Law be damned, Trump asserts unilateral control over executive branch, federal service (3 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Following the Project 2025 playbook, in the last week, Trump and his newly installed loyalists have moved to (1) dismiss federal officials deemed unreliable to do his bidding (including 17 inspectors general) - many of which have protections from arbitrary dismissal, (2) freeze all science and public health activity until he can wrest full control, (3) freeze all federal assistance and grant activity deemed inconsistent with Trump's agenda, and (4) moved to terminate all federal employee telework and DEI programs.

The problem is much of this is controlled by federal law and not subject to sudden and complete change by the president through executive order. Most notably is the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that simply codifies what is the constitutional allocation of resources where Congress appropriates money to the executive branch for a specific purpose, the executive branch must carry out that statutory purpose. This is indeed a constitutional crisis and even if Congress abdicates to Trump by acquiescing, the courts must still apply the law - or rule it unconstitutional.

And meanwhile the architect of much of this unlawful action is Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB nominee who the Senate appears ready to confirm.

120. The Impoundment Crisis of 2025

The Trump administration's Monday spending freeze is likely to provoke a crisis over the constitutionality of "impoundment"—one that the justices could well have to resolve *very* soon.

www.stevevladeck.com

 

[el caliente]

Evidently Musk answered a question about DOGE transparency by referring to their “web page”. Here it is:

I just knew that the team that designed the Affordable Healthcare website would find work again. Lol

https://www.reuters.com/article/bus...ailed-to-handle-even-500-users-idUSBRE9AL03L/

 

[superchuck500]

This one includes a transcript of Elon's comments and answers . . . and yeah.

 

[el caliente]

This is what happened today to the actual guy charged with identifying, auditing, and investigating fraud, waste, abuse, within USAID:

I wonder if there is more to the story.

 

[DaveXA]

Is your job posting the actual treasury payment? Do you see the category code and explanation recorded on the payment? Is it possible the payment is made without coding and notation connected to the documentation?

Tell me you don't know what you're talking about without telling me.

 

[coldseat]

Time will certainly tell how this turns out, but when I think back to when Elon purchased Twitter, and everyone said that he was going to kill it…well it’s still alive and its competitors still haven’t overtake the app yet. All that to say, I’m willing to see how this goes because I don’t think this ends as poorly as the fear mongers would have you believe.

Personally I can’t stand either Musk or Trump, and I hope that they eat each other alive.

Using Musk purchase of Twitter as something that worked? Wow ...

It's going so good dude is suing companies that won't advertise with him ... because reasons.

 

[el caliente]

You are so completely clueless it’s embarrassing. Or rather you should be embarrassed, but I imagine you are congratulating yourself on being the smartest one in here.

Clueless

I would never claim to be the smartest one in here, but some folks here were defending Dennis Allen this season, so at least I know that I’m smarter than those folks. Lol

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

This one includes a transcript of Elon's comments and answers . . . and yeah.

Musk has NO IDEA how our constitutional republic works. Same for Trump.

 

[el caliente]

But the American people did sign up for that. They elected the Congressmen and President who funded and set priorities and a process to follow, all of which were done. Each President is allowed to set priorities within the allocated budget which was done last administration and would be available for this administration to do as well.

The idea that we should be upset about funding cultural events in a foreign country as a form of diplomacy but not be upset when say the president spends $10 million to attend the Super Bowl, is silly. I didn't approve the President spending that money, therefore it's fraud, right?

I thought that it was $15-$20M.

And no, I’m not a fan of his actions. That said, the man said that part of the reason that he was running was to eliminate waste and hold government accountable for their spending, and the voting public bought into it.

I blame the Democratic Party for not running a better candidate.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

I wonder if there is more to the story.

I'm sure you do.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I thought that it was $15-$20M.

And no, I’m not a fan of his actions.

I went on the low end. But the point is Trump’s Super Bowl jaunt wasn’t fraud. We don’t get to pick and choose every little thing the President spends money on. We just need to make sure that the accounting is documented and conforms to the appropriate rules and regulations.

 

[Neworleansfan]

Is your job posting the actual treasury payment? Do you see the category code and explanation recorded on the payment? Is it possible the payment is made without coding and notation connected to the documentation?

Only possible if the Treasury still uses excel spreadsheet to keep track of spendings. As far as I know, the treasury and other federal agencies are using PeopleSoft where codes are required for category, item, vendor, requestor, department, contract number and funding account when a payment is recorded. Documents like quote, PO, invoice, and approvals generally need to be uploaded. Don’t work for the fed but I am familiar with PeopleSoft and how purchasing work on a state agency level.

 

[el caliente]

Not if they keep lying about the numbers and where they are coming from. Both the Colombian opera and the Irish music event were not from USAID. At all. Full stop. To say otherwise is an outright lie.

They also lied about the amounts.

At this point, shouldn't you be more critical of what they are telling you? Practice some of that skepticism you're proud of?

The funds for the Colombian Opera, the LGBTQ comic book, and the DEI music fest were all funded in part with US dollars, right?

 

[el caliente]

Using Musk purchase of Twitter as something that worked? Wow ...

It's going so good dude is suing companies that won't advertise with him ... because reasons.

How’s Bluesky?

 

[el caliente]

Twitter is worth less than 20% of the price Elon bought it for now. I'm not sure I want the same thing to happen to America.

I don’t want the US to drop in value, however my point was that contrary to popular opinion (at the time of its acquisition) Twitter is not in fact dead. While the numbers of new users has dropped by 5% from 2023 to 2024, it still have over 360m unique users, so it is far from dead.

Let him cook.

 

[barbar]

It’s in the courts. I’m sure they will get the facts and decide accordingly what is or is not legal. We don’t know the process so how do we know it is authorized or illegal?

It was a yes or no question.

 

[el caliente]

I'm sure you do.

You don’t?

 

[MT15]

This is the second department Musk went after and killed. After he took care of the investigation against his shady actions being done by USAID Inspector General. Neither of these departments are a drop in the bucket for fraud or waste. To the point that they are having to lie about what they have found.

 

[MT15]

The funds for the Colombian Opera, the LGBTQ comic book, and the DEI music fest were all funded in part with US dollars, right?

But not from USAID. They were State Dept outlays. And they also lied about what was actually done and what was spent and by who.

There seems to be one big reason Musk picked this agency to kill on day 1, and it had nothing to do with any of the stuff you think it did. Bolding mine.

“While Musk and his businesses were lauded initially for bringing Wi-Fi service to Ukraine, controversy erupted after SpaceX withheld Starlink access from Ukraine’s military, effectively thwarting its drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in 2022, which Musk said he did to avoid being complicit in a “major act of war.” Russian troops also reportedly obtained and began using Starlink against Ukraine within its borders. Musk denied Starlink terminals were sold to Russia. Last year, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee initiated a probe, and USAID’s inspector general was investigating Starlink’s use in Ukraine as part of its own accountability checks.”

How Elon Musk boosted false USAID conspiracy theories to shut down global aid

Musk drove fringe viewpoints on USAID into the mainstream on X as the Trump administration halted the humanitarian relief agency’s work.

www.nbcnews.com