Today in Politics, Bulletin 113. 4/15/25 Ron Filipkowski Apr 15 ∙ … Dan Caldwell, one of SecDef Pete Hegseth's top advisers, was escorted out of the Pentagon today after an internal investigation. Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on administrative leave for "an unauthorized disclosure." … Fox national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin: “Fox can confirm Reuters reporting. Top Hegseth advisor Dan Caldwell escorted from the building, being investigated for ‘unauthorized disclosure’ of classified information. ‘We can confirm the Reuters reporting is accurate, but we do not comment on ongoing investigations,’ a senior US official told Fox.” … The Trump admin has conducted dozens of polygraph tests on their appointees and senior personnel of several different agencies in an attempt to find out of if any them have been talking to the press. This is being done not only to punish Caldwell, but to send a message to every other person working in the govt that if they see something they think is wrong, they better keep their mouth shut. … Canadian reporter to WH Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt today: “President Trump's tone on Canada has shifted. He stopped talking about Canada becoming the 51st state, at least publicly.” LEAVITT: “I would reject that the president's position on Canada has shifted. Perhaps he just hasn't been asked about Canada. He believes Canadians would benefit from becoming the 51st state.” … The Idaho Statesman reported that at least 12,000 people filled the arena last night where AOC and Bernie held their rally in Iowa, which was a surprisingly large number considering many questioned why they were even doing a rally in that deep red state. Attendee Silas Randall on why he was there: “They’ve spoken about things that people have not been paying attention to. And now it feels like, I don’t want to say it’s too late, but it feels like it’s a dire time.” … Megan Pando said that she appreciated the fact that AOC and Bernie were taking action and doing the hard work helping to organize grass roots opposition to the Trump admin rather than just doing an occasion TV interview or press statement: “A lot of times you see, on the Democratic side, they tell you to be angry - and then just go back to their job.” … Looking at you, Schumer. … Esteban Galan said he has been a longtime Sanders supporter and wanted to hear what AOC had to say: “We are Democrats who were born and raised in Idaho. We’re not imported from anywhere. We’re the backbone of our communities. We are nonprofit workers, we are federal workers, we are people who are investing in each other.” … AOC’s got a huge crowd reaction from these lines in her speech: “I was watching earlier today on TV, someone was saying, ‘Why are AOC and Bernie going to Idaho?’ I’ll give you one simple answer: It’s because you matter.” “When he talks about rapists and criminals, he should look in the mirror.” “We saw Majorie Taylor Greene buy that dip. How much did you make? How much did you make off of people’s despair? How much did you make off of that panic? How much did you make off of that suffering? No more. We can’t accept it.” … They are holding rallies in California tonight and Montana on Wednesday. … AOC raised an astonishing $9.6 million in Q1 on 2025. She is a rock star. … Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on MSNBC: “We do need to change the law so that sitting members of congress cannot trade stock. Period. Full stop.” … I hear this all the time. But the bills banning member stock trading never seem to make it to the floor for a vote regardless of which party is in the majority. … Since April 3, China has cut off 7 heavy rare earth minerals and heavy rare earth magnets exported to the US in response to Trump’s tariffs. Drew Horn, the top official in the first Trump admin on strategic minerals to NY Post: “Rare earths are in everything for the EV and auto space, and everything from cellphones, defense key components, and space travel. China has essentially created an all-powerful monopoly with them. The Chinese have been threatening this because they do have that leverage to basically cut us off and cut the world off.” … He said even if the US now mines them or obtains it elsewhere, China controls 90% of the processing plants: “In a lot of ways, the midstream processing is the most difficult to do, not necessarily from a technology perspective, but because China owns all of it, or controls all of it. So even if you dig it up, you have to ship to Chinese refineries exclusively.” … Bloomberg reported that China has directed its airlines to stop taking deliveries of jets from Boeing, and to suspend all purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US companies. … Boeing is one of the largest employers in Rep. Nancy Mace’s SC district. She posted nothing about it though. Instead, she posted this today: “Good morning to all moms, and not ‘inseminated persons.’ Hold the line.” … Financial Times reported that China can make American consumers feel the pain of a trade war in a variety of different ways heading into the summer months and holidays, noting that the US imports 80% of their iPhones from China with other key sectors of US consumer goods reflect a very high percentage of imports from China: 90% of rare earth minerals in the US come from China 80% of air conditioners 80% of electric fans 75% of toys 75% of bicycles 50% antibiotics … “If Beijing decides to really get nasty then it has some really powerful tools that it can deploy … the Chinese are also the 2nd-largest foreign owners of US Treasury bonds - which could matter at a time when the market is under strain.” … Reuters reported that Nissan is cutting Japanese production of its top-selling US model, the Rogue SUV. Trump new 25% tariff on all cars built overseas is expected to hurt Nissan more than any other carmaker because they have a larger percentage of US sales than any other Japanese company. … The official X account from the Trump White House was hit with a Community Note after posting that US auto tariffs are justified against Germany since that country supposedly imposes a 100% tariff on US cars. But that was a blatant lie - Germany abides by the EU’s 10% tariff on all imported cars. … The Commerce Dept announced it has imposed 21% tariffs on tomatoes from Mexico. 86% of US tomatoes come from Mexico. You are now paying a 21% Trump Sales Tax on tomatoes. … Trump then posted that he is getting ready to bail out farmers in Republican states again with govt handouts since they can’t sell their products to other countries due to tariffs: “Our farmers are GREAT, but because of their GREATNESS, they are always put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China, whenever there is a Trade negotiation or, in this case, a Trade War. The same thing happened in my First Term. China was brutal to our Farmers, I these Patriots to just hold on, and a great trade deal was made. I rewarded our farmers with a payment of $28 Billion Dollars, all through the China deal. Interestingly, they just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will ‘not take possession’ of fully committed to aircraft. The USA will PROTECT OUR FARMERS!!!” … The conservative Washington Examiner: “There are many components to successful leadership, but an important one is communicating to constituents what your policies are, why they are needed, and how they will work. Trump has not done this for his tariffs. As a result, the economy is suffering, and voters are beginning to blame the president for their pain. Until Trump is able to deliver stability or clarity on this matter, the economic pain will continue for everyone, and the political pain for Trump and the Republican Party will worsen.” … Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was asked if he agrees with Trump wanting to send US citizens who are convicted of crimes to serve their sentences in Salvadorian concentration camps: “No, I don't agree with that." … Joe Biden made his first public speech today since leaving office to the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago: “Why are these guys taking aim at social security now? They are following that old line from tech startups. The quote is move fast, break things. Well, they are certainly breaking things. They want to wreck it so they can rob it.” … The Hill reported that a new lawsuit has been filed by the Protect Democracy Project against DOGE and Ross Vought’s OMB alleging that the Trump admin is violating the law by taking down a govt website that showed exactly how federal funding is disbursed to agencies. That lawsuit states it “went dark, without explanation.” … From the complaint: “Congress mandated prompt transparency for apportionments to prevent abuses of power and strengthen Congress’s and the public’s oversight of the spending process. Absent this transparency, the president and OMB may abuse their authority over the apportionment of federal funds without public or congressional scrutiny or accountability.” … Market Watch: “DOGE says on its website that it has saved $130 billion so far, which amounts to about $2 billion in savings per day since Trump’s inauguration. That’s about half of the $4 billion per day that Musk pledged to cut in his interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier. It’s difficult for reporters and analysts to confirm any of his claims, though erroneous claims and examples of claimed savings disappearing from the list of purported cost-saving cutbacks have been documented.” Just a reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow since I do my live podcast Uncovered at 4:00 ET. I will post a link an hour before on Substack, and another one in the Thursday Bulletin. Thanks again to everyone who reads, watches, and supports my work - it really means a lot to me! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Bloomberg: “DOGE made it particularly challenging to fact-check its assertions when it removed federal identification numbers in its website’s source code that could help outsiders identify specifically what grants and contracts the agency is referring to. That makes it difficult if not impossible to know the vendors the govt has contracted with and whether the govt is actually saving the amount of money DOGE is asserting that it has.” … “A broader look at fed spending data also appears to counter claims that DOGE’s efforts are saving money for American taxpayers. The Hamilton Project, an economic-policy think tank, tracks federal spending using daily Treasury statements published by the govt. These data show that the fed govt spent $1.893 trillion in 2025 as of March 26, compared with $1.763 trillion as of the same date last year. In other words, federal spending is on pace to come in 7.4% higher this year than last.” … The Govt Accountability Office has accepted a request from Senate Democrats on the Banking Committee to investigate changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission made by the White House and Elon Musk's DOGE. … WIRED: “Much of the IT and cybersecurity infrastructure underpinning the US health system is in danger of a possible collapse following a purge of IT staff and leadership at HHS. This could put vast troves of public health data, including the sensitive health records of hundreds of millions of Americans, clinical trial data, and more, at risk of exposure. … “As a result of a reduction in force, staff who oversee and renew contracts for critical enterprise services are no longer there. The same staff oversaw hundreds of contractors, some of whom play a crucial role in keeping systems and data safe from cyberattacks. And a void of leadership means that efforts to draw attention to a looming catastrophe have allegedly been ignored.“ … A source who managed the systems for over a decade before they were fired: “Pretty soon, within the next couple of weeks, everything regarding IT and cyber at the department will start to operationally reach a point of no return.” … The 30-year fixed mortgage is now up to 7.5%. … WaPo reported that Harvard University rejected the Trump admin demand that they agree to govt oversight and make sweeping changes to governance, admissions and hiring practices. The admin responded by announcing they froze $2.2 billion in fed grants and a $60 million contract. … Trump post: “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired / supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” … Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “The federal government is not obligated to give private universities BILLIONS in funding. Go woke, go broke.” … Right-wing journalist, podcaster, and Trump supporter Brad Polumbo: “Tax exempt status contingent on acting in the public interest is not a game the religious right should want to play.” … Harvard President Alan Garber in a letter to faculty, employees and students: “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” … WaPo: “The govt’s letter called for changes to university governance, leadership and student discipline and extensive government oversight. It called for ‘merit-based hiring,’ including a plagiarism review for all existing and prospective faculty members, with oversight from the fed govt until the end of 2028. Admissions would also be audited during that time period, and the university would have to change its screening of intl students to avoid admitting students ‘hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism.’” … “The demands would require the university to report international students, including those with green cards, accused of conduct violations to fed authorities, and to hire an external auditor to evaluate the ‘viewpoint diversity’ of the university’s students, faculty, staff and leadership.” … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on CNN: "I applaud Harvard's decision not to give in to bullying from the Trump admin. Trump believes in 1st Amendment rights for himself, but apparently not for nobody else. The whole purpose of 1st Amendment is you don't have the govt dictating speech as the Trump admin is trying to do." … Barack Obama: “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.” … Ed Whelan with the conservative Ethics & Public Policy Center: “The Trump admin’s letter to Harvard is curiously missing any legal authority for its demands. Existing grants are governed by existing grant agreements, and the Trump administration cannot unilaterally rewrite those agreements. Safe bet that Harvard wins a restraining order.” … “Reforming federal funding of so-called higher education is an important undertaking. But if it's to be done right, it's going to require the hard work of revising regulations and drafting provisions for future grants. Getting slammed by fed courts for terminating funding unlawfully isn't going to help.” … “Sometimes I wonder if Trump admin is more interested in performative fighting than in actually winning. I'd be delighted to see the federal govt stop funding Harvard. But there are smart and effective ways to go about that, and there are stupid and futile ways.” … After his meeting with Putin, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff went on Fox’s Hannity show: “This last meeting lasted close to 5 hours. Two of his key advisors were in the room—Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev. It was a compelling meeting. Towards the end, we actually came up with—I’m going to say finally… what Putin’s request is to have a permanent peace here. So beyond the ceasefire, we got an answer to that.” Hannity: “I imagine Putin probably wants to be in business with the US and Europe. Is that a potential that could come out of this? Witkoff: “There's no doubt about it - there's a possibility to reshape the Russia-US relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities.” … Ukrainian SPRAVDI, which tracks Russian disinformation: “We note with concern the recent media statements by US emissary Steve Witkoff, who appears to be amplifying verbatim Kremlin narratives. The suggestion that Ukraine should ‘finally’ hand over 5 of its regions—some of which are not even under temporary occupation—in exchange for so-called ‘peace,’ echoes the same lies made during Russia's invasions of Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, and Donbass. Each time, aggression only expanded. Appeasement does not stop Putin. Deterrence does. This ‘solution’ assures large scale war across Europe should Russia gain a foundational hold on Ukraine, its resources and strategic location.” … Karoline Leavitt: "Witkoff believes that Russia wants to end this war, and the president believes that as well. There is incentive for Russia to end this war, and perhaps that could be economic partnerships with the US." … AP reported that a Russian court convicted journalists Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Krigerof of “extremism” after they worked for opposition leader Alexei Navalny. They were sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison each. Putin had Navalny murdered in prison. … “Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin, a freelance video journalist, has done work for Western media outlets, including AP.” … Axios reported that Sen. Cory Booker is in the process of planning a trip to El Salvador with other Democrats to investigate the prison there where an immigrant was unjustly deported. Dems have asked Mike Johnson to authorize a formal Congressional Delegation to El Salvador. … All indications are that longtime Illinois Senator Dick Durbin will announce his retirement soon, leaving that safe Democratic seat open for a new senator in 2026. Durbin is 80 years old, has not made any attempts to fundraise, and took in only $42,000 in small donations this year. … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) to Politico: “We need that youthful energy in caucus leadership.” He credited the newest senators for “not sitting down and waiting for years before they speak up.” … Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi announced today that he has amassed a war chest of $19 million in his campaign account, and it seems certain he has been gearing up to run for Durbin’s seat as soon as he announces his retirement. 5 other Illinois Dems have also said they would consider running: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton; Reps. Robin Kelly and Lauren Underwood; state Sen. Robert Peters and Christopher Swann, a nonprofit leader in Chicago. … Politico reported that 52-year-old Sen. Brian Schatz (HI) is currently viewed as Durbin’s successor as the #2 in Senate Dem leadership. Schatz reportedly has his sights set even higher than that, but won’t make a push for Schumer’s top spot unless he voluntarily decides to step aside. Amy Klobuchar, Chris Murphy and Cory Booker are also in the mix for possible promotions. … Durbin is also ranking Dem on the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is likely that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) will take over for Durbin in that spot. … Jeffries on what can be done about Trump defying the court order on El Salvador: “The Supreme Court and or the fed district court actually needs to enforce its order. And the vehicles that are available relate to contempt, and that contempt can be directed at a variety of different members of the Trump admin, including, but not limited to, the Secretary of State.” … Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X: “I want our kids to learn about A-E-I-O-U instead of L-G-B-T-Q.” … Zoe Rose Bryant responded: “Hi, pre-k teacher here. No need to worry, Nancy, it’s in our curriculum to cover all the letters eventually. This week we’re working on S-T-F-U.”