When newly elected Democratic National Committee officers gathered in late March at a Washington hotel, the agenda included a brief but robust discussion of a pledge not to intervene in party primaries, according to two people who attended the meeting and a third who was briefed on it.

But there was one official, David Hogg, who never signed onto the DNC’s pledge, and he told a DNC staffer he had concerns because the group he co-founded gets involved in open primaries, according to a fourth person familiar with the conversation.

Three weeks later, Hogg called his fellow DNC officers to warn them that Leaders We Deserve, the group he co-founded, would be funding primary challenges to “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats in safe-blue seats.

His announcement on Tuesday, pledging to spend $20 million on its efforts, triggered a wave of criticism and concern from some Democrats, including members of Congress, DNC members and Democratic strategists, many of whom expressed frustration over Hogg’s dual roles as an activist and party representative. Some took to social media to vent while others, including House members, called Hogg directly on Wednesday, trying to get clarity on his position.

The unprecedented move by a DNC official to spend money against Democrats is exacerbating intra-party tensions that have wracked the party in the second Donald Trump era.

“We, as the DNC, need to be seen as a body that can be trusted, that’s not putting its thumb on the scales,” said a DNC member, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “We have to be so strategic and careful with our resources right now. ... So why are we in this circular firing squad against Democrats?”

At the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump administration officials want to reverse a regulation that has required nursing homes to have more medical staff on duty.

At the Mine Safety and Health Administration, powerful lobbying groups have asked the administration to eliminate a rule to protect miners from inhaling the dust of crystalline silica, a mineral that is used in concrete, smartphones and cat litter but that can be lethal in the lungs.

And at the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates radio and television broadcasting and satellite communications, President Trump’s appointees published a seemingly exuberant notice asking for suggestions on which rules to get rid of, titled “DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.”

Across the more than 400 federal agencies that regulate almost every aspect of American life, from flying in airplanes to processing poultry, Mr. Trump’s appointees are working with the Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting initiative headed by Elon Musk and also called DOGE, to launch a sweeping new phase in their quest to dismantle much of the federal government: deregulation on a mass scale.

Usually, the legal process of repealing federal regulations takes years — and rules erased by one administration can be restored by another. But after chafing at that system during his first term and watching President Joseph R. Biden Jr. enact scores of new rules pushed by the left, Mr. Trump has marshaled a strategy for a dramatic do-over designed to kill regulations swiftly and permanently.

Puerto Rico was hit by another massive power outage Wednesday, leaving the United States territory in the dark for a second time in four months, officials said.

Local power authorities, Genera and LUMA, recorded a system failure at approximately 12:40 p.m. that affected service island-wide.

"Our staff is in constant communication with the power companies to identify the cause of the event and safely restore service," LUMA said in a statement posted to X. "We will keep you informed through our social media channels."

The cause of the outage was still under investigation Wednesday evening, Genera said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, LUMA Energy said the Palo Seco plant, located just outside San Juan, came back online around 3 p.m., "which represents a key step toward system recovery."

However, it could take two to three days to restore service to 90% of customers, LUMA said.

The outage affects 1.4 million customers of LUMA Energy, the island's private power company, impacting 76% of its customer base, the company said.