It Is Happening Every Day, Every Where
President Trump’s effort to remake the government is a direct challenge to a decades-long effort to build a civil service stocked with experts. Critics say it will backfire.
We found huge errors in the “wall of receipts” for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, where the group lists what it has saved by canceling federal contracts. After The New York Times and other news organizations pointed out the errors, the team quietly removed all five of the largest savings it originally claimed. But David A. Fahrenthold, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, describes how Mr. Musk’s group then added new errors.
Democrats say the calls to remove judges who block Trump administration initiatives amount to intimidation. Some senior Republicans were also skeptical of the effort.
The lack of transparency surrounding the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is emerging as a target in the courts.
The judge prodded government lawyers for additional clarity on Elon Musk’s role in a case that directly challenges the constitutionality of his operation and his part in the rapid reshaping of government.
Elon Musk sowed chaos across the government just days ago by asserting that failure to comply with a similar directive would result in their dismissals.
The New York Times interviewed more than 60 people familiar with Mr. Musk’s effort to piece together new details about it.
The operation was driven with a frenetic focus by the billionaire, who channeled his resentment of regulatory oversight into a drastic overhaul of government agencies.
Tucked away near the White House is a tribute to the environmental agency and its history — for the time being, anyway.
A federal judge in California ordered the retraction of the memos. He suggested, but did not order, that the layoffs be stopped.