Today in Politics, Bulletin 113. 4/15/25
… 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 Idaho, 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 occasional 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 totaling 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’s 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!
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.
… 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