memeorandum: Center for Public Integrity Is Shutting Down (Sewell Chan/Columbia Journalism Review)

6:50 PM ET, April 1, 2025

Top Items:

Waltz and staff used Gmail for government communications, officials say — Trump's national security adviser is trying to manage his way out of a crisis. But new revelations about his team's operational security are piling up in the inbox. — Just now — Members of President Donald …

Discussion: Axios, Foreign Policy, Gizmodo, American Oversight, Raw Story, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Techmeme »

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

Trump Is Asking the Supreme Court To Let Him Have Black Sites — The Trump administration inadvertently revealed on Monday that it is attempting to trap Venezuelan migrants in a catch-22 that would effectively block them from challenging their deportation and detention in an El Salvador prison.

Discussion: Vox, Washington Examiner and CBS News

Greg Sargent / New Republic:

The Lawlessness Is the Point — If JD Vance were capable of shame, he'd be embarrassed by what just happened. After the news broke that President Trump's administration admitted to deporting a Maryland man in “error,” Vance lashed out at podcaster Jon Favreau, who had asked him to comment on what had transpired.

Discussion: Politico, HuffPost, Forbes, Baltimore Sun, Louder With Crowder, NPR, Bloomberg and Blaze Media

Nick Miroff / The Atlantic:

An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison — Sign up for Trump's Return, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump presidency. — The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing Monday that it had grabbed a Maryland father with protected legal status …

William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Innocent (in a Brutal Prison) Abroad

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Instapundit, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Raw Story, The Independent, al.com and Fox News

Alexander B. Howard / CIVIC TEXTS: Happy April Fools Day! (No joke.)

Wired:

The CDC Has Been Gutted — Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die. — Thousands of federal employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …

Discussion: STAT, New Republic, The Verge, Politico and Mother Jones

Alan Blinder / New York Times:

Trump Pauses Dozens of Federal Grants to Princeton — The Trump administration has sought to punish universities financially, saying they have not done enough to combat antisemitism or comply with other administration priorities. — The Trump administration moved this week to suspend dozens …

Discussion: Business Insider, Wausau, Associated Press, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, One America News Network and Bloomberg

Justine Calma / The Verge:
Hundreds of scientists accuse Donald Trump of censorship

Discussion: NPR, STAT and New York Times

Vimal Patel / New York Times:
Professors Pushed Harvard to Resist Trump. Now Billions Are on the Line.

Discussion: The Guardian and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Joseph Pisani / Wall Street Journal:
Princeton Says Trump Administration Is Halting Research Grant Funding

Discussion: The Hill, Axios, The Daily Wire, KTVZ-TV, The Post Millennial and Semafor

NOTUS:

House Republicans Lose a Floor Vote, End the Work Week on a Tuesday — House Republican leadership called it quits for the week after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna led a bipartisan effort to tank a vote that would have effectively killed her discharge petition to allow new parents to vote remotely.

Annie Karni / New York Times:

Johnson Fails to Kill Bipartisan Measure to Allow Proxy Voting for New Parents — The speaker tried to use an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver to deny a bipartisan majority the chance to hold a vote on their proposal to allow new parents to vote remotely in the House.

Discussion: The Hill, Denver Post, The Guardian, Raw Story, New York Daily News and Mediaite

Politico:
Anna Paulina Luna leaves House Freedom Caucus amid split with colleagues over proxy voting for new parents

Discussion: New York Times, ABC News, Wausau, Raw Story, Roll Call, The Hill and The Daily Signal

Andrew Solender / Axios:
House votes to defy Mike Johnson in painful blow

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, NOTUS and The Gateway Pundit

HuffPost:
Republicans Turn On Each Other In Fight To Help New Moms In Congress

Discussion: The Hill, Scripps News, Politico, UPI, The Bulwark, Plain Dealer, Roll Call, The Colorado Sun, Los Angeles Times, The 19th, The National Pulse, Fox News and Washington Examiner

Associated Press:

New Jersey Sen. Booker presses his marathon speech against Trump's agenda past 21 hours and counting — Watch live as U.S. Senator Cory Booker addresses the Senate floor. Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has promised to speak “as long” as he's physically able on the Senate floor Monday night …

NOTUS:

A Cory Booker Staffer Was Arrested for Carrying a Gun on Capitol Grounds, Police Said — The arrest comes the same day the New Jersey senator began a protest of President Donald Trump's agenda. — Copy — A staffer for Sen. Cory Booker was arrested Monday by U.S. Capitol Police …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Examiner, Politico, New Jersey Online, Fox News, The Washington Free Beacon, The Post Millennial, New York Post, Townhall, RedState, Breitbart, IJR, The Gateway Pundit and Raw Story

Sareen Habeshian / Axios:
Cory Booker's epic Senate speech puts Democrats back in the spotlight

Discussion: USA Today, New York Magazine and The Guardian

Ryan Bort / Rolling Stone:
Cory Booker Has Been Bashing Trump on Senate Floor for 17 Straight Hours

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Vox, The Hill, CBS News, USA Today, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Twitchy and RedState

Carla K. Johnson / Associated Press:

Layoffs begin at US health agencies responsible for research, tracking disease and regulating food — Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal on Tuesday in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people.

Discussion: CBS News, HuffPost, NBC News, New York Times, The Hill, Federal News Network, Washington Times, Forbes, WPR, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Cobb Courier, Baltimore Sun and New Republic

CNN:

'It's a bloodbath': Massive wave of job cuts underway at US health agencies — A massive wave of job cuts got underway at US health agencies early Tuesday, with some employees receiving early morning emails that their jobs were eliminated and some unable to access the building when they arrived at work.

Discussion: Politico, STAT, NPR, Daily Mail, New York Post and The Hill

Ayelet Sheffey / Business Insider:
The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

Discussion: GovExec.com, Federal News Network, ABC News, UPI, One America News Network and IJR

Jeff Nesbit / The Contrarian:
Trump and Kennedy just put America at risk

Discussion: USA Today, Axios and Jeff Nesbit

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Democrats Have Problems. Turning Out for Special Elections Isn't One of Them. — They have come out in strong numbers in smaller races so far this year, and in the early voting for today's elections. — It can feel as if the Democratic Party has a lot of work to do before it is ready to win elections again.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC News, Semafor, WJXT-TV, Washington Post, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, HotAir and The Hill

New York Times:
Turnout Strong as Wisconsin Decides Key Court Contest

Discussion: Urban Milwaukee and Twitchy

Jonathan Martin / Politico:
D-Day for Musk: Democrats in Special Elections Target Trump's DOGE Chief

Discussion: Bloomberg, Reuters, Washington Post, AP-NORC and Mediaite

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
DeSantis says Florida special election isn't referendum on Trump

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Fox News and The Moderate Voice

Jacqueline Sweet / Rolling Stone:

Top Trump USAID Staffer Accused of Violent Outbursts, Racist Remarks — Ten people who knew Jeremy Lewin expressed concerns about his new position due to troubling behavior in his youth … Jeremy Lewin recently became deputy administrator for policy and programs for what's left of USAID …

Discussion: The Guardian, Townhall, New Republic and Raw Story

Scott Macfarlane / CBS News:

Trump D.C. U.S. attorney nominee Ed Martin to be blocked by Adam Schiff — President Trump's controversial choice to be the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., Ed Martin, faces an uncertain future, as a Senate Democrat plans to put an indefinite hold on his nomination.

Dasha Burns / Politico:

'I don't know anyone that isn't pissed off at him': Trump world turns on Lutnick — As ‘Liberation Day’ nears, patience for the Commerce secretary is wearing thin across the Trump administration. — Inside the White House, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been perhaps the biggest proponent of …

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNBC, Washington Post, New Republic, The Independent, Daily Mail, New York Post, Quartz, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Raw Story

Nancy Cook / Bloomberg:

Republicans Eye $25,000 SALT Cap as Trump's Tax Cuts Take Shape — Republicans are in the process of drafting a tax bill behind closed doors that includes an increase of the state and local tax deduction to as high as $25,000 for an individual, according to people familiar with the plan.

Discussion: Raw Story

Stef W. Kight / Axios:
Senate GOP embraces controversial tax cut strategy

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, National Review and The Hill

McKenzie Funk / ProPublica:

Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Is “Only a Matter of Time” — Current and former flight attendants for GlobalX, the private charter airline at the center of Trump's immigration crackdown, expressed concern about their inability to treat passengers humanely and to keep them safe.

Discussion: New York Post

US Department of Justice:

Attorney General Pamela Bondi Directs Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Luigi Mangione — For Immediate Release — Today, Attorney General Pamela Bondi released the following statement: — “Luigi Mangione's murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children …

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Mangione, Bondi Says

Discussion: New York Post, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Slate, Washington Times, Al Jazeera, Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Associated Press, TMZ.com, One America News Network, CBS News, Raw Story, The Hill, Rolling Stone and The San Joaquin Valley Sun

Washington Post:

Widespread layoffs, purge of leadership underway at U.S. health agencies — The move comes after Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s announcement of a sweeping reduction of the Department of Health and Human Services. — April 1, 2025 — The Fix — Analysis — Aaron Blake

Discussion: Endpoints News and Payday Report

Rep. Jeffries / Rep. Jeffries on YouTube:

House Democratic Hearing on Social Security — Today, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee will hold a hearing on the Republican scheme to destroy Social Security, featuring testimony from e...

Discussion: Axios

Brian Barrett / Wired:

Federal Judge Allows DOGE to Take Over $500 Million Office Building For Free — It's the culmination of a weeks-long standoff between Elon Musk's DOGE team and the United States Institute of Peace. — On Tuesday, US district judge Beryl Howell effectively allowed the transfer …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Gateway Pundit, Townhall, American Greatness and Raw Story

Mia Sato / The Verge:

Elon Musk's $1 million handout winners are connected to Republican causes — Nicholas Jacobs and Ekaterina Diestler were presented with giant checks, but they're not exactly random voters. … On Sunday, a few thousand people in Green Bay, Wisconsin, gathered to hear Elon Musk speak …

Discussion: New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Mother Jones

In These Times:

Democratic Party Leaders and “Free Speech” Warriors Shrug as Trump Deports Dissidents — While the Trump administration targets hundreds over their constitutionally protected right to political speech, Democratic leadership and influential media pundits have largely stayed quiet.

Discussion: The Hill

Camille Gijs / Politico:

EU readies counterstrike on Big Tech and US banks over Trump's mega tariffs — Brussels sees America's transatlantic trade surplus in services as its Achilles' heel. — BRUSSELS — It's one thing to hit Harley-Davidson motorbikes and bourbon whiskey. It's another to go after Silicon Valley or Wall Street.

Discussion: Reuters, New York Post, New Republic, The Guardian, Semafor and Axios, more at Techmeme »

Jennifer Jacobs / CBS News:

Trump to consider final TikTok proposal Wednesday, sources say — President Trump will consider a final proposal for TikTok on Wednesday, sources familiar with the planning tell CBS News. — The administration is finalizing plans for potential investors that could include Blackstone and Oracle …

Discussion: Bloomberg, USA Today, NBC News, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, Variety and Fox Business, more at Techmeme »

New Republic:

Trump Hit by Brutal New Polls on Econ as GOP Tariff Panic Goes Nuclear — President Donald Trump is set to announce that he'll impose sweeping new global tariffs on imports, and congressional Republicans are already scrambling wildly to try to shield their states and districts from the fallout.

Discussion: HuffPost, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Hill, Punchbowl News and National Review

Wall Street Journal:

A $6 Trillion Trump Tax Increase? — Navarro says tariffs will raise $600 billion a year for the government, but he says this is a tax cut. — Click for Sound — Financial markets have the shakes as President Trump prepares to launch his next big tariff salvo on Wednesday.

Discussion: CNBC, The Hill, Slow Boring, Jared's Substack, National Review, Bloomberg, Raw Story and CNN

Associated Press:

Elon Musk's disclosure of planned Social Security fraud arrest troubles top law enforcement officials: Sources — Musk seemed to boast of advance knowledge of the arrest during a tele-rally. — Elon Musk attends the Division 1 Men's Wrestling Championship in Philadelphia, Mar. 22, 2025.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Ian Dunt / Striking 13:

Want to know how Trump gets in? Just look at the coverage of Le Pen — The press takes a leading role destroying the rule of law — The truth of the Marine Le Pen story is simple. She fucked around. She got found out. — What did she actually do?

Discussion: The Nation

Fortune:

Target can't get its footing after its DEI program demise and a 40-day boycott against the retailer. Foot traffic at stores is down for the eighth consecutive week — Target saw foot traffic fall for the eighth consecutive week, extending a losing streak that began just a few days …