logo
A (former) DOGE employee goes rogue

A (former) DOGE employee goes rogue

Politico5 days ago
Presented by
Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump's unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
Send tips | Subscribe | Email Sophia | Email Irie | Email Ben
The White House is trying to get to the bottom of an incident involving a former Veterans Affairs employee who used their position to target a prominent critic of ELON MUSK, according to a White House official and a second person familiar with the matter granted anonymity to speak freely.
JAMES FISHBACK, the anti-DEI investor who recently launched FSD PAC — a super PAC aimed at blunting Musk's political ambitions — received a direct message on X from the official DOGE Veterans Affairs account.
'James - we need to talk. Your recent behavior has crossed some serious lines. That's why we rejected your DOGE application in the first place. Let's step your game up. This is embarrassing,' read the message sent Saturday, reviewed by POLITICO.
Fishback said he never applied to work at DOGE. Fishback advised VIVEK RAMASWAMY on DOGE while Ramaswamy was still involved, and conceived of the 'DOGE dividend check' plan, which President DONALD TRUMP and Musk both embraced.
The person who sent the message no longer works for the VA, a White House official said, adding that the White House is confident that everyone working in the administration is on the same page. If that is found not to be the case, the official said, repercussions will follow.
'The president's mission is to make sure the goal of cutting waste, fraud and abuse is successful and continues,' said White House spokesperson HARRISON FIELDS. 'The American people elected him to be a better steward of taxpayer dollars, and every agency and department is working seamlessly to execute the president's campaign promise.'
This is the only known example of a Musk loyalist going rogue and acting at odds with Trump's and the GOP's agenda, but the incident comes at a delicate moment as the administration is grappling with how to manage DOGE's influence now that Musk has turned into a Trump adversary.
The White House's Presidential Personnel Office has made loyalty a cornerstone of its hiring strategy, scouring social media accounts and grilling applicants about their Trump bona fides. But DOGE hires, selected through a separate Musk-led process, didn't undergo the same level of scrutiny, according to a Trump official familiar with the process granted anonymity to describe the process.
Musk announced last week that he is forming a new political party, the America Party, with plans to pour financial resources into two or three Senate races and as many as 10 House contests. 'Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people,' Musk said Friday.
Trump fired back over the weekend.
'Saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,' he posted on Truth Social. Trump has also threatened to turn DOGE against Musk, though it is unclear how much loyalty he has from the network of employees who signed up to work for the tech mogul.
The DOGE VA account that messaged Fishback has no public posts aside from a single reply in February, when it engaged an X user about improving veterans' health care. The message questioned whether opening new VA hospitals was the right solution but acknowledged that more could be done to serve veterans despite the VA being the nation's largest health system.
Read more here.
MESSAGE US — West Wing Playbook is obsessively covering the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government. Are you a federal worker? A DOGE staffer? Have you picked up on any upcoming DOGE moves? We want to hear from you on how this is playing out. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe!
POTUS PUZZLER
Which president got elbowed in the face playing basketball while in office, requiring 12 stitches?
(Answer at bottom.)
Agenda Setting
DEVASTATION IN TEXAS: The devastating floods in Texas this weekend have raised fresh concerns about the Trump administration's cuts to federal agencies tasked with responding to extreme weather events, POLITICO's E&E News' CHELSEA HARVEY reports. Though TOM FAHY, legislative director at the union that represents National Weather Service employees, said that vacancies at the two Texas offices serving the flooded communities did not cause any problems during the floods, he urged the administration to reconsider its planned funding cuts.
'We can't predict where the next severe storm or high-impact weather event will take place,' Fahy said. 'Therefore, we have to ask that the administration reconsider their decision to suspend the funding for the warning coordination meteorologists.'
White House press secretary KAROLINE LEAVITT pushed back on the idea that federal funding cuts resulted in delayed communication about the floods, and that all the offices were fully staffed. 'These offices were well staffed,' Leavitt said during today's press briefing. 'In fact, one of the offices was actually overstaffed. They had more people than they need[ed]. Any claim to the contrary is completely false and it's just sad that people are pushing these lies.'
FATE OF FEMA: Leavitt today also opened the door to salvaging the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Trump has suggested should be phased out, Irie reports.
'The president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need,' Leavitt said, when asked if Trump was reconsidering his plan to wind down the agency. 'Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that is a policy discussion that will continue.'
Knives Out
INVESTIGATION REQUESTED: Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER urged Commerce Department Inspector General RODERICK ANDERSON in a letter today to conduct a probe into whether staffing cuts at NWS, which is housed under Commerce, 'contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property' during the floods, according to a copy of the letter obtained by POLITICO.
'[W]e must do everything possible to provide answers as to why the community was not alerted sooner that dangerously high floodwaters were imminent,' Schumer wrote.
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
EXODUS AT THE VA: The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced that it's on track to reduce the department's staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of the fiscal year. 'While VA had been considering a department-wide RIF to reduce staff levels by up to 15%, employee reductions through the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition have eliminated the need for that RIF,' the VA announced in a press release today.
The department lost about 17,000 employees in the first six months of the year, and expects an additional 12,000 employees to exit between now and September 'through normal attrition, voluntary early retirement … or the deferred resignation program.'
Earlier this year, VA Secretary DOUG COLLINS floated the idea of cutting more than 80,000 employees. But after many voluntary departures, the number is expected to be less than half that.
In the Courts
SEE YOU IN COURT: A coalition of doctors' groups led by the American Academy of Pediatrics filed a lawsuit today against HHS Secretary ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., arguing that his May announcement that the federal government will no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccines for healthy pregnant people and children violated longstanding norms governing U.S. immunization policy, our LAUREN GARDNER reports.
Kennedy's 'Secretarial Directive' documenting his move to cut the vaccine from the CDC's immunization schedule did not cite an emergency or specific circumstantial changes to support the move, the organizations says, and 'is contrary to the wealth of data and peer-reviewed studies that demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines' for those groups.
What We're Reading
How Elon Musk's Third Party Gamble Could Succeed (POLITICO's Alexander Burns)
Trump admin asks staff to report cases of bias due to DEI directives (POLITICO's Danny Nguyen)
Elon Musk Is Running Out of Road in China (WSJ's Raffaele Huang, Lingling Wei and Yoko Kubota)
From Food Aid to Dog Chow? How Trump's Cuts Hurt Kansas Farmers (NYT's Elizabeth Williamson)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
In 2010, former President BARACK OBAMA was playing a full-court pickup game at Fort McNair and got inadvertently elbowed in the face by RAY DECEREGA, who was then serving as director of programs at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Decerega said Obama was 'both a tough competitor and a good sport.'
According to then-White House press secretary ROBERT GIBBS, Obama received 12 stitches from the White House Medical Unit.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

MAGA comes for one of its own: Pam Bondi
MAGA comes for one of its own: Pam Bondi

Boston Globe

time38 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

MAGA comes for one of its own: Pam Bondi

That has parts of MAGA world, which has been obsessed with Epstein since he died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal child sex trafficking charges in 2019, in a twist. 'This is Jeffrey Epstein; this is the most famous pedophile in modern-day history,' Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said during an Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Greene said that Ghislaine Maxwell, a close Epstein confidante convicted of federal child sex trafficking charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, had 'a little black book' of more than 2,000 names, including 'famous celebrities, world leaders, foreign leaders, and very rich businessmen.' Advertisement Among Epstein's high-profile friends were Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, and Trump, who once called the mysterious and mysteriously wealthy man with a private island Advertisement From Vice President But some, like far-right extremist For years, right-wing conspiracy theorists have claimed that Epstein was murdered in his jail cell to protect the identities of those who may have been blackmailed by him. Now far-right figures ranging from Before he was reelected, Trump was asked during a While Trump said that he would do so, he also hedged, claiming that he would be wary because 'you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there 'cause it's a lot of phony stuff with that whole world.' (He didn't elaborate.) But he added that it would be 'interesting' to find out more about Epstein's death, which he called 'a weird situation.' Advertisement The joint DOJ/FBI memo confirmed that Epstein died by suicide. Now, neither Trump nor anyone in his administration wants to talk about the alleged Epstein client list that was before it wasn't. At a recent Cabinet meeting, he 'I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we're having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas,' the president said, referring to the catastrophic flash floods that have killed at least 120 people. 'It just seems like a desecration.' As much as Trump wants this subject buried, not all of MAGA is ready to let this go away quietly. This even led to the odd sight of Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary, being From the attorney general's neglect of due process for immigrants being snatched from communities nationwide to her willingness to Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at

Prime Day is over — but I'd shop this massive Walmart weekend sale from $3 on apparel, TVs, appliances and more
Prime Day is over — but I'd shop this massive Walmart weekend sale from $3 on apparel, TVs, appliances and more

Tom's Guide

timean hour ago

  • Tom's Guide

Prime Day is over — but I'd shop this massive Walmart weekend sale from $3 on apparel, TVs, appliances and more

Amazon Prime Day deals are officially over. But Walmart's anti-Prime Day sale is still going strong! If you missed out on anything you wanted from Amazon, give Walmart's sale a look as many popular items are still discounted. Right now Walmart's sale has epic deals starting from $3. I'd start by snagging a Walmart Plus membership for 50% off to get free shipping on all your purchases. Walmart is also offering up to 50% off essentials like washcloths, teeth whiteners, protein powder and more. And you can get back to college apparel, school supplies and dorm decor from $3. My favorite Walmart deals are listed below. I also recommend checking out our Prime Day deals you can still get live blog for the best sales that have stuck around. Walmart Plus: was $98/year now $49/year @ WalmartFor returning/expired Walmart Plus members only, Walmart is taking 50% off its annual Walmart Plus membership. The discount comes right in time for this anti-Prime Day sale! Walmart apparel: deals from $3 @ WalmartWalmart is taking up to 50% off a range of apparel, shoes and accessories in its current sale. You can even score discounts on big-name brands like Levi's, Crocs, Reebok and more. Switch 2: check stock @ WalmartWalmart kicked off last week with a Switch 2 restock in which one of our own Tom's Guide staff members was able to score a console. While that restock has since sold out, it's worth keeping an eye on Walmart's Switch 2 stock situation. All the consoles can be seen via this link. Stock up on essentials: up to 30% offWalmart's sale is the best place to restock those cupboards. Right now you can save on everything from cleaning supplies to supplements, batteries and more. Patio and garden event: up to 50% off @ WalmartWalmart has launched a major savings event to help you refresh your garden. If you're looking to upgrade your garden, deck or patio for less, consider Walmart's outdoor living section your one-stop shop. The retail giant is currently offering unbeatable discounts of up to 50% on stylish and functional outdoor items, including string lights, fire pits, lounge chairs, garden beds and more. Back to College savings: up to 50% offWalmart's current sale has everything you need to head back to college. This section includes college-ready apparel, dorm decor and school supplies. Crocs sale: Crocs from $9 @ WalmartWe're huge Crocs fans at Tom's Guide and right now Walmart is knocking up to 50% off select men's, women's, and children's Crocs. The sale includes all-terrain clogs, slip-resistant clogs, sandals, and more. It's one of the biggest Crocs sales I've seen at Walmart all year. Lego sale: deals from $10 @ WalmartLet your child's imagination run wild with a new Lego playset. Walmart has various models on sale from $10. The sale includes Lego Star Wars, Lego Super Mario, and more. Lego sales are common, but Walmart's sale stands out for having a wide range of sets on sale. Grills and accessories: deals from $12 @ WalmartFrom Weber to Blackstone (and many notable brands in between), Walmart is having a huge sale on grills and outdoor cooking accessories with many deals under $100 mark. With barbecue season officially here, Walmart has tons of grill options to choose from — without breaking the bank! Shark and Ninja appliances: up to 40% off @ WalmartWalmart is offering up to 40% off select Shark and Ninja appliances. The sale includes air fryers, robot vacs, blow dryers, blenders and more. Smart TVs: deals from $88 @ WalmartWalmart has a massive sale on smart TVs. The sale includes TVs from brands like TCL, Hisense, JVC, and Walmart's own Onn brand. After discount, prices start as low as $88. Keep in mind that there are a few 1080p sets included in the sale. I recommend sticking with 4K resolution as the price difference isn't all that great. Need a cheap pair of wired on-ear headphones? These Sony 'phones will do the trick. They're lightweight, sturdy and have 30mm drivers for bright, clear sound. And you don't need to take my word for it — these popular headphones have a 4.3 star rating based on customer check: $9 @ Amazon Wireless earbuds have come a long way, and now, you can get a solid-sounding pair of buds for under $25. While not all budget earbuds are up to par, the JLab Go Air Pop True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds are an ace pick. They got a 4-star rating in our Jlab Go Air Pop review for their satisfying sound, 7-hour battery life and IPX4 water resistance rating. Light up your outdoor space at night with this set of string lights that are 100 feet long and include 50 bulbs. You'll want to spend all night under the stars with these lights that emit a soft white glow and will make a stylish statement hanging in your backyard or over your patio. Our JBL Go 4 review determined that this is the perfect portable Bluetooth speaker for those on a budget. Small enough to take traveling, it still packs enough performance to soundtrack small gatherings while bringing useful features like IP67 water and dust protection, and multi-point connectivity. It also comes in a variety of fun colors. This umbrella is the perfect addition to your backyard or patio. It provides optimal shade while adding some elegant style. The umbrella surface is UV-proof, waterproof and fade resistant so you can use it on both sunny and rainy days. This super-cute mini digital camera is a nice find with this discount. Our Fujifilm Instax Pal review said this device is extremely easy to use, and we had plenty of praise for its portable design. While you'll need to tether it to the companion app on your phone, it's perfect for taking fun, retro-style pictures. This is the biggest discount we've seen on the AirPods 4. We loved the Apple's earbuds in our AirPods 4 review, with their surprisingly effective ANC being a major a highlight. Transparency mode is a nice added extra. They sound pretty good, too, featuring a more open fit than the AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 2 pack Apple's new H2 chip to provide 2x more noice cancellation than their predecessors. They also offer Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking for a more immersive audio experience. In our AirPods Pro 2 review, we said they take everything we loved about the original AirPods Pro to the next level. This newer model includes a USB-C charging case. The 2025 iPad features a larger 11-inch (2360 x 1640) screen, A16 CPU, 12MP rear/front cameras, USB-C connectivity and Magic Keyboard Folio ($249) support. The base model features 128GB of storage, which double the capacity of its predecessor. It's available in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities. The Apple Watch 10 boasts a thinner and lighter design, faster charging and a new sleep apnea detection feature. Some other new key features include 30% more screen area, rounded corners and a first-ever wide angle OLED display. The device also features advanced health insights, including the ability to take an ECG anytime. Available in a plethora of fun colors, the Apple AirPods Max (USB-C) boast fantastic ANC and a crisp and balanced sound profile. In our AirPods Max review, we were thoroughly impressed by its luxurious design and feel, and we said its spatial audio technology was a "game-changer" for immersive listening. It's no longer Apple's flagship, but the MacBook Air M1 offers good performance and value. The M1 CPU never stuttered in our tests and also helped it reach over 14 hours of battery life. It features a 13.3-inch Retina display, Apple M1 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. In our MacBook Air M1 review, we said it offers amazing endurance and very good speed. Smart TVs: deals from $88 @ WalmartWalmart has a massive sale on smart TVs. The sale includes TVs from brands like TCL, Hisense, JVC, and Walmart's own Onn brand. After discount, prices start as low as $88. Keep in mind that there are a few 1080p sets included in the sale. I recommend sticking with 4K resolution as the price difference isn't all that great. This 65-inch display has every app you could possibly want as well as plenty of ports for games consoles and more. If you're not familiar with Onn, it's Walmart's in-house electronics brand. We like this TV because it uses the Roku platform as its OS and it's a great pick for shoppers on an extra tight budget. The TCL QM6K is the perfect deal for a display upgrade. It offers a VRR feature that can push the TV refresh rate to 288Hz and leverages Dolby Vision IQ for sophisticated HDR support. It's a great TV for gamers and comes in a wide range of sizes at incredible prices. We gave it an excellent 4-star rating in our TCL QM6K Mini-LED TV review. One of the best Roku TVs on shelves has to be the Pro Series Mini-LED. This TV is a fantastic choice for those wanting excellent performance and simplicity. It delivers vibrant visuals, enhanced brightness and Roku's intuitive platform. Offering a premium experience at a lower cost, it's definitely a deal worth grabbing. Walmart is slashing the price of this folding Adirondack Chair. After this discount, this foldable, weather-proof design (it's constructed from high-density polyethylene lumber) is a steal. Reviewers rave these are easy to put together and are built to last for many summers to come. One buyer even notes it's "a very solid chair for the money!" This small outdoor conversation set is available for $190 off the regular price. Made of woven rattan, high-quality steel frames, and tempered glass table top, this adorable set will be the perfect spot to relax or enjoy a cocktail outdoors this spring. It also comes with seat cushions featuring an ergonomic design for extra comfort. Spend your leisure time lounging in comfort with this outdoor patio set that features one bench, two single sofas and a coffee table with a tempered tabletop. Made of a solid steel and rattan structure, the outdoor furniture is sturdy and durable. The spacious seating is covered with padded cushions that have removable and washable covers. Switch games/accessories sale: deals from $12 @ WalmartWalmart is offering big discounts on Switch games and accessories. The sale includes Mario and Zelda video games, controllers, gaming headsets and more. The Meta Quest 3S is already the best VR headset for the money, and now that it's just $249, the deal has just become all the sweeter. Expect the same performance as the pricier Quest 3, but with a smaller field of view and lower resolution. Other than that, expect to play a popular VR game right off the bat, and even more thanks to its 3-month Quest+ subscription. The Xbox Series S is limited to 1440p output, but still delivers fast loading, ray tracing, and high frame rates. It sports a GPU with up to 4 teraflops of output, 10GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD for storage. (There's no disc drive).Price check: $329 @ Amazon The Ninja Creami has been making waves (scoops?) in the home cook world. We gave it 4 stars in our Ninja Creami review. We loved how easy it was to make delicious homemade ice cream. There's a huge range of recipe styles available, such as milkshake, froyo, and even gelato! And as if it couldn't get any better — the Creami is also easy to clean. Leave your spring cleaning to your digital assistant. The Shark Matrix Robot Vacuum features precision home mapping, powerful suction that makes it great for households with pets, and hands-free cleaning thanks to its Alexa/Google Assistant support. The 80V 21" is one of Greenworks' most popular mowers. It features a single lever, 5-position height adjustment and promises low-noise one-touch controls.

Global week ahead: Trade tensions cloud earnings and the G20 heads south
Global week ahead: Trade tensions cloud earnings and the G20 heads south

CNBC

time2 hours ago

  • CNBC

Global week ahead: Trade tensions cloud earnings and the G20 heads south

Earnings season always seems to roll around with alarming frequency. The newsroom approaches each quarter with a nervous energy, but this summer it feels especially heightened. Recent market records in both the U.S. and Europe, alongside an unpredictable economic environment, paint a complicated picture for the second half. It all kicks off on Tuesday with America's banking behemoths, as attention switches from the White House back to Wall Street. But U.S. President Donald Trump's policies still loom large, with Goldman Sachs predicting that, this quarter, U.S. earnings will start to show the impact of the tariffs. The investment bank's economists see "conflicting messages on the margin outlook" as companies have only announced modest price increases, despite the cost hikes associated with higher tariffs. Earnings-per-share growth is also set to come under pressure, with Goldman suggesting, "the consensus estimate among analysts sees S&P 500 companies' earnings-per-share growth decelerating to 4% this quarter relative to the same quarter last year — down from 12% in the first quarter." With the banks set to dominate next week — JPMorgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are all reporting within just two days — maybe Europe can provide some optimism. As reported by CNBC's Jenni Reid, European banks just recorded their best first half since 1997. Gains were driven by strong investment banking returns — something their U.S. counterparts are also likely to capitalize on — as well as stock rallies based on both deal speculation and actual M&A. As someone who grew up in Cape Town, seeing this year's G20 meetings take place in South Africa makes me pine for the sunshine of the Southern hemisphere. Next week's meeting in Durban between finance ministers and central bank governors comes at an interesting time for the country. An Oval Office meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump went spectacularly wrong back in May, when the latter, flanked by his South African (now former) right-hand man Elon Musk, made false claims of a "white genocide." It seems tensions have not abated. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will skip the meeting altogether, opting to head to Japan instead, according to Reuters. South Africa is also subject to a new 30% tariff rate, the only country in sub-Saharan Africa to be singled out in the latest round of announcements. It does not bode well for the G20 Leaders meeting, due to be held in Gauteng on Nov. 22-23. It remains to be seen if Trump will attend. In May, South Africa's golfing greats — who traveled to the White House with Ramaphosa — failed to win over Trump. But maybe the lure of some of the best courses in the world, along with a South African summer, could see a seasonal change in his mood toward the country later this year.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store