NEW: Officials across the US government are privately warning that Musk's DOGE blitz appears to be violating numerous federal laws

Legal objections voiced at Treasury, Education, USAID, GSA, OPM, EEOC, OMB & elsewhere

Messages, audio, interviews all reveal internal concerns

Laws on budget, privacy, security, classification & more said by U.S. officials to be strained if not broken

Among those

- Musk has repeatedly called for stopping Treasury payments, which officials internally have warned would violate Impoundment Control Act. Also could violate due process protections;

- DOGE's promise to pay federal workers taking the resignation agreement through September has met resistance internally as violating the Antideficiency Act. Unclear if provisions in offer are legally enforceable;

- DOGE's access to government databases has triggered concerns among U.S. officials about violations of 1974 Privacy Act, which sets up strict standards for sharing individuals' private information. These concerns have been raised at multiple agencies;

- The executive does not have the ability to unilaterally abolish U.S. agencies, as Musk is demanding of USAID;

washingtonpost.com/business/2025/…

W/ the incredible reporting team of: @ddiamond @faizsays @JaxAlemany @hannah_natanson @Cat_Zakrzewski & more

Roughly *67%* of voters rated the economy as "not so good/poor," per Washington Post exit polls

A shockingly poor number amid a hot labor market, booming stocks, much lower inflation, growing GDP

But widespread voter dissatisfaction w/ the economy been clear for years

Results are preliminary

“You know my complaints about the media — I think the coverage has been invariably terrible,” said @DeanBaker13, a White House ally. “People rate their own economic circumstances better than the country’s — and that’s because of what they’re being told by the media.”

PART V: U.S. SANCTIONS HAVE SURGED. WASHINGTON INSIDERS ARE MAKING MILLIONS OFF THEIR RISE.

You may have heard of "the military industrial complex."

Meet the booming "sanctions industrial complex"

A dive into how an avalanche of corporate & foreign cash has penetrated US sanctions

Our findings from a +6 month investigation:

- 1 firm founded by ex-Treasury officials has made *$75 million* from the UAE
- The former FBI director has raised eyebrows at Treasury for sanctions work on behalf of numerous foreign entities
- Powerful ex-House & Senate lawmakers are taking multi-million-dollar foreign paydays on sanctions
- Azerbaijan paid 1 lobbyist ~$2 million to ward off sanctions after Nagorno-Karabakh attack
- Deepening perception among allies that sanctions policy can be shaped by highest bidder
- WH officials have considered new guardrails on sanctions lobbying, but haven't advanced
- Foreign sanctions spending up more than 5X. US firms spending ~*$1B* on lobbying related to China & sanctions

The latest in our series, THE MONEY WAR:

washingtonpost.com/business/inter…

Louis Freeh was the FBI director and a federal judge

After leaving government, he has worked for numerous foreign entities, including sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler & banker Leonardo González Dellán, who was accused w/ others of stealing from Venezuelans

Matthew Epstein was Treasury's attache to Saudi Arabia & the UAE

Since leaving government, he started a firm that has taken +$75 million from a company linked to UAE government

The UAE has been accused serving as a hub for arms dealers, mobsters, oligarchs & kleptocrats

NEW: THE STAGGERING RISE OF AMERICA'S GLOBAL ECONOMIC WARFARE

1st in a series

@federicacocco & I found:

1. ~1/3 of all nations on Earth now face some form of US sanctions. Huge increase from when mostly applied to Cuba & a handful of regimes

2. +*60%* of *all poor countries* are under US sanctions of some kind. Has become almost a reflex of US foreign policy

3. Sanctions have spawned multi-billion-dollar lobbying & influence industry, enriching former US officials who are hired by foreign countries & oligarchs

4. Sanctions have had devastating effects on innocent civilians. In Cuba, they've made critical medical supplies impossible to import. In Venezuela, they contributed to a financial collapse 3X greater than the US Great Depression. Syria faces its greatest humanitarian crisis this year after a decade civil war & sanctions.

5. Treasury staffers drafted a ~40 page plan aimed at reforming the sanctions process that was dramatically whittled down amid disagreements w/ State

6. OFAC is widely described as overwhelmed by tens of thousands of requests. WH officials have brainstormed sanctions scenarios w/ outside nonprofits

7. Biden has unleashed unprecedented volley of +6K sanctions in 2 years. Higher than even previously unprecedented rate of Trump.

“We don’t think about the collateral damage of sanctions the same way we think about the collateral damage of war ... But we should.”

More to come.

Read our first story here:

washingtonpost.com/business/inter…

@federicacocco Here's a partial list of all countries under some form of US sanctions, with an (somewhat admittedly/inherently subjective) attempt to categorize by severity:

SANCTIONS CRUSHED SYRIA’S ELITE.

SO THEY BUILT A ZOMBIE ECONOMY FUELED BY DRUGS.

Incredible reporting

Revealing in why sanctions have exploded: They are often applied in response to atrocities abroad. But what about second or third order impacts?

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

Hearing A LOT of alarm today among GOP donors & Reaganite conservative types about JD Vance

On trade, taxes, unions, antitrust — he’s signaled sharp departure from traditional conservatism, despite venture capitalist roots

Now he’s heir apparent for the party, & Reaganites fear being shut out

Vance had troubled them by:

— Praising Biden FTC pick Lina Khan
— Suggesting openness to higher corporate taxes
— Backing Trump’s major tariffs & trade barriers
— Being tied to Oren Cass’s pro industrial & family policy group
— Visiting UAW picket line

OTOH plenty of reason to feel these fears are overstated

Vance has:
— Given no indication he’ll resist Trump plans on cutting corporate taxes & the rich, deregulating businesses
— Rejected PRO Act
— Signed Grover Norquist’s tax pledge
— Tied himself to billionaire Peter Thiel

As @MattBruenig says:

Had the pleasure ysd to meet Father Gary Wegner, who runs a Detroit soup kitchen

Wegner says demand is up ~80% over last yr w/ hunger rising nationally

“Jesus said blessed are the poor,” Wegner said. “Only in America do we put the modifier, ‘Blessed are the *deserving* poor’”

Johneka Austin, 42, a banquet server with 5 sons, saw her food stamps cut from $843 to $400-$500 as covid aid expiration hit ~1M Michiganders

She’s torn bw buying good groceries & Internet for her sons

Austin laughed when I asked whether the economy is good. “Nobody says that!”

Nate Standing, 31, right, was homeless & a drug addict for about 10 years. He said an extended treatment program made possible by covid aid allowed him to get sober — and eventually a job with Capuchin Soup Kitchen

But now he’s seeing a big increase in need, esp for families