Laura Loomer Says Jump. Trump Asks How High.

INSIDE: Pete Hegseth ... James Boasberg ... RFK Jr.

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

What Can You Even Say About This?

All it took for President Trump to fire keys members of his own national security team was the urging of right-wing conspiracist Laura Loomer in an insane Oval Office meeting Wednesday.

Loomer, who was a peculiar figure accompanying Trump on the campaign trail last year, has previously described herself as “pro-white nationalism” and a “proud Islamophobe,” as TPM’s Hunter Walker has noted.

Following the meeting, Trump yesterday proceeded to fire:

• six members of his own National Security Council;

• Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, who was the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command;

• Wendy Noble, the civilian deputy to Haugh at the National Security Agency.

(Note: The National Security Council is a White House entity overseen by the president’s national security adviser; whereas, the National Security Agency is an intelligence agency within the Defense Department tasked primarily with scooping up vast quantities of signals intelligence.)

In the Oval Office meeting, Loomer continued her attacks on the alleged disloyalty of NSC and NSA officials. Embattled national security adviser Mike Waltz reportedly made a brief appearance to defend his staff. Among the attendees who witnessed Loomer making her demands of the President: Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Sergio Gor, the head of the presidential personnel office.

Pentagon IG Launches Probe Of Signal Fiasco

Acting Pentagon Inspector General Steven Stebbins is investigating the use of Signal by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials. The probe will include whether official complied with rules governing classification and document retention, according to a memo from Stebbins.

Dumb And Dumber

• WSJ: The White House Whirlwind That Led to Trump’s All-Out Tariff Strategy

• CNBC: JPMorgan raises recession odds for this year to 60%

• WSJ: A Market-Rattling Attempt to Make the American Economy Trump Always Wanted

Judge Inches Closer To Contempt In Alien Enemies Act Case

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said not to expect a decision from him until next week on whether he’ll hold the Trump administration in contempt of court for violating his order blocking deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

In a tense hearing, Boasberg grilled a hapless Trump DOJ attorney, who had few good answers. Boasberg has the option of holding an evidentiary hearing or ruling on the record before him.

Related: Marty Lederman examines the poor lawyering from the Trump DOJ’s acting solicitor general in the Alien Enemies Act case: It “fall[s] considerably short of the historical standards for quality and forthrightness that typify briefs that the Office of the Solicitor General files in the Supreme Court.”

Detainee Deported By Mistake Remains Jailed In El Salvador

A federal judge in Maryland will consider today an emergency request to order the White House to retrieve an El Salvadoran man deported in error despite an earlier court order barring his removal.

Another Major Law Firm Tries To Negotiate Its Freedom

“Kirkland & Ellis, the largest U.S. law firm by revenue, is in talks with the White House to avoid an executive order similar to those levied against several of its rivals,” the WSJ reports.

Brown University Is Next In Trump’s Sights

The Trump administration is poised to block $510 million in federal funding for Brown University as part of its attack on higher education under the bogus banner of combatting antisemitism.

In related news, the Trump administration sent Harvard a list of demands for the university to have a shot at getting its federal funding restored. The list mirrors the demands previously made of Columbia University, which capitulated to the extortion.

Trump Targets Public School Funding

Under the guise of anti-DEI enforcement, the Trump administration is threatening the funding of public schools. Most immediately at risk appear to be schools with high percentages of low-income students, which get additional federal funding: “In a memo sent to top public education officials across the country, the Education Department said that funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students, known as Title I funding, was at risk pending compliance with the administration’s directive,” the NYT reported.

Defying The Courts: It’s Starting To Add Up

NYT: “The Trump administration has failed to disburse congressionally approved funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the news network originally set up to counter Soviet propaganda during the Cold War, despite a judge’s order to keep it operating, according to court filings and officials at the news organization.”

The Destruction

• FDA: Layoffs could raise drug costs and erode food safety.

• HHS: U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy of Rhode Island blocked HHS from terminating $11 billion in public health grants.

• Wilson Center: The Trump administration has gutted the federally chartered think tank that also serves as the presidential memorial to Woodrow Wilson.

• HHS: The Trump administration abruptly laid off the entire staff of a program that helps low-income households pay their utility bills.

Heckuva Plan, My Man

“That was always the plan. Part of the DOGE—we talked about this from the beginning—is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstalled, because we’ll make mistakes.”–HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the prospect of reinstating some federal workers and programs after purging his own department

Stat Of The Day

Thanks to DOGE, more layoffs occurred in March than at any time since the midst of the pandemic: 216,215 of the 275,240 layoffs (nearly 80%) were federal government workers.

IMPORTANT

AP: “Democratic officials in 19 states filed a lawsuit Thursday against President Donald Trump’s attempt to reshape elections across the U.S., calling it an unconstitutional invasion of states’ clear authority to run their own elections.”

Cory Booker Is An Effing Camel

The New Jersey Democratic senator spoke to TPM’s Hunter Walker after his bathroom-less 25-plus-hour Senate floor speech: “The one that I wouldn’t advise people to do is that I stopped drinking the day before. I stopped liquids. … That definitely put my body in distress.”

Mel Gibson Is Gonna Get His Gun Rights Back

The U.S. pardon attorney was fired by the Trump Justice Department after she refused to endorse restoring gun rights to Mel Gibson, who lost them after a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor. Elizabeth Oyer had resisted internal pressure from a DOJ official who said Gibson “has a personal relationship with President Trump.” Now, Attorney General Pam Bondi has now approved Gibson for the list of those getting their gun rights back.

Glorious

A cool time-lapse video of one of Kilauea’s episodic eruptions last week. Recent episodes have featured towering lava fountains jetting above the rim of the summit crater. For reference, the crater walls in the background are about 500-feet tall:

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