The Dictatorship
The key obstacle to fixing what DOGE broke
The Department of Government Efficiency, which carried out the most transformative restructuring of the federal government in a generation, has formally ended — with no public accounting of its actions. Despite touting itself as the most transparent administration in historythe Trump White House is working to ensure that no DOGE records ever see the light of day.
This is a dangerous antidemocratic precedent, especially since DOGE took direction from Elon Muskwho was famously not a regular government employee. By handing over essential government functions to members of the ultrawealthy who happen to be friends with the president, while systematically dismantling America’s transparency infrastructure, the administration is effectively hiding that public policy is being dictated at an oligarch’s request. The threat is the privatization of government power, with no chance of oversight or public input.
If the DOGE model succeeds, there’s no telling how many shadow agencies may follow — and how many government decisions taxpayers could be locked out of.
To date, what little the public knows about DOGE has mostly come from whistleblowers. The mechanics behind this information blackout are twofold.
Almost from its inceptionthe Trump administration argued that DOGE was not an agency with independent authority and therefore was not subject to the real-time scrutiny of Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) requests. Rather, the administration said that DOGE’s sole legal function was to advise and assist the presidentand that political appointees at federal agencies — not DOGE personnel — held the ultimate authority to implement its recommended mass firings and agency liquidations.
If the DOGE model succeeds, there’s no telling how many shadow agencies may follow — and how many government decisions taxpayers could be locked out of.
Taken at face value, this would mean that DOGE’s records fall under the Presidential Records Act. This is a critical distinction from federal agency records: Presidential records don’t become subject to FOIA until five years after an administration leaves office. This multiyear delay makes it functionally impossible for the public to verify that these files are being preserved.
The dangers are already playing out. A Wired investigation published Thursday found that last year the National Labor Relations Board, which investigates reports of unfair labor practices and holds sensitive whistleblower files, deleted DOGE team accounts before investigators could audit them. This deletion followed a high-profile whistleblower complaint alleging that the DOGE team at the labor board had been granted unrestricted access to alter and copy sensitive data.
Erasing DOGE’s digital footprints appears to have compromised a federal investigation and violated the Federal Records Act, which compels agencies to keep records for the length of their retention schedule. It also means that our current primary mechanism for DOGE transparency — submitting FOIA requests to federal agencies — has already been sabotaged.
Dual lawsuits brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and American Oversight are among those actively challenging the administration’s stance that DOGE isn’t subject to FOIA. The groups argue that because DOGE wielded substantial independent government power, including implementing policy and personnel changes, it cannot hide behind an advisory label. While these cases are still winding through the courtsjudges have ruled that DOGE must preserve its records in the interim.
The outcome of these cases is all the more consequential in light of the Trump administration’s recent adoption of a radical Office of Legal Counsel opinion declaring that the Presidential Records Act itself is unconstitutional. The memo — which the White House requested — argues that presidential papers are no longer public property but the president’s personal property to do with as he wishes. This effectively gives the president a green light to destroy or delete official files at will.
The legal reasoning behind this memo is as dangerous as it is absurd. No president, not even Donald Trump during his first term, has argued that the Presidential Records Act was unconstitutional. Treating government records as personal trophies (to be hoarded, incinerated or anything else) is a clear affront to democratic accountability.
My organization, Freedom of the Press Foundation, joined with CREW in a lawsuit to force the administration to comply with the presidential recordkeeping law. In late May, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the White House to comply with the Presidential Records Act as the case proceeds.
The White House has signaled that it intends to appeal, leaving the future of public access to presidential records — potentially including DOGE’s — in limbo.
During a recent House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought underscored the administration’s intent to let the DOGE paper trail go dark. Testifying that the White House has no plans to issue a final after-action report detailing DOGE’s total costs or workforce cuts, Vought said the fruits of the initiative’s labor are “sprinkled all across the government.” But as the labor board’s deletion proves, those “sprinklings” are being erased.
The hypocrisy is staggering for a project that marketed itself as an audit that would improve government accountability. The public is left with no clear explanation of what exactly DOGE accomplished or how much it saved, if anything.
Worse, DOGE’s disappearing records are part of a coordinated assault on government accountability.
Over the past year, the administration has degraded the ability of agencies across the federal government to comply with FOIA, proposed a governmentwide nondisclosure agreement designed to muzzle whistleblowers, fired more than 20 independent inspectors general and removed a massive amount of public information from agency websites.
Taken together, these actions blind Americans to the actions of their federal government.
If the Trump administration can outsource core government power to a trillionaire like Musk, and dismantle transparency laws to prevent the public from understanding what his shadow agency really did, then our democratic experiment is effectively plunged into darkness.
The DOGE playbook cannot become the blueprint for governance. The first step to averting this oligarchical capture is securing and opening DOGE’s books. This is the only way to ensure that Congress, journalists and future generations can audit the most disruptive administrative overhaul in modern history — and guarantee that future government change is a response to public will, not private interests.
Lauren Harper is the Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at Freedom of the Press Foundation. She previously worked for the National Security Archive, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has subpoenaed New York Times journalists after they reported on security concerns involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force Onemarking a dramatic escalation of President Donald Trump ’s campaign against the media that has drawn condemnation for eroding a fundamental freedom of American democracy.
The new jet, a present from the U.S. ally that the administration spent $400 million on to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey and later referenced threats against him made by Iran.
The subpoenas seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan next week, the Times said, adding that federal agents delivered some subpoenas to the reporters at their homes.
They were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The journalists subpoenaed included Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, the Times reported.
It also said that before its first story was published, a senior official at the FBI contacted a reporter and editor to ask that the article be held, citing national security issues. The newspaper said that the FBI official declined to explain the security issue but asked The Times to disclose its sources for the story, which the Times said it refused to do.
“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said in a statement.
The White House did not answer messages seeking comment about the subpoenas of the Times journalists.
Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Trump’s “war on the press is looking for another victim.”
He said in a statement that the subpoenas “break from longstanding Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted.”
The Justice Department said that “to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”
Its statement said “we value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”
While recognizing “there may always be natural tension there,” the department said “we are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security.”
Part of a pattern of anti-press actions
Issuing subpoenas represents further ramping up of Trump’s effort to threaten independent new organizations by leveraging the power of the federal government against them. It is also part of a systematic pattern by the Republican president to attempt to undermine press freedom in order to shield him from negative coverage.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. In both cases, the department later withdrew the subpoenas, though.
In January, FBI agents searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who has been covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government, as part of a leak investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of taking home classified information.
Adam Steinbaugh, senior attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said Friday’s subpoenas and the prospect of “hauling reporters before grand juries sends a chilling message to journalists and whistleblowers alike: Watch what you say, or expect a knock on the door.”
“These tactics are becoming more common,” Steinbaugh said in a statement. “That doesn’t make them normal.”
During his first term, Trump suggested that the press constituted an “enemy” of the American people. Since returning to the White House, he has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history.
Trump’s attacks against news outlets and media figures he believes are overly critical of him has included filing lawsuits against outlets whose coverage he dislikesthreatening to revoke TV broadcast licenses and seeking to bend news organizations and social media companies to his will.
The Justice Department over the years has developed and revised internal policies governing how it will respond to news media leaks.
Though the department across presidential administrations has periodically seized the phone records of individual journalists in hopes of identifying sources for national security stories, it is extremely rare for the government to attempt to compel reporters to reveal their sources before a grand jury.
In April 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a policy from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.
Doing so again gave prosecutors the authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists.
A memo Bondi issued said members of the press are “presumptively entitled to advance notice of such investigative activities,” and subpoenas are to be “narrowly drawn.” Warrants must also include “protocols designed to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially protected materials or newsgathering activities,” the memo stated.
Trump didn’t use his new Air Force One while leaving Turkey
The president flew the new Air Force One to Turkey during this week’s visit. But he departed Wednesday on one of the older-model Air Force One jets for Mildenhall, a Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, England.
The newer plane also flew to Mildenhall. Trump then switched to that plane for the flight home to Joint Base Andrews.
The abrupt swap came as a shaky ceasefire with Iran had collapsed, with the U.S. launching airstrikes on Iran and Tehran attacking three Gulf Arab states. Iran and Turkey share a border, sparking speculation that the new jet lacked certain sophisticated security and countermeasure systems.
The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service, and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities.
Trump denied any security concerns, posting on social media that the stop in Mildenhall was so that service members there could view the new jet. During the flight, Trump denied to the reporters accompanying him that security concerns involving Iran were a factor in flying two planes home.
Still, asked if he was aware of any credible threats against Air Force One by Iran, Trump responded, “I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list.”
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who played a major role in shaping a quarter-century of American foreign policy — from the post-9/11 U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to the second Trump administration’s war with Iran — died unexpectedly on Saturday. He was 71.
Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“On the evening of Saturday, July 11, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham passed away from a brief and sudden illness,” said a statement posted to Graham’s social media account. “Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period.”
In a social media postPresident Donald Trump called Graham “one of the greatest people and Senators” he has ever known and “a true American Patriot.”
Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he spoke to Graham on Saturday around 7 p.m. about the so-called Save America Act, the GOP’s election overhaul bill. The president said there were no signs the senator was not well. “He was like a member of the family to me. It’s very tough, actually,” Trump said.
“I think America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost a great champion of the American-Israeli alliance,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told NBC. “And frankly, I’ve lost a beloved friend I’ve had for many decades.”
Emergency medical workers responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s home on Capitol Hill Saturday night, according to police scanner audio obtained by MS NOW.
House Majority Leader John Thune posted in response to the news, calling Graham “a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel. His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.”
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he loved Graham “like a brother, which means when I fight with him, I want to kill him, and they’re awful and ugly fights. And yet, when we work together, and when I see the good that he wants to do for our country, I’m able to forgive him and find the positives in him. We had knockdown, drag-out fights.” Coons said he attended Graham’s recent birthday dinner — the late senator turned 71 on July 9.
Graham was elected to the Senate in 2002 and was seeking a fifth Senate term in November, after fending off multiple primary challengers. Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, he was a powerful figure in conservative South Carolina politics and a national GOP leader in defense policy and foreign affairs.
“Lindsey Graham is irreplaceable,” said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in a statement. “The fiercest of fighters for South Carolina and America — and a loyal and steadfast friend.”
McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement to fill Graham’s seat until January 2027. South Carolina Republicans will have to hold a primary later this summer to choose a new candidate to replace Graham on the ballot to face Democrat Annie Andrews in November. Andrews, a pediatrician who is not favored to beat a Republican in her deep red state, said in a statement, “I hope that South Carolinians will join me in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude to Senator Lindsey Graham for his service to the great state of South Carolina.”
Colleagues were stunned to learn of his passing.
“Total shock and disbelief,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was “shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of my good friend and valued colleague.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he, too, was “shocked and saddened,” calling Graham “a tireless champion for South Carolina, and an outspoken advocate for America’s role in protecting freedom throughout the world.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Graham was “my friend and a true leader for our country. It is hard to convey the loss that I feel knowing that we will no longer have his leadership in the Senate.”
“South Carolina lost a giant last night,” said Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. Mace, who lost her primary bid for governor, is “strongly considering” running in the GOP primary to replace Graham, a source familiar with the matter told MS NOW.
South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim. Clyburn also said he was “shocked and saddened” about Graham’s passing. “Our political relationship was sometimes partisan and passionate, but always pleasant and productive on behalf of the people of South Carolina,” he said, extending his condolences to Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called for Senate approval of a bipartisan bill, which the White House recently endorsed, to impose sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “There can be no more fitting memorial to Lindsey, his legacy, or the cause he fought for, than to pass this legislation.”
Zelenskyy, who met with Graham just on Friday, a day before he died, said on X“We remained in constant dialogue, and I will miss our conversations. We met twice in just the past week.”
Graham was a protégé of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and the two were personal friends well before Graham became an ally of Trump, who later frequently criticized McCain.
He was one of the so-called “Republican revolutionaries” of 1994, a class of newly elected conservatives who swept Democrats out of power for the first time in 40 years. He eventually became a member of the House Judiciary Committee and served as one of 13 managers prosecuting President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.
Newt Gingrich, who was speaker when Graham was elected to the House of Representatives, praised the late politician in a statement: “Senator Lindsey Graham was a remarkable leader. He was always positive enthusiastic and personable. He made major contributions to American national security.”
In the 1980s, Graham served as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Air Force for six years and later served in the Air Force Reserve while in Congress. Graham’s military service helped inform his foreign policy views, and he remained one of the more hawkish members of the GOP when it came to international conflicts, including the war with Iran. In 2014, he was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.
David Rohde, Emily Hung, Erum Salum and Sydney Reynolds contributed to this report.
Kathleen Creedon is a platforms editor for MS NOW. She has previously worked as a web producer for Vanity Fair and Texas Public Radio.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States attacked Iranon Sunday over an Iranian strike on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz that set it ablaze and left a crew member missing. Iran responded with attacks on countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman — the nation on the other side of the strait that Tehran has pressed to join in managing shipping traffic.
The U.S. struck again later Sunday. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency cited the governor of Qeshm island near the strait as saying projectiles had been fired at military targets, with no casualties. IRNA said explosions were also heard in the coastal city of Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad city to the north.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss military operations, said a few strikes were conducted on missile and air defense systems, as well as small boats of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard at a couple of locations around the strait to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping.
Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day periodof their interim dealaimed at reaching a permanent end to the war. The strait, a key route for the global supply of oil and natural gas and long considered an international waterway, has become a sticking point in negotiations that seem in danger of collapse.
The United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, was “deeply concerned by the serious escalation,” according to a statement.
Iran says the strait is closed and the US disagrees
The U.S. military’s Central Command said earlier Sunday that it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites. It said the attacks, heavier than in recent days, would weaken Iran’s ability to threaten shipping.
“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” President Donald Trumptold NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.
“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
The U.S. has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the last week over Iranian attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route off Oman, seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
The U.S. military and Trump asserted that the strait remained open Sunday. Iran said it was closed until calm is restored, and Tehran would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.
The U.S. military said over 140 ships had transited the strait over the past week. A multinational body overseen by the U.S. Navy said traffic continued “at reduced levels” off both Oman and Iran. It said nearly 140 vessels transited daily before the war.
About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply droppedsince wartime highs of $120 a barrel.
Oman summons Iranian envoy to protest attack
Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries.
Qatar’s military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded as a result of shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar’s Interior Ministry said, giving no further details on their condition.
Missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said three “land border posts” in the north and an offshore drilling platform of the Kuwait Oil Company were damaged, with one platform worker wounded.
A day after Oman and Iran held talks on the strait, the Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area on the waterway.
Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes, the first such move since the war began, calling Iran’s acts “irresponsible.”
Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan’s state news agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in the UAE, but the government said missiles did not cross into its territory.
Iranian strike on ship harms Indian crew
A Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engine room damage,” the U.S. Central Command said.
Oman’s maritime authority said it rescued 23 crew members but one was missing. India’s Ministry of External Affairs called him an Indian national and it was working with Oman to locate him.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been moving along Oman’s shoreline.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings” and ignored instructions to follow what it called an approved route. One “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iranian state media later reported U.S. strikes across the country, including southern Iran in the province closest to the strait and military sites in a province near Tehran.
Attacks followed more diplomatic talks about the strait
The strait sits in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. Oman on Saturday said it and Iran agreed to continue discussing the strait “at the technical and political levels.”
Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued effortsto reach an agreement. A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday. Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran’s top diplomat and urged “de-escalation” on both sides.
Iran’s new supreme leader, unseen since the war began, on Saturday vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khameneithat Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28.
Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khameneisaid in a statement carried on state television.
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