Today in Politics, Bulletin 66, 2/7/25

… DOGE staffer Edward Coristine was fired by Path Network in 2022 (a company known for hiring former hackers), for leaking confidential information to a competitor. Bloomberg is reporting that they have a letter from Path stating: “Edward has been terminated for leaking internal information to competitors. This is unacceptable and there is zero tolerance for this.”

… Bloomberg: “Several of Coristine’s online peers and former co-workers said they were surprised that the teenage friend they knew has been brought into one of the most high-profile teams in the Trump Admin. His 2022 dismissal and the circumstances surrounding it add to questions about how he arrived in this new job with Musk’s DOGE, and how he’ll handle the sensitive government information that comes with it.

… Coristine went by the online moniker “Big Balls”.

… Wired reported that “Big Balls” has founded 5 companies since he turned 16, including Tesla.Sexy LLC, a company managing multiple web domains. One of his domains hosted "Helfie," an AI bot marketed to Discord users in Russia. Always a connection to Russia with these guys.

… Sen. Ron Wyden to Bloomberg: “Giving Musk's goon squad access to systems that control payments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other key federal programs is a national security nightmare. Every hour new disturbing details emerge to prove that these guys have no business anywhere close to sensitive information or critical networks.”

… A second DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, who was granted access to the Treasury’s “top-secret” payment system that controls social security and tax distributions, was fired yesterday by the Trump White House after they learned about a series of racist statements he made online recently, which were reported by the WSJ. Some of these statements:

“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity.”

“Normalize Indian hate.”

“Just for the record, I was a racist before it was cool.”

“I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.”

… But after the firing was announced by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Emperor Elon Musk started an online campaign to get Elez hired back. He said that poor Elez may have made “inappropriate statements” but he’s just a kid, and posted a poll on X asking that he be brought back.

… JD Vance then chimed in, saying he thought the DOGE racist that his own Admin just fired should be rehired: “Here’s my view: I obviously disagree with some of Elez’s posts, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid’s life. We shouldn’t reward journalists who try to destroy people. Ever. So I say bring him back. If he’s a bad dude or a terrible member of the team, fire him for that.”

… Elez is 25 years old.

… So basically since a journalist was the one who revealed that this guy is a racist piece of shit, Vance says he has to be hired back at the highest levels of government because they can’t let the media win.

… Rep. Ro Khannna to Vance: “Are you going to tell him to apologize for saying ‘Normalize Indian hate’ before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids.”

… Then at a joint presser with the Japanese PM, Trump was told that Vance posted online that he wanted the fired DOGE employee hired back and was asked his position: “I don’t know anything about the particulars, but if the VP said that, lets bring him back.”

… Musk then announced on X that his fired racist employee was back. Back controlling whether Social Security or Medicare payments are made. And lots of other things. Comforting.

… White nationalist Andrew Torba, who is the CEO of the right-wing social media platform Gab: “We live in a culture where you can make ‘racist’ posts online and not get fired now. Deal with it. This won at the ballot box.”

… Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin then sent another letter to Musk assuring him that he will protect his team of DOGE racists and hackers from the mean libs who are tormenting them: “We will investigate them and we will chase them to the end of the Earth to hold them accountable. We will not rest or cease in this. Noone is above the law. I am proud that we have been able to assist local law enforcement in protecting the DOGE workers.”

‘Noone’ is not my typo. That’s how the US Attorney wrote it in his letter.

… WaPo reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is appointing a third Musk DOGE member, Tom Krause, to a senior position in the department overseeing the nation’s payment systems. Once again, this was not announced to the public and was told to WaPo by inside sources in the Treasury. They are trying to hide everything they do. Even their identities.

… Krause was previously instructed by Musk to order career non-partisan Acting Secretary David Lebryk to cut off payments to USAID. When Lebryk refused because there was no legal authority, he was then forced to resign. Now Krause has Lebryk’s former position. Krause, and by proxy Musk, will now have control over the Treasury system responsible for disbursing more than $5 trillion in annual payments, including for Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds and thousands of other things.

… Fox Contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier: “I have colleagues who are really upset right now. They are concerned that funding for the research that they are doing is going to be cut off. We do a lot of valuable research in the cancer community. I can empathize with these Democrats right now. Change is hard, but it’s for the greater good.”

… Trump was asked if he had any reaction to the new Time cover which showed Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Trump looked visibly agitated. Then said: “No. Is Time magazine still in business? I didn't even know that.”

… He knows it very well, because Trump just praised Time in December, saying it was “a great honor” to be on their cover as Man of the Year.

… Trump continued to get questions about Elon Musk, and continued to get more annoyed: “Is there anything you've told Elon Musk he cannot touch?” Trump: “Well, we haven't discussed that much.”

When it starts to sink in that a big chunk of the American public thinks Musk is really in charge and he is just a doddering old fool, there will be hell to pay. He’s fighting it right now, but the more it keeps getting brought up to him the better.

… Then the next reporter: “Will you put Elon Musk up on the podium for us to ask him some questions?” Trump, now fuming that these questions are not about him: “Sure. He's not shy. Elon is not shy.”

… Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba was obviously given a very accurate briefing about how to handle Trump to get whatever you want out of the US. He opened up their joint press conference today with this: “I was so excited to see someone who is such a celebrity on TV, to see him in person. On TV, he is frightening and he has a very strong personality. But when I met with him, he was very sincere and very powerful and with a strong will for the US.”

… The guy laid it on pretty thick, but Trump didn’t seem to mind.

If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can read it here.

… Bloomberg reports that AG Pam Bondi has dismantled the DOJ's foreign bribery unit’s ability to investigate and monitor foreign interference in our elections. The unit is now only able to investigate cases involving drugs or trafficking under Bondi’s new directive.

… Bradley Hope reports that Bondi also just eliminated DOJ’s Kleptocracy Initiative, which seized Russian oligarchs' yachts, planes and real estate pursuant to sanctions. Hope: “The units recovered billions in stolen assets since 2010. But here's the real story: Sources say a key objective is gaining control of a multi-billion dollar forfeiture fund - money seized from corrupt officials that was meant to be returned to victim countries. Where's that money headed? Bondi's memo cryptically mentions ‘other law enforcement purposes.’ Multiple sources say this means funding new detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Texas.

… Former DOJ national security prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky told Bloomberg: “Taken together, these changes are an invitation to foreign actors to interfere in American affairs. Even worse, it’s an invitation to Americans to help them do it.”

… Ellen Weintraub, Chair of the Federal Election Commission, is refusing to leave her position despite being fired by Trump: “Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner and Chair. There’s a legal way to replace FEC commissioners — this isn’t it.” Weintraub was appointed to a six-year term in 2022.

… Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY): “This onslaught against the FEC, when that agency is currently reviewing complaints against the President, reeks of corruption.”

… Bloomberg: “6 commissioners run the FEC, with no more than 3 from a single party allowed to serve at one time. Weintraub, a Democrat, voted to investigate the president over allegations involving violation of rules barring coordination between his campaign and allied Super PACs and matters regarding accusations that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.”

… The Hill reports that Justice Sotomayor just gave her first public remarks since the election at an event in KY: “If we as a court go so much further ahead of people, our legitimacy is going to be questioned. I think the immunity case is one of those situations. I don’t think that Americans have accepted that anyone should be above the law in America. Our equality as people was the foundation of our society and of our constitution. I think my court would probably gather more public support if it went a little more slowly in undoing precedent.”

… Fox is reporting tonight that Democrats on House Appropriations Committee have sent a letter to SecDef Hegseth asking him why he has just requested $137,297 for home repairs/paint for a government residence, especially since DOGE is cutting spending across the entire government.

… Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to Trump’s statement about Gaza and his threat to “obliterate” Iran if they try to assassinate him: "The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality. They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind."

… Harris County (TX) DA just arrested Andrew Taake for an outstanding warrant for online solicitation of sex with a minor. Taaka was incarcerated for unrelated crimes he committed on J6, but when Trump pardoned him he was released from prison despite the active warrant. “Before Taake’s release from custody, a member of our HCSO Fugitive Warrants Div requested that fed authorities hold him, due to his pending warrant in Harris County. The Bureau of Prisons informed HCDAO they needed a certified warrant to prevent Taake’s release. A clerk faxed a copy of that warrant on 1/15/25, but Taake was released 5 days later, in accordance with President Trump’s Pardon order.”

… But they just tracked him down and got him. All the best people.

… Reporter Roger Sollenberger: “Trump nominee Kash Patel disclosed he’s receiving $1-5 million in shares of a Cayman Islands holding company directly tied to a Chinese corporation the Senate and a pro-Trump nonprofit accuse of ‘slave labor.’ Patel says he won’t divest. Patel’s disclosure says that his shares in the company—Elite Depot Ltd—would begin vesting Feb. 1, two days after his Senate confirmation hearing, will continue to vest through November, and that he won't back out.”

… But wait, there’s more: “But Patel appears to have lied about or misrepresented the company on his disclosure, claiming under penalty of perjury it was a ‘fashion management company.’ But it filed as an ‘equity holding company’ in the Cayman Islands. Equity in what, you ask? Patel got millions in equity from this company as payment for being a ‘consultant,’ according to his financial disclosure. Not salary, and apparently no retainer. For doing just 8 months of work. We have no idea what he did.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy: “So, the incoming FBI Director worked for 8 months as a fashion consultant to a shadowy Cayman holding company connected to a Chinese Communist Party slave labor manufacturer and he gets up to $5m in fees (for 8