151. The Supreme Court's (Alien Enemies Act) Patience is Wearing Thin  —  A very quick breakdown of Friday afternoon's quietly significant ruling slapping down the lower courts in the Northern District of Texas Alien Enemies Act litigation—and what it means going forward.

U.S. Loses Last Triple-A Credit Rating  —  Moody's downgrades the U.S. government, citing large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs  —  The U.S. lost its last triple-A credit rating.  —  Moody's Ratings downgraded the U.S. government on Friday, citing large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs.

How DOGE's grand plan to remake Social Security is backfiring  —  The agency is abandoning an initiative aimed at preventing fraud, the latest example of a failed effort by Elon Musk's disruptive cost-cutting team.  —  The U.S. DOGE Service arrived at the Social Security Administration …

DOGE Is Now Targeting GAO, and the Congressional Agency Is Fighting Back  —  “We are not subject to DOGE or executive orders,” GAO staff were told in an internal email sent Friday.  — Copy  —  Elon Musk's DOGE team is now starting to target government agencies outside of the executive branch …

Former FBI Director James Comey is being interviewed by the US Secret Service  —  Former FBI Director James Comey was escorted by US Secret Service agents to their Washington Field Office on Friday afternoon for an interview, according to law enforcement sources.

Trump administration working on plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya  —  Details are murky and no final agreement has been reached, but the plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libyan leadership.  —  The Trump administration …

Exclusive: Prosecutor's audio shows Biden's memory lapses  —  Amid long, uncomfortable pauses, Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had …

Trump Appointee Pressed Analyst to Redo Intelligence on Venezuelan Gang  —  The move followed a disclosure that intelligence agencies disagree with a key factual claim Trump made to invoke a wartime deportation law.  —  A top adviser to the director of national intelligence ordered …

These are the top sticking points stalling the Trump agenda megabill  —  House Republicans are working to give their “big beautiful bill” a face lift as they try to appease warring factions of the party in hopes of sending President Trump's legislative agenda to the Senate before Memorial Day.

Trump admin permits sale of device that allows standard firearms to fire like machine guns  —  Gun control groups condemned the move as “a dangerous backroom deal spearheaded by Trump's general counsel” that “effectively legalized machine guns.”  —  The Trump Administration has decided …

Trump attorneys draw judge's ire by saying ‘state secrets’ keep them from sharing details on Abrego Garcia's return  —  U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said the government's refusal to provide certain information in the case has been “an exercise in utter frustration.”

Senate Democrats Poised to Enable Trump's Crypto Corruption  —  Today on TAP: They would also massively destabilize the financial system.  —  A $Trump meme coin  —  As my colleague David Dayen has been covering here at the Prospect, the cryptocurrency “industry” is in the midst …

FBI moving 1,500 personnel from D.C., closing storied headquarters building: Patel  —  WASHINGTON − FBI Director Kash Patel announced in a Fox News broadcast Friday that he's redeploying 1,500 FBI agents, analysts and other personnel from Washington to posts throughout the country …

Trump Has Embarrassing Public Meltdown After Bruce Springsteen Diss  —  The president's obsessing over another man's skin.  Don't worry, everything's totally fine.  —  The president of the United States used the full power of his office Friday to have an embarrassing public meltdown online.

Army to place large metal plates on DC streets to protect them from tanks during June parade  —  Twenty-five, 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks are set to roll through the capital amid concerns about potential damage to city throughfares.  —  WASHINGTON — The Army will place large metal plates …

JD Vance clear favorite to win the GOP nomination in 2028: poll  —  Vice President JD Vance is the overwhelming choice to win the 2028 Republican presidential primary, according to a new poll, even with former contenders and allies of President Trump jockeying for position.

Happy Friday afternoon!  Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 559 words, a 2-min. read.  Thanks to Carolyn DiPaolo for copy editing.  —  1 big thing: “Big, beautiful bill” blocked  —  The House Budget Committee rejected President Trump's “big, beautiful bill” today …

Appeals court lifts block on Trump executive order targeting federal worker unions  —  The president's directive seeks to end collective bargaining by employees at many federal agencies.  —  A federal appeals court has lifted a lower-court order that prevented the federal government …