Today’s notice: Another Trump administration report with errors. Inside Kamala Harris’ adviser summit. The Trump official Republicans don’t want to talk about. And: The messaging war over the economy.
THE LATEST
Trump’s botched climate change report: At least 10 scientists cited in the Trump administration’s new report downplaying the effects of climate change say their research was mischaracterized, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports.
What they’re saying: “This is a serious misuse of my research,” said James Rae, a carbon cycle researcher at the University of St. Andrews.
“Erroneous” fire data: The “chart and text are highly misleading and include data that should not be plotted in a scientific report,” said Jennifer Marlon, a climate science researcher at Yale University. “To do so is manipulative and goes against all standard scientific norms and practice.” (Marlon plotted the data herself and sent it to NOTUS to demonstrate the report’s error.)
Bad citations: Anna found at least three citations that name the wrong authors, a fourth with a broken link and another with a link that directs to the wrong study. One paragraph about sea level rise in the San Francisco Bay closely resembles a paragraph in a paper published in 2019 by one of the report’s authors without a citation to that report.
The implications are big. Should this Department of Energy report be finalized on the Federal Register, it could be used as the evidentiary basis for undoing the past 15 years of federal climate policy.
A rushed job? The authors wrote the 150-page review in about two months. “We had little time to accomplish what the Obama Administration spent years and millions of dollars to produce as the original Technical Support Document (TSD) for the 2009 Endangerment Finding,” Roy Spencer, a meteorologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville who is also affiliated with The Heritage Foundation, wrote in a blog post about authoring the report.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright handpicked Spencer to co-author the report, the meteorologist wrote. An Energy Department spokesperson said the report was “reviewed internally by a group of DOE scientific researchers and policy experts from the Office of Science and National Labs.”
The DOE’s response: “The Climate Working Group and the Energy Department look forward to engaging with substantive comments following the conclusion of the 30-day comment period.”
Open Tabs: Senate confirms former Green Beret with extremist ties as counterterrorism chief (AP); Comer yet to issue a subpoena for Epstein files (WaPo); Fed policy decision generates most governor dissents since 1993 (Reuters); New Texas map will create five Trump districts (Politico); Red Flags in the US economy’s Q2 rebound (AP)
From the Campaign Trail
The room where it happened: Kamala Harris is not running for California governor. But she seriously considered it as recently as about a month ago, Jasmine reports, convening a small group of trusted advisers in Los Angeles to consider her options.
The options: run; not run and keep 2028 open; or leave elected politics behind. Jasmine’s source said the meeting was about considering each choice, not influencing which one Harris picked.
“She wants to keep her options open for president,” a Democrat close to Harris told NOTUS.
From K Street
Cha-ching: Total federal lobbying revenue topped $2.5 billion during the first six months of 2025, putting K Street on track for a record year, according to recent federal lobbying disclosures analyzed by OpenSecrets.
The current record, adjusted for inflation, was set in 2009, when federal lobbyists raked in nearly $5 billion amid Affordable Care Act negotiations.
From the Hill
Beattie-ing around the bush: NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt asked 85 GOP lawmakers who sit on the foreign policy and spending committees on both sides of the Capitol about Darren Beattie’s appointment to lead the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Only Rep. Young Kim’s office responded: “Ultimately, Mr. Beattie will answer to Secretary Rubio and his priorities,” a spokesperson said.
Privately, Beattie’s reputation is known. He’s the one who posted on X that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.”
“Wow!” a senior House Republican texted Haley. “How is he qualified?”
THE BIG ONE
It’s the economy. But who is the stupid one? Trump White House aides have been passing around a very positive forecast out recently from Bank of America analysts. “Now that the naysayers have been proven wrong in such a big way, how we sell the economy is by the numbers,” a White House official told Jasmine.
The media gamble: Aides told Jasmine they think local news is far more bullish on the economy than national media, and that’s what voters consume.
Democrats’ message: “Trump will talk about G-D-P while Americans are worried about E-G-G,” Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson texted.
The messaging memo Democrats are reading: “Call it the Republican Budget,” reads the new Navigator polling memo, created by a consortium of Democratic-aligned strategists and pollsters to advise Dems on how to talk to voters out in the world.
About eggs: Egg prices are falling month to month, but grocery prices, and eggs specifically, continue to be significantly higher than they were last year. Experts expect other prices to go up, too, as Trump’s tariff policy really kicks in.
Trump isn’t buying it. “I keep watching these talking points that the Democrats have, and they say, ‘Oh, prices are up, right?’” Trump said Wednesday at the White House. “No, prices are way down … things like eggs are way down.”
NEW ON NOTUS
Epstein files Hail Mary: Democrats are hoping a relatively untested 1928 legal provision can help them make the Jeffrey Epstein case files public. The “rule of five” provision mandates that executive agencies must submit relevant information if it’s requested by five members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Area man surprised by Trump’s insults: “Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the ‘blue slip,’” Sen. Chuck Grassley said at the start of Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee hearing. “I was offended by what the president said and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insult.”
Power boost: Fans of the unitary executive theory are cheering two recent Supreme Court rulings that appear to effectively end the idea of government agency independence. “If you build something this big, as in you build an administrative state that is this big and powerful, it resides under the president — and if you don’t like that, don’t build it so big,” Federalist Society member O. H. Skinner told NOTUS’ Claire Heddles.
More: Kamala Harris Just Kicked Off the California Governor’s Race, by Samuel Larreal; Trump Lashes Out at ‘Second-Tier Senator,’ by Amelia Benavides-Colón and Samuel Larreal; Dems Sue DHS, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
NOT US
- No One Is Defying Trump Like Brazil’s President, by Jack Nicas for The New York Times
- The Pentagon’s dramatic divorce from D.C. orthodoxy, by Colin Demarest for Axios
- David Hogg wants to take down Democrats’ gerontocracy. But is he the best person for the job? By Shirin Ali for Slate
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