DHS Official Placed on Leave After Adding Reporter to Sensitive Email Chain

Julia Ornedo
Thu, March 27, 2025 


Eric Thayer/Getty Images

It turns out there are consequences for mistakenly leaking information about sensitive government operations to journalists.

A longtime Department of Homeland Security employee was placed on administrative leave after accidentally sending unclassified details of an immigration operation to a journalist in late January, according to current and former DHS officials who spoke to NBC News. The staffer was also reportedly told last week that the agency plans to revoke her security clearance.

The DHS employee, who declined to speak to NBC, told colleagues that she mistakenly added a reporter from a conservative media outlet to an email thread detailing information about a forthcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Denver.

DHS officials said the information in the email was not classified but considered law enforcement sensitive because it included details about when the operation was going to take place and possible locations of targets.

When the employee realized her mistake, she called the reporter, who agreed not to disclose the information, officials said. The ICE operation was carried out without a hitch.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Tom Homan are seen outside the White House in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025. / REUTERS

But it was too late. Another person on the email thread flagged the error to DHS leadership just as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was making employees take lie detector tests to weed out leakers. Border czar Tom Homan earlier blamed media leaks for fewer-than-expected arrests in an operation targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The DHS employee was placed on leave pending an investigation and asked to take a polygraph test, officials said. She was reportedly notified that the agency intended to revoke her security clearance, which could lock her out of future homeland security jobs. She has 30 days to appeal.

It’s a far cry from the Trump administration’s response to a massive intelligence leak involving top national security officials who were discussing a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen without knowing that The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg got inadvertently added to the group chat.

None of the officials in the group chat—including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Vice President JD Vance—have faced repercussions over the leak. President Donald Trump has assigned Waltz to probe his own mistake of adding Goldberg to the group chat.

Former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser told NBC that the DHS employee was known for being “mission-focused” and “apolitical.” He called it a “staggering hypocrisy” that national security officials did not face the same consequences.

“Targeting a career official who dedicated her service to protecting public safety and enforcing the law while excusing political appointees who leaked sensitive war plans shows this administration punishes integrity and protects recklessness,” he said. “This isn’t just a double standard—it’s reckless and dangerous.”

Mary McCord, a national security analyst who used to work in the Justice Department, told NBC that the DHS and group chat incidents should be handled the same way.


“Both of these are examples of carelessness in the handling of highly sensitive information, the disclosure of which could put U.S. government employees or military members in danger,” she said.

The Daily Beast has reached out to DHS and the White House for comment.


A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email

Julia Ainsley
Thu, March 27, 2025 


Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, D.C.


A federal worker accidentally includes a journalist on a detailed message in advance of a government operation.

While that sounds like the case of The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief being added to a group Signal chat by Trump’s national security adviser Michael Waltz, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed military attack plans in Yemen, it’s not.

It’s what happened to a longtime Department of Homeland Security employee who told colleagues she inadvertently sent unclassified details of an upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation to a journalist in late January, according to former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser, one former DHS official and one current DHS official. (The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they do not want to endanger their current or future career opportunities.)

But unlike Waltz and Hegseth, who both remain in their jobs, the career DHS employee was put on administrative leave and told late last week that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has largely rallied around Waltz and Hegseth, with Trump on Wednesday calling it “all a witch hunt.”

The episode involving the career DHS employee has not been previously reported. Experts say it raises questions about unequal punishment for inadvertent leakers in the Trump administration.

Mary McCord, a former top official in the Justice Department’s national security division, which investigates the mishandling or leaking of classified information, said the two cases should be treated the same way.

"Both of these are examples of carelessness in the handling of highly sensitive information, the disclosure of which could put U.S. government employees or military members in danger," added McCord, who is now a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. "We should expect the Signal chat breach to be taken at least as seriously" as the DHS employee's breach.

The DHS employee who was put on leave did not speak to NBC News. The officials who did speak didn't want to identify her out of fear she would face retaliation from members of the public who are pro-immigration enforcement.

The DHS employee told colleagues she accidentally added a reporter from a conservative Washington-based print publication to an email that included information about upcoming ICE operations in the Denver area. The officials said the information was not classified but considered law enforcement sensitive because it included the time of day for the operation and possible home locations where targets could be identified.

Realizing her mistake immediately, the employee called the reporter who agreed not to disclose the information, the officials said.

The ICE operation took place without incident, the officials said.

But another person on the email group flagged the blunder to higher-ups at DHS at a time when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan were blaming leaks to the media for lower-than-expected arrest numbers during ICE roundups, the officials said.

Days later, the employee was placed on leave pending an investigation, the officials said. She was asked to take a polygraph test and surrender her personal cellphone, which she declined. She was then notified that the agency intends to revoke her security clearance, the officials said, which could keep her from working in the homeland security space again.

The employee has 30 days to appeal the revocation, one official said.

The employee has served in various agencies across DHS since President George W. Bush’s administration, including during the entirety of Trump’s first term, the officials said.

A DHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.

In the Signal incident, Hegseth shared details of upcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, according to text messages shared by The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who was included in the chat.

Even though Hegseth provided the precise timing of planned fighter jet and drone launches and when bombs would hit their intended targets, the Trump administration has said no classified material was shared in the chat.

Houser, the former ICE chief of staff, said the employee had a reputation for being "mission-focused" and "apolitical."

"Targeting a career official who dedicated her service to protecting public safety and enforcing the law — while excusing political appointees who leaked sensitive war plans — shows this administration punishes integrity and protects recklessness. That doesn’t just betray her, it weakens every public servant who risks their career to do the right thing," Houser said.

"It's staggering hypocrisy," he added. Houser noted that the career official was put on leave for sharing information that was not classified, "while political appointees leak classified war plans and face zero consequences. This isn’t just a double standard — it’s reckless and dangerous."

One former DHS official told NBC News that the Trump administration should review its handling of the case of the DHS career employee who accidentally emailed ICE plans in light of the news of the Signal chat involving Waltz, Hegseth and Goldberg.

"Career civilians and military suffer severe penalties for inadvertent mistakes significantly less serious," the former DHS official said. "The inconsistency is appalling."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

German outlet reportedly finds Trump officials’ private contact info online

Ashleigh Fields
Wed, March 26, 2025 

THE HILL

German outlet reportedly finds Trump officials’ private contact info online


The German news outlet Der Spiegel reportedly found private contact information online for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and national security adviser Mike Waltz, who were involved in the Signal group chat security breach.

The Der Spiegel report said each individual’s email address and phone number were readily available on the dark web.

Hegseth’s mobile number and active email address were sent to Der Spiegel by a commercial provider of personal information for marketing purposes.

A search of the leaked user data revealed that the email address and, in some cases, even the password associated with it, could be found in more than 20 publicly accessible leaks and traced back to a WhatsApp account for the Defense secretary that was recently deleted, according to the outlet.

Waltz’s contact information was obtained by the same unnamed provider and was linked to his Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal accounts, in addition to several passwords for the adviser’s email address in leaked databases, Der Spiegel wrote.

Gabbard’s email address was found on Reddit and WikiLeaks with connections to her WhatsApp and Signal profiles. Ten other leaks revealed the same ping-backs.

The Hill reached out to Hegseth, Waltz and Gabbard for comment.

The discovery comes as legislators call on Hegseth and Waltz to resign over mistakenly adding The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat in which plans for U.S. airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen were laid out.

President Trump described the breach as a “glitch” earlier in the week, after admitting Waltz learned a lesson about best practices for virtual communication. However, Trump also suggested the media was embellishing concerns about defense conversations on Signal’s platform, after some reporters accused the administration of brushing over the security breach.

“I don’t know about downplaying. The press up-plays it. I think it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “The attacks were unbelievably successful, and that’s ultimately what you should be talking about, I think.”

Waltz and Hegseth maintain that classified information was not shared and are unsure how the journalist was added to the messaging chain.

“I didn’t see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else,” Waltz told Fox News.


“Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out,” he added.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 

Opinion

Top Trump Security Advisers’ Private Info Now Available Online

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling
Wed, March 26, 2025 




If Mike Waltz knows anything about national security, he sure isn’t acting like it.

As it turns out, adding a journalist to a Signal channel in which top Trump administration officials discussed imminent airstrikes in Yemen isn’t the only security breach that’s occurred under Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

The German newspaper Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that several senior administration officials had their personal data—including account passwords, cell phone numbers, and email addresses—listed online.

Some of the compromised Cabinet members include Waltz, as well as National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The foreign publication was able to track down their information via commercial search engines as well as databases composed of hacked customer data.

“Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use,” reported Der Spiegel.

Through those details, reporters were further able to uncover Dropbox accounts and personal profiles on running apps that track users’ health data. Reporters were also able to locate WhatsApp and, ultimately, Signal accounts for some members of the administration.

“Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices,” the weekly news journal reported. “It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz, and Hegseth discussed a military strike.”

Former intelligence officials are warning that America’s adversaries “undoubtedly” already have the chat records. That’s thanks to the Trump administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was physically in Russia when he was added to the chat on the retail app. In an interview with MeidasTouch Tuesday, former national security adviser Susan Rice said that Witkoff’s use of Signal while in Russia would have basically hand-delivered news of the attack to the Kremlin hours before it took place.

“Russians have whatever Witkoff was doing or saying on his personal cell phone,” Rice told the network.

But Witkoff wasn’t the only group chat member traveling abroad at the time. During a House Intelligence Committee hearing Wednesday, Gabbard admitted that she had been in the Indo-Pacific at the time that the strike was being coordinated over Signal, though despite her sudden recollection, she could not remember which country specifically she had been in before Yemen was hit.

She was reportedly in transit from Thailand to India on March 15, the day of the strike. Days later, Gabbard delivered a keynote address at the Raisina Dialogue, according to a readout from her office.




Trump’s Top Aides Suffer Another Series of Embarrassing Data Blunders

Yasmeen Hamadeh
Wed, March 26, 2025 

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images


When it rains, it pours—at least that’s the case for Mike Waltz and the country’s top national security officials this week.

After President Donald Trump’s national security adviser accidentally added a prominent journalist to a private Signal chat with more than a dozen top government officials, it emerged that he had made another digital blunder: leaving his Venmo friends list set to public.

And that’s not all. German news magazine Der Spiegel also reported Wednesday that it had found email addresses, mobile phone numbers, and even passwords belonging to a number of top Trump officials online. The information on Waltz, Defense Secretary Pege Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was reportedly available via commercial data-search services and showed up in several recent dumps of hacked data that ended up online.

Der Spiegel added that “most” of the numbers and emails it found appeared to still be in use, with some tied to accounts on social media sites like LinkedIn, Instagram, or messaging service WhatsApp.

The incidents this week have shone a massive spotlight on the administration’s seemingly shoddy data security practices, just a few months into Trump’s tenure.

Wired was the first to report Wednesday that Waltz still had a public Venmo profile—and that it was filled with prominent journalists.

The outlet claimed that the account, which used the name “Michael Waltz” and had a profile picture with Waltz in it, included a public 328-person friend list. Members on the list apparently ranged from media figures and journalists to colleagues within the Trump administration, like U.S. National Security Council staffer Walker Barrett.

Susie Wiles listens as Donald Trump speaks after being declared the winner during an election night watch party at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida in the early hours of Wednesday, Nov. 06, 2024. / Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesMore

One notable member of the list was White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who seemingly also had her own public 182-person friend list filled with names like U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Wired reports that none of Waltz’s or Wiles’ financial transactions were public on Venmo, but that it seemed that they had simply not selected to make their friend list private.

Though the White House apparently declined to comment on the Venmo accounts to Wired, the outlet claimed that Waltz’s and Wiles’ profiles went private shortly after they reached out.

In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “Passwords and accounts associated with these reported leaks are as much as a decade old, and passwords have long been changed.”

On Monday, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg published a viral report detailing the brief period he was inadvertently added to the Signal group chat, which existed to discuss then-upcoming military operations in Yemen.

The stunning incident and its aftermath has led many pundits and politicians on both sides of the aisle to question the Trump administration’s handling of potentially classified materials and digital security.

Federal judge to consider releasing immigration activist who took refuge in churches

COLLEEN SLEVIN
Thu, March 27, 2025 
AP

File - Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in a church to avoid immigration authorities for the past three months, smiles after leaving the church early Friday, May 12, 2017, in downtown Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

File - Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican immigrant who has lived in a church to avoid immigration authorities for the past three months, speaks after leaving the church early Friday, May 12, 2017, in downtown Denver.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

DENVER (AP) — A federal judge in Denver is set to hear arguments Friday over whether an immigration and labor activist who took refuge in Colorado churches to avoid deportation during the first Trump administration should be freed from detention.

Jeanette Vizguerra was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 17 and is being held at its immigration detention facility in suburban Denver.

ICE says Vizguerra entered the U.S. from Mexico illegally in 1997 and is being held pending deportation. In a statement shortly after her arrest, ICE said the mother of four has a final deportation order and “has received legal due process in U.S. immigration court.”

But her lawyers say the order is not valid. They have filed a legal challenge asking U.S. District Judge Nina Wang to order federal authorities to release her.

Wang issued an order halting Vizguerra's deportation while the legal challenge plays out.

ICE began trying to deport Vizguerra in 2009 during the Obama administration after she was pulled over in suburban Denver and found to have a fraudulent Social Security card with her own name and birth date but someone else’s number, according to a 2019 lawsuit she brought against ICE. Vizguerra did not know the number belonged to someone else at the time, the lawsuit said.

While a judge issued an order of removal against her, she also was given the option to leave the country voluntarily, which she ultimately did to try to see her mother before she died in 2012, her lawyers said in the current petition before Wang.

Since Vizguerra left on her own before later re-entering the U.S., there is no removal order for ICE to reinstate, the petition says.

It is not clear how soon Wang could rule. But she has noted the case raises “complex issues” about immigration law and she could not find a similar case.

Trump officials pause some green card applications in immigration crackdown

Adam Gabbatt
Wed, March 26, 2025 


The Department of Homeland Security cited Trump’s January order when announcing the pause.Photograph: Epoxydude/Getty Images/fStop


The Trump administration has paused the processing of certain green card applications as the US government continues to implement a hardline immigration agenda.

CBS News reported that approved refugees are part of the processing freeze, as the White House enacts an effort to more aggressively vet immigrants to the US.

The move is likely to leave some immigrants granted refuge in the US in limbo, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claiming the pause is necessary to carry out two executive actions on immigration signed by Donald Trump.


“USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] is placing a temporary pause on finalizing certain Adjustment of Status applications pending the completion of additional screening and vetting to identify potential fraud, public safety, or national security concerns, in alignment” with Trump’s orders, DHS told CBS News.

Adjustment of status is the process by which individuals can apply to become a lawful permanent resident, or green-card holder, in the US.

The DHS cited a presidential action issued by Trump in January, which ordered the federal government to ensure people seeking admission to the US “are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible”.

It comes as a federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday blocked immigration officials from detaining Yunseo Chung, a Columbia University student and legal permanent resident the Trump administration is trying to deport for taking part in Gaza solidarity protests.


Chung, 21, has lived in the US since she was seven years old. She filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, arguing the government was “attempting to use immigration enforcement as a bludgeon to suppress speech that they dislike”.

Chung’s case has echoes of the ongoing detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and green-card holder who took part in protests at Columbia, and experts told the Guardian that there was evidence that people of color are being targeted for deportation.

At least five students and academics of color who participated in protests in support of Palestine at US universities have been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as a part of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on Palestinian support.

I was laid off after Musk took over Twitter. Here's my advice for federal workers cut by DOGE.

Amir Shevat
Fri, March 28, 2025 
Amir Shevat was laid off from his role as head of product at Twitter in 2022.Amir Shevat

Amir Shevat was laid off from his job at Twitter after Elon Musk took over the company in late 2022.


He said Musk's mass layoffs were impossible to prepare for and left employees feeling demoralized.


Shevat said workers shouldn't rely on assumptions of job stability when dealing with Musk.

In 2019, I co-founded a company that was acquired by Twitter in 2021. As part of the deal, I became the head of product of the Twitter Developer Platform.

When Elon Musk took over Twitter in late 2022, I was among the thousands of employees who were unceremoniously laid off. I was a senior leader with more than 200 who relied on me, and more than 90% of us got laid off overnight.


It was a chaotic, disorienting experience that sent shockwaves through the tech industry. Now, as Musk's influence extends to the federal sector through DOGE-related budget cuts, government employees find themselves facing similar uncertainty.

Having lived through this before, I want to share what I learned and how those affected can navigate their own layoffs.
Nothing is predictable with Musk in charge

One of the biggest lessons from the Twitter layoffs was that nothing is truly predictable when Musk is in charge.

From abrupt policy shifts to sudden mass terminations, the lack of clear communication after Musk took over made it impossible to prepare. I personally struggled to manage the uncertainty and zero communication, especially being responsible for a large team who were worried about their livelihoods. I communicated what I knew to my team and tried to reassure them.

From my experience, it's important to stay informed, be proactive, and don't rely on assumptions about job stability.
Start networking and assess your skills

The best thing I did after being laid off was immediately tap into my network. Tech workers are accustomed to layoffs, and the ecosystem is built on resilience and community support. A day after the layoffs, I created an online spreadsheet of companies looking to hire and connected a lot of laid-off Twitter people to new companies, helping them to get interviews and find jobs.

Federal employees may not have the same ingrained network effect, but now is the time to start connecting. Building a professional support system, whether through LinkedIn, industry groups, or alumni associations, can make the transition to finding a new job easier.

After Twitter, I had to reconsider where I wanted to go next. Was I going to stay in Big Tech? Join a startup? Start my own venture? Layoffs, while painful, provide an opportunity to reset and explore new paths. For me, that path led me to become a startup investor.


Federal workers should consider whether their skills translate to the private sector, freelance work, or new government roles. Upskilling through courses or certifications can also be a smart move.
Offboarding can be chaotic, so prepare now

Many Twitter employees, myself included, had assumed that even in the worst-case scenario, we'd receive some level of structured transition support. That assumption was naive.

Severance was inconsistent, and access to internal systems — including crucial financial and tax documents — was cut off almost immediately. For example, before I was laid off, I managed to keep a record of all my performance reviews, which some employers can request for new employees. After I got laid off, I lost access to the performance system without any warning. Many of us at Twitter filed for arbitration following the harsh firing process.

My advice? Start preparing now. Build an emergency fund, document all your work history, and ensure you have personal copies of any critical records with the permission of your employer. Do not assume an orderly offboarding process.
Take care of your mental well-being

The psychological toll of being laid off is real. At Twitter, we went from being part of a vibrant, mission-driven company to feeling discarded overnight. The abrupt shift was demoralizing, and many struggled with a sense of lost identity.

For me, this meant many sleepless nights, thinking about my team and what I could have done to support them. I tried to help my people find new jobs, as I still felt responsible for them. It took at least six months for me to slowly find peace.

Federal employees affected by DOGE cuts may experience something similar, especially if they have dedicated years to public service. It's important to separate personal worth from employment status. Seeking support from peers, career coaches, or even therapy can help process the transition.
Don't burn bridges, but start considering your options

Musk's approach at Twitter made it clear that loyalty is not reciprocated in a corporate setting. Musk's actions made it feel like he didn't care about how much an employee cared about the company, how hard they worked, or even what their contribution or personal situation was. Entire businesses within Twitter, like mine, were gutted.

If layoffs seem likely, start exploring alternatives now rather than reacting later. However, it's also important not to burn bridges — maintaining professional relationships can lead to future opportunities.

When Musk took over Twitter in late October, we could've stopped working, but we kept building until we were laid off a few weeks later because we loved the Twitter developer platform.

Building this trust with my developer community throughout my career led me to my next step: investing in developers and entrepreneurs around the world.
Focus on the future

Being laid off from Twitter was a jarring experience, but it forced me to rethink my career and ultimately led me to new, fulfilling opportunities. While the DOGE cuts present a challenging time for federal workers, there is a path forward.

People at Twitter who got laid off found new jobs with great companies, and so will you. Whether it's in government or the private sector, good people are always needed. By staying proactive, adaptable, and connected, I think those impacted can navigate this transition and emerge stronger on the other side. I know I did, and you can do it too.

Business Insider

Musk’s 'hack-and-slash tactics' may 'trigger' a 'debt ceiling' crisis — and a 'massive recession'

Elon Musk with Argentinean President Javier Milei at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland on February 20, 2025 (Gage Skidmore)

Alex Henderson

March 27, 2025
ALTERNET

After winning the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump called for the United States' debt ceiling to either be paused or eliminated. But the debt ceiling, two months into Trump's second presidency, remains. And the Bipartisan Policy Center is warning that the U.S. will default on its $36 trillion national debt sometime between mid-July and early October if Congress doesn't act.

In an opinion column published on March 26, MSNBC's Hayes Brown details the role that the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could play in a debt ceiling default.

"Now, the debt ceiling deadline is looming," Brown explains, "but no one in Congress or the White House seems particularly worried about it. Indeed, the Department of Government Efficiency's hack-and-slash tactics and congressional infighting may have brought the default date closer. If default does happen, the economic fallout would be more likely to trigger a massive recession than the 'Golden Age' that Trump has promised…. At some point, on a day ominously known as the 'X Date,' the U.S. government will be unable to borrow more money to cover its existing bills."

The MSNBC columnist continues, "With the full faith and credit of the United States no longer an ironclad guarantee, the resulting default would wreak havoc on the financial markets."

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is among the many federal government agencies that the Trump Administration and DOGE are targeting for mass layoffs.

Brown notes that the Bipartisan Policy Center warned, "If collections from tax season fall far short of expectations, there is a potential for heightened X Date risk in early June."

The MSNBC columnist argues, "Here’s the thing, though: While the Bipartisan Policy Center called a revenue shortfall 'quite unlikely,' the odds this year are higher than might otherwise be the case. The Washington Post reported last week that 'Treasury Department and IRS officials are predicting a decrease of more than 10 percent in tax receipts by the April 15 deadline compared with 2024.' That would be equal to about $500 billion in missing revenue, or over half of the entire government's nondefense discretionary spending…. There are a few likely reasons for the reduced tax revenue, including the destruction Trump and Musk have caused inside the IRS since January."

Brown adds, "While the staffing cuts under discussion wouldn't be implemented until the April 15 tax filing deadline, almost 20 percent of IRS workers could be fired in the month after it…. Congress will have to deal with this issue before an unprecedented default devastates any confidence in the American economy. The only certain thing is that Trump won’t make it easy to avoid catastrophe."

Hayes Brown's full MSNBC column is available at this link.

CRUSADER SLOGAN

Open declaration': Hegseth slammed over new tattoo seen as insult 'to the Muslim world'

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth trains with Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Sailors at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman, Hawaii, U.S. March 25, 2025. U.S. Navy/Petty Officer 1st Class Joseph Rolfe/Handout via REUTERS


Carl Gibson

March 28, 2025
ALTERNET

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was seen with a new tattoo earlier this week while visiting U.S. troops in Hawaii. And it's causing a stir among the Muslim community due to what some view as an implied message.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Hegseth first showed off the new tattoo on his left bicep when training with sailors at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman on Tuesday. Hegseth's tattoo is known as a "kafir (كافر)," which translates to "infidel" or "disbeliever" in Arabic. Journalist Tam Hussein, who is Muslim, observed that the kafir tattoo is directly under his "Deus Vult" tattoo, which is a slogan from the Crusades that translates to "God wills it."

"To the Muslim world the tattoo will be seen as an open declaration of Hegseth’s enmity towards them," Hussein tweeted.

However, journalist Dilly Hussain, of the United Kingdom-based 5 Pillars outlet that covers Muslim issues, opined that Hegseth's tattoo tracks with what he viewed as outwardly hostile American sentiment toward Muslims around the world.

"Muslims should not be offended or shocked at Pete Hegseth’s new 'kafir' tattoo or his crusader 'Deus Vult' tattoo. He’s merely displaying America’s foreign policy and mindset to Islam and Muslims," he tweeted. "Where have you been for the last 25 years?"

The defense secretary's tattoos have gotten him in trouble in the past. When he was in the National Guard in 2021, he was removed from duty at former President Joe Biden's inauguration over the "Jerusalem Cross" (also known as the "Crusader's Cross") tattoo on his chest, which is a Christian nationalist symbol that features one large cross surrounded by four smaller crosses. The large cross is meant to represent the strength of Christianity, while the four other crosses represent the spread of Christianity to the four corners of the earth.

"Members of my unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo I have, which is a religious tattoo," Hegseth told Fox News last year.

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Plan to Share Tax Data With ICE


Watchdogs warn of surveillance expansion as ICE and the IRS finalize a data-sharing deal targeting undocumented workers.

By Mike Ludwig , 

Truthout

March 26, 2025

President Donald Trump meets with U.S. ambassadors in the cabinet room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 2025.MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images

As leading Democrats in Congress demand the Trump administration publicly release its reported plan to use taxpayer data to track down and deport undocumented workers, watchdog groups are warning that the surveillance state is being stretched beyond the limits of federal law.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly nearing an agreement that would allow federal immigration police to use private taxpayer data for confirming names and addresses of people they suspect are undocumented. Under the agreement, which has been under negotiation for weeks amid a chaotic staffing shakeup at the IRS and was first reported by the Washington Post, top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials would send names and addresses of suspected undocumented people to the IRS to cross-reference against its own confidential database of taxpayer records — records that workers have long trusted the government to keep private.

Democrats and privacy advocates argue that the unprecedented use of IRS data for immigration enforcement would undermine public trust in the tax system and violate privacy laws passed by Congress after President Richard Nixon’s administration attempted to weaponize IRS records against political enemies decades ago. The Trump administration has yet to publicly reveal the details of the agreement, which could face legal challenges.

“The IRS is not supposed to share this type of information. That is long-standing federal law, and everyone as taxpayers should be concerned that now the Trump administration is trying to do away with that by targeting a specific group of people,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of the immigration reform group America’s Voice, in an interview.

Last month the IRS denied a request from DHS for the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of 700,000 people the Trump administration suspects of being undocumented. However, senior IRS officials have since left the agency, which President Donald Trump has staffed with allies likely to push through his own political priorities.

Related Story

Tesla Paid Zero Federal Income Tax in 2024, Despite $2.3 Billion in Income
This brings Tesla’s average tax rate over the past three years to 0.4 percent.
By Sharon Zhang , TruthoutJanuary 30, 2025

Nandan Joshi, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is representing immigrant rights groups in a federal lawsuit against the IRS, said both agencies have prepared a legal workaround in an attempt to skirt well-established federal privacy laws.

“The protections that are afforded to taxpayer records apply across the board,” Joshi said in an interview. “It doesn’t matter whether you are a legal citizen or undocumented, you are protected. The law doesn’t make distinctions there.”

Personal tax information — including names and addresses — is illegal to disclose and has long been closely guarded by the IRS. Joshi said the exodus of longtime IRS staffers under Trump’s purge of the federal civil service has stifled resistance to legally dubious policies.


“If the courts don’t stop them, if they are able to implement this plan, that will just embolden them to try something more aggressive next time.”

“Institutionally, in the past, [the IRS has] been very good about the protection of the secrecy of taxpayer information,” Joshi said in an interview. “But obviously those people are getting fired or laid off, and their managers are being replaced by people who want to accommodate the administration’s interests, so it seems like they are rapidly tearing down those barriers.”

Cárdenas said working and living in the U.S. without documents is typically a civil violation, not a criminal one, and many undocumented people have for years paid taxes with the understanding that their information is protected under the law. For years, the IRS has encouraged undocumented workers to pay income taxes by assigning tax numbers in lieu of Social Security numbers with assurances that personal information would remain confidential.

“These are people who want to get right by the law and play by the rules, but for the government to go after them sends a really troubling message to all Americans and to this community especially,” Cárdenas told Truthout. “This is actually going to hurt all of us because the incentive to pay taxes isn’t going to be there with tax season just around the corner.”

Democrats are also slamming Trump over threats to the economy and civil liberties posed by the immigration crackdown. Sen. Alex Padilla of California, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, released a joint statement with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) on Monday demanding that the IRS and DHS disclose the information sharing agreement and brief Congress immediately.

“This agreement between the IRS and DHS — if finalized — will have long-lasting and devastating implications on our economy, taxpayer privacy, immigrant communities, and the rule of law,” the senators said.

While the final agreement has not been released despite requests by Senate Democrats for more information, a draft memo obtained by the Washington Post indicates that DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be allowed access to the names and addresses in IRS records for immigrants with current removal orders. Of the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the U.S., more than 1.4 million are currently subject to removal orders.

According to the memo, requests for confirming names and addresses with the IRS could be submitted only by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem or acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who were appointed by Trump to orchestrate the mass deportation campaign.

Joshi said advocates were aware of plans to use the IRS for immigration enforcement thanks to Project 2025, the far right policy blueprint that Trump disavowed on the campaign trail before embracing its ideas once in office. After learning about the initial DHS request for taxpayer data, the Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a lawsuit against the IRS seeking an emergency order to block the sharing of private information with DHS on March 7. On Wednesday, the group amended the lawsuit to add the DHS, ICE, Noem and Lyons to the list of defendants.

Joshi said the IRS told the court it would implement the data-sharing agreement within the bounds of exemptions created by Congress in privacy law, and last week the court refused to issue an order blocking the IRS from working with DHS. Attorneys are still waiting on the administration to release the final policy — or to block information about it from becoming public — before pursuing further legal challenges, but Joshi said that if the Washington Post report is accurate, then the plan to use IRS data for immigration enforcement still violates the law.

“These protections were actually put in place after Nixon because he abused IRS records for his political ends, so they have been in place for about 50 years,” Joshi said. “Even Donald Trump fought to keep his tax records private. So everyone believes that tax records are supposed to be confidential, and that is what the law says.”

Joshi said the law contains exemptions for high-profile criminal investigations, in which investigators may receive permission to use IRS records from a federal court. However, Joshi says the Trump administration is purposefully conflating criminal and immigration enforcement in order to “shoehorn” the IRS and DHS agreement into legal exemptions designed for specific criminal investigations in service of a mass deportation dragnet.

“Trump has characterized every undocumented person as a criminal, or his administration has, which is not true,” Joshi said. “Who knows what their next step is. If the courts don’t stop them, if they are able to implement this plan, that will just embolden them to try something more aggressive next time.”

Cárdenas said casting an entire segment of the population as criminals who must be surveilled is part of a larger, dangerous pattern as the Trump administration reaches for justifications for its brutal immigration policies. As a Latina immigrant, she is already seeing the impacts as visa holders, legal permanent residents, and even U.S. citizens who are often Black, Brown or Native American are targeted and swept up in Trump’s crackdown, which is causing dangerous overcrowding in immigration jails.

“It’s also deeply frustrating that people don’t see the signs that we are seeing, but from our perspective this is the canary in the coal mine,” Cárdenas said. “It’s starting with us, but when is it going to be enough? Who is going to be next?”

Citing Trump's Push for Ethnic Cleansing, Sanders Says Congress 'Must Act to Block' Arms Sales to Israel


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) arrives for President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025.
(Photo: Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)


Eloise Goldsmith
Mar 27, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced Thursday he plans to force votes in the U.S. Senate next week on two joint resolutions of disapproval aimed at blocking proposed arms sales from the United States to Israel, citing U.S. President Trump's recent proposal for the Gaza Strip that human rights officials have called tantamount to ethnic cleansing, and other actions taken by Israel.

Sanders has put forward two joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs), one aimed at blocking $6.75 billion in munitions and equipment, and a second one for $2.04 billions worth of munitions and related equipment.

The Independent senator—who last fall introduced JRDs to block the sale of U.S. weapons to Israel that ultimately did not pass—argues that Congress "must act to block" the sales in part due to U.S. President Donald Trump's talk of "forcibly displacing millions of people from Gaza."

At a press conference in early February with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the United States would "take over" Gaza and "develop it." Trump said that U.S. developers will "level it out" and build the "Riviera of the Middle East" after Palestinians—"all of them"—leave Palestine's coastal enclave.

Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a proposal to organize "a voluntary transfer for Gaza residents who express interest in moving to third countries, in accordance with Israeli and international law, and following the vision of U.S. President Donald Trump," according to CNN.

In his statement, Sanders said that "there is a name for such a policy—ethnic cleansing—and it's a war crime."

"Netanyahu has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," Sanders added.

According to researchers with Brown University's the Costs of War Project, the U.S sent at least $17.9 billion in security assistance to Israel between October 2023 and September 2024.

Sanders said that Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons to kill "a handful of Hamas fighters, and made little effort to distinguish between civilians and combatants," resulting in unnecessary civilian deaths. "These actions are immoral and illegal," he said.

Last week, local health officials in Gaza announced that the death toll of Israel's deadly campaign on the enclave had surpassed 50,000 people. The grim milestone came after a wave of Israeli strikes that followed a two-month period of relative calm while a shaky cease-fire deal was in effect.

Hamas wanted to open talks for the second phase of the deal, that was supposed to see Israel fully withdraw from the enclave and Hamas release remaining living hostages. Israel instead wanted to impose the terms of a new cease-fire presented by the Trump administration, and refused to hold the talks regarding a permanent end to the war.

The senator also cited Israel's decision to halt humanitarian aid from entering into the Gaza Strip in early March. "Blocking humanitarian aid is morally abhorrent and a clear violation of both the Geneva Convention and the Foreign Assistance Act," according to the statement.

'Cuts to the bone': Leaked doc shows Trump admin's real plan

Jessica Corbett

March 28, 2025

COMMON DREAMS

The Washington Post reported Thursday that a White House document shows U.S. officials are preparing to cut 8-50% of agency staff in "the first phase" of President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk's effort to gut the federal bureaucracy—eliciting a fresh wave of outrage directed at them and their Department of Government Efficiency.

The document only covers 22 agencies and, according to the Post, "several people familiar with the document stressed that planning remains fluid," a sentiment echoed by Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, in an email.

"It's no secret the Trump administration is dedicated to downsizing the federal bureaucracy and cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. This document is a pre-deliberative draft and does not accurately reflect final reduction in force plans," Fields told the newspaper. "When President Trump's Cabinet secretaries are ready to announce reduction in force plans, they will make those announcements to their respective workforces at the appropriate time."

When Trump took office, there were around 2.3 million federal workers. The leaked document—last updated Tuesday—includes the following potential personnel cuts:30% at the Department of Commerce;
50% at the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
25% at the Department of the Interior;
8% at the Department of Justice;
30% at the Department of the Treasury;
10% at the Environmental Protection Agency;
33% at the Internal Revenue Service;
43% at the Small Business Administration; and
28% at the National Science Foundation.

Cuts have already been announced at some agencies, including the Education Department, which said this month that it would be reducing its staff by half. The document did not list those reductions among its totals," according to the paper. "It also did not specify staff reduction goals for certain agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs."

Trump and Musk's "DOGE-Manufactured chaos" is already impacting both federal employees and Americans who rely on them. At the Social Security Administration—which aims to oust roughly 7,000 staffers, bringing the agency down to 50,000—beneficiaries are dealing with website problems and hourslong wait times for phone services.

Responding to the Post's reporting on social media, writer and podcaster Wajahat Ali asked: "How does this help the economy become great again, MAGA? I'll wait..."

Brian Donlon, the retired head of programming at Scripps News, tied the looming job cuts to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led agenda for a far-right takeover of the federal government, from which Trump unsuccessfully tried to distance himself while on the campaign trail.

"I have been rewatching Trump campaign rallies (I watched most live while running programming at Scripps News)," he said. "I can't find any references to an austerity budget or a downsized federal government. Project 2025 however does. Will keep looking."

Bluesky user J. Offir, who has a Ph.D. in social psychology, said that "my main concerns are health, education, and the environment (all of which relate to public health) but the casualties of this war are everywhere."

Offir also noted "the hell" at agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—which is now led by conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who earlier Thursday announced a major restructuring and 20,000 job cuts, including employees who took the administration's infamous "Fork in the Road" offer.

"This announcement is shocking. There is no way that HHS will be able to continue providing the lifesaving services and research it is mandated to provide after losing a quarter of its workforce between the layoffs and early separation packages," said Jennifer Jones, the director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement.

Jones explained that "these are people who ensure our medications and food supplies are safe, help protect us against infectious diseases, and conduct research to treat disease and help people live longer, healthier lives. HHS staff also oversee Medicaid and Medicare, the health insurance programs critical for low-income and elderly Americans as well as those with disabilities."

"Keep in mind, these cuts are brought to you by a man who has made a career out of peddling fringe conspiracy theories and misinformation. He is part of an administration that is incompetent and corrupt. He's known for his debunked anti-vaccine rhetoric, and his response to the deadly measles outbreak in Texas, which has spread to other states, has been nothing short of inept," she added. "Secretary Kennedy minimizes this action as 'a painful period' for the agencies, ignoring the pain that will be inflicted on everyone in this country."