Trump’s ‘Chaotic’ Pardon Process

Today’s notice: Everyone wants a say in how to use the president’s one true fiat power. Trump wades into one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history. The Senate’s (newest) immigration breakdown. And: how much lawmakers owe in student loan debt (with a chart!).

THE LATEST

President Trump’s ever-evolving pardons: More than a year in, the White House’s pardon process remains a puzzle for those trying to navigate it (and in some cases profit from it). Jasmine spoke to nearly a dozen people both in and outside the White House who described an ever-changing situation predicated on who has access and can create the most appealing stories for their clients.

“There is no process, there is no right way to do this,” a source involved in the pardons said. “It’s chaos.”

Even White House officials sometimes find themselves out of the loop, Jasmine reports. The president’s “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson had her access to Trump limited after several of her pardon recommendation meetings were canceled in late 2025, according to multiple sources.

The backstory: Senior leadership, including Susie Wiles, had grown concerned about the optics of the president’s pardons and moved to exert more control over the process. Administration aides have gone so far as to pull some potential pardons from being approved after officials found that someone would directly profit from them, according to a source with knowledge of the pardon operations.

Now, it seems that Johnson’s time in the dark was only temporary, the latest indication that this is a White House where influence ebbs and flows. The White House denied that Johnson was limited and chalked up any cancellations to the president’s fast-paced schedule.

“It may seem chaotic, but there’s a defined process in place,” a senior White House official told NOTUS, claiming it’s all a part of the robust process to ensure pardons are being handed out ethically.

Pushing back: Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon yesterday became the first Republican to endorse a measure that would effectively give Congress veto power over presidential pardons. But it’s not exactly catching on: Bacon, who is retiring at the end of his current term, is the only cosponsor.

Open tabs: FDA Will Consider Revoking Safety Status of Many Processed Foods: RFK Jr. (NOTUS);Pentagon threatens Anthropic punishment (Axios); Jeffries goes all in on gerrymandering (CNN); Anderson Cooper To Depart 60 Minutes (Breaker)

From the White House

Trump waded into the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia sewage crisis yesterday in a Truth Social post accusing Maryland Gov. Wes Moore of “gross mismanagement” over one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history.

The thing is, it’s actually Trump’s own Environmental Protection Agency with the regulatory authority over the DC Water-owned pipe that burst and spilled millions of gallons of sewage into the Potomac River last month. The pipe will take nine months to fix. While there’s a plan in place, E. coli bacteria have already escaped into the river, making it unsafe for recreation and pets.

Curious timing: “The president’s own EPA explicitly refused to participate in the major legislative hearing about the cleanup last Friday,” a spokesperson for Moore said. “Apparently, the Trump administration hadn’t gotten the memo that they’re actually supposed to be in charge here.”

What the experts are saying: Trump’s post won’t do anything other than draw attention to the issue, Betsy Nicholas, president of the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, told NOTUS’ Anna Kramer. She also added that she is confused about why Trump said in his post that FEMA would be responsible for managing the crisis.

“I’ve been doing this work more than 25 years, and have never interfaced with FEMA,” Nicholas said.

From the Hill

Congress can’t do immigration. We return from the long weekend to another legislative quagmire with no immediately obvious solution. NOTUS’ Ursula Perano reports on the latest from the partial shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security, which is bound to last at least a week while the Hill is in recess.

Democrats are more or less unified. During the entirety of the full government shutdown last year, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was in open disagreement with the majority of the Democratic caucus. This time, the Hill team reports, she thinks the right move is for Democrats to hold their ground.

Republicans are more divided. Publicly, they support Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. But several have publicly questioned DHS’s plans to convert warehouses across the country into detention centers for migrants awaiting deportation, NOTUS’ Jackie Llanos and Manuela Silva report.

“My thing is: Ask for permission, don’t ask for forgiveness,” Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar told reporters last week, chiding the White House after local officials in his state said they were caught unaware by a DHS warehouse detention center contract.

Related: Appropriators are looking for the silver lining. “We’re looking at another shutdown,” Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee that handles DHS, told NOTUS’ Oriana González last week. But it’s not all bad news, Amodei insisted: “This time, really, it’s not much to do with appropriations.”

Amodei is taking the rose-colored glasses award. His committee moved a DHS funding bill, but talks to get it through the Senate collapsed after federal agents killed two people in Minneapolis. He’s retiring at the end of this term because, as he put it, he wants to “go out while you’re on top.”

From Germany

“Almost appears as if Munich turned into Iowa,” German left-wing political strategist Julius van de Laar told The New York Times as he watched a slew of potential Democratic presidential candidates show up at the international security conference hosted in the city. What were they doing there? “Munich University — getting sped up on foreign policy,” van de Laar said.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a popular draw at the conference despite her limited foreign policy portfolio in Congress, used her time on panels tying income inequality to the rise of worldwide authoritarianism — though critics were quick to criticize her halting response to a question about whether the U.S. should defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by mainland China.

Gavin Newsom also announced yesterday a $1 billion deal with the United Kingdom to develop clean energy technology.

Democrats’ takeaway? “I hope if there is nothing else I communicate today: Donald Trump is temporary,” Newsom said. “He’ll be gone in three years.”

NEW ON NOTUS

Of course we have a chart to go along with our new story about lawmakers’ student loan debt, by NOTUS’ Violet Jira. Highlights: Based on publicly available information, the amount of school debt carried in Congress is between $3.4 and $8.3 million. It’s a bipartisan thing, with Violet revealing a number of lawmakers who reported between $15,000 and $50,000 of loans in public disclosures.

More: Judge Cites ‘1984’ in Order Forcing Trump Administration to Restore Slavery Exhibits, by Amelia Benavides-Colón

NOT US

• Norway Faces Up to Trump’s Demands for the Nobel Peace Prize, by Isaac Stanley-Becker and Simon Shuster for The Atlantic
  
• Is This Where Trump’s NATO Ideas Are Coming From?, by Ian Ward for Politico
  
• How the Trump administration learned to stop worrying and love big business, by Ben Smith for Semafor

WEEK AHEAD

Tuesday: Early voting begins in a slew of Texas primaries, including John Cornyn’s Senate seat, governor, attorney general and all of the state’s House seats. High-stakes nuclear deal negotiations between Iran and the U.S. are set to take place in Switzerland.

Wednesday: Applications to the Allbritton Journalism Institute’s 2026-2028 Reporting Fellowship are due.

Thursday: Trump travels to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s old Georgia district to make a speech about the economy. The visit comes shortly after Trump endorsed Republican Clay Fuller in the March 10 election to replace her, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted.

Saturday: “Four Years of Russia’s Full-Scale War Against Ukraine” rally in D.C.

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