Evening Report — Supreme Court drawn into DOGE battles

Evening Report

TRUMP FIRST 100 DAYS

Supreme Court drawn into DOGE battles

THE SUPREME COURT is wading into the battles around the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as the myriad legal challenges to Elon Musk's government reduction efforts wind their way through the courts.

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily delayed an order for the Trump administration to unfreeze about $2 billion in foreign aid.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali had accused the Trump administration of ignoring his ruling to resume foreign aid payments, but the administration argued it could not feasibly resume payments on the judge’s timeline.

The pause will last until the Supreme Court decides on Ali’s ruling. Both parties must respond in court by Friday.

It’s the first time the Supreme Court has intervened in the scores of court battles unfolding around DOGE’s brash moves to slash federal spending and gut the federal workforce.

The Department of Justice is also asking the Supreme Court to intervene in its firing of a government whistleblower office head.

And Politico reports that a federal judge has ordered DOGE officials to testify under oath about allegations they improperly accessed sensitive government databases.

“They’re itching for a fight with the courts over how far the executive can go on this type of thing,” former White House chief of staff and NewsNation contributor Mick Mulvaney told NewsNation’s “The Hill.”

USAID CUTS IN THE CROSSHAIRS

The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and freeze foreign aid are among the most controversial early moves made by DOGE.

The Associated Press obtained an internal Trump administration memo detailing plans to eliminate more than 90 percent of USAID’s foreign contracts, as well as about $60 billion in global aid.

Musk acknowledged at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the administration’s move-fast-break-things style would result in some errors, which he promised to address quickly.

The latest:

• Musk is urging retired air traffic controllers to come back to the workforce after the administration fired hundreds of workers at the Federal Aviation Administration.

• The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) this week paused an effort to terminate hundreds of contracts after pressure from Democratic lawmakers.

Republican senators vented their concerns about Musk in a private meeting with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday.

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair Jerry Moran (Kan.) is eager to determine whether the 2,400 probationary VA employees who were fired will impact services for veterans.

“We’ve been reassured that it doesn’t affect direct care, but we’re looking for more information. … We haven’t gotten everything that we’ve wanted,” Moran said.

Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.) is introducing legislation that would require the government to rehire the terminated veterans.

BONDI MAKES WAVES

Attorney General Pam Bondi says she'll release flight logs and names of people associated with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as soon as today.

The files appeared to have been given to a group of conservative influencers first, with several right-wing media personalities photographed leaving the White House smiling and brandishing binders with the words “The Epstein Files: Phase One” on the cover.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who is leading a Congressional task force focused on revealing government secrets, posted on X:

"I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today… A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein's phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press."

Bondi also ordered the Department of Justice to toss diversity, equity and inclusion lawsuits launched by the Biden administration against police and firefighters.

MEANWHILE

Former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who Trump tapped to lead the Labor Department, advanced out of a Senate committee with votes from several Democrats.

There were questions about whether Chavez-DeRemer would get through committee because Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposed her nomination.

However, Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan (N.H.), John Hickenlooper (Colo.) and Tim Kaine (Va.) voted in favor of her nomination, which advanced on a 13-9 vote.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: DOGE could be the answer to the US affordable housing crisis.

• The New Republic: What I did last week: An email to Elon Musk.

• Spiked: DOGE is waging a class war on America’s new clerisy.

• The Washington Post: DOGE is running out of ideas.

• The Hill: Trump continues to invent his own reality.

Read more:

• Pentagon orders transgender troops to be separated from the military.

• Trump administration sets the stage for large-scale federal worker layoffs.

• How RFK Jr. could restrict abortion medication access.

• Education Department creates ‘End DEI’ portal to field public complaints.

CATCH UP QUICK

Americans’ trust in media is at its lowest point in five decades, according to Gallup.
Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead found dead in their Santa Fe home. The Oscar-Winning star of films like "Hoosiers," "The Conversation’," "Get Shorty," "The Royal Tennenbaums" and "Unforgiven" was 95.
Gayle King, Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez will take a Blue Origin flight into space.

NEWS THIS AFTERNOON

Johnson faces tough road ahead in passing Trump agenda

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scored a big win in dramatic fashion this week after President Trump helped him muscle the GOP’s budget resolution across the finish line.

But thornier issues are waiting just around the bend as the House and Senate seek to reconcile their budgets and avoid a government shutdown on March 14.

At the moment, House and Senate Republicans are on different pages as they embark on an effort to align the upper chamber’s two-bill approach with the lower chamber’s one-bill strategy.

Johnson is dealing with competing GOP forces that are in direct odds with one another, as Republican moderates worry about the potential impact of spending cuts on Medicaid while conservative fiscal hawks demand massive reductions in the deficit.

Johnson was asked how many changes he could stomach to the budget resolution that passed this week.

“As little as possible,” he said. “We have a very small needle to thread here, and we have sort of an equilibrium point amongst people with competing priorities, and [if] we deviate from that too much, we have a problem.”

Those remarks are in direct conflict with the view of Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who said the House resolution will need a “major overhaul.”

“It’s complicated. It’s hard. Nothing about this is going to be easy,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “There are some things that we need to work with the House package to expand upon.”

Among the sticking points: Senate Republicans want to make Trump’s tax cuts permanent, which will negatively impact the deficit.

Johnson said a continuing resolution that temporarily funds the government to avoid a shutdown in just over two weeks is “becoming inevitable at this point.”

The Speaker is also dealing with the specter of Elon Musk as Democrats seek assurances that any potential bipartisan funding deal won’t be undercut by the Department of Government Efficiency’s sweeping unilateral cuts.

Johnson says he'll meet with Musk and House Republicans soon.

💡Perspectives:

• The American Prospect: No consensus for GOP’s budget yet.

• The Free Press: Is this what America voted for?

• The Economist: The transactional world Trump seeks would harm America.

• Fox News: The gigantic slush fund inside the Biden White House.

• The Liberal Patriot: The Republicans’ health care problem.

Read more:

• 5 obstacles facing the GOP tax agenda.

• Johnson claims town hall protesters ‘paid’ by Democrats.

• Republicans dig in heels against restricting Trump powers.

• TSenate defeats Dem resolution to end Trump’s energy emergency.

IN OTHER NEWS

Trump, Starmer meet amid Russia-Ukraine negotiations

President Trump met with newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday amid rising U.S. tensions with Europe over the fate of Ukraine.

The U.S. is pushing Europe to invest more in its own defense and in securing Ukraine, as negotiations over the end of the Russia-Ukraine war enter a critical phase.

Ahead of his visit, Starmer announced an increase in the British defense budget.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to sign a deal at the White House on Friday giving the U.S. an economic interest in Ukrainian minerals, which Trump says will act as a deterrent for future Russian aggression.

“I’m not going to provide security guarantees beyond very much,” Trump said. “We’re going to have Europe do that.”

Trump backtracked on his criticism of Zelensky, whom he called a “dictator” earlier this month.

“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question," Trump joked.

“We want to work with him, President Zelensky … and we will work with him,” Trump added. “I think the president and I actually have had a very good relationship. It maybe got a little bit testy because we wanted to have a little bit of what the European nations had.”

Starmer thanked Trump for pushing for a peace deal.

“We want to work with you to make sure that peace deal is enduring, that it lasts, but it's a deal that goes down as a historic deal that nobody breaches, and we'll work with you to make sure that that absolutely happens,” he said.

💡Perspectives:

• After Babel: The most compelling argument against tech in schools.

• Issues & Insights: Biden’s lies about the border now plain for all to see.

• Third Way: Renewing the Democratic Party.

• Time: For many of aging workers ‘retirement is a distant dream.’

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