I also looked a little deeper and I have seen estimates that if this is enacted the way it is proposed-the WORST case for the deficit in like the next 10-15 years would balloon from 36 trillion to almost 55-60 trillion and by 2055 would come close to 100 trillion dollars.
Check out David Walker, comptroller general during several presidents going back to Bush.
With unfunded liabilities, like social security, etc. our debt has been in the 100 trillion range. Again, going back to possibly even clinton. And people think I worry about debt too much. (oh, this isn't an R or D thing. It's real, and both have done it)
The problem is that people have knee jerk beliefs.
Side note - the tariff situation...he's spouting off again. How long are we going to be going on this merry-go-round...add to that all the "dump and pump" it's creating where we basically have insider trading?
My guess is there are two possibilities.
1. If the Dems take over the House and Senate in 2026.
2. When trump finally leaves office in 2028
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
You are correct that neither party has done anything to help reduce the budget deficit. One difference is right now the party in power tells the people it cares while ballooning the budget deficit even further.
The last administration that seemed to care anything about the budget was Bill Clinton.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from barring foreign student enrollment at Harvard
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from cutting off Harvard’s enrollment of foreign students, an action the Ivy League school decried as unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands.
In its lawsuit filed earlier Friday in federal court in Boston, Harvard said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”
The temporary restraining order was granted by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs.
The Trump administration move has thrown campus into disarray days before graduation. Harvard said in the suit. International students who run labs, teach courses, assist professors and participate in Harvard sports are now left deciding whether to transfer or risk losing legal status to stay in the country, according to the filing.
The impact is heaviest at graduate schools such as the Harvard Kennedy School, where almost half the student body comes from abroad, and Harvard Business School, which is about one-third international.
Along with its impact on current students, the move blocks thousands of students who were planning to come for summer and fall classes.
Harvard said it immediately puts the school at a disadvantage as it competes for the world’s top students. Even if it regains the ability to host students, “future applicants may shy away from applying out of fear of further reprisals from the government,” the suit said.
If the government’s action stands, Harvard said, the university would be unable to offer admission to new international students for at least the next two academic years. Schools that have that certification withdrawn by the federal government are ineligible to reapply until one year afterward, Harvard said.
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students and they come from more than 100 countries.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the action Thursday, accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus. It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, contending the school had hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024.
Harvard President Alan Garber earlier this month said the university has made changes to its governance over the past year and a half, including a broad strategy to combat antisemitism, He said Harvard would not budge on its “its core, legally-protected principles” over fears of retaliation. Harvard has said it will respond at a later time to allegations first raised by House Republicans about coordination with the Chinese Communist Party.
The threat to Harvard’s international enrollment stems from an April 16 request from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who demanded that Harvard provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation.
Harvard says it provided “thousands of data points” in response to Noem’s April 16 demand. Her letter on Thursday said Harvard failed to satisfy her request, but the school said she failed to provide any further explanation.
“It makes generalized statements about campus environment and ‘anti-Americanism,’ again without articulating any rational link between those statements and the decision to retaliate against international students,” the suit said.
Harvard’s lawsuit said the administration violated the government’s own regulations for withdrawing a school’s certification.
The government can and does remove colleges from the Student Exchange and Visitor Program, making them ineligible to host foreign students on their campus. However, it’s usually for administrative reasons outlined in law, such as failing to maintain accreditation, lacking proper facilities for classes, or failing to employ qualified professional personnel.
Noem said Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces a trove of records on foreign students within 72 hours. Her updated request demands all records, including audio or video footage, of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous activity on campus.
The lawsuit is separate from the university’s earlier one challenging more than $2 billion in federal cuts imposed by the Republican administration.
You are correct that neither party has done anything to help reduce the budget deficit. One difference is right now the party in power tells the people it cares while ballooning the budget deficit even further.
The last administration that seemed to care anything about the budget was Bill Clinton.
The guy was and is a complete sleazebag, but looking at all things objectively, Clinton was a Democrat by party, but also the most fiscally conservative president in my lifetime (Reagan through 47).
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
Yeah, I liked him as a president but was ashamed he represented my country as a man. But then I also have to consider that it's not the democrats who claimed to be the moral majority or stand waving the flag preaching about family values while electing a man like trump.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Federal judge strikes down Trump executive order targeting law firm WilmerHale, calling it "unconstitutional"
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday struck down President Trump's executive order targeting D.C.-based law firm WilmerHale, declaring the order "unconstitutional" and permanently blocking the administration from enforcing it.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued his opinion Tuesday afternoon, blocking the president's efforts to restrict Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP as a part of the Trump administration's crusade against large law firms that have provoked the ire of the president and his allies.
"For the reasons set forth below, I have concluded that this order must be struck down in its entirety as unconstitutional," Leon wrote in the beginning of his order. "Indeed, to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!"
WilmerHale is the law firm where Robert Mueller worked both before and after he was special counsel.
Mr. Trump's executive order urges agencies to take steps to suspend the security clearances of WilmerHale employees, terminate contracts with the law firm and limit federal employees from engaging with WilmerHale employees, among other things. WilmerHale sued the administration, arguing the president's executive order violates the First, Fifth and Sixth Amendments, as well as the Constitution's separation of powers clause.
Leon had firm words for the administration, including when he addressed the firm's First Amendment concerns. "If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished!" Leon wrote. "Other firms facing similar executive orders have capitulated to President Trump."
The executive orders the president has signed have targeted law firms including Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, and Jenner & Block. So far, the firms have been winning their cases against the administration in court.
Trump temporarily backs down on Harvard student ban as judge sides with college
A Boston federal judge said at a hearing May 29 that she planned to issue a preliminary injunction that blocks the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard's ability to enroll foreign exchange students.
The comments from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs came as the Trump administration attempted to walk back its May 22 directive that immediately revoked Harvard's participation in a federal exchange student program.
The administration sent a letter directly to Harvard on May 22 letter revoking its ability to enroll international students on the grounds that it was "perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies."
Harvard sued the Trump administration in Massachusetts, and U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs temporarily blocked the administration from revoking the university's participation in the program. Harvard then moved forward seeking longer-term injunction on the Trump administration's actions as the lawsuit moves forward.
The Trump administration filed a document in court shortly before the May 29 hearing, saying it would provide Harvard with a 30-day process to contest its removal from the international student program.
Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 with a Juris Doctor degree, achieving the distinction of magna [censored] laude. He subsequently took a position as a Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School and was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review in the spring of 1990.
I'm not saying this has anything to do with his war on Harvard but he has fixated on things even more trivial than this.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump nominates Paul Ingrassia to lead Office of Special Counsel
President Trump nominated former right-wing podcaster Paul Ingrassia to lead the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a key role for protecting whistleblowers and enforcing laws against electioneering.
Ingrassia is serving as a White House aide and formerly was a writer for the Daily Caller and hosted the podcast Right On Point. He is also an attorney and served on the legal team representing self-described misogynist Andrew Tate.
“I am pleased to nominate Paul Ingrassia to head the United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC),” Trump wrote on his social media site.
“Paul is a highly respected attorney, writer, and Constitutional Scholar, who has done a tremendous job serving as my White House Liaison for Homeland Security.”
Ingrassia will take the reins of the OSC at a key time for the agency.
Trump fired previous special counsel Hampton Dellinger, even after he was confirmed to a five-year term for the role under President Biden.
Dellinger initially contested his firing and prevailed in court, staying in his post and forwarding challenges to Trump’s plans for widespread firings of probationary employees — those hired within the past year or two.
But an appeals court then declined to keep Dellinger in his role while the legal battle advanced, pushing him to quit.
Without Dellinger on the job, the OSC has switched positions on cases now before the Merit Systems Protection Board — another board where Trump has sought to fire leadership appointed to several-year terms.
That includes fighting to keep probationary workers in their roles.
If confirmed, Ingrassia would also be responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from campaigning for a candidate while on the job.
During the first Trump administration, officials repeatedly ran afoul of the law, in particular then-aide Kellyanne Conway, who was cited for numerous violations.
In his prior life as a conservative commentator, Ingrassia lavished praise on Tate, calling him the “embodiment of the ancient ideal of excellence” for his “sheer physical prowess” and being “sharp as a tack” and full of “willpower and spirit.”
Tate has been charged with human trafficking in Romania as well as rape in the United Kingdom.
Ingrassia has also pushed for Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has espoused white supremacist and antisemitic views, to be reinstated to Twitter, now known as X, calling it a First Amendment issue in a Substack post.
Trump's Favorite Writer: "White Men ...Most Capable of Appreciating the Fruits of Our Heritage"
Paul Ingrassia has also defended the Confederate flag and claimed "Israel/Palestine" was "another pysop"
On Truth Social, Trump frequently reposts articles from writer Paul Ingrassia, a member of the New York Young Republican Club Board of Advisors. Ingrassia boasts on his Twitter profile that he's "the author of Trump's favorite Substack."
In fact, based on the number of posts Ingrassia has received from Trump on Truth Social, he very well may be the most reposted writer on Trump's timeline, at least in the recent months, and is arguably Trump's favorite writer. According to Ingrassia's tweets, Trump has reposted Ingrassia's articles at least 8 times and sent the writer autographed items and a personal letter.
However, Trump's favorite writer has a history of problematic tweets:
White men are the "most capable of appreciating" Western Civilization
In December, Ingrassia stated that "exceptional white men are not only the builders of Western civilization, but are the ones most capable of appreciating the fruits of our heritage." The comment suggests that people who aren't white are less capable of appreciating America, and it also ignores the roles that enslaved Africans and others played in building the country.
Descendants of slaves should pay reparations to descendants of slave owners
Speaking of enslaved people, in May, Ingrassia stated he thinks descendants of slaves should be forced to pay reparations to the descendants of slave owners.
The Ukraine flag should be replaced by the Confederate flag
In April, Ingrassia stated that "the Ukraine flag should be designated as treasonous" and those flying it should be disciplined. Ingrassia wanted all the Ukraine flags to be replaced with Confederal battle flags. Ingrassia then defended the Confederate flag by claiming anyone who calls it "hate speech" is "a braindead lemming who knows zilch about American history."
Anti-Trump is a dogwhistle for "anti-white racism"
In March, Ingrassia equated those who are opposed to Trump as practicing "anti-white racism." Ingrassia sees racism in being anti-Trump.
"Team DeSantis deserves to be spot on"
In December, Ingrassia tweeted that "Team Desantis deserves to be spat on because you guys are losers and scumbags."
"Israel/Palestine" is "another pysop"
In October, Ingrassia commented on the warnings of a "global day of jihad" following the Hamas attack. Ingrassia stated that "Israel/Palestine" is "another pysop" like "covid/vaccine," Ukraine, and BLM. Ingrassia lamented that people were falling for it. According to the Center to Protect Journalists, over 23,000 people have died in the Israel/Hamas war.
Psyop is a term used by right wing to minimize an event as a distraction or a possible false flag event. Yes, there will be misinformation that spreads online, especially about war, but that doesn't mean real people didn't die and aren't dying.
The GOP frontrunner's favorite writer has awful tweets. It's looks like he's surrounding himself with the best people again, at least in his own eyes.
Acting head of FEMA said he wasn't aware U.S. has a hurricane season, sources say
Staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were confused and dispirited on Monday after the acting head of the agency said during a daily briefing that he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to three sources familiar with the meeting.
The remark was made by David Richardson at the conclusion of an 8:30 a.m. daily operational briefing typically attended by hundreds of FEMA staffers and interagency partners. Reuters was first to report the comment.
Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, has led FEMA since early May.
It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally or as a joke, but current and former employees who spoke with CBS News said the comment flustered many who genuinely believe Richardson was truly surprised to learn that hurricane season had started.
Others suggested that any joke made by the leader about the upcoming season was delivered in poor taste, offending agency staff already suffering from low morale amid a flurry of resignations, firings, leadership overhauls and polygraph tests distributed to staffers.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson later suggested the comment wasn't serious.
"Despite meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy, there is no uncertainty about what FEMA will be doing this Hurricane Season. FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people," the spokesperson said.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and lasts through November.
NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, recently predicted it will be an above-average hurricane season that could bring 13 to 19 named storms, with six to 10 becoming hurricanes and three to five strengthening into major hurricanes.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq edge higher after big ADP jobs miss
Amalya Dubrovsky, Karen Friar and Josh Schafer Updated Wed, June 4, 2025 at 11:45 AM EDT 2 min read
US stocks inched higher on Wednesday as Wall Street digested a sharp slowdown in private-sector hiring growth, with one eye on prospects for US-China trade talks as a steel tariff hike kicked in.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose above 0.1% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was just above the flat line, building on the major indexes' strong start to the week.
Stocks are trying for a third day in the green after investors welcomed unexpected signs that the labor market is holding up in the face of President Trump's tariff escalation.
Those hopes got a reality check on Wednesday, however, as the ADP National Employment Report showed private-sector hiring growth fell sharply last month. Private payrolls increased by just 37,000, the lowest in over two years and well below expectations. In another sign of tariff uncertainty weighing on economic data, the Institute for Supply Management's Services PMI registered a reading of 49.9 in May, below the 51.6 seen in April and lower than the increase to 52 economists had expected. May's data marked just the fourth time the services sector has fallen into contraction in the past five years.
Trump lashed out at Jerome Powell after seeing the ADP report early Wednesday, urging the Federal Reserve Chair to lower interest rates.
"He is unbelievable!!!" Trump posted.
Overnight, Trump's Tuesday order doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50% came into effect, with only the UK spared the jump in duties on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Wednesday is deadline day for trading partners to make "best offers" for a deal to fend off "reciprocal" tariff hikes scheduled for July.
Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs
Optimism for a US-China trade pact dimmed after Trump called President Xi "extremely hard to make a deal with" in a post to social media early Wednesday morning. The Geneva tariff truce between the two has appeared increasingly fragile amid clashes over issues such as chip exports, rare earth supplies, Taiwan, and visas.
Trump tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit and leave 10.9 million more uninsured, CBO says
By LISA MASCARO Updated 11:41 AM GMT-4, June 4, 2025 Share ▶ Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his administration
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s big bill making its way through Congress will cut taxes by $3.75 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO also estimates an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under the bill by 2034, including 1.4 million who are in the United States without legal status in state-funded programs.
The package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by nearly $1.3 trillion over that period, the budget office said.
“Republicans cry crocodile tears over the debt when Democrats are in charge — but explode it when they’re in power,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
“In the words of Elon Musk,” Boyle said, reviving the billionaire former Trump aide’s criticism of the package, “this bill is a ‘disgusting abomination.’”
The analysis comes at a crucial moment in the legislative process as Trump is pushing Congress to have the final product on his desk to sign into law by the Fourth of July. The work of the CBO, which for decades has served as the official scorekeeper of legislation in Congress, will be weighed by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-page-plus package.
Ahead of the CBO’s release, the White House and Republican leaders criticized the budget office in a preemptive campaign designed to sow doubt in its findings.
Republicans criticize the CBO White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the CBO has been “historically wrong,” and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was “flat wrong” because it underestimated the potential revenue growth from Trump’s first round of tax breaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were $1.5 trillion, or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the “burst of inflation” during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Leavitt also suggested that the CBO’s employees are biased, even though certain budget office workers face strict ethical rules — including restrictions on campaign donations and political activity — to ensure objectivity and impartiality.
“When it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth, they’ve always been wrong,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said at a press conference.
Asked later if it’s time to get rid of the CBO, Scalise did not dismiss the idea. “I think it’s very valid to raise these concerns that CBO has missed the problems that come with making false estimates,” Scalise said. “Economic growth has been their Achilles’ heel.”
Alongside the costs of the bill, the CBO had previously estimated that nearly 4 million fewer people would have food stamps each month due to the legislation’s proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP.
What’s in the bill The bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act after the president’s own catch phrase, is grinding its way through Congress, as the top priority of Republicans, who control both the House and the Senate — and face stiff opposition from Democrats at every step in the process.
Democrats call it Trump’s “big, ugly bill.”
All told, the package seeks to extend the individual income tax breaks that had been approved in 2017 but that will expire in December if Congress fails to act, while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips. It also includes a massive buildup of $350 billion for border security, deportations and national security.
To help cover the lost revenue, Republicans want to slash some federal spending. They propose phasing out green energy tax breaks put in place during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency. New work requirements for some adults up to age 65 on Medicaid and SNAP would begin in December 2026 and are expected to result in less spending on those programs.
The package also would provide a $4 trillion increase to the nation’s debt limit, which is now $36 trillion, to allow more borrowing. The Treasury Department projects the debt limit will need to be raised this summer to pay the nation’s already accrued bills.
CBO aims for impartiality Now in its 50th year, the CBO was established by law after Congress sought to assert its control, as outlined in the Constitution, over the budget process, in part by setting up the new office as an alternative to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
Staffed by some 275 economists, analysts and other employees, the CBO says it seeks to provide Congress with objective, impartial information about budgetary and economic issues.
Its current director, Phillip Swagel, a former Treasury official in Republican President George W. Bush’s administration, was reappointed to a four-year term in 2023.
___
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
"If a government official is effective in spending your money, they should be rewarded; if they waste your money, they should be fired," the post quoted Musk as saying.
Elon is beginning to sound like someone with a bit of common sense. If your senators and representatives vote 'for' this POS bill, they should be fired.
This is yet another reminder that GOP and Dems really aren't all that different.
It's just a different flavor of fiscal irresponsibility going on now.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Gabbard considering ways to revamp Trump's intelligence briefing
One idea is to make the briefing, which according to his schedule Trump has been taking less often than his predecessors, a video that looks like Fox News.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s intelligence chief is exploring ways to revamp his routine intelligence briefing in order to build his trust in the material and make it more aligned with how he likes to consume information, according to five people with direct knowledge of the discussions.
As part of that effort, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has solicited ideas from current and former intelligence officials about steps she could take to tailor the briefing, known as the President’s Daily Brief, or PDB, to Trump’s policy interests and habits.
One idea that’s been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that’s made to look and feel like a Fox News broadcast, four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
Currently, the PDB is a digital document created daily for the president and key Cabinet members and advisers that includes written text, as well as graphics and images. The material that goes into the classified briefing, and how it’s presented, can shape a president’s decision-making.
According to his public schedule, since his inauguration Trump has taken the PDB 14 times, or on average less than once a week, which is less often than his recent predecessors — including himself during his first term. An analysis of their public schedules during that same timeframe — from their inauguration through May during their first year in office — shows that former President Joe Biden received 90 PDBs; Trump received 55; and former President Barack Obama received 63.
The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions said Gabbard believes that cadence may be a reflection of Trump’s preference for consuming information in a different form than the formal briefing, as well as his distrust of intelligence officials, which stretches back to his first term, when he accused them of spying on his 2016 campaign. They also said that even if the presentation of the PDB changes, the information included would not.
Asked for comment, DNI Press Secretary Olivia Coleman said in a statement,“This so-called ‘reporting’ is laughable, absurd, and flat-out false. In true fake news fashion, NBC is publishing yet another anonymously sourced false story.”
A source familiar with the DNI’s internal deliberations said that during Gabbard’s confirmation process in the Senate, “there was bipartisan consensus that the PDB was in need of serious reform. DNI Gabbard is leading that reform and is ensuring the President receives timely, relevant, objective intelligence reporting.”
In a statement, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle referred to this reporting as “libelous garbage from unnamed sources,” and said, “President Trump has assembled a world-class intelligence team who he is constantly communicating with and receiving real time updates on all pressing national security issues. Ensuring the safety and security of the American people is President Trump’s number one priority.”
It is not unusual for the PDB to be tailored to individual presidents. The PDB’s presentation was adjusted for Trump in his first term to include less text and more pictures and graphics. Gabbard has discussed more extensive changes, according to the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. It’s unclear how far her effort will go, but the people with direct knowledge of it said she has entertained some unconventional ideas.
One idea that has been discussed is to transform the PDB so it mirrors a Fox News broadcast, according to four of the people with direct knowledge of the discussions. Under that concept as it has been discussed, the national intelligence director’s office could hire a Fox News producer to produce it and one of the network’s personalities to present it; Trump, an avid Fox News viewer, could then watch the broadcast PDB whenever he wanted.
A new PDB could include not only graphics and pictures but also maps with animated representations of exploding bombs, similar to a video game, another one of the people with knowledge of the discussions said.
“The problem with Trump is that he doesn’t read,” said another person with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions. “He’s on broadcast all the time.”
The people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations.
U.S. intelligence officials have created videos in the past to present information to presidents, including profiles of world leaders, for instance. Hollywood legend Charlton Heston narrated instructional films about highly classified topics for the Energy Department and the U.S. intelligence and military community. The films included information about nuclear weapons, requiring Heston to hold the highest relevant security clearance possible for at least six years.
Former intelligence officials who worked in the first Trump administration said Trump preferred to be briefed verbally and to ask questions but would not read memos or other lengthy written material.
During Trump’s first term, the PDB evolved into a one-page outline of topics with a set of graphics, presented verbally by an intelligence officer about twice a week, according to a history of presidential briefings by John Helgerson.
To accommodate Trump’s style and preferences, Vice President Mike Pence told the briefers to “lean forward on maps,” according to Helgerson’s book.
But there has not been a broadcast or cable news-style PDB presentation. While the PDB has gone through various transformations under different presidents since it was created in 1946, it has largely been in a written format that was then briefed to the president verbally.
Gabbard has also discussed tailoring some of the content in the PDB to Trump’s interests, such as including more information on economic and trade issues and less routine focus on the war in Ukraine, according to three of the people with direct knowledge of the PDB discussions.
Including intelligence on issues the president particularly cares about is not unusual. The PDB for Biden included gender and climate change issues, one of those three people said.
“You shift with the priorities of the administration,” that person said, adding that because of Trump’s distrust of the intelligence community, getting him to embrace the PDB “is a very uphill fight.”
As director of national intelligence, Gabbard oversees and approves the PDB. A large staff of analysts and other employees at the CIA compiles the PDB, creating detailed text, graphics and videos based on the latest intelligence gathered by America’s spy agencies.
NBC News has reported that Gabbard plans to move the office that prepares the PDB from the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to the national intelligence director’s office a few miles away in McLean — apparently to bolster her office’s role in presenting intelligence to the president.
The ODNI would need to expand its staff and acquire digital tools and other infrastructure to assemble the PDB, one of the five people familiar with the discussions said.
If the PDB were to be converted to a video for Trump, it would still most likely be provided in something like its current form to other top administration officials who receive it, that person said.
Because he has been taking the PDB a little less than once a week on average, Trump currently receives a product that one of the people familiar with the PDB discussions described as the “best of” highlights from the past week, in addition to anything new that day.
Discussions about potential changes to the PDB come amid questions about whether Gabbard may politicize the intelligence process, especially after her chief of staff, Joe Kent, asked analysts to revise an assessment on a Venezuelan criminal gang that appeared to undermine Trump’s immigration policy, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.
Two senior officials who led the National Intelligence Council were recently fired after the initial intelligence assessment contradicted Trump’s assertions that the Tren de Aragua cartel was operating under the direction of Venezuela’s regime, led by Nicolás Maduro. Trump cited claims about the regime’s purported relationship with the cartel as his rationale for invoking a rarely used 1798 law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport people suspected of being gang members without standard due process.
It’s common for intelligence leaders to put their own staffs in place, but the move concerned congressional Democrats who already questioned some of Gabbard’s efforts to have tighter control over what intelligence reaches Trump.
“Absent evidence to justify the firings, the workforce can only conclude that their jobs are contingent on producing analysis that is aligned with the president’s political agenda, rather than truthful and apolitical,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
An administration official previously told NBC News that the two officials were fired “because they were unable to provide unbiased intelligence.”
Trump only sees bias intelligence as being intelligence. This sounds like something snowflake parents would come up with to get Little Johnny to do his homework.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
