Steve
Bannon has said that the victory of Judge Susan Crawford, widely seen
as the liberal candidate, in Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court election
is likely to lead to the Republicans losing two seats in the House of
Representatives which would "put us right on the cliff, the edge" of a
third bid to impeach President Trump.
i pray to god. jesus, haven't asked for much this year, but let that be true, please, please, please.
the 1st sign of a light at the end of the tunnel.
impeach
him and remove him from office. he betrayed the country january 6,
2021. and he learned nothing from that. he has only gotten worse.
he's pure evil and some 1 who will rot in hell. i'm not joking on
that. i'm a christian and he's rotting in hell. you cannot spew that
much hate and try to harm as many people as he has without booking a
1-way flight to hell.
and
rashida tlaib will be on that flight with him. god don't like ugly so
god don't like rashida. she is so ugly on the outside and she's even
worse on the inside. justice will be her and chump chained to 1 another
for all eternity in hell.
oh, i'm sorry.
that's not fair.
i called her rashida tlaib - it's genocide rashida tlaib.
that's what she did by putting chump in the white house - she continued and escalated the deaths of people in gaza.
genocide rashida.
i
think i should go to her district and campaign against her. genocide
rashida is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of palestinians. she
sent them to their deaths and now we must be 'uncommitted' when it comes
to genocide tlaib.
i'll lead chants: 'rashida, rashida, go away, how many gazans did you kill today!'
she has blood on her hands. she is responsible for the continued genocide.
and just as surely as justice will come for chump, it will come for rashida as well.
rashida
and chump will be joined together and told 'enter the fire with all
those who enter it.' rashida will scream and cry and bite her knuckles
but it will be too late for her - like noah's wife, she will be held
accountable.
i want to see chump impeached and rashida kicked out of congress.
Thursday, April 3, 2025. Donald Chump attempts to destroy the economy
even more, SignalGate continues with new alarming details, Chump's
gunning for the VA and veterans, whatever happened to president's
putting their holdings into a blind trust, and much more.
Starting with news of an action. This Saturday. Tyler,
Texas community members asked me to note this which I will gladly. At
the intersection of Broadway and Shiloh Road -- where the Barnes &
Noble parking lot is, people will be gathering at 3:00 pm to tell the
government hands off. You can visit this webpage for more information:
Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. We are fighting back!
They're
taking everything they can get their hands on—our health care, our
data, our jobs, our services—and daring the world to stop them. This is a
crisis, and the time to act is now.
🚨 On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the streets to fight back with a clear message: Hands off! 🚨
This
mass mobilization day is our message to the world that we do not
consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the
benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies. Alongside Americans across
the country, we are marching, rallying, and protesting to demand a stop
the chaos and build an opposition movement against the looting of our
country.
A core principle behind all Hands Off!
events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants
to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who
disagree with our values.
These
actions will be taking place across the country. We'll start tomorrow's
snapshot with this information as well. Mike loved being in Tyler
during the 2024 campaign and he says (well Elaine says) he'll note it at
his site tonight.
Good for Tyler. Good for the country -- again here's the website and there will be actions across the country on Saturday.
The insane Convicted Felon Donald Chump announced tariffs yesterday evening.
It is his latest attack on the economy and on the American people.
Stephanie
Ruhl, on MSNBC, explained the claim Chump was making for tariffs, "We
need to impose these tariffs because other companies have been ripping
us off for years, taking advantage of the American people." That's
Chump's claim. Reality is, as Stephanie explained, far different.
Stephanie
Ruhl: The White House says the 10% tariffs are going to apply
everywhere. Well WIRED and AXIOS pointed out that those taxes include
the Heard and McDonald Islands. You can see right here on the massive
list that the administration put out on social media. But here's what
you might now realize. Those islands? They're in Antarctica. They
don't produce any exports. Do you know why? Because there are not any
human beings that even live there. There's no possible way that they
could be taking advantage of us on trade. What we do not know is if the
penguins that live there will retaliate.
Stephanie
and her guest panel addressed the reality of Chump's claims that this
will lead to more things being built in the US. No. For increased
production you need factories and you're looking at three to five years
for those to be constructed. By which time, Chump will be headed out or
already out of the White House. And his tariffs will most likely leave
with him. His erratic behavior on tariffs has not inspired confidence
in the business community. Who's going to work on constructing new
factories for temporary tariffs? He has no credibility on the topic.
Rachel Maddow also covered Chump's loose grasp on reality.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow treated viewers on Wednesday evening to a world tour of some of the stranger places that President Donald Trump slapped with tariffs.
The tariffs, part of Trump's so-called "Liberation Day," tax foreign
goods from 10 to 49 percent from just about every other country — but,
Maddow noted, they also apply to a few places that don't seem to have much trade with the U.S., or even many people at all, for that matter.
"May
I introduce you to Jan Mayen Island?" said Maddow. "It is a volcano,
volcanic island, mostly covered in glaciers, hundreds of miles from
anything else in the Arctic Ocean ... it does have an airstrip, but
nobody lives there. Population: zero humans — many polar bears."
"Rest assured, we, the American people, are now protected from the
predatory economic piracy of that uninhabited island," said Maddow.
"Thanks to our genius strongman ruler who has put the American
government to work. Donald Trump has just slapped a 10 percent tariff on
Jan Mayen Island, just in case anyone ever moves up there and tries to
screw us over with their Jan Mayen Island under-priced exports and
stuff."
On Monday and Tuesday, the stock market, an indicator of investor
confidence or anxiety, actually rose slightly. This was the result of
high-level administration leaks to Wall Street players that today’s
announcement won’t be as damaging as you might think and will finally
clarify U.S. policy. But today the market is down again, probably
because of the wildly different stories out there from Trump’s own
economic advisers.
White House trade czar Peter Navarro says the new tariffs would raise $600 billion annually, the largest tax increase since World War II. This would presumably offset other Trump tax cuts, but at massive economic costs.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, more of a dove on the issue, has told lawmakers that the tariffs would be capped and could be negotiated downward.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been trying to reassure Wall
Street, but others in the administration find the loudmouth Lutnick
irritating, blame him for reinforcing Trump’s tariff obsession, and are
setting him up to be the scapegoat. Politico has made a big deal of this
(“Trump World Turns on Lutnick”), but its story, widely picked up
elsewhere, is based on just two anonymous sources with their own axes to
grind.
Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:
***TODAY: Senate to vote on a resolution to reverse Trump’s
tariffs on Canada—Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has resulted in
severe, 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on nearly all goods, is already
seriously hurting WA businesses and agriculture industry***
Washington state is one of the most trade-dependent states in the
U.S., with 40 percent of WA jobs tied to international commerce
Senator Murray: “Trump’s refusal to accept basic
economic realities or listen to the desperate pleas of American
businesses, farmers, and families who can’t afford his costly tariffs is
risking serious economic catastrophe and pushing our country toward a
Republican recession.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the
following statement on President Trump’s reckless and sweeping new
tariffs, which are expected to go into effect later today and will raise costs, and severely harm Washington state businesses, agriculture, and our overall economy. A recent analysis
found that Trump’s tariffs could raise costs on the average American
household by $5,200 a year—and these price hikes on working families are
coming at the very same time that Republicans are forcing through
Congress massive new tax cuts for billionaires.
The Senate will also vote today on a resolution from Senator Tim
Kaine (D-VA) that would reverse Trump’s tariffs on Canada by nullifying
the emergency declaration issued by President Trump that underpins them.
The resolution requires a simple majority to pass in the Senate and
would also need to be brought up and passed in the Republican-controlled
House in order to go into effect.
“Trump’s ham-fisted, utterly pointless tariffs are a tax that
families in Washington state will pay on nearly everything they
buy—whether at the grocery store, the car dealership, or your
neighborhood coffee shop.
“We have all the data in the world that tells us exactly how
these tariffs will hurt American businesses and push up prices—that’s
not an opinion, it’s a fact. Trump and his cabinet are choosing to
ignore the mountains of evidence we have that tariffs do not work and
push ahead because they simply don’t care. They don’t care if
small businesses have to close their doors, if farmers lose access to
markets, or if prices go up—because it won’t affect Trump and his
cabinet full of billionaires.
“Trump’s trade war is an especially deep cut to farmers,
fishers, and producers in Washington state—I’ve talked to so many who
are absolutely furious that Trump is putting their livelihoods at risk
because he cannot seem to grasp the basic fact that they actually rely on
international markets to sell their goods. Trump doesn’t have a
clue—and businesses in Washington state are already paying the price for
his ignorance.
“Today I will vote for Senator Kaine’s resolution to reverse
Trump’s disastrous tariffs on Washington state’s largest trading
partner, Canada—Trump’s trade war has already forced businesses in
Washington state who rely on imported materials and business from Canada
to lay off employees and close their doors, and is upending supply
chains across the Pacific Northwest.
“Trump’s refusal to accept basic economic realities or listen
to the desperate pleas of American businesses, farmers, and families
who can’t afford his costly tariffs is risking serious economic
catastrophe and pushing our country toward a Republican recession.”
Washington state has one of the most trade-dependent economies of any state in the country, with 40 percent of jobs tied to international commerce and approximately $60 billion in annual exports. Washington is the
top U.S. producer of apples, blueberries, hops, pears, spearmint oil,
and sweet cherries—all of which risk losing vital export markets due to
retaliatory tariffs from key trading partners including Canada.
Additionally, more than 12,000 small and medium-sized companies in
Washington state export goods and will struggle to absorb the impact of
retaliatory tariffs. Trump’s tariffs during his first term were
extremely costly for Washington state—as one example, India imposed a 20
percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. apples, causing Washington apple
shipments to India to fall by 99 percent and growers to lose hundreds of
millions of dollars in exports.
###
The man has lost his mind.
Heaven help this country. It's no longer just a mad man in control of
the country, it's now a mad man who has lost his sanity..
Prior to his announcement of the tariffs late yesterday, the world had already rendered its verdict on Donald Chump. Evan Williams (TAG 24 NEWS) reports:
Ex-Australian
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has used a speech to criticize and mock
President Donald Trump, and issue a warning to leaders.
Turnbull,
who served as Australia's PM from 2015 until 2018, issued a warning
that the country's next leader needs to "stand up" better against Trump,
even if that means facing a flood of social media abuse.
His comments come days after current PM Anthony Albanese called an election for May 5, 2025.
"They've got to be able to stand up," Turnbull told the National Press Club of Australia on Tuesday.
"If
that means they get a brickbat or a Truth Social post saying 'You're
weak and ineffectual. You don't know anything about China'... If you're
spooked by that you shouldn't be in the job."
As
he spoke about a potential Truth Social post, Turnbull imitated Trump
and repeated the word "China" in a mocking voice. The impersonation drew
laughs from the crowd, who proceeded to applaud.
As Ava and I noted the other day, "MID CENTURY MODERN delivers what is promises, strong laughs, belly
laughs. All Chump ever provides is the punchline to a sick and dirty
joke." Meanwhile TAGTIG reports:
The
former Belgian Prime Minister and current European MP Elio Di Rupo has
just published an open letter against the American President Donald
Trump.
"Dear Donald, you're a dangerous ignoramus. For the United States. And for the rest of the world," writes Elio Di Rupo.
He accuses him of trying to impose his narrow view of the world:
"In
Europe, every citizen has their place, regardless of their origin,
gender, sexual orientation or disability. Anti-discrimination policies
correct injustices, give everyone a chance, they change lives."
And
he continues: "You're putting on a show. Making noise. Creating
emptiness. You're defending a world of domination, submission,
injustice."
The whole world laughs at Donald Chump.
And he's not fit for the job. The security breach (breaches) make this clear.
Yesterday, Ruth Marcus and Preet Bharara addressed SignalGate.
That
the breach(es) happened is outrageous enough. That Chump is unable to
hold anyone accountable for it is even more outrageous. Christopher Sharp (IRISH STAR) notes:
A
former staffer under Donald Trump has admitted that he’s “terrified”
for national security following the latest round of leaks and scandals
by the 47th President’s administration.
Anthony
Scaramucci, who acted briefly as the White House Communications
Director of Communications in 2017, admitted that he and others were
scared about what Trump’s lackadaisical approach to national security
meant for the years to come.
He told Katty Kay on
their podcast ‘The Rest is Politics US’: “I’m terrified! There are
former cabinet officials that I talk to all the time in the Secretary of
Defence. Terrified.”
Anthony’s comments came
after 'SignalGate' in which national security advisor to the Trump
administration Mike Waltz invited journalist Jeffrey Goldberg into a
Signal chat group in which he and other senior officials discussed
America’s plans to bomb Yemen.
SignalGate
is not a one-off. It is part of the pattern of how this administration
operates and how it leaves all of us at rick. At risk with regards to
national security, at risk with regards to our private information
including our Social Security numbers. Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:
Signalgate seems to have been the norm for National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, rather than the exception.
Waltz’s
team had set up at least 20 Signal group chats dedicated to discussing
international crises, Politico reported Wednesday. His staff “regularly”
leaned on the retail app to coordinate work on issues in Ukraine,
China, Gaza, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, according to four
people that had been added to the chats.
All
four sources that spoke with the publication said they witnessed
instances of “sensitive information” being discussed, reported
Politico’s White House bureau chief Dasha Burns.
Waltz’s
emerging national security scandals have made him less than popular in
the White House. Last month, Waltz made Donald Trump furious by
accidentally inviting a journalist to a Cabinet group chat on Signal
about bombing Yemen.
In the days after the
initial scandal broke, Wired reported that an account sharing the
intelligence official’s name had seemingly left his Venmo profile
public. In doing so, Waltz disclosed the names of hundreds of his
personal and professional associates, including government officials and
lobbyists.
Last week, the German newspaper Der
Spiegel reported that Waltz was among several senior administration
officials that had their personal data, such as account passwords, email
addresses, and personal cell phone numbers, listed online.
If that weren’t bad enough, The Washington Post reported
Tuesday that Waltz and his team had been relying on Gmail—a platform
even less secure than Signal—to discuss “sensitive military positions
and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict.”
Chump
and his administration continue to dismiss this as something minor when
it is not. And this was not their position a few years back. Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck (CNN) point out:
When
Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden faced intense scrutiny for their handling
of classified material, top officials now serving in Trump’s Justice
Department and FBI demanded criminal probes and severe penalties.
Yet
today, those same figures – including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI
Director Kash Patel, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, and DC interim US
Attorney Ed Martin – have all declined to publicly criticize senior
Trump officials who used Signal to share military attack plans in a chat
that inadvertently included a journalist.
The
Trump administration has denied any classified information was
discussed in the text messages released by The Atlantic about plans to
bomb rebels in Yemen, but CNN reported that information shared in the
chat was highly classified at the time it was sent.
Bondi,
now the country’s highest ranking law enforcement official, vigorously
defended the officials who participated in the Signal chat, including
Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and
suggested it was unlikely their actions would be investigated
criminally. But previously, Bondi argued that both Clinton and her aide
Huma Abedin needed to face charges after emails that contained
classified information were found on the computer of her ex-husband,
former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner.
“This
has everything to do with the security of our country,” Bondi said in
January 2018 on Fox News. “When you have the top-secret security
clearance that Huma Abedin had – you know when you send those emails
that you are violating the law, and there is no objective law
enforcement officer in this country that would not charge her based on
that. Alright? No one.”
The Chump is the champ of corruption. We see that yet again in the way his administration has attacked the state of Maine. Arthur Delaney (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:
Emails
show that the Social Security Administration canceled contracts with
the state of Maine as political payback against its Democratic
governor.
A week after Maine Gov. Janet Mills
clashed publicly with President Donald Trump at the White House over
transgender athletes in girls’ sports, Leland Dudek, the acting
commissioner of Social Security, asked his staff about what contracts
Maine had with the Social Security Administration.
The
agency has vital records contracts with every state, allowing parents
to request Social Security numbers for their newborns at the hospital
and to verify deaths through an electronic system.
According
to emails obtained by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the top Democrat on
the House Oversight Committee, Social Security staff informed Dudek that
canceling the contracts “would result in improper payments and
potential for identity theft.”
Dudek told his staff to go for it.
“Please
cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and
fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public
trust to a petulant child,” Dudek wrote, referring to Mills.
Canceling
the vital records contracts would make it more difficult for the
federal government to track births and deaths in Maine, hampering
efforts to prevent fraud across government agencies, all of which use
Social Security records to prevent improper payments.
Here's the press release from Connolly's office on the matter:
Today,
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform, sent a letter to U.S. Social Security
Administration (SSA) Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek calling on him to
immediately resign and to come before the Committee for a transcribed
interview. Committee Democrats obtained emails exposing his decision to
terminate two contracts between SSA and the state of Maine – knowing
that doing so would increase waste, fraud, and abuse – in order to carry
out President Trump’s threats against the State after Governor Janet
Mills upset him.
The emails obtained by
Committee Democrats show Dudek committed this transgression knowingly
and willingly, even calling the Maine Governor a “petulant child” for
standing up for her constituents.
“I write with
grave concern regarding your decision to punish the people of Maine and
undermine the integrity of the Social Security Administration in an
effort to further the President’s personal grievances. On February 27,
2025, you ordered the termination of two contracts between the Social
Security Administration and the state of Maine as direct retaliation for
statements made by Maine Governor Janet Mills that upset President
Donald Trump. Email documentation indicates that you ordered these
contracts terminated even though you knew that doing so would increase
improper payments and create opportunities for fraudsters. The Acting
Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should serve the
American people, not create waste, fraud, and abuse on the taxpayer’s
dime. I call on you to resign immediately, and I request that you sit
for a transcribed interview with Oversight Committee staff,” wrote the
Ranking Member.
On February 21, 2025,
President Trump publicly threatened to retaliate against the people of
Maine after Governor Mills refused to bend to his will after he issued a
potentially unlawful Executive Order. He told Governor Mills: “You’d
better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all
if you don’t.”
On February 27, 2025, Acting
Commissioner Dudek emailed SSA staff about Maine’s contracts with the
SSA. At 3:30 pm that afternoon, a staff member sent an email warning
him, “Terminating the contracts would result in improper payments and
potential for identity theft.” The staffer promised to “provide more
information shortly.”
At 7:09 pm on the same
day, Acting Commissioner responded, stating: “Please cancel the
contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may
compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a
petulant child.”’
Despite reinstating the
contracts on March 7, 2025, and claiming that he did not intend to harm
the people of Maine, the emails obtained by the Committee show that
Acting Commissioner Dudek knew of the negative impacts of cancelling the
programs and was willing to hurt the people of Maine and waste taxpayer
money to avenge President Trump.
“The
American people deserve answers about your activities and communications
in the time between President Trump’s February 21, 2025 public threat
to Governor Mills and your February 27, 2025 order to cancel the
enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with
the state of Maine, and about your knowledge that cancelling these
contracts would lead to increased waste, fraud, and abuse. Please
propose convenient dates in April for a transcribed interview with
Committee Staff. You should know that my invitation to sit for a
transcribed interview will stand until the interview occurs—even after
your resignation,” concluded Ranking Member Connolly.
Shares
of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) nosedived on Wednesday
after a regulatory filing revealed plans for a large stock sale,
including the potential sale of US President Donald Trump’s $2.3 billion
stake. The update comes against the backdrop of Trump’s upcoming
announcement of new trade tariffs, which he has branded as “liberation
day” policies.
TMTG,
which operates the social media platform Truth Social, saw its stock
drop 8% following the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing
late Tuesday.
The document outlined plans to
sell more than 142 million shares, including Trump’s 114 million shares,
held in a revocable trust controlled by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
Other
major shareholders, including US Attorney General Pam Bondi, TMTG
Chairman Devin Nunes, and Yorkville, a Cayman Islands-registered
company, are also set to offload a combined 134 million shares. In
addition, TMTG is issuing 8.4 million new shares to increase the
available trading stock.
I'm
confused here. Donald Chump is the president of the United States.
Though he does not treat it as such, it's a full time job. You're not
supposed to have a side hustle. I'm remembering both Bushes and every
other Oval Office occupant having to put assets in a blind trust to
avoid abusing their power of the presidency to profit from the
position.
There are zero checks in balances in place at present, they're all ignored. And the country is worse for it.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI: Murray Statement on Trump & Elon Plans to Decimate VA, Firing 80,000 Employees and Putting Veterans’ Care in Grave Danger
ICYMI:
Senator Murray, VA Researchers, Employees, Contractors in WA State Slam
Trump & Elon’s Plans to Decimate VA With Further Mass Layoffs, Harm
Services Veterans Rely On
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, released a new report
detailing how President Trump and Elon Musk’s reckless mass firings at
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are already harming
veterans’ services and health care in Washington state and across the
country.
Senator Murray has been outspoken in standing up for veterans, VA
employees, and VA researchers against Trump and Elon Musk’s
indiscriminate mass layoffs that will undermine critical services our
nation’s veterans rely on every day. Senator Murray, a senior member and
former Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was among the
first to raise the alarm about the layoffs of VA researchers and called on President Trump to immediately reverse the firings. She pressed VA Deputy Secretary nominee Dr. Paul Lawrence on the firings of VA researchers at the hearing on his nomination last week, held a press conference with
a VA employee and veteran in Seattle who was abruptly laid off as part
of the mass firings with zero justification, and put out a fact sheet on
how the indiscriminate mass firings were hurting workers in Washington
state, including VA researchers. In January, Murray and others called on President Trump to exempt all VA employees from the hiring freeze issued as part of his Day One Executive Orders.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs serves approximately nine
million enrolled veterans every year. Washington state alone has around
232,000 veterans enrolled in the VA health care system. Its mission is
to provide comprehensive care, support, and benefits to veterans of the
United States military and their families. Core VA benefits and services
include: health care including medical, mental health, and
rehabilitation care; benefits and compensation including disability
compensation, pensions, educational assistance, and housing loans; and
burial and memorial services, including access to national cemeteries.
Like the rest of the federal government, VA employs high numbers of
veterans and military spouses compared to private sector employers.
Veterans make up 30% of the federal workforce, and the federal
government is the largest single employer of veterans in the country.
On February 13, 2024, VA Secretary Collins terminated 1,000 VA
employees, including a substantial number of veterans and military
spouses, without cause.Then on February 24, Secretary Collins carried
out another round of illegal terminations of VA employees. This mass
firing brought the total number of fired VA employees to 2,400. Of those
fired, a large proportion were themselves veterans and military
spouses. On March 4, a leaked internal VA memo showed that Secretary
Collins planned to terminate an estimated 83,000 employees – likely
including an estimated 20,000 veterans – by the end of September of this
year. This plan to reduce the VA workforce to September 2019 levels,
coupled with the ongoing hiring freeze and illegal terminations of
probationary employees, will be catastrophic for the agency, its
workforce, and for the veterans, caregivers, and survivors it serves.
These measures will reverse the progress made by the previous
Administration, during which VA was able to deliver more care and
benefits to more veterans than ever before. It would roll back the
progress and massive expansion of care and benefits from the bipartisan
PACT Act, the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in
decades. These mass firings also threaten to erode recent progress in
lowering the veteran unemployment rate, which has been a longstanding,
bipartisan priority.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Provides Necessary Services and Has Ripple Effects Across Washington State
Before these mass firings, the VA was already experiencing staff
shortages. The recent additional staffing and funding cuts will
exacerbate these shortages and negatively impact the care veterans
receive.
Former VA employees describe likely irreversible damage to the VA
system, including loss of innovation and increased strain on already
scarce staff time and resources.
Future Zhou, a disabled Army veteran who worked as an Inventory
Manager at the Puget Sound VA Medical Center in Washington state, was
abruptly let go due to recent workforce cuts imposed by the Trump
Administration. By eliminating inventory management positions,
understaffed nurses will now be burdened with additional
responsibilities as they work to provide top-notch care with already
limited time. Veteran patients will need to wait longer for medication
and equipment they need while they are receiving care.
“Unfortunately, I was not alone. Five other logistics personnel
in
our probationary phase were dismissed within hours of me, two mail
clerks and three supply techs. The unprofessional manner in which these
decisions were executed was incredibly disrespectful. I have since
visited my office—because I still receive my care at the Seattle VA—and
witnessed firsthand the undue stress and devastation that these
indiscriminate firings have caused. Our supply team is now more
than seven days behind on placing critical supply requests for
medication and equipment in our hospital, and our supply techs have had
to cut their night shifts, limiting deliveries to our clinics. I
saw nurses going down to the warehouse to collect their own supplies in
order to continue to provide quality care to our veterans. I am not
confident that the hospital can remain open under these conditions.”
Christian Helfrich, who served twenty years with the Puget Sound VA
Medical Center as a research investigator, was one of seven research
employees laid off because their research terms were not renewed due to
the hiring freeze.
“In terms of what the effect will be on veterans… it’s not
having innovative care developed in the VA, like pulmonary teams using
the Electronic Health Record to identify problems for veterans before
they happen, preventing things like pneumonia, and it’s not doing things
like having people systematically identifying problems with the new
Oracle Electronic Health Record… Research is an investment in
the future—and if we don’t invest in research today, we are not
investing in the future of the VA. And I’ll just add, what’s going on
right now isn’t a two-way door where you can tear down the VA and then
see what happens, and if you don’t like it, go back to the way it was.
This is a one-way door —if we tear it down now, it is going to take
years or decades to build back.”
Raphael Garcia, a 100% disabled Army veteran and combat engineer,
was abruptly fired from his role as a management analyst with the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs by the current administration.
“I swore an oath to serve our country—first in the U.S. Army and
then at the VA—only to be suddenly terminated by the very institution
that promised to care for those who have served … Removing key
personnel, not only delays claim processing, it erodes the institutional
knowledge built over years of service, and sacrifices the care and
compassion our veterans deserve.”
All three of these VA employees provided essential services to
improve the health and lives of veterans. Without these staff and the
other dedicated VA employees who were unduly fired, health care access
and disability claim decisions will be delayed, services will be
eliminated, and overall care for veterans will be negatively impacted.
One veteran, who is a prominent member and advocate in his local
veteran service organization, confirmed that these cuts will further
stress these systems that veterans rely on.
Joshua Schrek is an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who now lives in
Renton, Washington and serves as a Judge Advocate General of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He’s been active in the VFW for over 15
years, previously serving at the post, district, and department levels,
including previously being the Department of Washington VFW state Chief
of Staff. His comments represent his own views and not those of VFW.
“I have received information directly from an employee at the
Seattle VA who expressed serious concerns. He shared that his department
is responsible for overseeing 46 veteran-facing products and services,
including My HealtheVet, Community Care Billing, Enrollment &
Eligibility, and the Veterans Crisis Line. Out of 140 authorized
positions, only 65 are filled – expected to drop to 59. He also noted
that they rely on over 700 contractors, and with contract cancellations
happening centrally and without local input, there’s a risk these
systems could go offline with no available staff to restore them.”
“The situation has the potential to affect not only veterans but also the families who rely on VA support systems.
If services like benefits processing, crisis response, and access to
medical care are interrupted, it creates stress and instability for
those trying to navigate an already complex system. One
particularly alarming note shared with me was that if some systems
break, they may ‘stay down indefinitely’ due to a lack of technical
staff to fix them.”
The Trump Administration is Damaging Veterans’ Access to Care for Years to Come
Trump and Musk are putting the health care and benefits veterans have
earned in grave danger. They are firing tens of thousands of people
responsible for administering the services and care that over nine
million veterans enrolled in VA health care across the country count
on—and it’s a breach of the sacred commitment we make to our veterans to
take care of them when they return home. These arbitrary mass layoffs,
at the very least, are going to mean longer processing times for
disability or education claims veterans are desperately waiting on and
longer wait times for veterans to see a healthcare provider—to say
nothing of the serious threat to patient safety or the threat of VA
medical centers closing. For example, the Puget Sound VA already has 40
mental health position vacancies, 14 of which are psychology positions.
Firing additional employees will only further decrease access to mental
health care. The consequences will reverberate for generations—more
veterans sick and unable to get their benefits, more veterans out of a
job, and fewer men and women willing to sign up to serve a nation that
shows it will not keep their promises to them.
that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Make America A Pigsty Again" and it's funny but, sadly, the news isn't. the news coming out of gaza is flat out tragic.
Israeli
Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Wednesday a major expansion of
the military’s operation in Gaza involving the seizure of large areas of
land that would be “incorporated into Israel’s security zones.”
In
the statement, Katz said the operation would also involve a
“large-scale evacuation of Gaza’s population from combat zones,” without
specifying details.
Signs of
the operation’s expansion are yet to be seen on the ground, although the
enclave saw heavy airstrikes that have so far killed dozens people in
the last 24 hours, according to local authorities, including at least
nine children when a UN shelter was hit.
According
to the defense minister’s statement, the military operation would
expand to “crush and clear the area of terrorists and terror
infrastructure, while seizing large areas that will be incorporated into
Israel’s security zone.”
b-b-but rashida tlaib!!!!
princess
rashida told us as long as we didn't vote for kamala and donald chump
made it back into the white house, gaza would be safe!!!!!
princess rashida promised!!!!!
that trash never delivered a damn thing for any 1. she should be kicked out of congress.
palestinians seem as tired of rashida as they are of hamas. 'ap' reports:
Thousands
of Palestinians chanted against Hamas during anti-war protests last
week in the Gaza Strip, the biggest show of anger at the militant group
since its attack on Israel ignited the war.
Protesters
said they were venting anger and desperation as they endure a new round
of war and displacement after Israel ended a ceasefire. They leveled
unusually direct criticism at Hamas even while remaining furious at
Israel, the United States and others for their plight.
Public
expressions of dissent have been extremely rare since Hamas seized
power in Gaza in 2007. The militant group has violently dispersed
occasional protests and jailed, tortured or killed those who challenged
its rule. Hamas has faced no significant internal challenge since the
start of the war and still controls Gaza, despite losing most of its top
leaders and thousands of fighters.
maybe hamas can leave gaza, occupy some other land and rashida can represent them?
Demonstrations against Hamas erupted on
March 25 in the northern Gaza Strip and spread since then to other
parts of the territory. Three common themes can be easily detected in
the demands of the demonstrators: a cry for help, a demand to let Gazans
live and have access to food; an end to the war and the death,
displacement, and the threats of expulsion it creates; and most notably a
demand for Hamas to step down and leave governance to others. It should
be clear from the outset that in the eyes of the demonstrators, these
three demands are linked, even if many of the written signs raised
during these demonstrations do not explicitly state the link.
While
some view these demonstrations as a genuine popular uprising against
Hamas which could undermine the Palestinian movement’s control over
Gaza, the Islamist group sees them as a desperate attempt by its
external enemies to use local agents to create a false impression that a
revolt to its rule is underway. Both assertions are partially correct
and partially wrong. The resumption of the war, accompanied this time by
the threat of expulsion, shifted Gazans' sentiments toward Hamas.
However, high levels of national and religious loyalty—and few political
alternatives—limit the choices at hand for Palestinians.
There
is no doubt that many Gazans are opposed to Hamas. As the director of
the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, I have studied
public opinion in Gaza for decades and to be sure, Hamas has never in
its entire history had a majority support in Gaza. Our surveys, which
started in 1993, covering both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, were
all conducted face to face with representative samples of Palestinians
of at least 1,200 adult respondents, including 400 or more people from
the Gaza Strip. We estimate that the margin of error for our surveys is
about 3%, but over time, they have consistently shown that many
Palestinians do not support Hamas.
In fact, in
July 2023, thousands, mostly young Palestinians, marched across the Gaza
Strip in a rare show of anger with Hamas and discontent with living
conditions. In November 2021, 51% of Gazans told us, in an Arab
Barometer survey, that they had run out of food and lacked the money to
buy more during the past 30 days. But a few days before October 7, 2023,
that percentage increased to three quarters. Not surprisingly, trust in
the Hamas-led government at that time stood at only 29%.
As
living conditions in Gaza have worsened considerably after Oct. 7, due
to the continued war and lack of access to food and other essentials,
Hamas gradually became less popular. The findings of several surveys I
have conducted before and after Oct. 7 clearly demonstrate that. In
Sept. 2023, 38% of Gazans said that they support Hamas. And this level
declined a year later to 35%. Nonetheless, none of rival political
factions received greater support than that, with Hamas’ main domestic
political rival, Fatah, receiving the support of only 25% of
Palestinians just before Oct. 7 and 29% a year later. Given the little
change in this domestic balance of power, before and after Oct. 7, it is
highly unlikely that these numbers have changed significantly in recent
months.
It is true that Gazan public
perception regarding the war and its consequences has shifted
significantly since the early weeks after Oct. 7. These shifts have
drastically damaged Hamas’ narrative. For instance, the perception among
Gazans that Hamas’ decision to launch its attack against Israel on Oct.
7 was correct dropped from 57% in late Nov. 2023 to 39% in late 2024.
During that same period, the perception that Hamas will win the war on
Gaza dropped from 50% to 26%; the expectation that Hamas will continue
to control the Gaza Strip after the end of the war dropped from 51% to
37%; satisfaction with Hamas’ performance during the war dropped from
52% to 39%; and the preference for continued Hamas control dropped from
38% to 36%.
rashida has tweeted 14 times since the protests against hamas began and yet she has no once tweeted about the protests.
Wednesday, April 1, 2025. Another security breach, calls for an
independent investigation, administration caught lying about a
deportation, and much more.
More than 30 Senate Democrats have called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the Houthi Signal chat scandal, as the White House insists the case is closed on how a journalist was looped into high-level military discussions.
“In
addition to the reckless inclusion of a journalist in the chat, we are
deeply concerned about this serious breach in the proper handling of
such information and deliberations,” 31 Senate Democrats wrote in a
6-page Monday letter to Bondi.
“Given
the extraordinary circumstances of this shocking incident and the
significant public interests at stake, it is imperative that you
immediately appoint a Special Counsel to thoroughly and impartially
investigate whether any of the government officials involved violated
federal criminal law,”
The
lawmakers said appointing a special counsel is “appropriate” in cases
where the Department of Justice (DOJ) “may have a conflict of interest
or extraordinary circumstances are present, a criminal investigation is
warranted, and it is in the public interest to appoint an outside
Special Counsel to investigate the matter.”
The Washington Post broke the story
on Tuesday that aides of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz have been
using commercial email to share information that could pose a risk to
the U.S. if revealed to adversaries.
The Post
revealed members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council —
particularly White House national security adviser Michael Waltz —
conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts, according to
documents and interviews with three U.S. officials. National Security
Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told the paperhe hadn't personally
seen evidence of the national security adviser using the Gmail account
as described, but he said Waltz's "legacy contacts" have occasionally
emailed work-related information to accounts.
“They are so g----n stupid, dangerous and hypocritical,”wrote
Democratic National Committee Chief Marketing Officer Shelby Cole on X.
Cole referenced the drumbeat of GOP voices calling for the head of
former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during Trump’s first
campaign roughly eight years ago.
They
are that stupid. And the security breaches also include access to
personal data of private citizens. They don't know what they're doing
and they protect no one. The White House is exercising a combination
of gross negligence and incompetence.
The latest security breach was discussed on MSNBC yesterday.
The White House has declared the controversy around a
Signal chat for a military strike that inadvertently included a
journalist to be “closed,” but the episode has left some in President
Trump’s orbit distrustful of national security adviser Mike Waltz.
White House officials are eager to move past the controversy, in which Waltz mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg,
editor in chief of The Atlantic, to a group of administration officials
discussing planned strikes against the Houthis. The White House has
offered no specifics on any discipline handed down or protocol changes
to avoid future mishaps.
Senator Tammy Duckworth's office issued the following yesterday:
[WASHINGTON,
D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a
member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), U.S. Senate
Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC) and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations
Committee (SFRC)—along with SVAC Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal
(D-CT), U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono
(D-HI) called out the White House for declaring SignalGate—the most
devastating and significant national security breach in years—“case-closed”
without holding any senior Administration officials responsible for
leaking classified information through an unclassified communications
channel, putting the lives of our servicemembers at greater risk. In her
remarks, Duckworth called on Republicans to join her in demanding
congressional hearings and an independent investigation to look into the
Trump officials on the Signal chat—urging her colleagues on the other
side of the aisle to remember that they serve the people of this
country, not Donald Trump’s ego. Full video of the presser is available
on Twitter/X, Facebook and Senator Duckworth’s YouTube.
“It
is outrageous that Donald Trump is trying to sweep SignalGate under the
rug—declaring this egregious national security breach ‘case closed’
with absolutely no repercussions for anyone involved—after Pete Hegseth
and others in the Administration put our troops—and our national
security—at even greater risk,” said Senator Duckworth. “If Republicans
actually care about our troops like they proclaim, they must do the bare
minimum and join me in demanding an independent investigation as well
as hearings looking into every official who was on that Signal chat—and
Trump must fire Hegseth immediately for leaking classified information.
With each second Hegseth remains Secretary of Defense, his incompetence
emboldens our adversaries, weakens our national security and makes
Americans less safe.”
“The Trump Administration’s reckless
Signal chat security breach is appalling and chillingly dangerous to our
military men and women,” said Senator Blumenthal. “This shocking and
dangerous failure to maintain operational security at the highest levels
of leadership demands accountability. While the White House is turning a
blind eye to the Trump Cabinet’s carelessness with classified
information—claiming it’s “case closed”—many questions remain and the
American people deserve answers. Our Republican colleagues need to step
up and face up to this breakdown in security that put our pilots at
unacceptable higher risk. Until then, I will continue to call for a
comprehensive criminal investigation into how this security breach
occurred and demand that Secretary Hegseth and Waltz resign.”
“As
someone who has planned and executed strikes off an aircraft carrier, I
know there is no more sensitive information than the time on target for
aircraft conducting a military strike over hostile territory,” said
Senator Kelly. “The lack of accountability from those in this chat—and
from the White House—isn’t just reprehensible, it’s dangerous. The
American people deserve answers, and our servicemembers deserve
leadership that protects them, not politics that puts them in harm’s
way.”
“The Signal chat security breach reaffirms what we
have known all along—that Trump’s national security officials are
fundamentally unfit to serve,” said Senator Hirono. “Sharing attack
plans, timing, and targets on devices that may well be compromised by
adversaries endangered the lives of our servicemembers. Despite
jeopardizing our national security, no one involved in this debacle has
offered any assurance that this will not happen again or taken
accountability for their actions. That is unacceptable. Democrats will
continue working to understand exactly how this grave security breach
happened and hold those responsible for this fiasco accountable.”
Since
he was first nominated, Duckworth has made it clear that Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth is unqualified to lead our men and women in
uniform. During Hegseth’s confirmation hearing,
Duckworth demonstrated some of the areas where he lacks the experience
or knowledge that any serious Defense Secretary nominee should have,
grilling him on basic questions that he failed to answer. She asked him
if he ever led an audit, and he would not confirm. She asked him to
describe at least one of the main international security agreements a
Secretary of Defense is responsible for leading, and he could not name
any. She asked him to name at least one nation that is a part of ASEAN,
an organization with several member states that have mutual defense
treaties, alliances or enhanced defense cooperation agreements with the
US, but none of the three countries he named are part of the
organization.
After The Atlantic reported that
Hegseth sent classified war plans in a Signal group chat with other
Trump Administration officials, putting the lives of our men and women
in uniform at greater risk and undermining the effectiveness of the
mission, Duckworth released a statement demanding his resignation and calling him a “f*cking liar.”
Last week, Duckworth joined fellow
SASC member Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and 14 other Senate colleagues in
calling on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), SASC
and SFRC to hold hearings to investigate why members of President
Trump’s national security team were recklessly discussing classified
military operations on unsecured devices. In the letter, the Senators
also criticized the incompetence and carelessness of how these Trump
officials mishandled the situation and inadvertently added a journalist
to the group chat. Additionally, Duckworth joined Senator Tim
Kaine (D-VA) and 12 of her colleagues in demanding answers from
President Trump about what disciplinary action will be taken in response
to SignalGate and emphasized that the Administration is in direct
violation of the Presidential Records Act.
-30-
There needs to be a full investigation and there needs to be accountability.
Turning
to the topic of immigration, Kilmar Armado Abrego-Garcia. Remember the
name. He is one of many targeted by Donald Chump. He is one of many
who was deported for no real reason. He was part of the 300
Venezuelans. Chump lied but he always lies. He used an 18th century
wartime law to justify the deportations and he did so despite an order
from US District Judge James E. Boasberg blocking the deportation.
Propaganda Pig Karoline Leavitt insisted the court order had "no lawful
basis." Kilmar had a lawful basis to have his deportation considered by
a judge before he was thrown out of this country.
After JD Vance last year played perhaps the most prominent role of anyone in spreading a baseless claim
about Haitian migrants in Ohio eating people’s pets — a claim that drew
strong rebukes even from some fellow Republicans — he explained himself
thusly.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays
attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m
going to do,” Vance said.
[. . .]
Monday brought some long-anticipated news about the evidence against
recently deported migrants. The administration two weeks ago rapidly
deported hundreds of them to a prison in El Salvador, many without due
process because they were allegedly gang members. It relied on a rarely
invoked power that had only been used in wartime. But lawyers and family
members for several of the migrants have claimed that their tattoos and other evidence were misconstrued and that they didn’t belong to gangs. That raised the possibility that this lack of due process had landed the wrong people in a notorious foreign prison.
Well, we’ve now quickly learned that at least one person was indeed
sent there in error. The Trump Justice Department on Monday cited an “administrative error” for including on the deportation flights a man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who legally couldn’t be deported to El Salvador.
This proves the administration’s hasty deportation process was indeed
prone to the types of errors avoidable through the due process the
administration cast aside. It has been just two weeks, and the
government has already been forced to admit that a person was wrongfully
deported to a foreign prison, while saying he can’t be returned. What
are the odds he’s the only one?
Vice President JD Vance
has reacted defiantly to news that a government department deported a
man in "error," commenting that it was "gross to get fired up" about the
case.
[. . .]
Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia, who has a United States citizen wife and a
5-year-old child, was stopped by ICE officers and sent to the prison
CECOT in El Salvador, according to legal filings.
Abrego-Garcia,
who came to the U.S. at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in El
Salvador, according to filings, had been detained by ICE in March over
his alleged affiliation with the gang MS-13.
This
suspected affiliation came from a 2019 incident, according to his
attorneys, when an informant made the claim he was linked to gangs.
Abrego-Garcia had already filed for asylum, and a judge had withheld his
removal to the country, which was a protected status. The judge ruled
he could be targeted by gangs if deported.
His
lawyers said Abrego-Garcia was not affiliated with gangs and that the
government had not produced evidence to prove otherwise.
After Jon
Favreau, Barack Obama's former director of speechwriting turned podcast
host, called on Vance and other Trump administration figures to comment
on X, formerly Twitter, the vice president said that it was "gross to
get fired up about gang members getting deported."
The
soul-less Miss Sassy fails to grasp that first-in-line on being fired
up over Kilmer's deportation is Miss Sassy himself. As Vice President,
he should be outraged by what happened. Instead, he takes no ownership
and he offers no apology. It goes to the fact that he has no soul. He
has no integrity and he is not fit for public office. After
acknowledging this grave error (which he has still not done), Miss Sassy
should have immediately informed the country that the administration
was working on securing Kilmer's release from the prison in El Salvador
this country put him in and returning him to the United States.
Again,
Miss Sassy is not suited to be Vice President. His refusal to do what
now needs to be done goes to his immaturity and his hatred of others. Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) observes of Miss Sassy's refusal to take accountability:
Vance also attacked
Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney, who was covering the story, as
"unable or unwilling to look at the facts," adding that "in 2019, an
Immigration Judge (under the Biden administration) determined that the
deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang."
Trump, not Biden, was president in 2019.
"Vance is badly wrong here," wrote
attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council.
"In 2019, a police informant alleged the guy was in MS-13. He spent a
year in ICE detention as a result, then won his case. He’s been out for
the last five years, married to a U.S. citizen, has two kids, and STILL
has no criminal record at all."
"JD
Vance needs to work on his reading comprehension because the court
document says HE WAS NEVER CONVICTED OF BEING A GANG MEMBER and the
Trump administration itself admits he was only deported due to an
ADMINISTRATIVE ERROR," wrote political analyst Judd Legum. "This is cruelty and incompetence resulting in moral catastrophe."
"Vance
is such a strange breed of liar because it's precisely his appeal to
facts and his desire to appear in command of them that trips him up and
allows him to be caught," wrote former New York Times culture reporter Dave Itzkoff.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the
deportation by claiming Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a leader of the
notorious MS-13 gang who had engaged in human trafficking.
“Foreign
terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of
America anymore, and it is within the President's executive authority
and power to deport these heinous individuals from American
communities,” she said.
Just a day earlier, Justice Department lawyers admitted in a court filing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents had mistakenly arrested and deported Abrego Garcia, despite
being aware that he had been granted a form of protected legal status
called “withholding of removal” in 2019 after an immigration judge found
he would likely be targeted by gangs for persecution and torture if
sent back to El Salvador, the place he’d fled when he came to the U.S. in 2011.
We'll wind down with this press release from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI:
Senator Murray, VA Researchers, Employees, Contractors in WA State Slam
Trump & Elon’s Plans to Decimate VA With Further Mass Layoffs, Harm
Services Veterans Rely On
ICYMI:
Murray Statement on Trump & Elon Plans to Decimate the VA, Firing
80,000 Employees and Putting Veterans’ Care in Grave Danger
*** VIDEO of Senator Murray’s Remarks and Questioning HERE***
Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing
to consider pending nominations, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a
senior member and former Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee, questioned Lieutenant Colonel James Baehr, nominee to be the
General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and
Captain Richard Topping, nominee to be Chief Financial Officer at VA.
Senator Murray pressed the nominees on the Trump administration’s plans
to fire over 80,000 VA employees, and how those cuts will harm veterans’
earned benefits and services. Senator Murray also underscored her
concern with how this administration is picking and choosing which laws
to follow instead of reviewing compliance with every law Congress passed to ensure care for veterans.
Senator Murray began by emphasizing the sacred oath we make to our
veterans, that we will take care of them when they return home, and
questioning Mr. Baehr on the impact of mass firing tens of thousands of
employees at VA. “I, and many of us, are very concerned about
Trump’s plan now to fire over 80,000 VA employees and how that would
seriously disrupt veterans being able to access not just their
obviously, education benefits, but their disability benefits, their home
loan benefits, all that they’ve earned.”
“Do you support those widespread cuts to VA’s workforce?,” Murray asked Mr. Baehr.
Mr. Baehr dodged the question, saying: “I’m not at the VA and
have no role in any of those choices or decisions. As an individual who
uses VA myself, of course I want to ensure we have the best services
and benefits—I also as a veteran want to see the VA improve and I think
this entire committee does as well. So, I would review the law, and I
would advise the Secretary on following a legal path and pursuing his
vision for putting the veteran at the center of all that we do, if
confirmed.”
Senator Murray followed up, “Do you think that firing 80,000
people will make it more or less difficult for veterans to get access?”
“I have not looked at the situation myself,” Mr. Baher replied, dodging again.
“And I don’t know—I have just read the public reporting on it. I
understand there is some exempt positions. The Secretary said that he is
focused on care for veterans and making sure veterans don’t lose care
or benefits. So, I don’t know where those opportunities for efficiency,
or not, exist in this system. My role, if confirmed, would be to ensure
that everything we do is lawful and compliant with Title V, Title 38,
and other rules and regulations.”
Senator Murray continued, asking Mr. Topping and Mr. Baehr on the
ability of DOGE and the Trump administration to pick and choose which
laws to follow: “I would just remind all of us that this is a
people organization and if we fire 80,000 people, it’s going to be
really challenging and difficult—if not impossible—for our veterans to
get the care and benefits that they’ve earned… This Committee has worked
to pass a lot of really important pieces of legislation that require
vital changes at the VA. That includes the Caregivers Program that
passed when I was chair of the Committee, as well as the Deborah Sampson Act and of course the PACT Act,
which just passed recently. During Secretary Collins’ nomination
hearing, he testified that he agreed with providing vital health care
and benefits to veterans, and that we have to get it right.”
“However, I just have to say—I have really serious concerns
that this administration now is picking and choosing which laws to
follow, which means not living up to the promises we have made our
veterans and really ignoring the intent of Congress. For example, we
know that VA is doing a review to determine whether it is fully
compliant with the MISSION Act, but not reviewing compliance with any
other piece of legislation. Mr. Topping let me just start with you, is the PACT Act less important that the MISSION Act?”
Mr. Topping responded, “Senator, I think all the legislation passed by this Congress is important.”
Mr. Topping replied, “Senator, I think like any organization
with limited resources, time, and capabilities, there is always a
prioritization, none is more or less important. But I think what the
Secretary said he’s doing is—he’s focused on maximizing efficiency,
redeploying those resources so they’re front-facing and essential of
veterans, and ensuring that the veteran remains at the center of
everything that we do. I am not there, I am not exactly sure how the
prioritization works, but I understand what the Secretary has
articulated his goals to be.”
Senator Murray turned the same question to Mr. Baehr, to which he replied: “I
believe that the VA should follow all the laws, and if confirmed I
would advise the Secretary on how he can fulfill his role in the best
course of action with all the laws and regulations that are passed by
Congress.”
“I just have a few seconds left and I just want to ask you,
Mr. Baehr, do you think it’s legal for DOGE to have access to veterans’
personal information?” Senator Murray followed up.
Mr. Baehr responded, “Senator, again, I am not at VA, and I
am not familiar with what is going on. I’m just operating with what I
have read in the public news. And there are… significant protections for
veterans’ information. All three veterans before you, our information
is in VA, so we are certainly sympathetic. I don’t want anyone looking
at my podiatry records or other…”
“Personal, financial, health, all of that,” Senator Murray interjected.
“So, if the Department is given directives by DOGE, or by the White
House, that you believe are illegal, will you follow those directives?”
“I will always pursue the Constitution and follow the laws. I
don’t believe I will be given illegal directives, but I will always
follow the law,” Mr. Baehr replied.
Senator Murray was the first woman to join the Senate Veterans’
Affairs Committee and the first woman to chair the Committee—as the
daughter of a World War II veteran, supporting veterans and their
families has always been an important priority for her. Senator Murray
has been a leading voice in the Seante speaking out forcefully against President Trump and Elon Musk’s mass firing of VA employees and VA researchers across the country and Elon Musk and DOGE’s infiltration of
the VA, including accessing veterans’ sensitive personal information.
In recent weeks, Senator Murray and her colleagues sent letters to VA
Secretary Doug Collins demanding that the VA swiftly reverse moves to cut VA researchers, as well as multipleletters pressing
Secretary Collins to sever Elon Musk and DOGE’s access to any VA or
other government system with information about veterans, and protect
veterans, their families, and VA staff from unprecedented access to
sensitive information. Senator Murray grilled Trump’s
nominee for VA Deputy Secretary, Dr. Paul Lawrence, on the mass firings
of VA employees and VA researchers, and voted against Doug Collins’s
nomination to be VA Secretary in early February, sounding the alarm over reports of DOGE at the VA and making clear that the Trump administration’s lawlessness was putting our national security and our veterans at risk.
A fact sheet outlining how Trump and Musk are endangering Veterans’ care is HERE.