August 22, 2025

Your Friday Afternoon Data Dump. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime confidante of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, told a top administration official she never saw ... [Donald] Trump engage in improper or illegal acts during his long friendship with Mr. Epstein, according to interview transcripts released late Friday. The transcripts and audio, covering two days of discussions between Ms. Maxwell and Todd Blanche, a former Trump defense lawyer tapped to the No. 2 post at the Justice Department, are likely to raise as many questions as they answer.... Ms. Maxwell, who is seeking a pardon or reduction of her long prison sentence for sex trafficking, downplayed the president’s relationship with Mr. Epstein, a serial predator, and went out of her way to praise him.” Politico's report is here. The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here are transcripts and audio recordings, via the DOJ. ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The Justice Department on Friday began providing Congress with thousands of pages of documents from its investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, responding to a subpoena from the House’s principal investigative committee. The batch of material missed a Tuesday deadline set by the panel for the Justice Department to produce all of its files related to Mr. Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence, and did not include all of the investigative material.... It was not known what was in the files provided to the panel, which have not been publicly released.” Politico's report is here.

Laura Romero of ABC News: "Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported in March before being brought back to the U.S., has been released from criminal custody in Tennessee and is on his way to Maryland, an attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News. The Salvadoran native has been in criminal custody since the federal government brought him back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges. Once he is is released, immigration authorities will not be allowed to detain Abrego Garcia due to a ruling from a federal judge who last month ordered the government to return him to Maryland and blocked the administration from deporting him upon his release in Tennessee."

Ry Rivard of Politico: “Legal turmoil is accelerating in New Jersey’s federal court after a judge this week rejected ... Donald Trump’s use of a loophole to keep Alina Habba in charge of the federal prosecutor’s office. Shortly after U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann ruled Thursday that Habba was acting illegally as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, another judge delayed the sentencing of a CEO convicted of scheming to mislead investors during the pandemic. The new sentencing delay, ordered by U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, appears to be the first instance of fallout from the Habba ruling, which declared that Habba must be disqualified from participating in any of the office’s cases as its leader.” 

Nobody Is Safe. Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts fired its director of dance programming on Thursday, in another attempt to reshape the institution since ... [Donald] Trump took control of it this year. The director, Jane Raleigh, and the two other full-time dance programmers in her department were dismissed amid tensions with the center’s leadership, they said in interviews.... The firings followed a meeting last week between the three-member dance programming team and Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s president.... As an example of the type of programming he was thinking about, [during the meeting,] Mr. Grenell cited 'So You Think You Can Dance,' the TV dance competition show on Fox.... Ms. Raleigh said she felt that she had understood the direction Mr. Grenell wished to take and was working on further proposals when, a week later, she and the other two employees were called into a meeting and fired. They were later escorted out of the building by security.” 

Tony Romm & Colby Smith of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that he would fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, if she did not resign her post, as he looked to leverage new allegations around her past mortgage applications in a bid to remake the top ranks of the nation’s central bank. Mr. Trump issued his latest threat, which would most likely face severe legal obstacles, two days after Bill Pulte, the federal housing director, accused Ms. Cook of falsifying records to obtain favorable loan terms. Mr. Pulte referred the matter to the Justice Department, a representative of which said the case 'requires further examination.'”

Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, on Friday used a closely watched speech to send his strongest signal yet that the central bank is preparing to soon restart interest rate cuts, highlighting the labor market’s vulnerabilities even as inflation accelerates. Mr. Powell held back from explicitly endorsing a reduction in borrowing costs at the Fed’s next meeting in September. But his emphasis on the prospects of a weakening economic backdrop made clear that a cut is likely next month.”

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “National Guard members participating in the military deployment that ... Donald Trump has ordered in Washington, D.C., will 'soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons,' the Pentagon said in a statement Friday, following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s formal authorization allowing troops to carry firearms in the nation’s capital. The authorization applies to members of Joint Task Force-D.C., the military mission that includes both members of the D.C. National Guard and six states that are involved in the deployment, the Pentagon said in a statement.”

Warren Strobel & Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the latest senior military or intelligence officer to lose his position in a wider purge of national security agencies’ top ranks.... The firing follows a preliminary assessment from the DIA — the Pentagon’s main intelligence wing — of the military strikes on Iran’s three main nuclear sites in June, which prompted vicious backlash from the Trump administration after it was first reported by CNN and the New York Times. That preliminary report assessed that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been set back only a matter of months, in contrast to Hegseth’s and ... Donald Trump’s statements that the capabilities had been 'obliterated.'”

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: “When federal agents armed with a search warrant showed up at John R. Bolton’s home outside Washington at dawn on Friday, it was a display of one of the government’s most intimidating powers, in this case deployed against a fierce and high-profile critic of ... [Donald] Trump. It is not yet clear what evidence the Justice Department cited in convincing a federal judge to sign off on the search warrant, or what culpability Mr. Bolton might have in an on-and-off investigation into whether he mishandled classified information dating back to when he served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser during the president’s first term. But the episode illustrated how Mr. Trump’s campaign of retribution has undercut the principle that law enforcement should keep a substantial distance from politics, stoking questions about whether even legitimate investigations are colored by the president’s insistence on putting his perceived enemies through the same treatment he faced as a target of multiple inquiries.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: Speculation on the teevee is that the FBI raid of Bolton's property was to distract attention from the fact that DOJ has said it would release part of the Epstein files to the House Oversight Committee. Among the speculators: Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D). ~~~

~~~ Peter Alexander, et al., of NBC News: “The FBI raided former national security adviser John Bolton's home in Bethesda, Maryland, on Friday as part of a “national security investigation in search of classified records,” a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.... In a post on X early Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote, 'NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission.' Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino also appeared to refer to the raid in posts on X. 'America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always,; Bondi wrote early Friday. 'Public corruption will not be tolerated,' Bongino wrote.... The probe was looking into the handling of classified materials and potential instances of such documents being used in leaks to news media, [a] source said. The search was related to an investigation that began during the Biden administration that did not go further at that time, the source added.” ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Last of the Bulwark has a tick-tock of the hoohah surrounding Bolton's possible misuse of classified information. It was not, as Alexander's story seems to imply, the result of a Biden-era investigation. Rather, the dispute began when the first Trump administration delayed vetting a book Bolton had written about his time as national security advisor to Trump. Bolton claimed he received oral permission to publish, so the publisher went to print & sent advance copies to the press. This prompted the Trump administration to try to obtain an injunction to prevent release, to bring a civil suit & to initiate a criminal inquiry. Trump tried to seize Bolton's profits from the book. "In June 2021 [i.e., during Biden's administration], the Department of Justice, under new leadership, dropped its investigation and ended its attempt to hijack the proceeds from book sales." Thanks to akaWendy for the link.

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: “Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview released on Friday that 'there is no meeting planned' between President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. It was the Kremlin’s most direct declaration yet that a summit the White House had said was imminent was nowhere close to materializing. 'Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit,' Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia said in comments on 'Meet the Press With Kristen Welker' that were released by NBC News. 'And this agenda is not ready at all,' Mr. Lavrov said.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So this is Russia's top diplomat explaining to U.S. President* Know Nothing and his Team of Novices how international diplomacy works. Sure, a world leader will show up for an impromptu meeting if he has a lot to gain (see Alaska), but he won't participate in a "peace" summit if diplomatic staff have not already negotiated the outcome. Sad! See also Broadwater & Barnes' NYT article, linked below.

Marie: Oops! I meant to link this yesterday, and I forgot. RAS has reminded me. Clearly I needed the reminder because, as Paul Campos writes, the "biggest financial corruption scandal in presidential history does not generate much news coverage." See also Campos' explanations as to why what should be a "big corruption scandal" got so little attention. I would add this to Campos' list: "Trump pulls so many other outrageous stunts on any given day that it's almost impossible not to miss one or two." So here we are, better late than never ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Kopack of NBC News: "... Donald Trump has purchased at least $103 million worth of corporate and municipal bonds since he took office in January, according to new filings from the Office of Government Ethics. The documents, released late Tuesday, show that Trump began the bond-buying spree one day after he was sworn in on Jan. 20 and that it includes debt sold by companies, local governments and entities that could be directly affected by his sweeping agenda. All told, Trump made about 690 purchases from Jan. 21 through Aug. 1. The active trading by a president of the United States is unprecedented, and it puts Trump in a direct position to benefit — or lose out — if any of the entities that own the bonds he has purchased succeed or fail. It’s also another example of Trump’s pursuing business endeavors and transactions to increase his wealth in office." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See also Akhilleus' commentary below on the same. It does appear that Trump's increasingly aggressive demands that the Federal Reserve cut interest rates is not so much about his desire to boost the economy for all Americans but to significantly goose the value of his own portfolio -- because when interest rates fall, bond values rise. We like to call this "a very special kind of insider trading." When the president* does it, it's not illegal. Just ask Nixon. And Trump. And John Roberts.

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~~~ THAT WAS THEN: Trump Says He Will Lead D.C. Clown Parade Tonight. Emily Davies & Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said he will join law enforcement officials on D.C. streets Thursday.... 'I’m going to be going out tonight with the police and with the military, of course,' Trump said in an interview with talk show host Todd Starnes.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ THIS IS NOW: As contributors predicted in yesterday's Comments thread, the big parade didn't happen. Here's the new iteration of the WashPo story: “... Donald Trump visited law enforcement officers and National Guard troops in D.C. on Thursday, reiterating his pledge to pursue similar crime crackdowns in Democratic-led cities. Speaking at a U.S. Park Police facility in Southeast Washington, Trump suggested he plans to extend the federal presence in D.C. and thanked law enforcement officers and troop.... About 300 officers representing the FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; National Guard; Homeland Security Investigations; and D.C. police were in the crowd as Trump thanked them for their hard work then discussed a variety of topics — including his desire to bring back fossil fuels and improve the grass in D.C. parks.... 

“As Trump ended his talk Thursday, stacks of pizzas from Wiseguy Pizza, a local business, and hamburgers prepared by the White House were distributed to law enforcement officers. Meanwhile, a few people gathered on the corner of Marion Barry Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE to protest or watch in case Trump followed through on the plan he announced to patrol alongside police and military.... But Trump never patrolled. Instead, he returned to the White House.”  (Also linked yesterday.) 

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: Vice President “... Donald Trump is demanding the release of a former Colorado county elections official who was sentenced to prison last year after being found guilty of charges connected to sneaking someone into her office to search for evidence to try to prove Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. 'FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot who has been tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians,' Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning, referring to the former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence on charges that include several counts of attempting to influence a public servant and conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

This Sucks. Ben Protess & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “A divided New York appeals court on Thursday threw out a half-billion-dollar judgment against ... [Donald] Trump, eliminating an enormous financial burden while preserving the fraud case against him, a remarkable turn in the battle between the president and one of his fiercest foes. 'While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award to the state' wrote Peter Moulton, one of the appeals judges whose lengthy and convoluted ruling reflected deep disagreement among the five-judge panel. While the court effectively upheld the fraud ruling against the president, several of the justices raised major questions about the case, which was decided by a state court judge. And their decision allowed Mr. Trump to move to New York’s highest court, giving him another opportunity to challenge the finding that he was a fraudster. Despite the complexities, Thursday’s ruling handed Mr. Trump a financial victory and a modicum of legal validation. It represented a setback for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, who is one of the president’s foremost adversaries and a target of his retribution campaign.” An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “This occupation [of Washington, D.C.] ... tells the people of Washington — and of other, similar cities — that they’re less equal citizens under an elected government than subjects of a capricious ruler. It tells them that their freedom to live their lives free of harassment from masked federal agents is a function of their loyalty to that ruler.... It is all for show;... but just because it’s for show does not mean ... that it is a distraction. The president ... is indulging his grievances and pursuing, however impulsively, his political goals. And at the top of that list, as he’s made clear in many different ways, is seizing as much power as he can to rule the United States as a strongman.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Meddler-in-Chief. Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “In recent weeks, Mr. Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics when her agency reported weak job growth and tried to force out officials at the Federal Reserve when they refused to cut interest rates. He and his aides have used the power of the federal government to target — and perhaps criminally prosecute — perceived enemies, including at the Fed, and to pressure companies over their business decisions. His administration has used private tax data to pursue undocumented immigrants and overruled the decisions of once-independent government grant makers to cut off funding for certain kinds of scientific and medical research. Individually, each move carries risks, according to economists across the political spectrum.... Taken together, the Trump administration’s efforts to expand its influence into spheres that were once insulated from political meddling pose a larger threat, potentially undermining the United States’ previously unshakable reputation as a reliable, predictable place to do business.” ~~~

~~~ Here's one significant way Trump's policies are hamstringing the national economy: ~~~

~~~ Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “For the first time in decades, more immigrants are leaving the United States than arriving, a new study finds, an early indication that ... [Donald] Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda is leading people to depart — whether through deportation or by choice.... Experts predict looming negative economic and demographic consequences for the United States if the trend persists. Immigrants are a critical work force in many sectors, and the country’s reliance on them is growing as more baby boomers retire.” ~~~

~~~ AND This. Paul Krugman on a number of ways Trump is exacerbating the country's energy crisis -- a crisis Trump boasted during last year's campaign that he would alleviate. As to how Trump explains away the rising prices he promised to lower, Krugman writes that it involves “MAGA brain, 'the belief that the only way you can get results is by being tough and nasty, avoiding anything that might be considered woke' — which includes renewable energy.” MB: Of course, the other way Trump explains away rising energy prices is to announce the prices are falling. He even comes up with specific numbers: gas is only $1.98/gallon at the pump at so forth. 

First, Fire All the Experts. Luke Broadwater & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “... as Mr. Trump tries to navigate perhaps the trickiest negotiation of his presidency — ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine — he is doing so after having stripped away much of the infrastructure designed to inform him about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and to keep the United States from being outmaneuvered or even duped... He’s fired them.... 'They’re flying blind without the expertise,” said Evelyn N. Farkas ... of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University. She said the kinds of people who had been fired 'have seen all the intelligence relating to Vladimir Putin’s intentions. They have spies on the ground. They know all kinds of information that’s gained through technical means.' Mr. Trump ... has purged experts from the intelligence agencies because of tangential connections to a nearly decade-old investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.” ~~~

 Marie: Ah, but Trump does have JayDee , an expert on everything and the most obnoxious, smug, couch-humping prick I forever hope not to meet: ~~~ 

~~~ Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine headed into a high-stakes meeting in the Oval Office this week, Vice President JD Vance warned him to 'behave.' 'Mr. President, so long as you behave, I won’t say anything,' Mr. Vance recounted to Fox News in an interview broadcast on Wednesday, adding that the Ukrainian leader chuckled in response. It was not the first time that Mr. Vance had addressed Mr. Zelensky during a critical diplomatic summit with words more commonly spoken to toddlers than heads of state.” MB: I guess you can take the boy out of Appalachia, but you can't take Appalachia out of the boy -- at least if he's an obnoxious smug, couch-humping prick. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Zachary Small of the New York Times: “The White House published a list of Smithsonian exhibits, programming and artwork it considered objectionable on Thursday, one week after announcing that eight of the institution’s museums must submit their current wall text and future exhibition plans for a comprehensive review. The list borrows heavily from a recent article in The Federalist that objected to portrayals at several museums.... Other grievances were previously enumerated in an executive order that President Trump authorized in March.... The Smithsonian, which has long operated as an independent institution outside the purview of the executive branch, gets 62 percent of its more than $1 billion annual budget from congressional appropriation, federal grants and government contracts.” One exhibit the White House objected to that was not on the Federalist's list: a stop-motion portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the list, via the White House. 

Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is ignoring a directive from Congress and refusing to fully fund a landmark H.I.V. program that is widely credited with saving millions of lives over the past two decades. The Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell T. Vought, has apportioned only $2.9 billion of $6 billion appropriated by Congress for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in the 2025 fiscal year spending bill.... PEPFAR, as the program is known, was created in 2003, during the George W. Bush administration, to provide funding for H.I.V. prevention and treatment to low-income countries. It has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support and is often cited as the most effective public health campaign ever, credited with saving an estimated 26 million lives.... The chokehold on funding comes at the same time that senior staff members are drafting a plan, at the direction of the State Department, to shut PEPFAR down....” Read on. The link is a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: We must be sure to include Russ Vought in our Wall of Mass Murderers. Oh, and there's an RFKJ angle here, too.

Jory Heckman of the Federal News Network: “Acting IRS Human Capital Officer David Traynor and acting Deputy IRS Chief Human Capital Officer David Allen told employees, in an email..., that the agency plans to rescind some deferred resignation offers 'to fill critical vacancies.'... An IRS watchdog recently warned that taxpayers may face challenges during next year’s filing season, after the agency lost more than 25% of its employees under the Trump administration. An IRS employee told Federal News Network that they were told by management in a recent town hall that the agency 'let too many people go.'”

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “In a fractured ruling, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that the Trump administration could for now cancel more than $780 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health that the government said had been intended to explore topics like diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, 'gender ideology' and vaccine hesitancy. But a different five-justice majority let stand for now a lower court’s ruling that the administration’s underlying policy directing the cuts was probably unlawful and should be put on hold. Only Justice Amy Coney Barrett was in both majorities. The court’s order is not the last word, and the case will proceed in lower courts. The upshot of the scrambled ruling, subject to ongoing litigation, appears to be that grants already canceled will not be immediately reinstated but that recipients may be able to sue in a specialized court. Further cancellations may be barred.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here is the AP's report. Here's the decision, via the Court. ~~~

     ~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: “Late Thursday afternoon, the Supreme Court handed down an incomprehensible order concerning the Trump administration’s decision to cancel numerous public health grants. The array of six opinions in National Institutes of Health v. American Public Health Association is so labyrinthine that any judge who attempts to parse it risks being devoured by a minotaur. As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes in a partial dissent, the decision is 'Calvinball jurisprudence,' which appears to be designed to ensure that 'this Administration always wins.'” MB: Vox is now subscriber-firewalled, but -- like many publications -- they apparently allow a few freebies. So for me, this is one of the freebies. And good luck to you. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If, like me, you are not as hip as Justice Jackson (and, perhaps, Millhiser) here is a fuller citation from her dissent: “This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins.” Thanks to Alan Gardner, who writes the Daily Cartoonist. More on CJ John Roberts linked below.

Unfit FBI Heads Drastically Lower Standards for Agents, Too. Devlin Barrett & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is preparing to lower the recruitment standards for F.B.I. agents, eliciting alarm from many agents who worry that the move will undermine the agency’s primary mission of conducting complex investigations and tracking threats to national security. Under a plan pushed by the director, Kash Patel, and his deputy, Dan Bongino, the F.B.I. will start welcoming new classes of recruits who will receive less training and no longer be required to have a college degree.... Instead of spending about 18 weeks training at the academy in Quantico, Va., the group of agents, tentatively scheduled to start in October, will receive eight weeks.... The shift comes as the agency anticipates losing more than 5,000 employees by September, largely as a result of agents, analysts and others taking severance or early retirement packages offered by the Trump administration to try to reduce the budget.”

Tracey Tully & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday ruled that Alina Habba had been serving as New Jersey’s U.S. attorney without legal authority for more than a month, thrusting the state’s already paralyzed federal court system deeper into disarray and potentially placing limits on the president’s power to choose his own top federal prosecutors.... The judge, Matthew W. Brann of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, wrote[,] 'Because she is not currently qualified to exercise the functions and duties of the office in an acting capacity, she must be disqualified from participating in any ongoing cases'. But the judge delayed the practical effect of his own decision ... [to] allow the government to fight on Ms. Habba’s behalf in a federal appeals court.... Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, vowed to appeal the judge’s decision.” ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's report is here. The judge's ruling is here, via Politico. 

This Won't Take Long. Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is planning to vet all 55 million foreigners who currently hold visas for travel to the United States, a significant expansion of ongoing efforts to clamp down on alleged abuses of the legal immigration system. In an emailed statement, the State Department said that 'continuous vetting' will allow the agency to revoke visas upon finding signs of potential ineligibility, including 'things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization.'” The AP report, which broke the news, is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal judge has ruled that the State Department cannot use ... Donald Trump’s latest travel ban to deny visas to foreigners who apply for them. The decision issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan applies only to 82 would-be immigrants and comes with a major caveat: It still allows immigration authorities to deny the foreign citizens entry to the U.S. by turning them away at a port of entry or instructing airline officials to refuse them boarding.... The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in July on behalf of people from Afghanistan, Burma, Togo, Somalia and Iran who won the right to apply for visas under the so-called diversity visa program. The immigration lawyer who filed the case, Curtis Morrison, said he viewed the ruling as a mixed bag even though it doesn’t give his clients an immediate way to enter the U.S.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.

Maxine Joselow, et al., of the New York Times: “... Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, in June ... decree[d] that she would crack down on wasteful spending by personally approving any expense over $100,000. But Ms. Noem has been slow to sign off on new spending requests, including hundreds of projects that officials have deemed critical to protecting national security and advancing ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration agenda.... As of July 30, the most recent date reflected in most of the documents, at least 530 spending requests were awaiting Ms. Noem’s approval, while more than 1,500 other spending requests were awaiting review by lower-level officials before they could land on her desk....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters show no appreciation for Noem's very busy schedule. She spends hours picking out her costumes for her various public appearances & video shoots, not to mention all the time it takes to weave those extensions into her hair & slathering that pancake makeup on her face. For Pete's sake, she cannot be signing a bunch of stupid papers while she is functioning as a lovely prop at Donald Trump's performative presidenting events. 

Kimmy Yam of NBC News: “Japanese American groups criticized the construction of a new immigrant detention center in Texas at a military base that was used during World War II to imprison people of Japanese descent. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, which opened this past weekend, will be able to hold as many as 5,000 detainees upon its completion in the coming months, making it the largest federal detention center in U.S. history.... 'It is inconceivable that the United States is once again building concentration camps, denying the lessons learned 80 years ago.'...  said Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.” MB: Of course its “conceivable” to those of us who have been paying attention. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) See news about another controversial detention center, linked below under “Florida.”

The supreme court has pulled the rug out from under the lower federal courts, and it has done so deliberately and knowingly. The chief justice has no higher obligation than to protect the federal judiciary from attacks by this president, and in my view he has utterly failed. -- Former Judge J.Michael Luttig, a long-time friend of Roberts ~~~ 

~~~ “The Umpire Who Picked a Side: John Roberts and the Death of Rule of Law in America.” Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: “In the past 10 weeks America has witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of decisions from its highest court that should make Trump very happy indeed. The six rightwing justices who control the court ... have effectively greenlighted the president’s explosive and law-busting agenda. The supermajority has granted Trump 18 straight victories in the administration’s requests for emergency relief. Steve Vladeck, a leading supreme court scholar at Georgetown University Law Center, has tracked the decisions in his Substack, One First, noting that the rulings have been handed down largely in the legal darkness.... By conceding to Trump’s wishes, the justices have for now approved what Vladeck has called 'a truly unprecedented amount of lawlessness by the executive branch'....

“Prominent jurists have held Roberts responsible for emboldening Trump’s drive towards an authoritarian presidency. J Michael Luttig, who served on a federal appeals court for 15 years, [told the Guardian,] 'The chief justice is presiding over the end of the rule of law in America'.... [Progressive activist] Lisa Graves ... argues that Roberts ... has used his power as chief justice to promote a rightwing agenda from the moment George W Bush placed him in the court’s central seat in 2005.”

Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “California leaders on Thursday approved a sweeping plan to elect more Democrats by redrawing congressional districts, delivering an immediate counterpunch to the gerrymandered map that Republicans in Texas are passing at the request of ... [Donald] Trump. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two redistricting bills that the Democratic-controlled Legislature sent to him earlier Thursday. He also declared a special election on Nov. 4 that will ask voters to grant final approval to the newly drawn congressional districts. The moves will immediately thrust California into a feverish campaign with national implications as Democrats and Republicans vie for control of the House of Representatives through an extraordinary effort to redraw political maps in the middle of a decade.' A CBS News report is here. ~~~

~~~  Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has raised $6.2 million in online contributions since he began his campaign a week ago for a ballot measure to redraw his state’s congressional maps this fall, a significant early haul ahead of what is expected to be a bruising and expensive fight. The online donations — 200,000 so far — show the degree to which the Democratic base is energized by a redistricting fight that started in Texas but has spread nationwide.” ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson with a reminder of how we got here: “Instead of appealing to voters with popular policies, [Donald Trump] is calling for rigging our elections so that his party cannot lose. This appears to have been the plan all along. In July 2024, Trump told an audience of evangelical Christians that if they voted for him in November, 'in four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not gonna have to vote.' Republicans have put their thumb on the scales of the nation’s election machinery for years, suppressing Democratic voting and gerrymandering the states to make it harder to elect Democrats than to elect Republicans. Now Trump has come right out and admitted that leaders understand they cannot win without jiggering the system....” 

Death Comes to the Archbigot. Robert McFadden of the New York Times: “James Dobson, the evangelical Christian broadcaster who waged war on homosexuality and championed 'family values' in a long crusade that made him one of the nation’s most influential leaders of the religious right, died on Thursday at his home in Colorado Springs. He was 89.”

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California. Tim Arango & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: “Erik Menendez has not been the model prisoner that he or his supporters have portrayed him as, California parole commissioners said on Thursday, deciding that he should remain behind bars for at least three more years. The decision dealt a major blow to the Menendez brothers’ efforts to win release more than three decades after Erik and his brother, Lyle, murdered their parents in a Beverly Hills mansion, in a crime that became a national obsession. Lyle Menendez will get his own chance at parole on Friday, likely before a different set of commissioners, and the hearing could have a different outcome[.]” This is the  pinned item in a liveblog.

⭐Florida. Patricia Mazzei & David Adams of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered that no more immigrant detainees be sent to a center in the Florida Everglades, and that much of the facility be dismantled. The ruling rebuked the state and federal governments for failing to consider potential environmental harms before building the facility, known as Alligator Alcatraz. The judge gave both branches of the government 60 days to move out existing detainees and begin to remove fencing, lighting, power generators and other materials. The order also prohibits any new construction at the site.... Judge Kathleen M. Williams of the Federal District Court in Miami found that the state and federal governments had violated a federal law that requires an environmental review before any major federal construction project. Judge Williams partly granted a preliminary injunction sought by environmentalists and the Miccosukee Tribe, whose members live in the area.... The state immediately filed a notice saying that it intended to appeal.” Politico's report is here.

Florida. Gaya Gupta of the Washington Post: “A year after a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in 2016, Florida’s Transportation Department approved plans for a rainbow crosswalk to honor the victims of what was then the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. On Thursday, residents and community leaders discovered that the same department painted over those rainbow stripes in response to dual directives from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and ... Donald Trump to wipe crosswalks and sidewalks considered to have 'social, political or ideological messages.' State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) said he believes the rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse was the first to be painted over by the state. He and another local leader said they were given no warning that the change was imminent.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It is hardly "expressing a political ideology" to so obliquely honor the lives of innocent victims of a mass murder. I'd be surprised if half the people who walked that crosswalk even knew its significance. (And if any of them was offended by the crosswalk's supposed "expression of a political ideology," who cares?) This is just one more example among thousands that shows how utterly stupid Trump's campaign against extraordinary and ordinary Americans is. (Think Enola Gay.)

New York. Hurubie Meko & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: “The Manhattan district attorney’s office announced sweeping corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams’s former chief adviser and several of her associates on Thursday, unsealing four separate indictments that outlined a series of brazen schemes and painted a damning picture of a city for sale. Offering a troubling view of the mayor’s stewardship of New York City, the charges accuse the former adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, and others of a range of crimes. Those include trading the approval of renovations of a residence for thousands of dollars in catering at Gracie Mansion and City Hall, and helping to fast-track permit approvals for a Queens karaoke bar. In exchange, prosecutors said, she and her son collected a range of benefits, including cash, crab cakes and an appearance on the television show 'Godfather of Harlem.'... The four unsealed indictments ... charged seven people, most of whom are associates and supporters of Mr. Adams....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette asks the existential question you probably were asking yourself yesterday: "Who Among Us Hasn't Tried To Make Friends Using Potato Chip Bags Filled With Cash?" Related story linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ah, there's more to the story. The NYT catches us up on Chinese cultural norms: ~~~

     ~~~ Bianca Pallaro, et al., of the New York Times: It turns out the cash handoff “was not an isolated incident in Chinese-language media circles. In July, New York Times reporters witnessed other Adams supporters handing out red envelopes with cash at three separate campaign events: one in Flushing, Queens; another in Manhattan’s Chinatown; and a third in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. At those events, Mr. Adams picked up support from leaders of influential Chinese community groups, including several with close ties to the Chinese government. [Potato chip benefactor Winnie] Greco, a top Adams fund-raiser whose homes were raided last year by federal investigators looking for evidence of Chinese interference in the 2021 mayor’s race, was present at all three of the rallies.... In China, it is common for domestic reporters to receive red envelopes with cash, which are often referred to as a 'transportation fee.'” The link appears to be a gift link.

Texas. Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: “Seven weeks after massive flooding killed 137 people in the Texas Hill Country, [state] lawmakers have begun passing the first bills to try to prevent future tragedies — with measures to require more training for first responders, increased communication between agencies that mount rescues, stricter penalties for disaster relief fraud and, most visibly, far greater preparation at summer youth camps. A unanimous vote Thursday night by the Senate on the Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act followed an emotional several minutes as relatives of 25 young girls and two counselors who died at Camp Mystic, a Christian retreat along the Guadalupe River, stood in the gallery.” The Texas Tribune's story is here. The photo topping the Tribune story is heartbreaking.