White House claims ‘more than 1 million’ federal workers responded to Doge’s ultimatum email – live
‘More than 1 million’ federal workers have responded to Doge’s ‘what did you do last week’ email, White House claims
Asked when is the deadline referred to in Elon Musk’s deadline second email to federal workers, Leavitt says agency heads will “determine the best practices for their employees at their specific agencies”.
“The secretaries are responsible for their specific workforce, and this is true of the hirings and the firings that have taken place,” she says.
She adds that unless their agency has told them not to, workers should reply to the email.
She claims more than a million workers have so far responded, including herself.
It took me about a minute and a half to think of five things I did last week. I do five things in about ten minutes, and all federal workers should be working at the same pace that President Trump is working.
Key events
Nearly 6,000 veterans have been fired across the federal government since the start of Trump’s term, according to a new analysis by House Democrats.
Lauren Gambino
The report, compiled from data provided by the Office of Personnel Management, estimates that roughly 38,000 federal workers have been fired since Trump took office last month and empowered Elon Musk’s Doge to dramatically reduce the federal workforce.
“Our veterans make significant sacrifices in service of our country, but those sacrifices do not seem to matter to President Trump and unchecked billionaire Elon Musk,” Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement. “They are an essential part of our federal workforce, bringing their expertise to every single agency. Republicans are turning their back on them, allowing Musk to fire at least 6,000 veterans and leave them with no way to feed their families or keep a roof over their heads.”
Republicans have countered that the cuts are a necessary part of a long-overdue effort to root out government waste and inefficiency.
The federal government is the largest US employer of veterans, who comprise about 30% of the workforce.
Trump says Zelenskyy set to visit White House on Friday to sign minerals deal
Andrew Roth
Donald Trump has said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal to pay for US military aid to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The announcement followed days of tense negotiations between the US and Ukraine in which Zelenskyy alleged the US was pressuring him to sign a deal worth more than $500bn that would force “ten generations” of Ukrainians to pay it back.
Media outlets reported late on Tuesday that the terms of an agreement had been reached.
“I hear that he’s coming on Friday,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Certainly it’s OK with me if he’d like to.”
According to the Financial Times, which first reported the deal, the new terms of the deal did not reportedly include the onerous demands for a right to $500bn in potential revenue from exploiting the resources, which include rare earth metals and Ukrainian oil and gas resources.
A framework for the deal included joint ownership of a fund to develop Ukraine’s mineral resources with certain caveats for those resources already contributing to the state budget.
More on the story here:
Michael Sainato
The Guardian’s labor reporter, Michael Sainato, spoke to USAid workers who are expected to be ‘escorted’ back to the office to collect their belongings amid Trump’s bid to shut down the foreign aid agency.
Staff who spoke to the Guardian sounded the alarm over the impact of these moves on global security, warning that closing USAid and withdrawing foreign aid is “only leaving war on the table”.
The agency is “the canary in the coal mine” as Trump seeks to test the limits of his executive powers, said one USAid official, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation and harassment. “We see us as the most acute and boldest example of overreach, that checks and balances ought to restrain the powers of the president and the president should abide by the powers of Congress and the courts.
“Can the president act like a king? We’re a glaring flare for all of those things.”
The agency has been subjected to attacks and conspiracy theories about its work, with Elon Musk and his supporters making false claims about funding, including a baseless claim about the agency sending $50m to Gaza for condoms, and false claims about grants such as the suggestion by the so-called “department of government efficiency” that $21m had been sent to India to influence elections.
Musk has called the agency “a criminal organization” and argued that it was “time for it to die”. Pushed on his false condoms claim earlier this month, he responded: “Some of the things I say will be incorrect.”
Health clinics reliant on USAid grants in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Iraq and other countries around the world have been forced to shut down and international aid groups have already cut thousands of jobs due to the funding freeze.
The Trump administration is fighting challenges in court to freeze all USAid funding, place nearly all employees on leave.
“USAid was established by act of Congress. It needs to be un-established by act of Congress. They are ignoring that rule,” the USAid official said. “I would guess around 500 workers, no one has provided specifics, senior leaders, HR and IT people, are left behind to participate in the dismantling of the agency.”
Contracts and grants are still being cut and terminated, with only a small fraction of the agency’s work abroad still continuing, they said. “We’re a lifesaving agency. They certainly have done damage that will take years to undo, but even though they’ve closed the building and banned us from it, we’re not done. We still exist,” they said.
Read the full story here:
Americans are getting more concerned about a potential economic downturn caused by the policies of Donald Trump’s administration.
US consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in nearly four years, the Conference Board, a business research group, said on Tuesday. Inflation and a significant increase in mentions of trade and tariffs were the top concerns for respondents to the board’s survey.
The group’s consumer confidence index plummeted this month to 98.3 from 105.3 in January. That’s far below the expectations of economists, who projected a reading of 103, according to a survey by FactSet.
The proportion of consumers expecting a recession over the next year jumped to a nine-month high, the board said.
Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of US economic activity and is closely watched by economists for signs about how the American consumer is feeling.
Marina Dunbar
Trump’s Iron Dome for America system is now reportedly called Golden Dome
Donald Trump’s Iron Dome for America initiative for a missile defense system protecting US skies from attack has been reportedly renamed the Golden Dome for America.
In a video published on Thursday, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth referred to the project as “the Golden Dome or Iron Dome”. A defense official confirmed shortly after that the name of the initiative has been officially changed to “Golden Dome”, according to military news website Defense One.
A spokesperson for Space Force did not respond to a Guardian query on the possible name change.
The idea of a new name comes as a team of technical experts has been assembled by the US Space Force to determine which programs can help build out the initiative.
The Iron – or perhaps now Golden – Dome for America executive order, signed by Trump on 27 January, is a directive for Hegseth to submit a comprehensive plan that details an implementation strategy, including the required architecture, for a missile defense system.
Trump is known for his grand renaming of things, including the Gulf of Mexico, which is now known officially in the US as the Gulf of America, as well as having a gaudy taste for golden and luxurious decorations, such as that which often adorn his apartments and buildings like Trump Tower in New York.
The defense system focuses heavily on the concept of space-based sensors and interceptors. The company that currently dominates the market for such equipment is the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, leading to concerns that this project is another way for Musk to make money from federal programs.
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John Thune, the Senate majority leader, is defending the Trump administration’s cuts to federal workers and programs, calling them a long overdue “scrub” of the federal government.
Still, the Republican from South Dakota acknowledged that the reductions are affecting the home states of GOP senators.
“I think we all understand that this government, the federal government, is long in need of the kind of scrub that is being done to figure out how we can do things better,” Thune said at the Capitol.
He said that senators would make the Trump administration aware if programs, such as those that impact health and safety, are at risk.
The Trump administration plans to cut employees at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development who assist officials and citizens in navigating government housing programs, the AP reports.
These cuts are among the first steps in the administration’s broader plan to reduce HUD’s workforce by half.
The field policy and management division is expected to lose at least 145 employees – about 40% of its staff – by 18 May.
A memo from the HUD secretary Scott Turner, dated Monday, states that all positions within the office at a certain pay grade and below “are being abolished”.
Trump reinstates rule on healthcare cost transparency
Trump reinstated a rule requiring cost transparency in healthcare.
The rule requires hospitals to publish online the prices for some of their most common services, including MRI scans and caesarean section deliveries. The lack of transparency has often left patients shocked by medical bills.
Trump previously issued a similar order during the final year of his first term.
Hospitals and insurers had strongly opposed the rule, with many failing to comply.
“It’s been unpopular in some circles because people make less money,” Trump said. “But it’s great for the patient. It’s great for the people in our country.”
Fox News senior White House correspondent, Jacqui Heinrich, condemned the Trump administration’s decision to determine which outlets have access to the president as part of the press pool, a selection that the White House Correspondents’ Association makes.
“This move does not give the power back to the people – it gives power to the White House,” Heinrich posted on X. “The WHCA is democratically elected by the full-time White House press corps.”
“WHCA has determined pools for decades because only representatives FROM our outlets can determine resources all those outlets have – such as staffing – in order to get the President’s message out to the largest possible audience, no matter the day or hour,” she added.
USAid staffers have only 15 minutes to retrieve belongings from their former offices, according to The Associated Press.
For nearly three weeks, many staffers at the agency’s main building in Washington have been barred from entering as the administration continues dismantling the facility.
Several employees have requested permission to retrieve personal items, including family photos and work shoes stored in drawers.
The notice about the arrangements says that aid workers must undergo security screening before reentering.
The Guardian’s labor reporter Michael Sainato reports that, in the notice, staffers were told to “bring their own boxes, bags, tape, and/or other containers to remove their personal items; these items will not be provided”.
“Neither USAID, nor any of our assisting agencies, will provide boxes, tape, protective wrapping, or other packaging materials to assist with the retrieval process,” the notice reads.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending security clearances for lawyers at the Covington & Burling law firm that worked with special counsel Jack Smith.
Smith led the federal cases against Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents.
The order comes less than a month after the US justice department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Trump in a move to purge people who worked for Smith.
Donald Trump said he wants to begin selling gold cards for $5m to foreigners who want to move to the US and create jobs.
The president said the immigration program, which he said was legal, could start in about two weeks. He added it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards.
“That’s going to give you Green Card privileges,” he said on Tuesday. “Plus, it’s going to be a route to citizenship and wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
White House officials said that the administration aims to end the EB-5 visa program and replace it with the gold card.
“They’ll be wealthy, and they’ll be successful, and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people,” Trump added.
Edward Wong of the New York Times reports that Trump appointees at USAid have sent recently-fired employees a list of more than 100 weapons they are prohibited from bringing when returning to the office to collect their belongings.
Firearms, axes, martial arts weapons, including nunchucks and throwing stars, were in the list, as well as spearguns and dynamite.
Staff will collect their personal belongings at the Ronald Reagan Building this Thursday and Friday
There have been no known recent incidents of aid agency employees making weapon-related threats, Wong reports.
