Tag Archives: DOGE

Techdirt: Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court DOGE Can’t Be FOIAed

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The destructive force that is DOGE still somehow manages to exist, despite it not being (depending on which claim is made and when) an official federal agency and/or overseen by anyone specifically identifiable as the head of DOGE.

Until recently, everyone — including Donald Trump — knew (and said as much in public) that DOGE was both a government agency and headed by Elon Musk. When the lawsuits started flying, the backtracking began by the administration, which apparently thought it could cover its tracks by walking backwards in its golf-cleated clown shows.

Trump’s love for DOGE has managed to undercut the protections DOGE hoped it would be able to avail itself of when the FOIA requests began pouring in and the discovery demands started hitting federal dockets.

Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court DOGE Can’t Be FOIAed
The destructive force that is DOGE still somehow manages to exist, despite it not being (depending on which claim is made and when) an official federal agency and/or overseen by anyone specifically…
Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court DOGE Can’t Be FOIAed

Talking Points Memo: Trump Stonewalls Federal Judges In New Round Of Brazen Defiance

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A Constitutional Clash In Three Acts

In three closely watched anti-immigration cases, the Trump administration continued its slo-mo constitutional defiance of the judicial branch …

Act I: Non-Responsiveness

Act II: Delay Shenanigans

Act III: Misdirection And Mischaracterization

Read the article for the details:

Trump Stonewalls Federal Judges In New Round Of Brazen Defiance
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/trump-stonewalls-federal-judges-in-new-round-of-brazen-defiance

Daily Beast: Pentagon Shuts Down Musk’s ‘What Did You Do Last Week’ Emails

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As the DOGE boss departs, staff have been told to come up with their ideas to cut waste and boost efficiency.

The Pentagon has ended Elon Musk’s directive for federal workers to provide a list of five of their accomplishments every week as it distances itself from one of DOGE’s most contentious policies.

…

Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said it was about time the department scrapped the policy.

“Good riddance,” he told the Daily Beast.

“For months, dedicated Defense Department civilians received Elon Musk’s insulting ‘five things’ emails. Many of these people served in the military, are highly trained and experienced, and are doing this job because they actually care about the mission.

“And yet, they were being constantly pummeled with these communications from DOGE questioning their dedication and the value of their work.”

Pentagon Shuts Down Musk’s ‘What Did You Do Last Week’ Emails
As the DOGE boss departs, staff have been told to come up with their ideas to cut waste and boost efficiency.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-shuts-down-musks-what-did-you-do-last-week-emails

Independent: Musk tried to block massive Trump-backed Mideast AI deal unless he was included: report

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Elon Musk rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trump-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him, according to a new report

Retiring DOGE hatchet man Elon Musk rushed to the Middle East during Donald Trump’s visit there earlier this month to block a massive American AI partnership with the United Arab Emirates backed by the president – unless it included him, according to a new report. That apparently explains the tech billionaire’s sudden appearance at a Trump meeting with Saudi Arabia officials during the president’s three-country Middle East tour.

…

Trump’s team scrambled to soothe an irritated Musk so the president could announce the deal while he was in the Middle East, the Journal reported.

It wasn’t immediately clear if some kind of accommodation was worked out for the tech boss who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the campaigns of Trump and other Republicans, or if he is now part of the deal. He could not immediately be reached for comment. His company has not been named as a participant in the business by any announcement of the deal.

Poor F’Elon!

Musk tried to block Trump-backed Mideast AI deal unless he was included: report
Elon Musk rushed to the Mideast to hold up a massive Trump-endorsed American AI operation in Abu Dhabi unless it included him, according to a new report

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/musk-trump-middle-east-ai-deal-b2759700.html

USA Today: A letter to sad Elon Musk, from America: ‘Hey pal, sorry everybody was mean.’ | Opinion

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Hey, we get it. It’s not nice when other people try to take the government you tried to ruin and find a different way to ruin it.

A heartfelt letter to Tesla CEO and chief-DOGE-chainsaw-wielder Elon Musk, from America.

Dear Elon:

Hey, buddy. We hear you’re going through a bit of a rough patch lately. Your electric-car brand and overall reputation are in the toilet, people are saying not-nice things about you, and the whole “King of the Department of Government Efficiency” thing didn’t work out the way you wanted. We hear you basically gave up, took your exploding rocket and went home after deciding to leave Trump’s administration. (Oh, we forgot to mention that your rockets keep exploding. When it rains, it pours, right?)

Listen, we get it. There are a lot of emotions involved when a person realizes that bad behavior can have consequences. Just imagine how your best bud, Donald Trump, is going to feel if that should ever happen to him? We’re kidding. That’s never going to happen. But it is happening for you, pal, and we’re sorry nobody likes you. But we ‒ the good people of America ‒ want to help you learn from this experience.

The other day, you told The Washington Post that just because you barnstormed into the federal government as head of DOGE and started firing random people and upending years of foreign diplomacy and scientific research while proudly waving around a chainsaw, you were criticized for doing those very dumb things.

“DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything,”  ….

Clink the links below to read the rest:

A letter to sad Elon Musk, from America: ‘Hey pal, sorry everybody was mean.’ | Opinion
Dear Elon: Hey, buddy. We hear you’re going through a bit of a rough patch lately.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/05/29/elon-musk-tesla-doge-beautiful-bill-leaving-trump/83907213007

MSNBC: Leaked audio suggests Trump’s new Social Security chief had to Google his own job

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The apparent fact that the new Social Security commissioner, up until recently, had no idea what his job entailed does not inspire confidence.

First Frank Bisignano  tries to pass himself off as:

“fundamentally a DOGE person,”

which sets off alarms for those who don’t want Social Security cut, so Bisignano 

took steps to distance himself from DOGE-imposed changes at the Social Security Administration

but

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon produced a statement from a purported whistleblower, who claimed that Bisignano had personally intervened to get key DOGE officials involved at the agency

Now that he is on the job, he admits that

he wasn’t familiar with the position and had to look it up online.

Bisignano said: “So, I get a phone call and it’s about Social Security. And I’m really, I’m really not, I swear I’m not looking for a job. And I’m like, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I’m one of the great Googlers on the East Coast.”

Does he also know how to Google on the West Coast, or is he just a one-coast Googler?

This guy is running Social Security?

Does he remember his name?

Does he know where he is?

Does ….

Leaked audio suggests Trump’s new Social Security chief had to Google his own job

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/leaked-audio-suggests-trumps-new-social-security-chief-google-job-rcna208797

Snopes: Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid

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The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Snopes has a lengthy discussion of claims by F’Elon Musk (DOGE) and Robert “Brainworm” Kennedy Jr. that they found 8M people fraudently on Medicaid. Their conclusion:

These numbers don’t add up to 8 million … 

Like almost everything else involving DOGE, the math doesn’t work out.

You can click the link below to read the article:

Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid
The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/24/medicaid-doge-rfk-jr

Irish Star: Elon Musk embarrassed as Social Security ‘fraud’ claim debunked by new data

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 Musk and fellow DOGE proponents’ assertions about revamping Social Security due to colossal fraud losses have been met with skepticism.

Fortune reports that Doge’s bid to transform the government’s main safety-net program, citing claims of it hemorrhaging vast sums to fraud, despite Musk’s team being denied permission to view official documents.

Musk, who had a humiliating screaming match with a Trump official, has boldly claimed that his team has unearthed weekly fraudulent entitlement payments totaling a staggering $100 billion, calling the situation ‘utterly insane. ‘

During an April Fox News interview, Social Security department staffer Aram Moghaddassi concurred with Musk’s sentiment, stating that 40% of calls they receive about altering direct-deposit data are from tricksters.

…

However, according to Fortune – which referenced a government technology-focused news source, the actual frequency of phone-related fraud is minuscule, barely exceeding a fraction of 1%.

Nextgov/FCW snagged an internal scoop revealing that out of 110,000 Social Security claims, merely two have been identified as highly probable for fraud. The tech news site indicates less than 1% of claims are even slightly suspicious for fraudulent activity.

Elon Musk embarrassed as Social Security ‘fraud’ claim debunked by new data
Claims from Elon Musk and the Department of Government Employees (DOGE) that the Social Security program is losing billions of dollars, despite Musk being blocked from viewing official files, to fraud are being challenged by new data

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/elon-musk-social-security-doge-35277349

Daily Beast: Tiny Agency That Stood Up to DOGE Gets Its Building Back

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 small federal agency forced out of its headquarters by the Trump administration has regained control of its building after a federal judge declared the DOGE takeover “null and void.”

U.S. Institute of Peace acting president George Moose reentered his Washington office on Wednesday for the first time since March, when he and many other agency leaders were booted out by DOGE staffers who declared them “unnecessary.”

“We are now back in the building and we intend to resume our stewardship and custodianship,” Moose told reporters in an impromptu briefing outside the USIP building. “It is not just the platform from which we’ve been doing our work—it is a symbol of the aspirations and the intent of the American people to be seen and to be peacemakers in the world.”

Tiny Agency That Stood Up to DOGE Gets Its Building Back
The U.S. Institute of Peace regained control of its headquarters after it was forced out by DOGE in March.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/small-agency-that-stood-up-to-doge-gets-its-building-back