The #State Dept in March ended its own #AirQuality monitoring program, which relied on sensors at >80 US embassies & consulates. That program largely operated in countries where such data was otherwise limited or unreliable.

Some #NPS employees had pushed back & urged #Trump ofcls to revoke the stop-work orders sent to the 2 contractors, acc/to the email & the 2 people familiar w/the matter.

Best and worst #US states for saving #money

#Trump said he was unsure whether people in the #US are entitled to #DueProcess rights guaranteed in the US #Constitution as his admin pushes aggressively to #deport immigrants who are in the country illegally & other non-citizens [& even #citizens].

Kristen Welker asked Trump whether he agreed w/Secy of #State #MarcoRubio, who said last month that "of course" all people in the US are entitled to due process….

#law #immigration #CivilRights #5thAmendment #14thAmendment
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-hes-unsure-whether-people-us-are-entitled-due-process-2025-05-04/

Pressed on whether he still needs to abide by the #Constitution, #Trump said, “I don’t know.”

“I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, & they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said,” he said. [except he hasn’t]

In the wide-ranging interview airing Sunday, he also did not rule out the use of #military force to take #Greenland, while saying it’s “highly unlikely” he would do so w/ #Canada. He complimented #JDVance & Secy of #State #MarcoRubio as potential successors.

…#State Dept staffers say they fear a selective disclosure of documents…could be distorted to fit any…narrative #DarrenBeattie, #Rubio, or others create.

Weaponizing any speech…by deeming it #disinformation is not only ironic, says Jankowicz—it will also have “chilling effects” on anyone who conducts disinformation #research, & it will result in “less #oversight & #transparency over #tech #platforms, …adversarial activities, [&]…people who are legitimately trying to disenfranchise US voters.”

An hour after staff were informed, Secy of #State #MarcoRubio published a blog announcing the news on the #Federalist, one of the outlets that sued #GEC over allegations of *censorship*. He then discussed in an interview w/ #RightWing Internet personality #MikeBenz plans for #DarrenBeattie to lead a “transparency effort.”

“What we have to do now—& Darren will be big involved in that…is…document what happened…because…people who were harmed deserve to know…,& be able to prove…they were harmed.”

Several people familiar with the matter say that by early April, #DarrenBeattie had received many of the documents he’d requested, retrieved through eRecords, as well as a list of grantees. One source says the more sensitive list of subgrantees was not shared.

…5 weeks after Beattie made his requests for #information, the #State Dept shut down R/FIMI.

Employees worried about the sensitivity & impropriety of the broad scope of the information requested, particularly because records would be #unredacted, as well as about how the search would be conducted: through the eRecords file management system, which makes it easy for administrative staff to search through & retrieve #State Dept employees’ emails, typically in response to #FOIA requests.

It also asked for a search for 32 right-wing buzzwords related to #abortion, #immigration, #ElectionDenial, & #Jan6, suggesting a determined effort to find #State Dept staff who even just discussed such matters.

Multiple sources say State Dept employees raised alarms internally about the records requests.

#DarrenBeattie delivered the request, which he framed as a “transparency” initiative, to the #State Dept ofcls in a conference room at its Washington, DC, HQ on a Tues afternoon in early March, in the form of an 11-pg packet titled, “SO [Senior Official] Beattie Inquiry for GEC/R/FIMI Records.” The documents were printed out, rather than emailed.

Labeled “sensitive but unclassified,” the document lays out Beattie’s requests in 12 separate, but sometimes repetitive, bullet points.

Several #State Dept staffers call the records requests “unusual” & “improper” in their scope.…

While they acknowledge that previous political appointees have, on occasion, made information requests through the records management system, #DarrenBeattie’s request was something wholly different.

Never had “an incoming political appointee” sought to “search through 7 years’ worth of all staff emails to see whether anything negative had been said about his friends,” says one staffer.