• Trump meets Powell: President Donald Trump has made no bones about his desire for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down, even floating the idea of trying to fire him. Perhaps that’s why their meeting on Thursday was so awkward. The two powerful men met in a building under renovation as the Federal Reserve prepares its new DC headquarters. Trump, with Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott, confronted Powell with the estimated cost for the renovations: more than $3 billion, a significant overrun. Powell disputed the number slightly, pointing out that the estimate included a third building that had been completed five years prior. Trump suggested it was all part of the same project. When Trump was asked what Powell could do to ease his criticism of the chairman, the president responded: “Well, I’d love him to lower interest rates.”

• Team Trump finds kids Biden lost: More than 13,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who illegally entered the country during the Biden administration and had gone missing from government tracking systems have now been located, the Department of Health and Human Services announced. On top of this, some 400 UAC sponsors have been arrested by ICE for criminal mistreatment of children. During the Biden administration, roughly 320,000 UAC entered the U.S. Under the Trump administration, many of these minors have self-deported with help from the Department of Homeland Security via the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022, a law that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act expanded. The original law only offered UAC the option of Mexico or Canada; it now offers a number of additional countries.

• Trump tackles homelessness: President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Vagrancy and Restoring Order” on Thursday that aims to deal with the growing problem of homelessness that has been plaguing many cities across the country. At the heart of the order is a directive to Attorney General Pam Bondi to “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees that limit State and local governments’ ability to commit individuals on the streets who are a risk to themselves or others.” Furthermore, it directs the heads of the DOJ, HHS, HUD, and DOT “to prioritize grants for states and municipalities that enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders.” In short, the order aims to get individuals, the overwhelming majority of whom “are addicted to drugs, have a mental health disorder, or both,” off the streets and “into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment.”

• Trump ends “pay-for-play” in college sports: On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order that seeks to “save college athletics” from the expansion of name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights that have allowed athletes to directly profit while participating in collegiate sports. Trump’s order bans third-party “pay-for-play” payments to student athletes and calls for the development of a revenue-sharing system between athletes and schools. The order also highlights the growing issue of conflicting NIL laws across at least 30 states. The White House contends, “Without Federal action to restore order, ongoing lawsuits and a patchwork of state NIL laws risk exploiting student-athletes and eroding the opportunities provided by collegiate sports.” House Republicans have also introduced legislation, dubbed the SCORE Act, to address the NIL issue.

• USDA relocations: The U.S. Department of Agriculture is joining the list of government organizations ditching DC. It’s not a total abandonment; 2,000 employees will remain in the DC area, but 2,600 workers will be leaving for greener pastures in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. The USDA is facing other changes, as this move away from DC is part of its workforce reduction, with approximately 15,000, or 15%, of its workforce already accepting incentives to resign. Members of Congress on agriculture committees — Sens. John Boozman and Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Angie Craig — say they were not consulted on this change and called for hearings on the subject. Under these relocations, the USDA research center in Maryland and one of its headquarters on the National Mall will be vacated.

• Vanderbilt is unrepentantly practicing DEI: Several Vanderbilt University employees were caught in recordings bragging about the ways they’ve been skirting federal law to engage in DEI policies. G.L. Black, vice provost for student affairs and dean of students, was caught on video admitting, “All the things that are … components of DEI work are part of what we do.” Black and others explained that the main thing that has changed is the label on the DEI work they’re doing. Academic coach Ivie Carmouche explained that despite the name changes, they have things to “clue people in” to the DEI practices with names that are “as close to DEI” as you can get. Janet Roberts, Vanderbilt’s Peabody facilities manager, summed it up: “We’re flying under the radar.” Of course, so is almost every other university.

• California ammo background check law shot down: A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta’s permanent injunction against California’s unprecedented law requiring a background check to purchase firearm ammunition. Ikuta noted, “By subjecting Californians to background checks for all ammunition purchases, California’s ammunition background check regime infringes on the fundamental right to keep and bear arms.” The law, which California voters approved in 2016, required gun owners to undergo a background check and purchase an ammunition permit, valid for just four years, in order to buy ammunition. Responding to the ruling, Gov. Gavin Newsom falsely claimed, “Strong gun laws save lives,” adding, “Today’s decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence.” In fact, the law was a slap in the face to law-abiding Californians’ Second Amendment rights.

• Ninth Circuit upholds freedom of religion in the face of gender madness: An Oregon woman filed a lawsuit in April 2023 after being denied the opportunity to become an adoptive parent simply because she rejected “gender-affirmation” ideology. Now, two years later, Jessica Bates has been granted a preliminary injunction by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The majority in the 2-1 decision wrote, “Adoption is not a constitutional law dead zone,” and the state’s efforts to ensure a child’s best interests do not create a “force field” against other constitutional rights. What the judges got wrong was assuming “no one doubts Oregon’s valid interest” in protecting the child from non-gender-affirming parents. If Oregon is prioritizing gender cultists for adoptive parents, then its “valid interest” is indeed in doubt.

Headlines

• Justice Department announces task force to investigate Obama officials’ Russiagate role (National Review)

• DOJ meets with Ghislaine Maxwell (Daily Wire)

• Alina Habba to remain acting NJ U.S. attorney after judges reject her for the post (NY Post)

• RNC Chair Michael Whatley to seek open Senate seat in battleground North Carolina (Fox News)

• Democrat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says he is not seeking reelection (Just the News)

• Hackers breach intelligence website used by CIA (Washington Times)

• DC restaurants closing at record pace as council vote looms (Washington Times)

• Kaiser Permanente to pause gender mutilation surgeries for teenagers nationwide (National Review)

• UnitedHealth Group placed under DOJ investigation (Newsweek)

• Humor: 10 most shocking revelations from the newly released MLK files (Babylon Bee)

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