Latest news with #MAGA-branded
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump unleashes MAGA rebellion on Federalist Society
President Trump and his allies are waging war with the Federalist Society as he sees parts of his second-term agenda blocked by some of his own judicial appointees. Simmering tensions broke into full public view after Trump called longtime Federalist leader Leonard Leo a 'sleazebag' after a court blocked the bulk of Trump's tariffs. The boiling point has unleashed a rebellion pitting the Make America Great Again movement against the conservative legal stronghold that helped Trump reshape the courts during his first term by offering up conservative judges as suggestions to fill benches across the country. As the president embarks on choosing his next set of judicial nominees in his second-term, his decisions are now being shaped by a new, MAGA-branded team. Inside the White House, judicial appointments are being spearheaded by chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House counsel David Warrington and Deputy White House counsel Steve Kenny. The Federalist Society once played a central role in advising Trump's White House on those decisions. But in the president's second term, the process has shifted to include outside influence from the Article III Project, which is spearheaded by close Trump legal ally Mike Davis. Davis served as chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) during Trump's first term, where in that role he helped clear the way for the president's judicial nominees. David also previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first nominee to the high court. His relationship with Trump grew closer after the FBI raided the president's Mar-a-Lago resort and he defended the president in the press. Meanwhile, the Federalist Society looked the other way, Davis said in an interview with The Hill. 'They abandoned President Trump during the lawfare against him,' he said. 'And not only did they abandon him — they had several FedSoc leaders who participated in the lawfare and threw gas on the fire.' It's a major shift from Trump's first term, when Trump's alliance with Leo was bountiful. Trump ushered in a Supreme Court 6-3 conservative supermajority that left Federalist Society panelists popping champagne at one recent convention to celebrate their success. Leo built the lists that Trump chose from to select his three high court nominees: Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three justices have delivered significant wins for the conservative legal movement, including expanding the Second Amendment, overturning the constitutional right to abortion, reining in federal agency power and reinforcing religious rights. It culminated decades of efforts by Leo to challenge liberal legal orthodoxy by building a pipeline that propels young conservative attorneys into powerful judicial roles. Fueled by a network of donors, Leo's groups have directed massive sums to conservative legal, political and public relations organizations, gaining him a villainous reputation among Democrats. The Federalist Society has become a bastion of that project, with Leo serving as its longtime former executive vice president. Formed in 1982 by a group of law students opposed to liberal ideology at prominent law schools, the Federalist Society has become a dominant force, though it officially takes no position on any legal or political issue as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. But Trump is souring on the group in his second term as he expresses frustration with his judicial picks who've blocked parts of his agenda. Last week, the president turned his ire toward Leo and the Federalist Society after the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked the bulk of his tariffs. 'I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges,' Trump wrote in a winding post. 'I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.' In a statement responding to the attack, Leo declined to attack Trump, instead praising him for 'transforming' the federal courts and calling it the president's 'most important legacy.' Trump's post went on to slam the Federalist Society for the 'bad advice' it gave him on 'numerous' judicial nominations. 'This is something that cannot be forgotten!' Trump said. A Federalist Society spokesperson did not return multiple requests for comment. It remains unclear why Trump specifically targeted Leo in his response to the tariff ruling. The trade court panel included one of Trump's own appointees, Judge Timothy Reif. Reif is a Democrat, as federal law required Trump to keep partisan balance on the trade court. Steven Calabresi, who co-chairs the Federalist Society's board with Leo, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case alongside other prominent conservative attorneys calling Trump's tariffs unlawful. And the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a libertarian group that has received funding from entities associated with Leo, is suing Trump over his China tariffs on behalf of a small business, though that case was not the subject of last week's ruling. But the splintering relationship between Trump and the Federalist Society has been 'brewing for years,' Davis said. In January, allies of the president grew outraged online after Politico reported that a public relations firm chaired by Leo was assisting an advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence in a campaign to derail Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination. Pence defended Leo and the Federalist Society on X Monday, calling them 'indispensable partners' throughout Trump's first term and suggesting conservative Americans owe the group a 'debt of gratitude.' And beyond the cabinet, some prominent conservative attorneys have criticized Trump's nomination of Emil Bove, a close legal ally who worked as Trump's former criminal defense attorney, to a federal appeals court. Ed Whelan, a Federalist Society mainstay and prominent conservative attorney who has been critical of Trump, has particularly gone after Trump's nomination of Bove, describing the attorney as a bully. 'Bove's admirers call him 'fearless,' but the same could be said of mafia henchmen,' Whelan wrote for the National Review. Whelan's comments sparked rebuttals from the top levels of Trump's Justice Department. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Trump with Bove, accused Whelan of being envious, saying he was leveling 'cheap shots.' Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department's civil rights division, called it one of 'dumbest and nastiest headlines' she had ever seen. 'Some small minded men appear to be jealous and bitter that the best they can do is dictate their unedited mean girl thoughts into their phones and have some other mean girls publish the same,' Dhillon wrote on X. Trump's second term presents another chance to elevate conservative-minded judicial nominees nationwide. Davis said there's no going back to the 2016 playbook. 'We have to update our playbook, and we have to have a different prototype for judges,' he said. 'They need to be bold and fearless, like Emil Bove.' 'And I'm not saying they need to be bold and fearless for Trump, he added. 'They need to be bold and fearless for the Constitution.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Trump unleashes MAGA rebellion on Federalist Society
The Gavel is The Hill's weekly courts newsletter. Sign up here or in the box below: Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here President Trump and his allies are waging war with the Federalist Society as he sees parts of his second-term agenda blocked by some of his own judicial appointees. Simmering tensions broke into full public view after Trump called longtime Federalist leader Leonard Leo a 'sleazebag' after a court blocked the bulk of Trump's tariffs. The boiling point has unleashed a rebellion pitting the Make America Great Again movement against the conservative legal stronghold that helped Trump reshape the courts during his first term by offering up conservative judges as suggestions to fill benches across the country. As the president embarks on choosing his next set of judicial nominees in his second-term, his decisions are now being shaped by a new, MAGA-branded team. Inside the White House, judicial appointments are being spearheaded by chief of staff Susie Wiles, White House counsel David Warrington and Deputy White House counsel Steve Kenny. The Federalist Society once played a central role in advising Trump's White House on those decisions. But in the president's second term, the process has shifted to include outside influence from the Article III Project, which is spearheaded by close Trump legal ally Mike Davis. Davis served as chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) during Trump's first term, where in that role he helped clear the way for the president's judicial nominees. David also previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's first nominee to the high court. His relationship with Trump grew closer after the FBI raided the president's Mar-a-Lago resort and he defended the president in the press. Meanwhile, the Federalist Society looked the other way, Davis said in an interview with The Hill. 'They abandoned President Trump during the lawfare against him,' he said. 'And not only did they abandon him — they had several FedSoc leaders who participated in the lawfare and threw gas on the fire.' It's a major shift from Trump's first term, when Trump's alliance with Leo was bountiful. Trump ushered in a Supreme Court 6-3 conservative supermajority that left Federalist Society panelists popping champagne at one recent convention to celebrate their success. Leo built the lists that Trump chose from to select his three high court nominees: Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three justices have delivered significant wins for the conservative legal movement, including expanding the Second Amendment, overturning the constitutional right to abortion, reining in federal agency power and reinforcing religious rights. It culminated decades of efforts by Leo to challenge liberal legal orthodoxy by building a pipeline that propels young conservative attorneys into powerful judicial roles. Fueled by a network of donors, Leo's groups have directed massive sums to conservative legal, political and public relations organizations, gaining him a villainous reputation among Democrats. The Federalist Society has become a bastion of that project, with Leo serving as its longtime former executive vice president. Formed in 1982 by a group of law students opposed to liberal ideology at prominent law schools, the Federalist Society has become a dominant force, though it officially takes no position on any legal or political issue as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. But Trump is souring on the group in his second term as he expresses frustration with his judicial picks who've blocked parts of his agenda. Last week, the president turned his ire toward Leo and the Federalist Society after the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked the bulk of his tariffs. 'I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges,' Trump wrote in a winding post. 'I did so, openly and freely, but then realized that they were under the thumb of a real 'sleazebag' named Leonard Leo, a bad person who, in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.' In a statement responding to the attack, Leo declined to attack Trump, instead praising him for 'transforming' the federal courts and calling it the president's 'most important legacy.' Trump's post went on to slam the Federalist Society for the 'bad advice' it gave him on 'numerous' judicial nominations. 'This is something that cannot be forgotten!' Trump said. A Federalist Society spokesperson did not return multiple requests for comment. It remains unclear why Trump specifically targeted Leo in his response to the tariff ruling. The trade court panel included one of Trump's own appointees, Judge Timothy Reif. Reif is a Democrat, as federal law required Trump to keep partisan balance on the trade court. Steven Calabresi, who co-chairs the Federalist Society's board with Leo, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in the case alongside other prominent conservative attorneys calling Trump's tariffs unlawful. And the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a libertarian group that has received funding from entities associated with Leo, is suing Trump over his China tariffs on behalf of a small business, though that case was not the subject of last week's ruling. But the splintering relationship between Trump and the Federalist Society has been 'brewing for years,' Davis said. In January, allies of the president grew outraged online after Politico reported that a public relations firm chaired by Leo was assisting an advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence in a campaign to derail Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination. Pence defended Leo and the Federalist Society on X Monday, calling them 'indispensable partners' throughout Trump's first term and suggesting conservative Americans owe the group a 'debt of gratitude.' And beyond the cabinet, some prominent conservative attorneys have criticized Trump's nomination of Emil Bove, a close legal ally who worked as Trump's former criminal defense attorney, to a federal appeals court. Ed Whelan, a Federalist Society mainstay and prominent conservative attorney who has been critical of Trump, has particularly gone after Trump's nomination of Bove, describing the attorney as a bully. 'Bove's admirers call him 'fearless,' but the same could be said of mafia henchmen,' Whelan wrote for the National Review. Whelan's comments sparked rebuttals from the top levels of Trump's Justice Department. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Trump with Bove, accused Whelan of being envious, saying he was leveling 'cheap shots.' Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department's civil rights division, called it one of 'dumbest and nastiest headlines' she had ever seen. 'Some small minded men appear to be jealous and bitter that the best they can do is dictate their unedited mean girl thoughts into their phones and have some other mean girls publish the same,' Dhillon wrote on X. Trump's second term presents another chance to elevate conservative-minded judicial nominees nationwide. Davis said there's no going back to the 2016 playbook. 'We have to update our playbook, and we have to have a different prototype for judges,' he said. 'They need to be bold and fearless, like Emil Bove.' 'And I'm not saying they need to be bold and fearless for Trump, he added. 'They need to be bold and fearless for the Constitution.'
Black America Web
24-05-2025
- Business
- Black America Web
The Midnight Medicaid Cuts: Why The GOP's Reconciliation Bill Is A Raw Deal For The American People
Source: Douglas Rissing / Getty In the early hours of the morning, while most Americans were asleep, House Republicans convened a hearing that stretched into an eight-hour marathon to push through a sweeping 1,100-page reconciliation bill. The timing was no coincidence. It was a calculated attempt to avoid scrutiny and quietly advance a legislative agenda that disproportionately benefits the wealthy, undermines essential public services, and fuels divisive culture wars. This bill is not about economic growth or fiscal responsibility. It's the latest chapter in a long-standing political grift: one where working families are told to tighten their belts while the powerful receive handouts disguised as policy. At the heart of the bill are aggressive cuts to Medicaid and food assistance—critical lifelines for millions of Americans. By moving up the timeline for mandatory work requirements to 2026, House Republicans are putting an estimated 14 million people at risk of losing their healthcare and three million households in danger of losing food security. These aren't just numbers—they represent real families who are already navigating an economy marked by uncertainty, inflation, and widening inequality. Meanwhile, the bill remains generous to the wealthiest Americans, offering trillions in tax breaks to those who need them least. But it doesn't stop there. In a bizarre twist, it also includes a provision to create $1,000 'Trump Accounts' for babies born between 2025 and 2029. Ostensibly designed to support long-term savings, these MAGA-branded investment funds are more about political branding than substantive policy. It's a campaign slogan masquerading as a fiscal tool. Simultaneously, the bill strips healthcare access from some of the country's most vulnerable populations. It imposes a sweeping ban on Medicaid and CHIP funding for gender-affirming care, not just for minors, but for all recipients. This isn't about protecting public funds; it's a targeted attack on the transgender community, one that erodes the foundational principle that healthcare should be accessible to all. And if the stakes weren't high enough, the bill also includes provisions that compromise public safety. Language quietly added in the final hours eliminates the federal tax and registration requirement for gun silencers, long established as safeguards to help law enforcement trace weapons used in violent crimes. As Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) noted, this change is not just reckless—it's radical. Even more troubling, an earlier draft of the bill included language that would have shielded former President Trump and his administration from contempt citations if they violated court orders. While the provision was ultimately removed, its mere presence reflects a dangerous willingness to circumvent the judiciary and concentrate power in the executive branch. The bill also threatens access to reproductive and preventative health services by targeting Planned Parenthood. If passed, up to one-third of Planned Parenthood health centers—nearly 200 facilities—could be forced to close due to funding restrictions tied to abortion and gender-affirming care. This would severely limit access to cancer screenings, birth control, and general health care in underserved communities. One of the most telling moments during the hearing, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) held Republicans accountable for the sheer absurdity—and hypocrisy—of their priorities. When questioning a provision that repealed the federal excise tax on indoor tanning services, she asked the bill's sponsor to read the line item aloud. He refused. 'Oh, he doesn't want to read it,' Rep. Leger Fernández said. 'This is in their bill. They don't want to read a line from their own bill.' Fernández then delivered a blistering critique: 'So if you have a tanning bed, you get a little bit of a tax break. And if you need a hospital bed in rural America, I'm sorry, you're out of luck.' Her words underscored the bill's deeply skewed values, where luxury perks are prioritized over basic healthcare access. This is not a comprehensive plan for economic recovery or public well-being. It's a deeply flawed document that prioritizes political loyalty, culture war distractions, and corporate interests over the everyday needs of American families. It represents the erosion of public trust, transparency, and responsible governance. While some provisions—such as the nonprotection of public lands in Utah and Nevada—were rightfully removed, and attempts to strip federal employees of earned retirement benefits were reversed, these adjustments cannot redeem a bill that is fundamentally out of step with the priorities of the American people. As this bill heads to the Senate, lawmakers—and the public—must remain vigilant. Because this isn't just bad policy. It's a dangerous precedent. Governance should be transparent, equitable, and rooted in service to the people, not pushed through under the cover of darkness to serve the ambitions of a few. The American people deserve better. SEE ALSO: SPLC: U.S. Hate Groups Declined—Is It Really A Good Thing? Harvard Fights Back Against Trump International Student Ban SEE ALSO The Midnight Medicaid Cuts: Why The GOP's Reconciliation Bill Is A Raw Deal For The American People was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Global News
01-05-2025
- Automotive
- Global News
Elon Musk says he's stepping back from White House, DOGE duties
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is preparing to scale back his role in the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus on his electric car company, Tesla. Musk made the announcement following U.S. President Donald Trump's Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where he wore two MAGA-branded hats on top of each other with the words 'Gulf of America' printed on them. 'They say I wear a lot of hats, and as you can see, it's true. Even my hat has a hat,' joked Musk. Musing about his and DOGE's incongruous role in the U.S. government, he said, 'It is funny that we've got DOGE.' 'Doesn't the absurdity of that seem, like, like, are we in a simulation here or what's going on? But, like, it was a meme coin at one point,' he said, laughing. 'How did we get here?' he said. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen Elon Musk, wearing two hats, looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting in the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2025. JIM WATSON / Getty Images Later, Musk defended DOGE as he prepares to reduce his role, but gave vague answers about the work he's done thus far and the future of the pseudo-governmental agency before addressing the widespread backlash he has received during his short tenure as department chief. 2:06 Musk to step back from DOGE, focus on Tesla after Q1 profit plunge 'Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun,' he said. 'Seeing cars burning is not fun.' Story continues below advertisement In protest of Musk's far-reaching role, people across the U.S. and beyond have vandalized and set fire to Teslas. In one instance, suspects rigged multiple vehicles with explosives. During the first four months of 2024, the once-popular car brand struggled to sell vehicles. The company reported a large 71 per cent drop in first-quarter profits to US$409 million, or 12 cents a share. That's far below analyst estimates. Tesla's revenue fell nine per cent to $19.3 billion in the January through March period, below Wall Street's forecast. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy DOGE is charged with reducing government spending and has made billions of dollars in cuts across multiple federal departments by slashing the workforce and shuttering entire departments. According to CNN, during Trump's first 100 days in office, his administration laid off 121,000 federal employees, eviscerated the Department of Education and the Department for International Development (USAID), and made significant cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Story continues below advertisement The gutting of federal agencies has led to dozens of lawsuits, while DOGE's attempts to access sensitive government information, including Social Security data, have met resistance in court, a move Musk openly defended on Wednesday, by claiming the U.S. is already accessing people's private information. 'Don't we already have a surveillance state?' he said, arguing DOGE needs to access the systems in its hunt for fraud, adding, 'There has to be some way to reconcile the improper payments.' DOGE had set a target to reduce federal spending by $1 trillion, though Musk estimates he's cut $160 billion so far and acknowledged the $1 trillion target was ambitious. 'It's sort of, how much pain is the Cabinet and the Congress willing to take?' Musk said. 'It can be done, but it requires dealing with a lot of complaints,' he said. Finally, when asked who will take over his role at DOGE when he departs, Musk responded, 'DOGE is a way of life … like Buddhism.' — With files from The Associated Press
New York Times
05-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The White House Frames the Past by Erasing Parts of It
Soon after the new administration arrived, things began to go missing from the White House website. They weren't just the partisan policy platforms that typically disappear during a presidential transition. Informational pages about the Constitution and past presidents, up in various forms since President George W. Bush was in office, all vanished. Thousands of other government web pages had also been taken down or modified, including content about vaccines, hate crimes, low-income children, opioid addiction and veterans, before a court order temporarily blocked part of the sweeping erasure. A Justice Department database tracking criminal charges and convictions linked to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was removed. Segments of data sets are gone, some of the experts who produced them were dismissed, and many mentions of words like 'Black,' 'women' and 'discrimination' have evaporated. President Trump's team is selectively stripping away the public record, reconstructing his preferred vision of America in the negative space of purged history, archivists and historians said. As data and resources are deleted or altered, something foundational is also at risk: Americans' ability to access and evaluate their past, and with it, their already shaky trust in facts. 'This is not a cost-cutting mechanism,' said Kenny Evans, who studies science and technology policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and runs the White House Scientists Archive at the school. 'This slide toward secrecy and lack of transparency is an erosion of democratic norms.' The casualties are not just digital. The head of the National Archives, which has been described as 'the custodian of America's collective memory,' was fired by Mr. Trump in February. A key source of federal funding for public records depositories nationwide, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, was named in an executive order calling for its elimination 'to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law' (its acting director said he planned to 'restore focus on patriotism'). As the U.S. Agency for International Development was being gutted, a senior official told employees to shred or burn classified documents and personnel files. Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said on X that the disposal process was standard practice for old courtesy copies of paperwork that were largely backed up on classified computer systems. In an emailed statement, she did not address concerns about the removed records, but said that the president regularly communicated with news outlets and directly with the public and was 'leading the most transparent administration in history.' 'He is adding transparency by exposing the vast waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government and restoring accountability to taxpayers,' she said. The campaign of deletion does more than amplify the administration's policy priorities — it buries evidence of the alternatives in a MAGA-branded memory hole. Several information experts said that Mr. Trump's executive orders have authoritarian overtones, reminiscent of when Russia cloned Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, and stripped it of unflattering material. Information experts and civil rights groups fear that a historical vacuum could jeopardize accountability and breed mistrust, especially in an already hostile political environment for researchers who are trying to fight disinformation. 'There are tectonic plates that are shifting, and it's a new version of truth that is being portrayed, and that, I think, is the most profound danger we have ever faced as a country,' said Laurence H. Tribe, a constitutional scholar and professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. Even Utah's Republican lieutenant governor called on Mr. Trump to 'bring back our history' after the first American woman to legally vote was removed from the website for Arlington National Cemetery, along with a section on other notable women (her profile is once again available, but the women's history section is not). References to transgender people disappeared from the National Park Service's web page for the Stonewall National Monument. Mr. Trump is not known as an enthusiast of document preservation: Past employees have described his penchant for ripping up documents and flushing papers down the toilet. But his administration has surfaced some government data. In March, the National Archives released some 64,000 documents about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including accounting records that contained the Social Security numbers of dozens of government workers from the late 1970s, some of them still living. The restructuring effort led by Elon Musk through his Department of Government Efficiency, which had been caught in a series of high-profile errors, tried to delete or obscure the mistakes before reversing course last month and adding more details that fact-checkers could use to confirm its claims about the savings it had achieved from canceling federal grants. In February, a federal judge ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several other health agencies to temporarily restore pages that had been scrubbed on Mr. Trump's orders. The Defense Department said it would republish pages about Jackie Robinson's military service, the Enola Gay B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo Code Talkers and others. The historical record, however, remains under intense pressure and not just from the government. Mr. Musk has a vendetta against Wikipedia, which the billionaire derided as 'Wokepedia' last year. He called the encyclopedia, which is written and edited by volunteers from the general public, 'an extension of legacy media propaganda' after an entry described a gesture he had made during Mr. Trump's recent inauguration as being 'compared to a Nazi salute.' Jimmy Wales, a founder of Wikipedia, pushed back on the social media platform X, saying 'that's fact. Every element of it.' Data Foundation, a think tank, said in a report last month that changes in federal evidence gathering are coinciding with similar shifts in the private data sector. Those include more than 2,000 layoffs and other departures in March and several analysis firms shutting down entirely. A year ago, Google also removed links to cached pages from its search results, stripping away a longtime feature that helped researchers and others track changes on websites. Resources from the government have become especially important as researchers find themselves limited or cut off from data reserves kept by social media companies, said Samuel Woolley, the disinformation studies chair at the University of Pittsburgh. 'The idea that suddenly we no longer need oversight or access to the information that allows us to conduct oversight is worrying,' he said. 'Getting rid of public records and people who study things like influence operations amounts to a kind of censorship by omission.' Outside the government, many archivists are now rushing to preserve endangered material. The Data Rescue Project, which launched in February, is cataloging preservation efforts and backed up government data sets. Since 2008, the End of Term Web Archive has conducted 'a comprehensive harvest' of federal government domains and chronicled changes from administration to administration. Initiatives like the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative and the Open Environmental Data Project are storing copies of government climate data. Another key participant: The Internet Archive, a 28-year-old nonprofit library housed in a stately former Christian Science church in San Francisco. Some 140 workers, mostly engineers, archive more than a billion URLs a day with help from partners such as Cloudflare, WordPress, Reddit and Wikipedia's parent organization, Wikimedia. The work is funded through donations and web archiving agreements with more than 1,300 schools, museums and libraries. The Archive has collected more than 700,000 terabytes of archived web pages as one of the partners working on the End of Term project, identifying more than 150,000 government pages that have gone offline since the inauguration. 'What we're seeing this time around is unprecedented, both in terms of the scope and the scale of the web-based resources that are being taken offline, and material on those pages that is being changed,' said Mark Graham, the director of the Wayback Machine, a digital repository operated through the Internet Archive. The Archive has faced difficulties in recent years, such as copyright lawsuits from record labels and book publishers seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages (the organization had a $28 million budget in 2023). It has also been targeted by cyberattacks. The Trump administration, however, has not been an obstacle. Mr. Musk has called the archive 'awesome' and 'a public good that should exist,' even as he complained about 'a ton of negative' content that concerned him. In February, government lawyers argued that the removal of information from the C.D.C. website caused limited harm because the scrubbed pages could still be viewed on the Wayback Machine. A federal judge disagreed, noting that the site does not capture every page, and the ones that are archived do not appear on search engines and can only be found using their original URL. Mr. Graham, an Air Force veteran who can rattle off URLs from memory, said he has worked seven days a week with few breaks since Mr. Trump took office. 'We've seen examples throughout history and all over the world where governments attempt to change culture, change the values of a population by changing and/or restricting access to information,' he said. 'I think we still see that to this day.'
