Today’s notice: Many new pardons. Fishy citations in the MAHA Commission report. Parliamentarian gonna parliament. But first: Elon vs. Washington.
Elon’s Clout
Elon Musk used to kill Republican-backed spending bills at whim. Now he’s saying farewell to the White House and sounds like just another guy with opinions and an account on X.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on the platform last night.
In a series of interviews this week, Musk sounded very different from the chainsaw-wielding pirate of 60 days ago. There was a wistful, chastened vibe. (“People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that?” he told WaPo.) There was regret. (“I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics,” he told Ars Technica.) There was some old Musk, too, poo-pooing the One Big, Beautiful Bill as too much politics-as-usual. (It “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” he told CBS.)
You can believe Musk is sincere, or you can see this as a cynical ploy by a guy who realized he traded a car company for two hats. Either way, the would-be change agents of Washington feel his pain and aren’t totally surprised he’s walking away, hat(s) in hand.
“We don’t have the guts to do it,” Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS of the big cuts. ”Because we want to preserve ourselves more than we do our country. That’s human nature. Both parties do it.” Burchett said Musk “alerted the public to just how bad it is,” but in the end, “Washington is as crooked as a dog’s leg.”
“It is what any USDS veteran would have told him would happen,” said Mikey Dickerson, who created the U.S. Digital Service in the Obama years that Musk eventually used as the legal framework for DOGE.
“The fact that the federal government is so dysfunctional that not even Elon Musk can make a difference is not something to be proud of,” he added.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro, with assists from NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt and Claire Heddles
Waste Not?
It wasn’t all for naught: A $9.4 billion “rescissions package” that would codify some of Musk’s vision is headed to Congress (a defunded public broadcasting system and the final stake in the heart of USAID, included). But the DOGE-y bill will be a tough vote, particularly for vulnerable Republicans.
Read more from NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz and Reese Gorman.
NOTUS Scoop: Trump Pardons Ex-Chicago Gang Leader
President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the multiple life sentences handed down to infamous Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover, NOTUS’ Jasmine Wright first reported. Hoover, the subject of 2021’s “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert organized by Kanye West and Drake, had made repeated requests to shorten his sentence.
Trump’s pardoning spree this week also included: former Rep. Michael Grimm (tax evasion), former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland (corruption), recording artist Kentrell DeSean Gaulden aka NBA YoungBoy (federal firearm charges), reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley (tax evasion and bank fraud), former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins (fraud and bribery) and former CEO and son of major Trump donor Paul Walczak (tax crimes).
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Pentagon sunsets Elon Musk’s “what did you do last week” email mandate, by Jason Lalljee for Axios
- A retiring chief strains to keep the Capitol Police above the partisan fray by Nicholas Wu and Katherine Tully-McManus for Politico
- GOP rejects ‘millionaire tax’ pitch, advancing breaks for rich Americans, by Jeff Stein for The Washington Post
Funny Sourcing in the MAHA Report?
We checked, and seven of the cited sources in the new “Make America Healthy Again” Commission report don’t appear to exist at all. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised the report would be based on “gold standard” science, but…
“The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” said epidemiologist Katherine Keyes, who was named as an author of a cited study (that does not exist).
Read the investigation from Margaret Manto and Emily Kennard.
Trading Up
Two Republicans — Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington — have been added to the list of lawmakers whose family members made stock trades before or immediately after Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement.
Meanwhile, the tariffs of Trump’s dreams are struggling to get off the launchpad. Many of them have been paused by Trump already, and on Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled he doesn’t have the power to impose the tariffs unilaterally in the first place.
Read more on the reported stock trades.
The Democratic Ideologies Are Fighting Again
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith’s unexpected retirement announcement has teed up the next battle of party ideals in the primary to replace her as the Democratic nominee. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is carrying the progressive banner, while Rep. Angie Craig is courting Republicans and from a swing district.
“If each wing of the party could pick who they thought their standard-bearer was given the options available, this is how it would have worked out,” said Abou Amara, a Minnesota-based Democratic strategist.
More on the dynamic from NOTUS’ Alex Roarty and Tinashe Chingarande.
A Soak in the Byrd Bath
Senators will want to strip out certain House-passed provisions from the reconciliation bill, but it’s the chamber’s complicated rules that will also likely muck up the works. Provisions banning new state regulations on AI, lifting the tax on firearm suppressors and more could easily not end up passing the “Byrd rule.”
“That’s the price you pay for getting a 51-vote approval,” Sen. Mike Rounds said.
Get way into parliamentary rules with NOTUS’ Ursula Perano.
Front Page
- A Democratic Doctor Aims to Take Down Lindsey Graham in the Senate: Dr. Annie Andrews failed in her first congressional race against Rep. Nancy Mace. Now she’s taking on Sen. Lindsey Graham.
- ‘We Reject Regulators’: JD Vance Goes All In on Crypto at a Bitcoin Conference: The vice president championed cryptocurrencies in a keynote speech to a Bitcoin conference.
- Trump Says ‘Harvard Has Got to Behave Themselves’: The president said he wants a list of Harvard’s international students and to find out if they’re “troublemakers.”
Be Social
Shoulda called Rick Ross for comment, Jasmine.
https://x.com/JasJWright/status/1927807965722989009
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