Danielle Brian

ICYMI: Bipartisan Warren, Scott (Fla.) Letter Questions Biden Defense Secretary’s Decision to Launch Lobbying Firm | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

We need to close the revolving door.

We’re grateful to @warren.senate.gov and Sen. Rick Scott for asking these important questions about former Sec. Def. Austin launching a lobbying firm.

It’s time to end the legalized corruption of the revolving door and congressional stock trading once and for all.

Lloyd Austin’s Defense Industry Ties Are Not What the Pentagon Needs We recognize the historic nature of the nomination of retired General Lloyd Austin to lead the Pentagon, but it’s not clear that his defense industry ties will serve President-elect Joe Biden well.

We @POGO raised concerns about his industry ties when he was nominated. www.pogo.org/post/lloyd-a...

And @warren.senate.gov and @SenRickScott call out former Secretary of Defense for going back on his word when he promised he wouldn’t trade in his political power by going into the influence industry.

Senators slam Lloyd Austin over new consulting firm Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Rick Scott say the former Defense secretary is violating the public trust by going into the influence business.

Both parties still fail to understand their acceptance of legalized #corruption is the reason the US population doesn’t trust politicians. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Veteran DOJ Watchdog’s Exit Spurs Fears of Lax Trump Oversight The departure of the Justice Department’s longtime inspector general next week has former officials and other lawyers worried that an era of robust, independent oversight of law enforcement is ending ...

The last man standing. Michael Horowitz was an excellent Inspector General put in an impossible situation. Now that he’s gone, there’s no one left in the executive branch to hold this the Trump Admin accountable. It’s Congress and the Courts or nothing. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

The US should learn from this.

docs.pogo.org/report/2005/...

Recommendations for Reclaiming Congress’s War Powers It should not take a supermajority to stop an unauthorized war with Iran.

www.pogo.org/analysis/rec...

This is exactly what Congress doing their job looks like: Voting on a War Powers Resolution. The Congress and NOT POTUS has the power to initiate an act of war. And yes, we @POGOwatchdog were saying this during Obama and even earlier. This is not a partisan issue, it is a Constitutional one.

To be clear 90% of all this wouldn't be a problem if CONGRESS DID ITS JOB. Justice Jackson is right. This is an imperial executive embracing an imperial judiciary filling the void left by a feckless Congress.

THIS! On top of today’s Senate Judiciary hearing where judicial nominee Emil Bove is alleged to have encouraged DOJ to defy court orders. The Administration’s efforts to delegitimize the courts is breathtaking. And is a classic authoritarian move.

Justice Dept. Leader Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says

🗞️ THIS JUST IN: DOJ whistleblower Erez Reuveni says senior Trump official Emil Bove suggested defying court orders to carry out deportations.

Our team represents Reuveni—and what he uncovered is alarming.

Full story via NYT: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...

Stephen Miller’s Financial Stake in ICE Contractor Palantir Raises Conflict Concerns POGO report shows top Trump adviser owned six-figure stock in company profiting off deportations.

NEWS: Stephen Miller owns a six-figure stock in Palantir, a company profiting off deportations, per @POGOwatchdog report migrantinsider.com/p/stephen-mi...

Budgets ARE policy. There is no clearer example of Congress choosing to disempower itself than by cutting in half the budget of its own watchdog.

Until Congress begins to do its job we will continue to watch the president violate the laws intended to prevent abuse of power and corruption. The consequences of tonight’s bombings lies equally with Congress. Their inaction is not only destabilizing the country but the world.

Congress Must Reclaim and Reassert War Power The Constitution is clear: Congress, not the president, should be the branch deciding when our nation goes to war.

The president did not have the authority to bomb Iran without congressional approval. Yet again we are seeing how dangerous it is for Congress to cede its power. reassert-war-power

10:30am: "Brevard County Sheriff Sheriff Wayne Ivey: "If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at, because we will kill you graveyard dead." 10:49am: law enforcement officials say they made a proactive check at Rep. Hortman's home after a lawmaker who lived nearby was shot and found a "police vehicle in the driveway with emergency lights and what appeared to be a police officer at the door coming out of the house." He was actually the gunman.

Jesus.

The juxtaposition of these two posts back to back is just...

Quick reminder to POTUS, the First Amendment explicitly protects freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you get a different Constitution where you can use “very heavy force” to punish protected activities.

Lol

President Trump's Federalizing the National Guard Is a Dangerous… The administration must reverse this dangerous, unjustified course.

"The tragedy at Kent State in 1970 is...an enduring warning against the militarization of civilian spaces." @pogo.org Executive Director @daniellebrian.bsky.social responds to President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles www.pogo.org/post/preside...

That’s alarming enough. But Trump has also authorized deployment of troops anywhere in the country where protests against ICE are occurring or are likely to occur, even if they are entirely peaceful. That is unprecedented and a clear abuse of the law. 2/19

Trump has federalized at least 2,000 National Guard forces and reportedly plans to deploy troops to Los Angeles over Governor Newsom’s objections. If that happens, it will be the first time since 1965 that a president has sent troops into a state without a state request. 1/19

'Hidden' provision in Trump's big bill could disarm US Supreme Court The provision would bar courts from enforcing contempt citations for violations of injunctions or temporary restraining orders unless a bond has been paid.

You’ve also got Congress (at least the House) writing blank checks for a mass deportation campaign that is repeatedly violating court orders and trying to evade judicial review—and undercutting the contempt power. www.newsweek.com/hidden-provi...

Right now neither is happening. You’ve got the Supreme Court staying lower court orders reining in DOGE and overruling Humphrey’s executor (major precedent limiting presidential power over independent agencies) on the shadow docket

It is really important right now that Congress back up the courts against executive contempt (like the rendition flights) and the courts back Congress against encroachments on Article I powers (like DOGE’s rampage)

The @nytimes.com is reporting that the Trump administration has requested deployment of 20,000+ National Guard members to help with immigration enforcement inside the U.S. This is an unprecedented move that raises a host of legal and practical concerns. 1/8

DOGE went looking for phone fraud at SSA — and found almost none Since SSA installed new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone, only two claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent, according to internal documents obtained by Nextgov/FCW...

Per NextGov, it looks like DOGE & Musk’s claims about high rates of phone fraud at Social Security weren’t just inaccurate but spectacularly wrong.

SSA looks likely to reverse policy on applying the antifraud tool to these benefit claims, which seems wise.

Migrant Drug Seizures by Border Patrol Incredibly Rare, Data Shows Despite political rhetoric suggesting migrants are fueling drug seizures, a detailed review shows just how infrequently Border Patrol agents seize drugs from migrants.

The bottom line is the President is lying. There is no national emergency. He is making up a story to justify increasingly militarizing our country. It is essential to expose the facts. Congress should be holding hearings immediately. www.pogo.org/investigatio...

... just 1 in 53,965 migrants (.002%) were caught with drugs other than marijuana." Only 11 of the nearly 6 million migrants encountered by CBP had fentanyl -- that's only .0002% of migrants being stopped were found with fentanyl.