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A Donald Trump memo on Friday ordering the Department of Homeland Security to “provide each and every employee of D.H.S. with the compensation and benefits” they’d have earned if the department weren’t shut down looks good on paper but is worthless without congressional approval.

According to MS NOW's Hayes Brown in an article called Trump’s DHS paycheck promise is a major problem, Trump's memo is a political sleight of hand designed to score points while avoiding congressional responsibility. "Until Congress says otherwise, the Department of Homeland Security doesn't have the money to make good on this promise."

Trump is setting another dangerous precedent that threatens the balance of power in America. By promising to pay DHS employees out of money Congress never appropriated, the president is claiming executive authority that doesn't exist.

The memo builds on an earlier directive ordering Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and OMB chief Russ Vought to find the money for TSA backpay by redirecting funds from other agency accounts. The administration has never publicly explained which funding streams were actually tapped — though it's possible ICE and Border Patrol budgets were raided to cover the costs.

"Use funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations to provide TSA employees with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them," the earlier memo instructed.

Friday's new memo is equally vague about which accounts will be plundered to pay more than a quarter-million DHS employees. It merely declares that once Congress restores funding, "every effort should be made" to "adjust applicable funding accounts within DHS" to essentially make it like this whole thing never happened.

The financial shell game was already troubling when limited to TSA workers. Applying the same logic to the entire DHS workforce — without any new appropriation from Congress — is a constitutional breach that can't be accepted as settled.

Here's the fundamental problem: there is no presidential American Express card. Trump cannot spend money Congress hasn't appropriated, no matter how many memos he signs or how politically appealing the gesture appears.

The White House is betting no one will challenge this power grab. After all, who wants to sue to recover money from FEMA staffers? But that political calculation shouldn't prevent defending constitutional safeguards. "The safeguards that prevent the Treasury itself from becoming an at-will checking account for the executive branch should be defended at all costs."

Elon Musk's bodyguards were granted federal law enforcement authority without basic training or experience — a shocking breach of security protocols that allowed the world's wealthiest person's security detail to move through federal buildings with deputized agent credentials they had no business carrying.

According to reporting from MS NOW's David Ingram and Ryan J. Reilly, the U.S. Marshals Service released emails and documents obtained by Democracy Forward, a progressive advocacy group that sued to access the records. The revelations expose how corners were cut to accommodate Musk during his brief tenure as a senior adviser to President Trump overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from January through May.

The timeline exposes the casual disregard for federal law enforcement standards. In early February, as Musk was actively working to dismantle federal agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Marshals Service began considering deputizing his security detail.

But there was an obvious problem: Musk's bodyguards didn't meet basic federal law enforcement requirements.

According to an email dated February 10, at least some members of Musk's security detail lacked the fundamental credentials necessary for deputization. Specifically, "they had not successfully completed a 'basic law enforcement training program' or did not possess at least one year of law enforcement experience with an agency that had general arrest authority."

That should have been the end of it. Instead, it was merely a speedbump.

Just three days later, Rich Kelly, the Marshals Service's associate director for operations and the agency's third-in-command, authorized waivers granting the bodyguards exceptions to the standard eligibility requirements.

Kelly, a career official, retired in September and declined to comment on the decision. The documents indicate the deputation was officially granted in the second week of February 2025 and was scheduled to remain in effect for two years.

It remains unclear whether the Marshals Service has since ended the special deputation status — or if Musk's bodyguards still retain federal law enforcement credentials they were never qualified to hold.