Trump Is Already Low-Key Defying A Judge’s Order
INSIDE: John Roberts ... Elon Musk ... Kash Patel
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Supreme Court Pauses Big USAID Case
At the Trump administration’s urging, Chief Justice John Roberts issued what is likely to be a brief administrative stay keeping a lower court order from taking effect that would have forced frozen USAID spending to resume again last night at midnight.
The Trump administration rushed to the Supreme Court for emergency relief after it first asked the trial judge and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the order. Ultimately, both declined.
While Trump’s lawless abolition of USAID and the human suffering that’s resulted from the unauthorized freezing of USAID spending are the focus of this case, the larger issue at the moment is that the Trump administration has basically ignored for two weeks now the judge’s injunction lifting the spending freeze.
This hasn’t been the in-your-face refusal to abide by a court order that we’ve been fearing was coming, but a low-key, have-it-both-ways approach of claiming to have found workarounds or exceptions to the order that allowed it to be sidestepped. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali ultimately didn’t buy it and became increasingly frustrated that the administration was giving him the runaround.
The dawdling by the Trump administration and the procedural posture of the case set up the possibility that the Supreme Court’s intervention could essentially reward the administration for its intransigence in not obeying the trial judge’s order. Roberts gave the groups suing to lift the spending freeze until noon Friday to respond to Trump administration’s request for the Supreme Court’s emergency intervention.
DOGE Watch
WaPo: Elon Musk says DOGE ‘restored’ Ebola prevention effort. Officials say that’s not true.
ProPublica: DOGE Gains Access to Confidential Records on Housing Discrimination, Medical Details—Even Domestic Violence
NYT: A rogues’ gallery of the people at DOGE
Killing Off Gov’t Contracts In Willy-Nilly Fashion
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: DOGE Cites ‘DEI,’ LinkedIn Profiles It Doesn’t Like In Killing Off HUD Contracts
Politico: Trump administration says it’s cutting 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts
AP: VA pauses billions in cuts lauded by Musk as lawmakers and veterans decry loss of critical care
WSJ: President Trump signed a new executive order requiring federal agencies to review their contracting policies and procedures and, where appropriate, terminate contracts and grants.
The Purges
As the heads of OMB and OPM issued a memo revealing new plans for “large-scale reductions” in the federal workforce coming in March and April, reports continued to emerge of specific reductions across government:
SSA: The Social Security Administration is targeting a 50% reduction in its workforce.
DOL: A Labor Department office that enforces equal employment opportunity laws is working on a plan to reduce its workforce by 90%.
USFS: Forest Service chief resigns after thousands fired in his agency.
Inside Kash Patel’s FBI
A telling episode at the FBI from a deeply reported piece by CNN’s Evan Perez on Kash Patel’s first week as director:
Some members of an internal advisory panel made up of discontented former agents that was created to help pave the way for Patel to take over the bureau resigned after acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove demanded a list of FBI employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases. This rebellion appears to have happened before Patel was confirmed and included former agents who were initially favorable toward him.
That rebellion, Perez reports, led President Trump to name Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director rather than a career agent a Patel had intended, leaving two ill-suited, controversial political types with no FBI experience leading the bureau.
Jan. 6 Pardons Fiasco
In a contentious court hearing, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of Washington, D.C., a Trump appointee, was deeply skeptical of the Justice Department’s new argument that President Trump’s clemency for Jan. 6 rioters covers crimes unrelated to the attack on the Capitol. The Justice Department has publicly reversed itself in arriving at this new interpretation of Trump’s act of clemency. Friedrich was having none of it: “The intent cannot evolve over time as new cases are brought to his attention.”
Eric Adams Seizes Chance To Get Off Scot-Free
In an eye-rolling move, NYC Mayor Eric Adams is seizing on the concerns his judge has about the Justice Department dismissing the case against him without prejudice and leaving the possibility of being recharged hanging over him like a sword of Damocles. I’ll take dismissal with prejudice then! Adams told the judge in a new filing.
Trump II’s Chilling Effect On Lawyers
On the heels of Trump’s new orders targeting former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s private lawyers, Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck highlights two other recent examples of the legal profession being cowed:
Acting DC U.S. Attorney Ed Martin’s public threat two weeks ago against Smith’s lawyers, in violation of DOJ guidelines and ethics rules.
Some law firms are reluctant to represent fired or targeted DOJ officials for fear of backlash, Bloomberg Law reports: “Some firm leaders, citing corporate clients threatening to walk if they get crosswise with Trump, have rejected outright or put up roadblocks to partners seeking approval to represent DOJ lawyers, FBI agents, and other civil servants who’ve faced various forms of attack, three lawyers familiar with the decisions told Bloomberg Law.”
RFK Jr.’s Fingerprints Are All Over The Place
As the United States reported its first measles death in a decade, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy downplayed it and reports emerged of anti-vaccine animus
The FDA cancelled a meeting to plan next year’s flu vaccines, a delay that could hinder flu vaccine production, which takes place on a tight schedule.
HHS is considering yanking existing funds to develop a bird flu vaccine.
Kennedy halted work on a new oral COVID vaccine.
Pentagon Issues Ban On Trans Servicemembers
The Defense Department has issued its policy implementing President Trump’s executive order banning transgender Americans from serving in the military, including provisions for booting those currently serving.
Trump Preps To Invoke Alien Enemies Act of 1798
CNN: “The Trump administration is preparing to invoke a sweeping wartime authority to speed up the president’s mass deportation pledge, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.”
Welp, If We Weren’t Already Screwed Enough
The Trump EPA is angling to reverse its 2009 finding that greenhouse gases threaten human health, undermining one of the main linchpins of U.S. climate regulations.
Gene Hackman, 1930-2025
The iconic actor, his wife, and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home. Authorities have not determined causes of death but do not suspect foul play.
If I was forced to pick the best of his tremendous roles in so many splendid films, I would probably settle on Harry Caul in The Conversation. But I wouldn’t fight you if argued for Norman Dale in Hoosiers or a handful of other perfectly legitimate choices.
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The list of damage Trump is doing is horrendous. Thank you for covering it this throroughly. The MSM sure isn’t