• Schumer loses this game of chicken: With a partial government shutdown looming tonight thanks to Senate Democrats’ resistance to the GOP’s Continuing Resolution, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer suddenly changed his stance. On Wednesday, Schumer railed against Republicans for choosing “a partisan path … without any input from” Democrats. But a day later, with Republicans warning of a “Schumer Shutdown,” the minority leader struck a different tune, announcing that he would no longer block a vote and arguing that allowing a shutdown would be much worse for America because it would give Donald Trump “even more power.” This signals that Democrats will now allow a vote on the CR, averting a government shutdown. What’s behind Schumer’s about-face? He may already be looking at the midterms and wants to avoid giving fuel to Republican candidates.

• Dem-appointed judges scurry to protect government bloat: If the goal is to force a Supreme Court decision on firing procedures for executive branch employees, the Trump administration is well on its way. A Clinton-appointed judge in San Francisco, William Alsup, and an Obama-appointed judge in Maryland, James Bredar, have made two decisions with the same goal in mind — to protect federal bureaucrats. In both cases, the judges argued that while thousands of probationary employees were officially fired for “performance” reasons, this was an impermissible mass layoff. Judge Alsup claims the firings resulted from an Office of Personnel Management order, which violates proper procedure for firing since the “OPM does not have any authority whatsoever” to hire or fire workers. Appeals of these decisions are expected, and until then, the Trump administration is ordered to begin rehiring these workers.

• Judge Chutkan strikes again: “No, Mr. Musk, I expect you to die buried in red tape.” Some variation of the famous “Goldfinger” quote may have been running through Judge Tanya Chutkan’s mind when she issued the decision Wednesday that attempts to force a mountain of homework onto DOGE. The order requires DOGE to “produce all DOGE and DOGE Temporary Organization planning, implementation, and operational documents regarding obtaining access, using, or making changes to federal databases or data management systems.” And that’s just the first of several onerous requirements from Chutkan. The intent is clear: bury DOGE in paperwork to prevent it from accomplishing anything. Chutkan is notable for her previous controversial decisions targeting Trump, including denying his presidential immunity and issuing the infamous “gag order.” Chutkan is a Trump-hating judicial activist if ever there was one.

• Weldon CDC nomination pulled: On Thursday, moments before former Florida Representative Dave Weldon was scheduled to appear in a confirmation hearing before the Senate Health Committee, the White House withdrew his nomination for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to a Trump administration official, the nomination was pulled because “it was clear he did not have the votes in the Senate.” Weldon, who is a physician, has been derided as “anti-vaccine,” which apparently is tied to his having raised concerns about childhood vaccine safety over 20 years ago. As Weldon himself explained, “I actually give hundreds of vaccines every year in my medical practice.” News of Weldon’s pulled nomination reportedly made HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. “very upset.”

• Trump to utilize Alien Enemies Act: Donald Trump is reportedly planning to dust off and invoke the 227-year-old Alien Enemies Act as part of his crackdown on illegal immigration. The law, which is intended during wartime, grants extraordinary powers to the executive, thus allowing the Trump administration to arrest, detain, and deport illegal aliens over the age of 14 who came from countries staging an “invasion or predatory incursion” into America. Invoking this law helps the Trump administration fast-track the deportation of illegal aliens by avoiding any court hearings or asylum interviews. Trump’s use of this emergency power is novel because it focuses on immigration enforcement. Trump promised to take this action during his inaugural address.

• Maxine Waters is “wise” to Trump’s dastardly plan: The House of Representatives only attracts the best and brightest — that’s why Maxine Waters is here to warn us about falling for Donald Trump’s scheme. The outline is this: The former president who was impeached twice, had his house raided by the FBI, was fined nearly a half-billion dollars, and was shot in the ear by an attempted assassin is “on the edge of creating a civil war.” Waters claimed, “He alluded to it more than once. He alluded to the fact that if he did not get reelected, that there could be a civil war.” First, he got reelected. Second, Democrats are the violent ones, even if she pretends otherwise. Democrats, she advised, need to “live and do like Doctor Martin Luther King told us to do.” Now that would be a huge change.

• Michael Mann’s false testimony: Michael Mann doesn’t like to have his scientific claims challenged. Years ago, when conservative commentator Mark Steyn did just that regarding Mann’s infamous global warming “hockey stick” graph, Mann sued, alleging defamation. Last year, a court ruled in Mann’s favor with a $1 million penalty against Steyn. However, Mann won’t see most of that money after the judge overseeing the trial threw out the penalty, determining that Mann and his legal team lied before the jury regarding evidence fundamental to Mann’s defamation claim. DC Superior Court Judge Alfred S. Irving Jr. called Team Mann’s conduct “an affront to the Court’s authority and an attack on the integrity of the proceedings.” At issue was Mann’s claim that he lost a $9 million grant due to Steyn’s criticism. However, it turns out that the evidence was false, as the grant had actually been for $112,000.

• Monmouth University polling bites the dust: Monmouth Polling Institute will shut down July 1, 2025. The outfit didn’t push any overt propaganda like some, but losing Monmouth polling is still no great loss. Like many pollsters, Monmouth has found the past few election cycles difficult to poll. Its last 2024 polls found the presidential race was neck and neck, but like most, it missed Donald Trump sweeping the swing states. In 2020 and 2016, Monmouth showed Joe Biden winning Florida by four points and Hillary Clinton winning nationally by six. It is peculiar that so many pollsters find it so difficult to assess Republican voters accurately. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking. In any case, this is one “renowned polling institute” that will not be missed.

Headlines

• Senate committee advances Jay Bhattacharya’s nomination for NIH director (Just the News)

• Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva dead at 77 (Fox News)

• Education Department investigates 45 colleges over “race-based” programs (Washington Examiner)

• 21 AGs sue Trump administration over Education Department staff reductions (UPI)

• Illegal alien population surges to record high, bombshell study finds (Daily Wire)

• Planned Parenthood kills 18-year-old girl in botched abortion (LifeNews.com)

• Humor: Liberals defeat Nazis by painting swastikas everywhere and torching immigrant businesses (Babylon Bee)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.