Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Two civil suits I’ll be watching closely: “The Trump administration’s apparent attempts to purge or retaliate against federal agents are moving closer to a court reckoning, with the filing of civil lawsuits by current and former FBI employees who’ve taken legal action against the president’s alleged retribution.”
* In related news: “FBI executives contemplated resisting Justice Department demands that they turn over the names of FBI personnel involved in Capitol riot cases but ultimately decided they must comply with what lawyers deemed a lawful order, current and former FBI officials told NBC News.”
* Another important case: “Federal employee unions on Monday sued to stop Elon Musk’s team from accessing a sensitive government system that controls the flow of trillions of dollars of payments as top Democrats stepped up their attacks on what they said was the billionaire’s ‘hostile takeover’ of the Treasury Department.”
* On the Hill, Part I: “The Senate Intelligence Committee voted Tuesday to advance Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as director of national intelligence, with Republicans backing her unanimously despite some having expressed unease with her foreign policy views. Gabbard’s nomination now heads to a full Senate vote.”
* On the Hill, Part II: “The Senate Finance Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for health secretary to the full Senate, putting the longtime anti-vaccine activist a step closer to becoming the country’s top public health official.”
* At the EPA: “The Trump administration has notified more than 1,000 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency that they could be dismissed immediately.”
* Recovering the victims: “Authorities recovered all of the 67 victims from the Potomac River less than a week after an American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter in the Washington, D.C., area. Search and recovery efforts are over after the crash last Wednesday, with 66 people identified, according to a statement Tuesday from D.C. officials. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is still working to identify the final victim.”
* The closer one looks at the details of this, the more alarming it appears: “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left El Salvador on Tuesday with an agreement from that country’s president to accept deportees from the U.S. of any nationality, including violent American criminals now imprisoned in the United States.”
* Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina was ready to derail Pete Hegseth’s nomination. The Wall Street Journal had an interesting report on how the White House changed his mind.
* State-based DOGE endeavors? “Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced he’s launching his state’s own Division of Government Efficiency, a reference to the Musk-backed Department of Government Efficiency that has stoked controversy in Washington as it has clashed with executive agencies.”
See you tomorrow.