wealth at Miami event with Trump’s help (Bloomberg ([link removed]) )
* How the Trumps turned an election victory into a cash bonanza (Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )
* Inside Trump's million-dollar dinners with healthcare executives (Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )

DOGE
* DOGE now has access to the top US cybersecurity agency (Wired ([link removed]) )
* DOGE claimed it saved $8 billion in one contract. It was actually $8 million. (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Treasury agrees to block DOGE’s access to personal taxpayer data at IRS (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Records show how DOGE planned Trump’s DEI purge — and who gets fired next (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* GSA engineering lead resigns over DOGE ally’s request for access (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Elon Musk’s DOGE wants to be notified about any requests for oversight (Bloomberg ([link removed]) )
* USDS engineering director resigns: 'This is not the mission I came to serve' (Wired ([link removed]) )
* ‘Good luck with that.’ Trump administration terminates privacy officials at agency overseeing government hiring and firing (CNN ([link removed]) )
* Elon Musk’s DOGE posts classified data on its new website (HuffPost ([link removed]) )
* Top DC prosecutor calls to protect DOGE workers, judges (Bloomberg Law ([link removed]) )

Threats to Education
* McMahon declines to say if Black history classes are allowed under Trump order (Education Week ([link removed]) )
* ‘We’ve been essentially muzzled’: Department of Education halts thousands of civil rights investigations under Trump (ProPublica ([link removed]) )
* National leaders mount pressure campaign on Texas House GOP to pass voucher bill (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Gov. Abbott orders TEA probe of Houston school for calling a student by chosen name and pronouns (Texas Tribune ([link removed]) )
* Georgia lawmaker mounts campaign to require schools to post Ten Commandments (Georgia Recorder ([link removed]) )


Immigration
* In the Trump administration, nearly every major department is an immigration agency (ABC News ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration ends extension of Haiti's temporary protected status (NBC News ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration abruptly clears out migrants it sent to Guantánamo (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Migrants, deported to Panama under Trump plan, detained in remote jungle camp (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Trump administration cuts off legal aid for youth facing deportation (Mother Jones ([link removed]) )
* Head of Trump immigration plans met Proud Boys associate about deportations (South Poverty Law Center ([link removed]) )
* Justice Department fires multiple immigration judges amid case backlog (NBC News ([link removed]) )


Election Denial
* Musk-linked group offered $5m for proof of voter fraud – and came up with nothing (Guardian ([link removed]) )
* New election official picked in Arizona county where leaders embraced conspiracy theories (Associated Press ([link removed]) )


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Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold government accountable.

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