Elect a Clown, Expect the Circus

lousubcap

Tuesday Clown Show summary:

Trump officially nominated his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general on Monday. Blanche has been in the role in an acting capacity since Trump removed Pam Bondi from the post in April. It’s unclear if Republican senators will back the nomination or if Blanche will face a difficult confirmation process. Kit Maher and Sarah Ferris report for CNN. 

Trump’s actions in California’s political races serve as a preview for how he might cast doubt on election outcomes in the midterms this fall, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman report for the New York Times. Once all the votes were counted in Los Angeles’ mayoral race, reality television star Spencer Pratt had lost his second-place spot, meaning he would no longer advance to November’s runoff. Pratt is a Republican and so his loss upset Trump, who took to social media to suggest such a result simply wasn’t possible. Even if Trump can’t change the rules around how people vote, “he can sow substantial chaos simply by trying to convince voters that the results were fraudulent,” Swan and Haberman write. 

An Indian energy empire was being targeted by the Trump administration’s tariff campaign until it made an enormous investment in an obscure Texas company with ties to Donald Trump Jr. The details of the deal “reveal the role the president’s son has played in a theme of Trump’s second term: overseas investors with interests before the administration putting money into the Trump family’s business interests.” Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica. "

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Wednesday Clown Show summary:

Thomas Lind, head of policy in the Office of the National Cyber Director, plans to leave government soon to spend more time with family, according to two sources. Two other White House officials closely involved in the Trump administration’s AI policy discussions also made plans to leave following Trump’s AI executive order. Lind’s former deputy on policy, Alexandra Seymour, exited last week, and Sriram Krishnan, the White House’s senior policy adviser for AI, plans to leave later this month. Others working on cyber policy are looking to exit due to low morale, according to one industry official. John Sakellariadis and Sophia Cai report for POLITICO.  

Trump administration officials, including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, have told the Center for AI Standards and Innovation to stop issuing public reports on AI models until the recent AI executive order is implemented, sources said. Amrith Ramkumar reports for the Wall Street Journal. "

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Thursday Clown Show summary:

According to two officials, Bill Pulte told outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday that her tenure would end immediately. However, after speaking with Trump, Gabbard's departure date was set for June 19 - earlier than her originally planned June 30 exit, but not effective that day. Marc Caputo reports for Axios.  

The FBI has seized more than a dozen websites allegedly used by overseas operatives linked to the Chinese government to recruit current and former U.S. officials with security clearances, offering paid “consulting” and analyst jobs while seeking sensitive or potentially classified information. Holmes Lybrand reports for CNN."

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Friday Clown Show summary:

Trump said yesterday that he would nominate the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, Jay Clayton, to be the next director of national intelligence, following pushback from lawmakers over his choice of Bill Pulte for interim director. Trump, in a social media post, encouraged the Senate to confirm Clayton “as soon as possible.” Clayton was recommended for the post by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to a source. Julian E. Barnes, Jonah E. Bromwich, Devlin Barrett, and Benjamin Weiser report for the New York Times. 

Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard yesterday revoked two Biden-era intelligence reports on the illness known as Havana Syndrome, saying they did not meet analytic standards, according to a memo. The reports, which concluded that involvement by foreign adversaries was unlikely, included selective exclusion of intelligence and evidence, the memo said. Yoko Kubota reports for the Wall Street Journal.  

Trump and his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments, according to sources. “It should be done because I did nothing wrong,” Trump said when asked about the resolution in a phone call this week with the Wall Street Journal. “It was a rigged deal—it was a whole rigged situation.” Annie Linskey, Olivia Beavers, and Natalie Andrews report."

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Monday Clown Show summary:

The Trump administration on Friday directed Anthropic to suspend access to Mythos 5, and its consumer version, Fable 5, for foreign companies, governments, and individuals. Hours later, Anthropic disclosed in a blog post that it had disabled access for all customers. Anthropic said the directive did not explain the national security concerns that prompted it. But the company added that the government had said that it became aware of a method to “jailbreak,” or bypass, security restrictions on Fable 5 intended to limit a customer’s ability to abuse the product for hacking or other potential harms. Anthropic countered that the fears about the jailbreak method were overblown. Dustin Volz, Julian E. Barnes, and Ana Swanson report for the New York Times. 

According to a source, the White House imposed export controls on Mythos partly over suspicions that a China-linked group had accessed it. An Anthropic spokesperson said the White House did not raise Chinese access to Mythos in its conversations around the Fable jailbreak and export controls. Another source said Amazon informed the government about the jailbreak, and its CEO, Andy Jassy, had been in contact with members of the administration about it. Others said multiple technology firms had spoken to the White House about the security issues. Reed Albergotti reports for SEMAFOR.  

A group of cybersecurity notables yesterday signed a letter calling for the administration to lift the export controls. “This action has taken the best models away from defenders, created market uncertainty, and risked America’s AI leadership without any real risk to justify it,” the letter said. Amrith Ramkumar and Robert McMillan report for the Wall Street Journal.  

Trump on Saturday said that he would nominate James M. McDonald to be the next U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, replacing Jay Clayton. Maggie Haberman, Benjamin Weiser, and Alan Feuer report for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

Tuesday Clown Show summary:

Anthropic staff yesterday met with senior Trump administration officials in person for the first time since Anthropic pulled its latest model from the market on Friday following a federally imposed export ban, two administration officials said. Anthropic reportedly gave a technical presentation explaining its cybersecurity safeguards and testing methods in hopes of moving past the restrictions. A senior White House official said it would take longer than a few days to reach a resolution that eases the government’s Friday action. Cheyenne Haslett and Sophia Cai report for POLITICO."

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Wednesday Clown Show summary:

Trump announced this morning that he was canceling a planned Senate hearing to review his nomination for director of national intelligence, Jay Clayton, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence,” Trump said. Trump tied the move to his push for the Save America Act, saying he would not support renewal of the FISA surveillance program unless Congress also advances his voting-restrictions bill. Dan Diamond and Victoria Crew report for the Washington Post.  

Trump previously said no taxpayer money would be spent on his White House ballroom construction project, which he claimed would cost up to $400 million. However, a detailed summary prepared for the White House by the contractor more than three weeks before Trump’s March comments estimated that construction would cost $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers, according to a copy of the estimate seen by the Washington Post. By the time Trump made his comments, the federal government had approved more than a dozen payments, totaling tens of millions of dollars in public funds. Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O’Connell report. 

A top Secret Service official said the agency deliberately kept an investigation into an alleged plot to attack the June 14 UFC event at the White House secret because the case was still active. The agency criticized FBI Director Kash Patel for publicly announcing the thwarted plot on social media yesterday before investigators were ready, arguing that the Secret Service - not the FBI - led the operation. Josh Meyer reports for USA Today. 

Federal prosecutors charged at least five people in connection with the alleged plot, in which the group hoped to detonate explosive-laden drones over the White House, causing the crowd to scramble, and then shoot into the crowd as people fled, according to court records. Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barbe report for the Wall Street Journal.  

The Trump administration yesterday announced plans to move two major functions of the Education Department to other parts of the government. The changes move programs for disabled students into the Health and Human Services Department and the enforcement of civil rights laws in schools to the Justice Department.  Michael C. Bender and Dana Goldstein report for the New York Times."