Edward Brandon Beckham tried three times to take the federal government's deferred resignation offer while his wife was dying, but the administration kept turning him down. It tested his faith — in God, and in Trump. Terribly sad story, deeply reported, by @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

Breaking news: The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered scientists in at least one of its research offices to immediately pause almost all research and stop publishing their studies.

“The Trump administration has ordered the removal of signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks, according to four people familiar with the matter, including a historic photograph of a formerly enslaved man showing scars on his back.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

told lovingly and beautifully by the brilliant @teoarmus.bsky.social

EXCLUSIVE www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

POST EXCLUSIVE (GIFT LINK) The Trump administration intends to dramatically limit U.S. government criticism of El Salvador, Israel and Russia, all with extensive records of abusing human rights @mradamtaylor.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @johnphudson.bsky.social report wapo.st/4mAYX7v

Leaked draft reports show the Trump administration is planning to eliminate or downplay accounts of prisoner abuse, corruption, LGBTQ+ discrimination and other alleged abuses. @mradamtaylor.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @johnphudson.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

SCOOP: Leaked drafts of the State Dept's annual human rights reports on El Salvador, Israel & Russia show the Trump admin is planning to eliminate or downplay accounts of prisoner abuse, corruption & LGBTQ discrimination www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Oodles of deeply reported, exclusive stories you can read first and only in the @washingtonpost.com this morning: Top Hegseth aide tried to oust senior White House liaison from Pentagon, scoops @danlamothe.bsky.social t.co/AzvsTV1WBl

Latest in a string of stories you can read only/first from the @washingtonpost: The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work right now, under the Trump admin's resignation program w/ @merylkornfield.bsky.social @laurameckler.bsky.social wapo.st/3IRXIlK

We sought this number for months, and we finally got it this week when @merylkornfield.bsky.social and @hannahnatanson.bsky.social presented their own tally — compiled through reporting from sources and constant calls to more than a dozen agencies. No one else has been able to report it until now.

The federal government is paying more than 154,000 people not to work, in the name of cost-cutting www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

On Page 1 of @washingtonpost.com today, another exclusive: Hegseth team told to stop polygraph tests after complaint to White House www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

NEW: In a time of travel bans and visa fees, Trump is moving to let Argentine tourists into the US without a visa — a political gift to his friend Javier Milei. But a State Dept cable acknowledges that Argentina doesn’t meet a key requirement for that exemption. w/ @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

White House officials paused — then released — billions of dollars in NIH research funding on Tuesday Comes amid Trump's broader crackdown on NIH funds, which has alarmed Democrats and even unsettled some in GOP w @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @jeffstein.bsky.social @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social

SCOOP: DOGE has built an AI tool to cut 50 percent of federal regulations. The goal is to kill 100,000 regs by the one year anniversary of Trump's inauguration. wapo.st/451U8wD w/ @jeffstein.bsky.social @ddiamond.bsky.social @rachelsiegel25.bsky.social

New & scoopy: Documents obtained by WaPo show political appointee overruled NIH career experts after Trump-mandated biosafety review @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

NIH has fired its new chief operating officer — who had been helping lead Trump-era crackdowns on NIH workers — amid a probe into whether he tried to steer a contract to get his wife a job. with @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social (and me pitching in from paternity leave)

The @washingtonpost.com assigned around 20 staffers to this account of the Texas flood, with one jawdropping anecdote after another One thing that becomes clear: The extraordinary courage of camp counselors, who evacuated their girls as older adults floundered and stalled Free link wapo.st/44N1cNI

It's going to be a challenge to explain, say, a Civil War battlefield without disparaging Americans More from @jakespring.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @anushamathur.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

NEW Immigrants could be deported to third countries with little to no notice—> www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

[email protected] right now:

still on paternity leave but took a break to scoop this story with the terrific @hannahnatanson.bsky.social — DOGE was stripped of its control over whether billions of dollars in federal grant opportunities get posted.

👀 Scoop: Trump and Republicans want USPS to sell off its brand new EVs and chargers. That would mean literally **ripping up post office parking lots** to auction off assets with no private-sector value. It’s buried in the Senate’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Social Security has stopped publicly reporting its processing times for benefits, the 1-800 number’s current call wait time and numerous other performance metrics, which customers and advocates have used to track the agency’s struggling customer service programs.

New from @hannahnatanson.bsky.social and I: Trump accelerates push to reward loyalty in federal workforce www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.

The federal government has paused a plan to issue a $47 million contract for an expanded immigrant detention center in Georgia amid a review of the contract by the U.S. DOGE Service, according to a local official briefed on the matter and documents obtained by The Post.

DOGE’s intense scrutiny of federal spending is forcing employees to spend hours justifying even the most basic purchases. New rules mandating review and approval by political appointees are leaving thousands of contracts and projects on ice for months.

An IT worker for the nat'l parks drove to a bridge & called a friend to talk him down. A Medicaid researcher killed herself after repeating "I’m not enough" to her family. A Social Security worker, whose data was under siege by DOGE, died at her cubicle. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

New: Across the federal government, Trump is ordering agencies to stop enforcing rules he doesn't like. w/ @hannahnatanson.bsky.social and Ian Duncan wapo.st/4dqIrDN

More from our story last month, including @hannahnatanson.bsky.social’s reporting on how local weather offices were being hit by firings, retirements and resignations. Current and former officials have been warning about these growing safety risks for months.

How DOGE’s grand plan to remake Social Security is backfiring. Many major Musk-driven changes have been reversed after proving ineffective, while others are badly damaging customer service and satisfaction @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @merylkornfield.bsky.social

Scoop: We've obtained internal cables showing how the U.S. government is pushing countries facing tariffs to clear way for Musk's Starlink State Dept says it's good to encourage Starlink adoption Others point to blurring of Musk's private/government roles ... www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The Postal Service's law enforcement arm is now assisting the Trump administration's efforts to find undocumented immigrants, @jacobbogage.bsky.social and @hannahnatanson.bsky.social report — including trying to get access to images of households' mail and other data.

🚨 WaPo Exclusive 🚨 The Postal Service's law enforcement arm is assisting Trump's mass deportation push, per docs and sources. USPS takes photos of the front and back of mail and packages. DHS *really* wants that info, me and @hannahnatanson.bsky.social report.

Grateful to WaPo editors for putting this story on the front page today. And appreciate incredible colleagues like @faizsays.bsky.social, @jeffstein.bsky.social, @hannahnatanson.bsky.social, @emilydavies.bsky.social and many more as we’ve teamed up to cover the tentacles of DOGE.

Since Jan., 792 feds have reached out to me on Signal, helping the stellar @washingtonpost team break news you'd never have learned otherwise. I spoke about it here: www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/pos... I'm grateful for so much trust. If you have a story, get in touch: Signal (202) 580-5477.

The Post reviewed hundreds of cases involving contractors alleged to have used unauthorized technology or mishandled sensitive government information — the same types of security violations that experts have said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have committed.

Also, as we approach 100 days of President Trump: thanks to the readers who have come with us, and the sources who have helped us reveal the workings of this White House. We continue to report without fear or favor. No one is telling us what to write. You can judge for yourself @washingtonpost.com.

Really great interview with @hannahnatanson.bsky.social, our tireless reporter covering the federal government and DOGE, on how she does her job, breaks so many scoops and the responsibility she feels to tell federal workers’ stories. (And it’s a podcast, so no paywall.)

Exclusive: Representatives for the U.S. DOGE Service have received permission to access a Justice Department system that contains the addresses and case history for millions of legal and undocumented immigrants, according to documents obtained by The Post.

EXCLUSIVE from @hannahnatanson.bsky.social: White House floor plans and other sensitive documents were improperly shared with thousands: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The White House has now told me my reporting is "false" because, before government officials entered the 6,000 living immigrants into Social Security's death database, they renamed the database

SCOOP: Dozens of immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Trump administration have showed up to Social Security offices to prove they are alive, forcing the agency to reverse the declaration. Those reinstated as alive include an asylum seeker and a minor. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

DOGE has abruptly imposed new “defend the spend” rules before paying out federal health-care grants It’s forcing manual reviews of thousands of routine transactions Some organizations still waiting for $$ they expected days ago Scoop with @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

ICE and DOGE want access to Medicare claims data as part of the Trump administration’s crack down on immigrants. Officials say request is unprecedented + Medicare leaders are weighing legality. scoop with @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @rachelroubein.bsky.social

SCOOP: ICE, DOGE are asking to use sensitive Medicare claims data to find the addresses of immigrants the government says are here illegally, as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown intensifies, w/ @rachelroubein.bsky.social @ddiamond.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Despite everything, internal and external, the @washingtonpost news staff just keeps breaking exclusives and essential must-read stories. Here is another. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

SCOOP: Trump admin overrode objections from Social Security staff to label ~6,000 living immigrants dead. A senior exec who objected was escorted out of the building, and earlier warnings were ignored. The immigrants include 13, 14 & 16yos who staff didn't find criminal records for: wapo.st/3RKSQQt