Former prosecutor says Article 3 of the Constitution is stronger than Trump's attacks on the judiciary
Norm Eisen, a prosecutor and the former special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2020 during Trump’s first impeachment case, said Article 3 of the Constitution will act as a safeguard for the judiciary amid the Trump administration’s mounting attacks on federal judges and institutions.
“You have Article Three, the judiciary, that is acting as a guardrail,” Eisen said during an interview on MSNBC this morning. “We’ve gotten court orders saying Trump can’t target 6,000 FBI agents who worked on January 6th, just this week, we got a court order saying Elon Musk and DOGE operated unconstitutionally when they tore down, or as he put it, put USAID through the wood chipper.”
Eisen pointed out that judges under the powers granted to them by Article 3 of the Constitution, which established the judiciary as a separate branch of government, are ruling against some of the Trump administration’s orders in cases across the country. He spoke shortly before the Justice Department was scheduled to respond to questions from Judge James Boasberg about deportation flights to Venezuela in a case that drew national attention after Trump called for Boasberg to be impeached.
“The good news is they’re losing in court, and I think Judge Boasberg, who I’ve known for three decades, since he was a young prosecutor, I was a young defense lawyer in D.C. Superior Court, Judge Boasberg is going to impose consequences, and he should,” Eisen said.
Musk donates to the campaigns of lawmakers who called for impeaching judges
Billionaire CEO Elon Musk, Trump’s right-hand adviser, made several maximum-allowable hard-dollar donations to members of Congress who have expressed support for impeaching judges who have ruled against or halted elements of Trump’s agenda, a source familiar with the donations confirmed to NBC News.
The news was first reported by The New York Times on Wednesday.
The members of Congress include Reps. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Musk’s contributions, which he made Wednesday, were for $6,600 to each member’s campaign. They came after the president and his allies railed against a Saturday ruling from Judge James Boasberg, chief justice of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C..
Boasberg ordered the Trump administration to return flights to El Salvador that were deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members and return them to the U.S. The administration did not do so.
Trump has called for Boasberg’s impeachment while Musk has called for 60 senators to form a block to convict him and other judges after articles of impeachment are passed. The Constitution requires 67 senators to reach a conviction after an impeachment trial.
Chinese students slam GOP bill that would ban them from U.S. schools
Several Chinese students slammed legislation introduced last week by Republican lawmakers that seeks to keep them out of American schools.
The bill, the Stop CCP VISAs Act, would halt the issuance of student visas to Chinese nationals looking to study at U.S. universities or take part in exchange programs.
The bill cites national security concerns, saying that those on student visas have in the past attempted to spy for the Chinese Communist Party. But the Chinese nationals who spoke to NBC News said that they came to the U.S. looking for more academic freedom, calling the legislation “the new Chinese Exclusion Act.”
“I think it’s just blatant racism and xenophobia,” said one Chinese student who recently graduated from a D.C.-area university and requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation. “We are not spies. We are students who want to get a better education.”
House education committee Democrat calls Trump's plan to dismantle the Education Department 'reckless' and 'illegal'
Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, criticized Trump's plans to abolish the Department of Education, calling the move "reckless."
"I am adamantly opposed to this reckless action," said the Virginia Democrat. "I am also disappointed, although not surprised, that Secretary McMahon’s first order of business after her confirmation is capitulating to the President’s dangerous, and illegal demands."
Scott said he thinks Trump's expected executive order "will be used to distract Americans from the fact that Republicans are not working to address the real problems facing students and families: widening academic achievement gaps, school shootings, and the burden of student loans."
Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at abolishing the department later today. However, formally shuttering the department requires congressional action.
AOC and Bernie Sanders start town hall swing out West
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., will join Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour today for a series of town hall events.
The pair will hold their first town hall in Las Vegas before they head to Tempe, Arizona, for a second event later tonight. Tomorrow, they'll hold events in Colorado.
The high-profile progressives are holding the events as many congressional Republicans shy away from holding in-person gatherings with constituents amid backlash to the Trump administration's efforts to slash the federal government's workforce and budget alongside Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
Democrats have sought to fill the void by hosting events in Republican-leaning districts. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year, has held events in Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin as part of the effort.
Pentagon restores histories of Navajo Code Talkers and other Native veterans after public outcry
PHOENIX — The Pentagon restored some webpages highlighting the crucial wartime contributions of Navajo Code Talkers and other Native American veterans on Wednesday, days after tribes condemned the action.
The initial removal was part of a sweep of any military content that promoted diversity, equity and inclusion, or commonly referred to as DEI. Following Trump’s broader executive order ending the federal government’s DEI programs, the Defense Department deleted thousands of pages honoring contributions by women and minority groups. Department officials say the Navajo Code Talker material was erroneously erased.
Democrats are desperately searching for new leaders. AOC is stepping into the void.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is stepping into the Democrats’ leadership void, picking up her powerful megaphone to channel the base’s anger — toward both President Donald Trump and her own party.
Some of the initial skepticism in the party around the progressive star when she first arrived in Washington six years ago has started to fade as she has established herself as a political player on Capitol Hill and demonstrated a unique knack for communicating with a younger generation.
Acting DOGE head pulls back the curtain on parts of the group's structure in a court filing
The acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, Amy Gleason, shed some light on the agency's structure in an overnight court filing in a case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington seeking the disclosure of its records.
DOGE has 79 employees who were directly appointed to it and 10 from other agencies, but no formal front office or organizational chart, Gleason said in the filing.
“Every member of an agency’s DOGE Team is an employee of the agency or a detailee to the agency,” Gleason wrote. “The DOGE Team members — whether employees of the agency or detailed to the agency — thus report to the agency heads or their designees, not to me or anyone else at USDS [U.S. Digital Service].”
Gleason said she reports to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and noted that she does not report to tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump put in charge of efforts to cut the government under DOGE, nor does Musk report to her.
Gleason said DOGE has an obligation to maintain records under the Presidential Records Act and will transfer records to the National Archives and Records Administration “at the appropriate time.”
Immigration authorities detain Georgetown University graduate student
Federal immigration authorities have detained a Georgetown University graduate student from India who was teaching at the Washington, D.C., institution on a student visa, his attorney said last night.
Masked agents arrested the graduate student, Badar Khan Suri, outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday night, attorney Hassan Ahmad said.
The agents identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and told him the government had revoked his visa, Ahmad said.
New DOGE leadership of USAID outlines priorities to remaining staff
The new Department of Government Efficiency leadership of the U.S. Agency for International Development sent a letter to the remaining staff last night about their plan to “lead USAID through a responsible, safe, and cost-efficient process to transfer USAID operations to the State Department.”
About 83% of foreign aid programs have been cut, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month. The approximately 1,000 remaining programs will be transferred to the State Department, the USAID email said.
"Our remaining programs exemplify the promise of responsible American foreign assistance: they invest in partners, deliver real and measurable impact for people in need, and further the foreign policy objectives of the country and President," the email said.
DOGE senior official Jeremy Lewinsky and Ken Jackson, who were made deputy administrators this week, committed in the email “to ensure the safety, dignity, and productivity of USAID personnel during this transition period,” adding that they “aim to share additional details soon on what this process will mean for USAID personnel.”