Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin Is Out Of Control
INSIDE: Donald Trump ... Elon Musk ... Kingsley Wilson
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Criminalizing Higher Education
In another reckless, unethical, and highly politicized move, acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is implicitly threatening Georgetown Law School with criminal investigation and explicitly blackballing its students unless the university ends all DEI efforts.
Martin’s threats against the Jesuit university came in a letter to the law school dean dated last month but apparently misaddressed and re-sent this week. (Well done, Ed, well done.)
“At this time, you should know that no applicant for our fellows program, our summer internship, or employment in our office who is a student or affiliated with a law school or university that continues to teach and utilize DEI will be considered,” Martin wrote.
Martin’s letter is similar to others he has sent over the past six weeks that abuse the power of his office to wade into political arenas and cast a pall of criminal suspicion over his targets.
The Georgetown letter is on Martin’s official letterhead and asserts his official position in the opening line, as if DEI is criminal and a federal prosecutor has any business being involved here: “As United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I receive requests for information and clarification. I take these requests seriously and act on them with letters like this one you are receiving.” It concludes by giving Georgetown a deadline (or else what?) to respond and this prepackaged language: “I look forward to your cooperation with my letter of inquiry after request.”
The assault on the First Amendment rights of a private, religious university by a federal prosecutor using intimidation tactics that suggest a criminal dimension to his inquiry is far beyond anything we’ve seen from the Justice Department in modern times.
What Happened Yesterday In Court
USAID: In an opaque and confusing ruling, a 5-4 Supreme Court majority declined to overturn lower court orders blocking the spending freeze at USAID and ordering the Trump administration to pay USAID vendors and contractors for work they’ve done. It was a loss – for now – for the Trump administration at the hands of a shaky majority consisting of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and the three liberal justices.
OSC: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court order that had temporarily reinstated U.S. Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger. The decision, which was not on the merits, removes Dellinger from office while the appeal proceeds on an expedited basis.
NIH: U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of Massachusetts issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking NIH from instituting its dramatic cut in indirect cost rates.
NLRB: U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell looks likely to reinstate the fired Gwynne Wilcox to her position on the NLRB but she used the occasion of yesterday’s hearing to elaborate at length on the historical importance of independent agencies, TPM’s Kate Riga reports.
Supine Hill Republicans Beg Elon Musk For Crumbs
Elon Musk met with House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday, and while it’s tempting to interpret that as a sign he’s running into headwinds from elected GOPers, the tepid pushback he got suggests we’re far from any kind of revolt against DOGE’s rampage. Instead, the meetings demonstrated the essential subordination of the GOP-controlled Congress to the world’s richest man, captured by eye-popping headlines like this one: “Senate GOP asks Musk for spending cuts vote.”
It get worse. As Morning Memo has repeatedly hammered, the unholy alliance of Trump-Musk has set out to turn every government good and service into a bauble to be negotiated, dispensed, and awarded on their personal terms. In his meeting with senators, Musk proposed this anti-democratic substitute for Congress actually doing its job and protecting its institutional prerogatives:
Musk told a group of Republican senators in a closed-door lunch that he wanted to set up a direct line for them when they have questions, allowing them to get a near-instant response to their concerns, senators said. Some senators were given Musk’s phone number during Wednesday’s meeting, and the entrepreneur said he would “create a system where members of Congress can call some central group” to get problematic cuts reversed quickly, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said.
Musk takes a sledgehammer to the pillars of the Republic and GOP senators can call him, hat in hand, for special exemptions from the carnage. Just how the founders dreamed it up.
DOGE Watch: Trump Blows It
The President twice confirmed during his congressional address that Elon Musk is running DOGE, which is contrary to the position his administration is taking in multiple court cases. Remember Amy Gleason? Trump’s admissions prompted plaintiffs to run back to court to alert judges to the contradiction as another sign of continued obfuscation of Musk’s true role.
In other DOGE news:
WaPo: Small federal agency blocks DOGE employees from entering its building
Wired: Some DOGE Staffers Are Drawing Six-Figure Government Salaries
Reuters: “U.S. Marshals have warned federal judges of unusually high threat levels as tech billionaire Elon Musk and other Trump administration allies ramp up efforts to discredit judges who stand in the way of White House efforts to slash federal jobs and programs, said several judges with knowledge of the warnings.”
The Purges
Trump’s purges are having a disproportionate impact on younger federal workers because they are more likely to be recent hires who enjoy fewer (but not none!) civil service protections:
CIA: The Central Intelligence Agency begins purging probationary employees.
VA: The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to cut more than 80,000 employees this year.
DoE: President Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as today purporting to unilaterally abolish the Education Department, the WSJ reports.
USDA: The Merit Service Protection Board ordered the temporary reinstatement of some 6,000 purged USDA workers.
The Destruction
CFPB: Email trove reveals CFPB turmoil after Russ Vought’s work stoppage order. Separately, an email Monday explicitly instructs CFPB employees not to carry out activities mandated by law, a direct contradictions of representations CFPB officials have made in federal court.
NBC News: Election security aid is on the chopping block
WaPo: How 443 federal properties were targeted for sale, then suddenly weren’t
The Corruption
NYT: “President Trump has still not disclosed the names of the donors who paid for his transition planning, despite a public pledge to do so.”
Bloomberg: How Elon Musk Muscled His Way Into the FAA
Trump’s tariffs seem like the perfect opportunity for him to grant corrupt dispensations, exceptions and carveouts. So far U.S. automakers have received a one-month exemption from his Mexico and Canada tariffs; and the U.S. agriculture industry may be next. No indication that these exemptions are themselves corrupt.
This Isn’t Just A Vetting Oops
Are we still going to treat reports that Trump’s new deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, Kingsley Wilson, has posted antisemitic, white supremacist, and Russian propaganda online as a “vetting problem“?
Jewish Insider: Pentagon deputy press secretary Kingsley Wilson is a prolific purveyor of antisemitic conspiracy theories
Mother Jones: This Pentagon Press Secretary Has a Long History of Bigoted and Xenophobic Posts
How Many Ways Can Trump Undermine Ukraine?
Politico: Top Trump allies hold secret talks with Zelenskyy’s Ukrainian opponents
Reuters: Trump to revoke legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion
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This death by a thousand cuts is terrifying, we need a national strike. Better now than when we are all Hungary and homeless. Why has Elon’s money become so valuable?
Is there a good reason why Martin can’t be disciplined by the DC Bar committee on professional standards? His actions are way outside the bounds of legal ethics.