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, in largely symbolic move, to prohibit federal funding to schools with COVID vaccine mandates
President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order that will strip schools of federal aid if they mandate COVID vaccines -- a largely symbolic move considering that no states currently require them.
The order applies to students and not to teachers or staff. In a fact sheet provided to reporters, the White House said the order was necessary because COVID vaccine mandates were "threatening educational opportunities for students."
Trump's directive also calls on newly-confirmed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the incoming education secretary to "provide a plan to end coercive COVID-19 vaccine mandates" and report back on the compliance of schools.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty and Kelsey Walsh
Judge sets 4 pm hearing on Elon Musk's authority to run DOGE
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled a 4 p.m. initial hearing on Elon Musk's authority to run the Department of Government Efficiency.
Fourteen states are challenging Musk's role overseeing DOGE and accusing him of being a "designated agent of chaos" whose "sweeping authority" is in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Musk has defended his position by describing his role as the country's "volunteer tech support guy."
Read more about the lawsuit here.
-ABC News' Katherine Faulders
Mass layoffs now paused at US nuclear weapons agency
The Department of Energy has paused the firings of hundreds of employees who work for a key agency maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, multiple sources tell ABC News.
Managers with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are frantically calling employees back and telling them that -- as of right now -- they're not fired, despite some receiving termination emails and phone calls on Thursday. Their badges are getting turned back on and access to federal systems is being restored, at least temporarily.
Hundreds of probationary employees were terminated Thursday night in the mass Trump administration layoffs. The move prompted concerns of a national security risk because the agency is responsible for maintaining U.S. nuclear weapons, transporting them, and nuclear counterterrorism, among other missions.
NNSA held an all-staff meeting Friday morning, announcing the DOE had agreed to pause the layoffs, due to the agency's national security mission.
NNSA staff tell ABC News they are in a holding pattern. They're still bracing for firings, but possibly not as widespread.
-ABC News' Jay O'Brien
Vance, Zelenskyy meet as Trump admin wades into talks to end Russia-Ukraine war
Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Both men characterized the meeting as the starting point for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine that began with Russia's full-scale invasion nearly three years ago. Zelenskyy said the conversation was "good" and said they want to achieve peace but that Ukraine requires "real security guarantees."