Marshall Cohen

As Trump accuses Obama of "treason" for the US intel report that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, here's @KatieBoLillis and me on why the allegations from DNI Gabbard conflate and misrepresent what the intelligence community actually concluded cnn.com/2025/07/22/pol…

The Office of Special Counsel — a historically nonpartisan federal agency that prevents the weaponization of government — has been "captured" by Trump allies, sources say. And Trump just appointed a self-described "true MAGA loyalists" to run it. cnn.com/politics/paul-…

The fight in the Senate over Trump’s big bill. Ron Johnson wants far deeper cuts. Others concerned about Medicaid. Lisa Murkowski on the House’s Medicaid work rules: “There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging, if not impossible for us to implement.”

The IRS has already shrunk by 24% under Trump, amid mass layoffs and resignations. Hardest hit are auditors, who bring in tons of revenue by cracking down on tax cheats. Experts warn this will trigger huge revenue drops. Estimates vary from $350b to $909b cnn.com/2025/05/21/pol…

SCOOP: internal FEMA assessment says the agency "is not ready" for hurricane season amid turmoil. Preps have been "derailed," morale has plummeted & there's an staff exodus underway. cnn.com/2025/05/15/pol…

NEW: A judge WON'T block the IRS from giving taxpayer addresses to ICE. She basically said the administration crafted the plan carefully enough to comply with laws that allow data-sharing to aid criminal probes (but not for civil immigration enforcement) cnn.com/2025/05/12/pol…

You've heard all about the Trump administration's mass layoffs of federal workers... but you may have missed the behind-the-scenes moves Trump has recently taken that are making it harder than ever for those fired employees to fight for their jobs back. cnn.com/2025/05/08/pol…

This was a truly insane week for the IRS. Since Monday, three (!) people have served as Acting IRS Commissioner. The 2nd was one of the Hunter Biden whistleblowers (Gary Shapley), which Trump and Musk installed over the objections of Treasury Secretary Bessent, only for Shapley…

New: Trump is set to name Gary Shapley, the former IRS criminal investigator who alleged that the DOJ slow-walked the investigation of Hunter Biden, as acting commissioner of the IRS, three people briefed on the matter told @CNN w/ @evanperez cnn.com/2025/04/15/pol…

NEW: About 25% of IRS employees are taking Trump's buyout offers and plan to resign, two sources tell CNN. About 22k of the agency's ~90k employees are leaving. The deadline to accept was midnight. "This is enormous," one source said. w/ @Rene_MarshCNN cnn.com/2025/04/15/pol…

NEWS: IRS employees expect to learn THIS WEEK — their busiest time of the year, with Tax Day — if they're losing their jobs amid Trump's federal workforce cuts. On the timing, one employee said, "it seems like the cruelty is the point." w/ @kaylatausche cnn.com/2025/04/14/pol…

New — > In a federal worked force racked by stress, depression and fear, one family shares a story of death on the job: cnn.com/2025/04/14/pol…

Multiple senior career IRS officials refused to sign the controversial data-sharing agreement with DHS because of grave concerns about its legality, a source tells CNN. That's why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ended up signing it. w/ @Rene_MarshCNN cnn.com/2025/04/08/pol…

NEWS: Up to 50 senior IT professionals at the IRS were placed on administrative leave Friday as the Trump admin. finalizes plans to share data with ICE. Sidelined staffers were in key positions to safeguard taxpayer privacy, sources say. w/ @Rene_MarshCNN cnn.com/2025/03/31/pol…

JUST IN: Federal appeals court rules 2-1 that Trump can fire the MSPB chair (merit board for federal workers) and an NRLB member (labor board), for now, while their lawsuits play out. A win for Trump's efforts to control independent agencies. Both officials are Biden appointees.

New letter from Drake's lawyers, opposing UMG's bid to pause discovery in his defamation case. UMG said the lawsuit "chilled" its freedom of expression. Drake says that's ridiculous — even with the case pending, Kendrick Lamar expressed himself quite publicly at the Super Bowl.

NEW: The Trump admin. confirmed today that there are "ongoing discussions" about "information sharing" between DHS and IRS. This comes after reports last month that IRS refused to turn over protected data on 700k undocumented immigrants who pay taxes. cnn.com/politics/live-…

Colorado AG rebuffs Trump DOJ's efforts to help convicted 2020 election data-breacher Tina Peters. Colorado says DOJ intervention in the case is a "grotesque attempt to weaponize the rule of law" and a "naked, political attempt to threaten or intimidate." cnn.com/2025/03/04/pol…

Trump just gave the plaintiffs in the appointments-clause lawsuits against DOGE a smoking gun. He bragged about DOGE "which is headed by Elon Musk". Then Elon Musk took a bow. This...complicates...DOJ lawyers' claim that Amy Gleason, not Musk, is heading up DOGE.

The obscure Merit Systems Protection Board is the latest battleground for fired federal workers to try to save their jobs. 1 of 3 members retired today. Trump is fighting in court to fire 1 more. If he wins, it could hobble MSPB from taking big actions. cnn.com/2025/02/28/pol…