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Top Social Security official leaves after clash with Musk’s Doge over sensitive data request
Michelle King, the top official at the Social Security Administration, left her position on Sunday after refusing a request from Elon Musk’s Doge to access sensitive government records at the agency, The Washington Post reports.
King had spent several decades at the agency and was made acting commissioner last month.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields confirmed King’s departure in a statement.
“President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks,” Fields said.
“In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner. President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.”
Donald Trump appointed Leland Dudek, a manager in charge of Social Security’s anti-fraud office as acting commissioner while Bisignano is vetted by the Senate.
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Trump administration gives schools a fortnight to end DEI programs or risk losing federal money
The Trump administration is giving America’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money, the Associated Press reports.
In a memo on Friday, the education department gave an ultimatum to stop using “racial preferences” as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other areas. Schools are being given 14 days to end any practice that treats students or workers differently because of their race.
The sweeping demand could upend education in myriad ways. The memo targets college admissions offices, ordering an end to personal essays or writing prompts that can be used to predict an applicant’s race. It forbids dorms or graduation events for students of certain races. Efforts to recruit teachers from underrepresented groups could be seen as discrimination.
It’s meant to correct what the memo described as rampant discrimination in education, often against white and Asian students.
“Schools have been operating on the pretext that selecting students for ‘diversity’ or similar euphemisms is not selecting them based on race,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “No longer. Students should be assessed according to merit, accomplishment and character.”
The memo itself doesn’t change federal law but reflects a change in the federal government’s interpretation of anti-discrimination laws. Under its broad language, nearly any practice that brings race into the discussion could be considered racial discrimination.
As legal justification for the new memo, it cites the 2023 Supreme Court decision barring race as a factor in college admissions. Although the ruling applied only to admissions, the memo says it “applies more broadly.”
“Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race,” it said.
The move is an extension of Donald Trump’s executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
On Monday the education department announced it also cut $600 million in grants for organizations that train teachers. The programs promoted “divisive” concepts like DEI, critical race theory and social justice activism, the department said.
My colleague Joanna Partridge has this helpful explainer on Trump’s DEI rollback here:
Ramon Antonio Vargas
A Republican congresswoman has proposed making Donald Trump’s birthday a public holiday, in an effort probably doomed to failure in Congress but obviously intended to curry favor with the president.
Claudia Tenney, a representative from New York’s Finger Lakes region, introduced legislation on Friday aiming to combine the US annual commemoration of Flag Day with a new observance of Trump’s birthday on 14 June, arguing that the president is “the most consequential … in modern American history”.
“His impact on the nation is undeniable,” Tenney said in a news release. On X, she suggested that Trump’s birthday deserved the same treatment as that of George Washington, which is observed annually as a federal holiday on the third Monday of February.
Among other differences, Washington helped the US win its independence from Great Britain and served as its first president. Trump was the first to be elected after being found guilty of felonies – specifically, 34 related to falsifying business records involving hush-money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election that he won.
Many users on X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, who has overseen the slashing of various federal agencies on behalf of the Trump administration, mocked Tenney’s proposal. “Is this satire?” one asked.
The full story is here:
Eric Berger
If you’re in need of a refresh on the high drama engulfing New York mayor Eric Adams, my colleague Eric Berger has this overview of his controversial career and the corruption case.
Last week, the US Department of Justice moved to drop criminal charges against Adams, in what many see as a blatant quid pro quo for getting Adams onboard as a political ally to a Donald Trump administration seemingly intent on launching a radical remaking of American government.
It was a move that raised alarm among many residents of the city and legal experts about what many see as Trump – and Adams – undermining the integrity of the US judicial system and American democracy.
Earlier this week, a top official at the justice department ordered the acting US attorney in the southern district of New York to stop prosecuting Adams for allegedly accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources.
The move was the latest stop in a dramatic term for America’s highest-profile mayor, which has seen the former cop elected as a Democrat but then drift rightwards, especially after Trump was elected and Adams faced prosecution. In heavily Democratic New York, Adams is now seen as an ally to Trump and has even reportedly flirted with the idea of becoming a Republican.
Since being indicted in September, Adams has made regular overtures to Trump, including visiting him at his resort in Florida and skipping scheduled Martin Luther King Jr Day events in the city to attend Trump’s inauguration.
Some observers said Adams was trying to obtain a pardon from Trump and ignoring his responsibilities as mayor. Adams claimed he has not discussed his legal case with Trump and that he had been talking with the president to help the city.
Whatever Adams’s intentions were, Trump now appears to have helped him and, in doing so, added to the perception he will ignore the rule of law when it benefits him politically.
The full piece is here:
A federal judge is expected to rule today on a request by 14 US states to temporarily block Elon Musk and the government downsizing team known as Doge set up by Donald Trump from accessing information systems at several federal agencies, Reuters reports.
DC-based US district judge Tanya Chutkan said at a hearing on Monday that she would try to rule within 24 hours on an emergency request by the Democratic state attorneys general seeking to block Musk and Doge from accessing government systems and firing employees at seven agencies.
The judge sounded skeptical at Monday’s hearing that the attorneys general had met the legal standard needed to grant a temporary restraining order.
Doge has swept through federal agencies slashing thousands of jobs and dismantling various programs since Trump returned to office last month and put Musk in charge of rooting out “wasteful spending” as part of the Republican president’s dramatic overhaul of government.
The state attorneys general who brought the case want to bar Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” from accessing information systems at the departments of labor, education, health and human services, energy, transportation and commerce, and at the Office of Personnel Management.
They also asked Chutkan to prevent Musk and his Doge team members from firing federal employees or putting them on leave.
The states have argued that Musk wields the kind of power that can be exercised only by an officer of the government who has been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate under language in the constitution called the appointments clause.
The states also have said Doge itself has not been authorized by Congress.
Around 20 lawsuits have been filed in various federal courts challenging Musk’s authority, which have led to differing results. On Monday, Washington-based district judge Randolph Moss declined to issue a temporary restraining order sought by the University of California Student Association to prevent the Department of Education from disclosing information to individuals affiliated with Doge.
Moss said the students failed to show they would suffer irreparable harm if their information is accessed by the Doge team members, who are obligated to follow privacy regulations. The judge also noted that any students who suffered harm from improper disclosure of their information could seek monetary damages afterward.
My colleagues Pjotr Sauer and Luke Harding have this report on the US-Russia talks on Ukraine in Riyadh.
Top US and Russian officials have met in Saudi Arabia for the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in three years, agreeing to continue planning an end to the Ukraine war amid concerns in Kyiv and across Europe that Donald Trump could push for a settlement favoring Vladimir Putin.
After the almost five-hour-long talks at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the two sides had agreed to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.
The statements highlighted a tectonic shift in Washington’s approach to Russia, moving away from the Biden administration’s efforts to isolate Moscow.
Rubio said an end to the Ukraine conflict must be acceptable to all involved, including Ukraine, Europe and Russia, adding that its European allies were consulted on Ukraine. Still, no Ukrainian or even European officials were present at the meeting.
Putin’s chief foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the two sides had agreed for negotiators to talk about Ukraine and had briefly discussed the conditions needed for a Putin-Trump summit, although he noted this was unlikely to take place next week.
Ushakov further said the meeting “went well” and was “a serious conversation on all issues”.
The full write-up is here:
Trump immigration dragnet ensnares people at check-ins and court hearings
Alexandra Villarreal
People attending recent mandatory immigration check-ins or court appearances have been escorted out in federal custody after the Trump administration allegedly tricked, lied to, or otherwise deceived them as part of its mass deportation campaign.
Amid a blitz of immigration-related policy changes over the last few weeks, Donald Trump and his subordinates have greenlit the ability of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to conduct potential civil enforcement operations at courthouses, including in immigration courts.
They have also reportedly set daily arrest quotas between at least 1,200 and 1,500 and gotten angry when agents have not consistently met those targets – pressure from the top that is probably incentivizing officers on the ground to go after the lowest-hanging fruit instead of people with serious criminal records.
Read the full report here:
Judge orders hearing over Trump DOJ's bid to throw out Eric Adams corruption case
A federal judge has ordered US prosecutors to appear in court this week to explain the reasons why they are seeking to dismiss criminal charges filed against New York mayor Eric Adams and the “scope and effect” of the mayor’s consent, Reuters reports.
The hearing comes after a justice department official appointed by Donald Trump ordered prosecutors to seek dismissal of the case, which is widely seen as a reward for his help with Trump’s immigration agenda. At least a half-dozen federal prosecutors resigned rather than obey the order, but other officials eventually formally sought dismissal on Friday.
US district judge Dale Ho ordered the parties to appear at a hearing on Wednesday at 2pm EST to discuss the matter.
Four deputies to Adams plan to resign in a withdrawal of support for the embattled Democratic mayor, as the growing chaos engulfs his three-year-old administration.
Adams, who has warmed to Trump since being indicted last year on charges of taking bribes from Turkish officials, has pleaded not guilty.
In ordering prosecutors to dismiss the case, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove said the charges were distracting Adams from helping Trump crack down on illegal immigration, one of the administration’s top priorities.
White House says Elon Musk is not part of Doge
Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration is as a White House employee and senior adviser to the president, and is not an employee of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) and has no decision-making authority, the White House said in a court filing on Monday.
Although the tech billionaire is said to be leading Trump’s administration’s sweeping cost-cutting efforts, according to a filing signed by Joshua Fisher, director of the Office of Administration at the White House, Musk can only advise the president and communicate the president’s directives.
“Like other senior White House advisors, Mr Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” it said.
Fisher’s filing, made in a case brought against Musk by the state of New Mexico, said that Musk was not an employee of the US Doge Service, or the US Doge Service Temporary Organization.
In his declaration to the court, Fisher said:
In his role as a Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors.
Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.
Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.
Fisher compared Musk’s role to that of Anita Dunn, who served as a senior advisor to former president Joe Biden.
Process for US-Russia talks on Ukraine to start 'as soon as possible', Lavrov says
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, later said the two sides had agreed to start “as soon as possible” the process for Ukraine peace talks, and Russia will be waiting for the US to confirm its representatives for the talks and then appoint their own.
He then echoed Rubio’s sentiments about “creating conditions” for broader US-Russia cooperation, including on “resuming consultations on geopolitical issues,” and “removing the artificial barriers in the way of mutually beneficial economic cooperation.”
Ukraine peace 'key to unlock' economic opportunities with Russia, Rubio says
My colleague Jakub Krupa reports that the US state secretary Marco Rubio has said part of the focus of the talks with Russia is on “ensuring that our diplomatic missions can function” and lead “vibrant diplomatic” relations.
He then said the second element is to conduct peace talks on Ukraine, which will include “engagement and consultation” with Ukraine and “partners in Europe”.
But ultimately, at the third step, the US wants to move to “engage in identifying the extraordinary opportunities that exist should this conflict come to acceptable end … to partner with Russians geopolitically, on issues of common interest, and frankly economically,” Rubio said.
Obviously, the diplomatic one is one we think we hope to move pretty quickly on, because this involves the treatment of our respective missions.
The second one will be difficult, which is the question of Ukraine and the end of that conflict.
But I think that’s essential in order for the third to even be possible, which is our ability to work together on other geopolitical matters of common interest, and, of course, some pretty unique, potentially historic, economic partnerships as well.
The key that unlocks the door for those opportunities, however, is the end to this conflict.
FDA staff reviewing Musk's Neuralink were included in Doge employee firings - Reuters
US Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
The cuts included about 20 people in the FDA’s office of neurological and physical medicine devices, several of whom worked on Neuralink, according to the two sources, who asked not to be identified because of fear of professional repercussions.
That division includes reviewers overseeing clinical-trial applications by Neuralink and other companies making so-called brain-computer interface devices, the sources said.
Both sources said they did not believe the employees were specifically targeted because of their work on Neuralink’s applications.
The loss of roughly 20 employees will hamper the agency’s ability to quickly and safely process medical device applications of all sorts, including Neuralink’s, according to the sources and outside experts.
“It’s intimidating to the FDA professionals who are overseeing Neuralink’s trial,” said Victor Krauthamer, a former FDA official for three decades, including a stint as acting director of the office that reviews human-trial requests for brain implants.
“We should be worried about the whole trial, and the protection of the people in the trial.”
The FDA, White House and Musk did not immediately respond to comment requests. Trump has said that Musk will excuse himself from any conflicts of interest between his various business interests and his efforts to cut costs for the federal government.
The full story is here:
Lauren Aratani
A quarter of Americans have dumped their favorite stores in a backlash against corporations that have shifted their public policies to align with the Trump administration, according to a poll exclusively shared with the Guardian.
Four out of 10 Americans have shifted their spending over the last few months to align with their moral views, according to the Harris poll.
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31% of Americans reported having no interest in supporting the economy this year – a sentiment especially felt by younger (gen Z: 37%), Black (41% v white: 28%), and Democratic consumers (35% v 29% of independents and 28% of Republicans).
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A quarter (24%) of respondents have even stopped shopping at their favorite stores because of their politics (Black: 35%, gen Z: 32%, Democratic: 31%).
More Democrats (50%) indicated they were changing their spending habits compared with Republicans (41%) and independents (40%). Democrats were also more likely to say they have stopped shopping at companies that have opposing political views to their own – 45% of Democrats indicated so, compared with 34% of Republicans.
It’s a sign that consumers with liberal views are starting to use their wallets in response to politics in the private sector. Most recently, this has been seen with a backlash against Target – the seventh-largest retailer in the US that has enjoyed a typically favorable reputation among liberal consumers.
In January, Target announced it was ending some of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, including a program that helped the company carry more Black- and minority-owned brands in its stores, saying it was trying to “stay more in step with the evolving external landscape”.
You can read the full story here:
