White House says some employees were fired by mistake
After taking the recent buyout offer, some employees were fired, a source said.
President Donald Trump's administration, including Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, is continuing its sweeping effort to cut much of the federal government -- but it's being met with legal challenges.
Trump is also making his second administration's first forays on the diplomatic front with calls to Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on ending the 3-year-old war that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.
And a day after Hamas released more hostages taken when it attacked Israel in October 2023, Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the militant organization needs to be "eliminated."
Latest headlines:
- Some employees who accepted buyout offer were fired by mistake: White House
- Trump asks SCOTUS for permission to fire ethics watchdog
- DOE official warns all schools to end 'discriminatory' DEI policies
- 13 soon to be immigration judges, 2 current judges fired by Trump admin, union says
- US floats proposal to own 50% of revenue of Ukraine's rare earth minerals
Trump removes head of Office of Government Ethics
Trump removed the director of the Office of Government Ethics, according to a brief statement from the office.
The OGE is responsible for overseeing the executive branch's ethics programs, including efforts to "prevent financial conflicts" -- a question that has already been raised during Trump's second term.
The firing of the director, David Huitema, comes the same day that Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff sent a letter to Huitema regarding questions about conflicts of interest between Elon Musk and his Department of Government Ethics. Schiff requested the OGE "clarify Elon Musk's compliance with federal conflicts of interest, ethics, and reporting requirements."
Huitema, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, had just been sworn in in December.
A new acting OGE director, Shelley Finlayson, is now listed on the office's website.
-ABC News' Olivia Rubin and Benjamin Siegel
Key GOP senator to support RFK Jr. for HHS director
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday afternoon that she will support Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- whose full Senate confirmation could come as soon as mid-week -- after her conversation with him earlier in the day over funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health.
“He said he would re-examine them and seemed to understand” her concerns about potential slashing of NIH funding, Collins told reporters at the Capitol.
The senator’s support for Trump’s pick was previously uncertain, though she has broken with her party to oppose the confirmation of Pete Hegseth, the president’s nominee for defense secretary.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Outside CFPB office, lawmakers protest targeting of agency
Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed the CFPB as a law professor, rallied protestors outside its office against Elon Musk as the Trump administration zeroes in on the agency.
"The CFPB is the little agency that has fought for us, and we are here today to fight for the CFPB," Warren told the crowd, calling the agency the "cop on the beat."
Warren directly went after Trump and Musk in her remarks, poking at Trump by calling Musk a "co-president.”
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen also went after Musk in his comments, in addition to slamming Trump for giving him the "keys" to the U.S. government.
"This is the most corrupt bargain in American history. Elon Musk spent over $280 million to elect Donald Trump, and Donald Trump has given Elon Musk the keys to the United States government. Are we going to let that stand?" Van Hollen asked the crowd that responded “No!”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
DOJ lawyer frames buyout offer as 'humane off-ramp'
During an hourlong hearing on the fate of the Trump administration’s buyout offer, a lawyer for the Department of Justice attempted to frame the deferred resignation offer as a “humane off-ramp” for federal employees before Trump enacts sweeping changes to “rebalance and reorganize the federal workforce.”
“President Trump campaigned on a promise to reform the federal workforce,” DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton said, outlining Trump’s return-to-office executive order and plan to reduce the size of the federal government. “We understand these announcements may have come as a disappointment for some in the federal workforce.”
Hamilton argued that any further delay of the buyout would cause irreparable harm because the Trump administration plans to enact the next steps of reshaping the federal government -- to “rebalance and reorganize the federal workforce” -- as soon as the buyout window closes.